Grant:
Whoopsy:
nberry:

As we thought. Primarily a track car. Same engine as the 992 GT3. Why not offer a manual transmission to those who who likely would be interested in the car?

 

There is the answer to why it doesn't have a manual.

 

4 different generations of GT3 (and 3 generations of RS's) before the first one with automatic (and 5 years after PDK introduced in Carrera). Smiley


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22 GT3 Manual, 73 Carrera RS 2.7 Carbon Fiber replica (1,890 lbs), 06 EVO9 with track mods. Former: 18 GT3 Manual, 16 Cayman GT4, 73 911S, Two 951S's, 996 C2, 993 C2, 98 Ferrari 550, 79 635CSi

 

 

Ever since the 991 generation Porsche had said RS denotes track weapon and thus PDK only for maximum speed. Before the 991 their PDK isn't as matured, make sense. 

After doing real racing for a year, paddle shift is the way to go for going fast. AND enjoyment. There is no better feeling in holding onto the wheel to correct the car while at maximum braking keeping it on line while doing the downshifts. Taking one hand off the wheel to shift down is just taking away the pleasure of going fast, as I won't be in maximum control of the car with only one hand, thus not at maximum speed I can do. 

I have taken my 911R, my Aston V12 Vantage, even the 3.6 out on our track, The 3.6 is just torture, the pedals don't line up so it's basically impossibly for me to do heel and toe. Or I just don't have big enough feet. I am leaving literally seconds on the table before each corner in the braking zone. 

The Aston was a pig on track, but it does have rev match so it's just an arm exercise, but under maximum braking it just moves around too much, holding the wheel one handed don't quite work too well. Oh did I mention the extremely vague shift gates? Every shift is a guess on whether I got the correct one or I went 2 down and posing a danger the motor? I just can't do it by feel, I had to wait for my eyes to look at the gear number before I commit to letting go of the clutch. Or I feather the clutch and feel if I got the right gear or not. 

The 911R was best, lightest, also got rev match. The shifter is a dream, never got a wrong shift up or down. But the car still moves a bit under braking, steering is good enough to be controlled by one hand. Keyword good enough, not perfect. I admit I am not the best shifter, far from it, so one thing I cannot do is trail brake the car while still downshifting, I just don't have enough control of the steering wheel to do it. 

Jump into the GT4 Clusport right after, maximum attack everywhere, super late braking, trail braking deep into apexes while downshifting, controlling fishtailing while on maximum throttle out of corners, everything under control with both hands on the wheel. 

I was a diehard manual guy before, I thought it is a manly thing to drive a manual car. Done that for many many years. But I am a convert, PDK is so good, there is no going back. Manual cars are dinosaurs, like carburetors. Or horse drawn carriages. They had their time in history, but history isn't kind to all. 

For people that really really wanted to drive manual on track, GT3s are there for the taking. 


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