I went to Silverstone yesterday with some top drivers.
I am shocked at the new GT3, as always though they will push/understeer on track so a geo will have to be done.
but the car I went in yesterday was outstanding fast, ie over taking CUP cars and radicals ! with a new geo for the day he was trying out.
I also went out in a 458 Speciale with a very good driver, boy that's a nice car with a brutal gear change, but we had to let the GT3 though !
even down the straights the GT3 was in the mirrors with no lost of distance, how it can do that with 500bhp boy only knows.
I don't think I have enough talent to get the best from this car, but lets see, cars are getting so fast now means more risk and crazy speeds and bigger balls needed.
It's a whole new ball game with it, I have done 64 miles and not been over 4.5k revs yet, so not a lot to feed back bar the clutch is ultra light and the steering feels good so far, no under steer at these speeds yet lol.
The owner I went with said it's faster than his 991.1 RS and the times I posted on that mag test confirm what he has said, as for any older 997 GT3 they looked like snails on track (you gain in feel and enjoyment, of course, but you can forget lap times vs the new cars).
all the cars were PDK at Silverstone mind you and I have gone manual for fun not track times, but I am gob smacked at the cars I went in yesterday, it's another league now, and I feel very lucky to have got one to have a play with.
I'll give an honest review as I always do when it's got some miles on but on track with a geo they seem untouchable, no wonder the GT2 RS has the ring lap record and the new PDK 991.2 RS are going to be the track day winners, if you see one ask for a ride it will blow your mind, I don't know how a rear engine car can do this, RWS has made it a GT4 on steroids, and the 5 things I disliked about my GT4 seem to have vanished with the new GT3. (I am sure i'll dig out some negatives for you guys after a few miles)
what I will say is though what you gain in all this performance you loose in slow on road fun, there is no trail braking, no nose bobing etc etc, you drive the car as hard as you dare and it will lol out you and say "is that all you have got "
I think for a Sunday morning drive for fun it's not going to be the car, it needs pairing with a 964 or for me , my 987.2 Spyder makes a nice pair some thing to bring you down to earth and offer some realness lol
so again the R and the 981 Spyder will have to go to afford the GT3 if I keep it :-( . Money don't bring you happiness that's for sure, I feel I have been though a lot in the last 2 years and no amount of money would have changed that, but what it does do is give you access to these crazy cars and if I were rich I would keep everything, a lass 2 will have to go to even afford the payments, the cars in another league as I stated but the payments also are lol ! or I flip it in a few months and take the money (it would be a tiny gain), I don't see how any one could blame me if I did do that and I would say most have flipped, it's easy >50% if not more could be upto 80%, and most people I have spoken to have played games to get the cars so flipping at overs is not all it seems as one has to buy 20 cars or sell cars back under trade value to get them in the 1st place, this GT3 owes me £20k already, so if I sold it at £165k I would only break even ! but would get slated for making money !
take a look at every OPC !! they are loaded to the brim with GT4's and 991 RS, the OPC say they hate the flippers, it's them making the easy money not the owners !
OPC are already taking in the new 991.2 GT3 in part ex for the 991.2 RS !
yes the RS cars make the big money, but if you put 5k miles on a new GT3 with the games and the 10k you would pay in commission, you would be lucky to come out ahead, in fact if you kept the car and paid the finance you would be £££ down, the interest is eye watering month on month it's £500 alone just in interest, add the £24k interest to my £165k break even figure and I would be way down, all is not what it seems in Porsche overs ownership and if I wanted the next one, well I cannot afford to part ex this one, so it's my last new car I would say.
cannot be more honest than that
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would a GT4 with a 4.0L engine stand on the GT3 toes, not imo from what I can see, the GT3 is all about that 500BHP engine, any detuning will ruin it, and also the GT4 does not have the multi link rear end to help tyre contact area under loads, so unless you go after market multi link, again the GT4 will never match it now the forces with the new N1 Cup2's put on the cars at even higher G's.
yes you have to be at 10/10ths to notice this, but yesterday at Silverstone these guys are at 10/10ths !!!
I always thought a GT4 would be faster than a GT3 with the same engine and in the past that could be true you may be able to pass a 997.2 RS in a modded GT4, but RWS has changed all that imo and following Tim Ravens project (a multi link suspended GT4) you can put £40k into a GT4 and still not have that 500BHP masterpiece of a unit.
So Porsche can easy bring out a 450BHP GT4 esp if they only offer manual and keep the rear sus layout.
The new 991.2 RS will be the pinnacle in NA track cars (looking forward to a ring time with this one in spring) , the GT2 RS have proven it's the daddy already blowing the 918 and radicals of this world out the water !
But for £130k the 7.12 normal GT3 ring time says more than I can about it beating the 991 RS by 8 seconds !!!! and 15 seconds off the 997 4.0l 500 bhp dream car.
I am not a 911 fan boy but one cannot get past what Porsche have achieved with all these new GT cars !