JCviggen

Agree on the feeling and not sure where it's coming from either. 981 doesn't feel like everyting has play on it but then a 718 (even a base one) feels more solid. Driven lots of both versions.

Note that even with the same spring rates, dampers and sways the 718 GT4 works best with the sway bars in middle/middle whereas the 981 tends to go soft/hard or at least some extra stiffness at the rear to combat understeer. TPC racing noted this difference in their recommended setup as well. There seems to be at least some objectivel difference in terms of body stiffness.

akhbhaat

Honestly, yeah, almost all modern sports cars (no matter what they are) are far too fast (and stressful) to push on public roads. People don't seem to believe me when I tell them that today's base 992 Carrera has a performance envelope approaching that of a GT3 RS from just 12 years ago, except that the 992 is much easier to drive so most drivers are actually much faster in the base 992 than they would be an older GT3.

So at low speeds, all you're really left to work with with are inputs, and the GT4 definitely gets those right. The steering, shifter, and throttle response are all very good. I enjoyed the cars a lot when I could get them out into the passes during summers, but that's a multi-hour commitment.

My road warrior of choice was (and still is) a BMW E46 330i ZHP, which is riding on what is effectively 25 year old technology. This was my daily driver for the better part of a decade; the suspension still has almost entirely factory parts but I put urethane bushings, a 3.38 LSD, and a SSK into it to sharpen up the inputs and driving dynamics a bit. ~235 hp with very good hydraulic steering, a high seating position, short gearing and an obsolete sport sedan chassis translates to a car I can push and get a lot of feedback out of without exceeding the speed limit or overdriving my vision...you can actually feel quite a bit of weight transfer on a 30 mph road, unlike a GT4 (or any other modern Porsche). It can't even touch a GT4 for theatrics, and even with the SSK the gearbox is still barely more than mediocre, but it's fun in a different way and I thought they were great complements to each other depending upon the weather and what sort of driving I wanted to do. The only two new cars I can think of that can actually be almost as much fun on normal roads as they are the track are the ND2 Miata and GR86/BRZ. I'm actually thinking of buying the former as a potential replacement for the E46 (if I can bring myself to part with it). I imagine something like an early 80s 911SC is a very engaging road car as well, but I've never driven one so I have no idea.

FWIW I'm thinking of selling the 997 and going back to a GT4...

colnagoG60

Touchy? Not me. The OP literally chose one car over the other because, "it felt old". I merely tried to alleviate concerns by suggesting solutions.

9eight7

Given your choices while owning a 4.0 GTS, I would play with suspension and call it good. If your car isn't speaking to you and you really want to get rid of it, then I would take the next part of this post into consideration.

I've driven a 911.1 GTS on track, currently track a 981 GT4, and haven't driven a 718 GT4/Spyder. IMO these are anything but raw in terms of feel. They're not engaging under 60 mph as someone else mentioned earlier and digital in every way. I feel like they're very well engineered to cut all feeling to inspire confidence to go faster and faster and faster and faster... Even under 15 mph on a skid pad, they are very confidence inspiring while you're doing 360's.

IMHO if you're looing for a raw weekend warrior around town, I would go with a 964 or older car with under 300 HP (I haven't driven 993-996 cars). There's nothing like feeling the little vibrations on your left toes feathering the clutch while downshifting then turning into the corner on "rails". I know "raw" is a very subjective term. For me, feelings at my fingertips and toes is where I draw my starting line for raw.