I am not sold on it after my drive today (2.5 hours hard core driving we did as well) , think we will see a few for sale in a year or so.
I'll prob not even take mine and cash in sad to say.
People on the Boxster section who love seeing what's going on here
(big mistake selling a 987.2 Spyder for a 981 car imo)
the short of it is, it's like a Cayman R plus 20% but with less feel, it's not worth to me £30k to swap and missing out on bigger premiums for early cars. plus losing the feel.
Again if people are NOT thinking of taking it on track , sell it, it's not going to be a great road car imo (but people should know that, Porsche keep saying it's a track car) , but not having driven on the road who knows for sure, the extra weight and the even longer gearing on those 20" wheels feels poor to me, it just offsets the 3.8 so it also feels no faster in real terms.
The pec car under steers as well, yes safe to drive fast and push as hard as you can, but the geo/ ARB not to my liking on full soft setting at the rear. (I hate under steering cars) but that would be fixable.
I mean at the limit mind you, and I have neck pains due to 2.5 hours of pulling high G's all day, the car changes direction fast/flat and turn in is good, it's on the longer bends or if you over drive, it under steers quite bad, you have to trail brake to get the nose to turn in also on 2 bends (that's a 911 thing, NOT what I want from a Cayman Platform) again a few people have already put the rear ARB to stiff, it needs it for sure if you want a car like Lewis's car and not Rosbergs
(that's as close as I can say how the car is if you watch Lewis car vs Rosbergs in cars shots, I want my cars to feel like Lewis has his set up, ie a front end which turns in and does not push, not how Rosbergs cars is, but NOT like the Lotus F1 cars with over steer.
Clutch is easy 1/2 as hard again to push than my R I about put my foot through the floor getting back in the R lol non issue the gears are SO long you won't be pressing it much ! lol
Steering, my o my the steering: It's good but it's NOT Carling !!!! ok no play, you can feel any small amounts of understeer no issue, no dead spot like the non Gt 981 either, but NOT as good as my R, simple as that, and when it rained you lost the feel a bit.
Steering is a fine line, sell the R buy a GT4 you would be ok with the steering, it's good and weight is great, but I have a Spyder in the garage set up to be mega and driving that back to back with a GT4 would show up the GT4 issues.
I have seen another ex GT3 owner say (great car, hate the steering) you will get used to the steering in a week and forget how any other steering feels and wonder what the fuss is about ! if you don't have a older car to compare !
Is it an issue, nope but then it's not as good as the older car ! So a neg point !
Brakes, the car had PCCB the 410mm ones, ok not sure what's wrong here(wrong maybe the wrong word ) , but not as good as expected, ok the GT4 weighs more than my Spyder and my driving consultant must have been 16 stone, But my Spyder stops faster and had more bite. Not sure why the new ones bite was lack lustre. Again a non issue for new comers and from any 987 or 981 platform, but my 1250KG Spyder with PCCB has more feel and stops better with more bite. may be the bigger wheels and 245/295's add too much rotating weight hence the lack of bite !!! 20" 245/295 tyres must add a lot of weight over my 19" 235/265 ! all I can put it down too !
again , Is it an issue, nope but then it's not as good as the older car ! So a neg point ! (can I give it a neg point for that ? it's a bit harsh, the brakes are still mega)
PEC cars are odd though one minute you cannot touch the tyres after doing 8k rpm on the limits drifting, then water then hard track work , the pressures must have been all over the place, I DO MEAN the rears were hot "burn your finger hot" to touch spending 15 minutes in the drift circle ! never felt a tyre that hot in my life !
gears, the ratio's are too long, end of, you do the track in 2nd gear reving the nuts of it, a quick change to 3rd back to 2nd quick 3rd gear, NOT SURE WHY PORSCHE HAVE GONE THIS ROUTE, RUINS MOST OF THE CARS !!!
As I was really pushing the car, I drove all day in Sports mode ie auto blip, it let me really push the car, bit like PDK owners love ;-) ie you can think more about driving, but I still had gears and a heavy clutch to press.
Some hate Auto blip I loved it.
end result sweating a lot, worked hard and the car has NO AC.
So it's a great car (I am pointing out all the bad bits ;-) NO one else has ! every one is saying EPIC car ! , it feels rock solid, the grip with 245/295 is crazy (neck pains to prove) corners flats, nice torque great gear shift, perfect auto blip.
bad points: steering, but you would get over it very quick and coming from most any other new car it will feel great.
brakes is not a bad point, just does not stop as good as my lighter car with smaller tyres. they are still stunning powerfull and the 245/295 helps after the initial lack of bite. 99.9 % of people will think they are amazing (my Spyder stops faster than a P1 one so was expecting the same, as every one says the car is over braked. ARB for me I would go full stiff rear, the rear of the car is way to plated vs the front of the car set up as it was, and maybe a bit more neg front camber on the front for hard core track work. there is NO way you can drive this car on the road how I was on track today, so the factory -1.5 should be a perfect road set up for it.
I got back into my R and thought "this is a bloody good car" no wonder I have kept it 2.5 years, change the brakes, add some camber, fit some nicer tyres the R is a MEGA road car. (only my Spyder has the PCCB and 6 pots , my R is on 4pots ;-( )
ON track the GT4 will walk all over the R no doubt about it, the grip, the chassis the 410mm brakes, the 3.8 etc, how many will we see on track vs road use though
if you want a Road car save £30k get a R set up nice and just enjoy one of the most underrated cars Porsche make.
ON the road the R still might have it ! I know PEC are getting a road legal car this week, maybe I can revisit for a 30 minute road blast before I make up my mind, but ATM I am ready for a new brand I think
How every good the GT4 is, it's still a Porker just turned up a bit more and I think I want a change from that, esp the long gearing ! And I do fancy some thing really fast but with short ratio's and big torque so I can use it for very small amounts of time.
for fun My Spyder it's just a Mega thing, it's still not 100% right on track (But I built it as a road car) and the GT4 again would eat it on track , but £75k to do 3 track days a year !!! you could buy a Cayman R, spend £5k on it and still buy a Lotus Elise S for track for the same cash !
Any direct questions please ask.
PS my left knee still has a pain from the clutch and my neck is very stiff.... was a good day
and a great venue as always with top food.
PPS buckers are fine, It's a GT car don't buy one without buckets, the G's are so big on this car you need to be sitting in a seat not on a seat !
PPPS you would NOT swap a GT3 for a GT4 if you own a GT3 (did not think I would say that) , seems no point, like wise I cannot see a RS GT4 you may as well buy a GT3 ! thing is the only GT3 with the shorter final drive is the 997.2 RS !!! mmmm £155k needed !!!
PPPPS Porsche are very very good at marketing ALL cars pre sold, that's very clever.
