This is the new 992.2 911 GT3, and if you just look at the headline numbers, I wouldn’t blame you for being a tiny bit underwhelmed. “It’s got 0 extra bhp?” “Wait, peak torque has gone down?” “What do you mean the 0-100km/h timing remains unchanged?”
Oh yeah, I also should mention that with the latest changes in ARF, this car is basically a million dollars with COE – and that’s before you even start getting into Porsche’s options list. (I managed to add $589,999 worth of options playing around with the online configurator. That’s the price of a base Carrera before COE.)
When it comes to successive car generations, improvement and development is always the name of the game. And it might be slightly strange, but it seems like this 992.2 GT3 is a lot of development to mostly stay the same.
So, what’s the point?
Specific performance
Well, simply put, the point is that it’s still a GT3. Even with tightening emissions standards, heavy tweaks to the engine means that it still delivers a you-don’t-need-anymore 503bhp and 480Nm of torque. 0-100km/h still takes a license-kena-kantong 3.4 seconds when equipped with the PDK transmission. It may not have more power, but you certainly don’t need more power.
And perhaps most importantly, the 4.0-litre naturally aspirated flat-six still screams to its 9,000rpm redline. And trust me, that in itself is addictive.
Not just because it’s a delightful and riotous soundtrack, but also because you’ll be hard-pressed to find another car that can do the same, electrification and tightening regulations be damned.
But the GT3 is much more than its engine (though some may argue otherwise). This is a track-ready weapon, with an appropriately massive wing to show for it. While it’s impossible to evaluate actual downforce improvement on public roads (you’re typically never going fast enough for it to matter), the GT3 still delivers some of the best handling you’ll find in a road car.
The steering is still one of the best in the business, providing tactile communication and response to let you carve your way through windy roads.
The resulting sharpness lends the car an urgency and immediacy that constantly reminds you that this car was designed to shine on a race track. Braking is also viciously efficient — the car shedding speed rapidly while remaining balanced and composed, helped by the fact that the GT3 gets the anti-dive system from the GT3 RS.
There’s also less dynamic adjustability than a standard 911. There are just three driving modes, and just two chassis settings (Sport and Track). It’s surprisingly not as horrible-riding in the Track setting than I expected while driving on public roads.
The result is a simplicity of focus — performance driving singularly distilled and unadulterated.
It also feels a tiny bit more compliant on public roads compared to the 992.1 model. Porsche says that the damper tuning has been optimised to be smoother over bumps, and it shows — there’s less tramlining, and just a touch less general harshness.
Lighter updates
When you decide to stop chasing the engine’s redline, you can also delight in an improved cabin. This car gets the updated 992.2 generation cabin — the instrument cluster has gone fully digital (you can configure the tachometer to have the redline at the 12 o’clock position, a neat throwback to Porsche’s racecars), there’s now a wireless charging pad in the centre console, wireless phone connectivity, and even a range of ambient lighting choices.
Not that you’re going to get many creature comforts, though. This is fundamentally a hardcore 911, and it feels that way. There are no rear seats (that’s extra space for luggage, I suppose), the storage bins will barely fit a well-stocked wallet, and even the digital functions have been stripped down (there are fewer display modes, for example).
This test car comes equipped with the optional Sports bucket seats (yours for just $35,755), which use a carbon fibre shell and can be electrically adjusted for height. It’s an obviously cool visual touch, offers great lateral support, and has a removable headrest to better accommodate helmet-wearing. That all sounds great for track driving, but for daily use, getting in and out of the car is slightly ungainly.
From the outside, you can distinguish this updated GT3 by a few small details — the DRLs have been integrated into the round head lights (with an optionally available white accent ring), larger front air inlets have been installed, and the end plates on the huge body-coloured rear wing are now angled slightly outward.
Otherwise, it’s still got that essential 911 design DNA. And yes, it still looks dramatic as all hell.
Keeping performance alive
I’ve been fortunate enough to drive a few generations of the GT3, each one as remarkable and outlandish as the rest. For all the joys of natural aspiration and track-honed performance, there’s no shrouding the fact that GT3s are, for the most part, really expensive toys for really rich drivers. No one needs a GT3. You buy one because you want one, and because you can.
This facelifted GT3 is still a thrillingly compelling mechanical package that blends track-ready performance with just enough road-going usability, though I still personally wouldn’t want to use this as a daily driver.
Porsche has made all the necessary development to ensure that this car is up to par with modern emissions standards without sacrificing its requisite performance.
And yes, it is also still outrageously expensive, over-the-top and impossible to reasonably justify. And that’s sort of the point. It’s one of the quintessential stop and stare cars (helped a ton by that massive wing, of course), and has all the necessary sporting chops to back it up. It’s as much about lap time-chasing performance as it is about making a ton of noise and just being downright impressive to be seen in.
Of course, I wish that more GT3 owners would take their cars to the racetrack to truly exploit and enjoy what the car is able to offer, but it’s probably more likely to see these cars at Cars and Kopi meetups or being car-spotted at Millenia Walk.
But you know what? That’s okay. Electric Macans and Cayennes mean that Porsche is still able to make cars like this GT3. And think what you may about how they may use these cars, we have to at least appreciate the customers still buying such cars and keeping them on the roads.
The automotive world would be a poorer, lesser place if cars like this GT3 can no longer exist. Thank god it still does, and well done to the people still keeping such cars alive.
Facelift (what’s new)
- Reworked front fascia with larger air inlets and DRLs integrated into the headlights
- Refreshed cabin with digital instrument cluster
- Revised engine producing 503bhp and 480Nm of torque
- Revised damper tuning
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This article was first published in sgCarMart.
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