Evo drivers have a problem with the 997TT. The compared it
"Swapping into the 911 Turbo is momentous, for it's the first time I've been near it, let alone driven it. The driving environment is reassuringly familiar: the big, central tacho complete with swirly 'turbo' branding, and the usefully large steering wheel gripped, it must be said, by a pair of increasingly sweaty hands.
I give them a quick wipe on my jeans before pressing the Sport button (which enables overboost and activates stiffer suspension settings and a subtly altered throttle mapping) then the PASM button. Once again, Jethro is the unfortunate sack of spuds strapped in alongside me, and as we wind-up the pace on the out lap we shoot each other a nervous glance. The Turbo feels compact, as you'd expect, but it also feels stubbier than other 997s. Whether this is due to the widened rear track I'm not sure, but the Turbo definitely feels different.
Our first flying lap is breathless, not just due to the stonking power (it peaks 9mph faster than the Evo) and eye-popping braking, but because it's proving a real handful. And I mean a real handful. Familiarity would surely smooth some of the rough edges from my inputs, but nevertheless the Turbo feels like a car at war with itself as much as with the circuit.
I'm more aware of the rear-biased mass than in any other 997, and all corners bar the slow Hangar hairpin are accompanied by a pendulous sway of turn-in oversteer. It's not catastrophic, but feels significant enough to need gathering up, and you have to get that done before you can focus on finding your apex. It's a process made harder by a curious lack of feedback through the steering - just at the point you need to commit to your line. With the oversteer controlled and the Turbo apparently back on course, you squeeze on the power, only to find that it begins to understeer, imperceptibly at first, then more insistently as you attempt to get the power down. So you blend out of the throttle to regain front-end bite, only for the tail to feel light again...
It's a frustrating, scrappy way to make progress. We noted an increased edge to fast lapping in the 911 C4, and it's something that more power and torque seems to have aggravated in the Turbo. Yet despite an unsettled subjective performance, there's no arguing with the lap time, a cracking 1.23.55, exactly a second quicker than the Evo."