Porsche 911 GT3 Bests Corvette ZR1 in Side-by-Side Test
Second time’s a charm for track-focused 911 GT3 thanks to a bigger boxer in the back.
Named for one of FIA’s competition classes, the 911 GT3 is a streetable track-focused terror. Its 4.0-liter naturally aspirated flat-six puts out 500 horses and 339 lb-ft of torque through the rear wheels. Add Porsche’s famed PDK transmission, and the GT3 bolts out of the gate from zero to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds, 0.6 seconds faster than with the six-speed manual.
But can it best the Corvette ZR1, the American all-arounder with 755 horses and 715 lb-ft of torque tearing out of its supercharged 6.2-liter V8 and eight-speed auto? Edmunds’ Alistair Weaver and Carlos Lago head out to the Streets of Willow Springs in Southern California to find out for themselves.
“This generation of the 911 is codenamed ‘991,’ and this is actually Porsche’s second attempt at a GT3 version of this car,” Weaver says. “The first one was fitted with a 3.8-liter engine, which, to be honest, proved to be a bit troublesome. But this this new one has a four-liter that’s been comprehensively redesigned. This is basically a race-car engine. So, there’s no supercharger, no turbocharger, just a purity of purpose [with] instantaneous throttle response.”
The ZR1, meanwhile, not only costs $30,000 less than the GT3, but as Lago explains, the Corvette “has more: more tire, more power, more torque, even a bigger rear wing.” Plus, its carbon disc brakes are standard, while Porsche will add such discs to your GT3 for $9,000 more. Thus, the ZR1 wins on value.
And while the ZR1 stops sooner than the GT3 (95 feet vs. 103 feet), as well as cross the finish line at the same time as the Porsche (11.2 seconds), it, thankfully, can’t win them all. The ZR1’s extra 400 or so pounds mean a zero to 60 mph time of 3.3 seconds, while the GT3’s launch control (and lack of unnecessary heft) hits 60 mph in 3.1 seconds.
But it’s on the track itself where the big differences show up between the GT3 and the ZR1.
“My first two laps in [the GT3] were faster, it felt like, than the Corvette,” says Lago. “There were specific parts on this track, the scarier, hairier parts of this track, I was five mile[s] an hour faster immediately. When you know what you’re doing behind the wheel, you’re still gonna feel rewarded in this car. If you’re a novice, you’re still gonna feel good in this car, and that’s quite a feat to accomplish. That’s something the Corvette definitely doesn’t do.”
“The Corvette very much feels like a normal road car that’s been turned up to the max,” adds Weaver, “and they’ve tried all sorts of engineering trickery to make it do things that maybe, just deep down, it doesn’t wanna do. Whereas this car is the evolution of 50 years of Germanic engineering.”
Though both the ZR1 and GT3 offer similar thrills around the track, Lago says the GT3 “is easier to access at the racetrack.” Weaver adds that the GT3 has a much stronger residual value than the ZR1, one that might be “the better financial choice” in three to five years’ time. For the duo, the only choice when it comes to a track-day special that can also handle the road with ease is the 911 GT3.
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