Impulsive

I am about 8ish months into ownership of my first Porsche, a black w/ Carrara red interior 981 BS. It is a beautiful and fairly well optioned car, with a nice mix of performance and comfort options that were important to me especially as it is pulling double duty as a track car and a daily at least for now.

PDK, Sport Chrono, no pasm (but I will be getting x73 soon anyway), Bose, full leather, sport steering wheel, power steering plus, Carrara classic wheels, and the list goes on.

I would like this to be my forever rack car, as I autocross a lot and the 981 has one of the best chassis in the world in my opinion. Recently I have been concerned about the lack of PTV/LSD. I feel like I found a really solid example, but is that going hold me back in the long term?

rr_gts

I'm not too sure on the answer to that (just about to get back into HPDE after a 4 year hiatus), but I'm glad I got PTV on my 981 CS.
However, adding an aftermarket LSD is always an option for you.

Chefphil

There is a PIWIS thread that discussed activating PTV on a car that doesn't have it as a original option. I plan on going this route. I've read it improves the high speed tight cornering even without the LSD and for autocross this seems like a significant benefit.

dps214

In a word, no. I've autocrossed cars with and without and there's a bit of a feel difference but the time difference is little to nothing. Imo the software torque vectoring ends up fighting you at times and that hurts about as much as the physical LSD helps. On my car (ptv but by happenstance) I coded out the software ptv. I changed too many variables at once to draw any real conclusions about that specifically, but I don't regret it.

Kitc2246

First welcome to the slippery slope. I had an 09 Boxster PDK for two years before my current 13 Boxster S PDK that has PTV, PASM and Sport Chrono. I don't feel the help from the PTV which must be subtle. On the track in Sport+ and half nannies if I'm too aggressive or early on the throttle especially with cold tires PSM will intervene. X73 will be a definite plus along with 200 TW tires. Most 981 S with PDK I know have added the third radiator. The oil temps are still high, 270+ but not an issue if you change fluids, oil, PDK and diff more often.

There is a balancing act between a DD and a track car. After the X73 consider adjustable LCAs and/or camber plates for front negative camber (-2.5) which with a lot of street miles can wear the insides of the fronts. Another recent thread discusses changing brake pads between DEs for a DD. I leave my Sebro slotted and Pagid RSL29s on year round and the 18s with Hankook RS4s during track season. Brake caliper and brake line bracket studs are a must to prevent damage to the aluminum threads and makes front pad/rotor changes easier.

The nose of the car, side intakes and behind the rear tires will get "sand blasted". Consider PPF for half the nose plus the other areas. Also intake screens for the two corner condensers/radiators and the side intakes.

subshooter

No. The driver is by far the most important component to being competitive. PTV is nearly irrelevant.

DeanClevername

Having had and not had an LSD on my various track and autocross cars over the years, I'd say yes, the LSD is a big help. The PTV on top of it is kind of interesting and definitely helps in instances where an open diff car would rotate better. I think the need for an LSD becomes even more acute as you upgrade suspension to coilovers etc and have less suspension travel. My 996 with Ohlins was always threatening to on-tire-fire. But sometimes an open diff weirdly helped get the revs up and keep the engine out from bogging down in very slow 2nd gear elements

Squeaky

how did you code it out?

to OP, like others have said, a LSD will help, but PTV doesn’t help much, if at all. I’ve seen it cost time in some instances, at least with a worn diff.

Ernest72

I have also heard that some do not want PTV on because it can add heat to brakes on track. The LSD will definitely help pulling out of a turn.