The new post alert reminded me of this thread. Since I last posted on it, I received my Mexico Blue GT3 Touring that was inspired by the OP’s 911 R which I’d lusted after since seeing it in pics and videos over a year ago.

I bought aftermarket 911 R style side stripes but decided to leave them off for now after seeing how it looked in the first pics from photographer Greg Castell who works at the dealership (Beachwood/Cleveland). Pics below.

Re: GT3 Touring v 981 Spyder, I still love the Spyder. GT3 of course way more powerful and has more grip. New 4.0L in GT3 Touring is also a lot louder and has a tenor drone in the mid rev range that can be a bit annoying IMO, but easy to avoid by cruising in higher gears.

981 Spyder, on other hand, just purrs along a low to mid revs and develops a great higher pitched raspy wail as you start to push it harder. I think I prefer its sound to the new GT3 (blasphemy, I know).

Steering wise, the GT3 certainly is more direct with that go kart on rails feel, which I suppose has a lot to do with its rear wheel steering setup that the Spyder lacks. But Spyder steering is also great given how light the car is and how tight the steering ratio is on it vs other Caymans and Boxsters.

Spyder with its single setting suspension rides a little more softly that Touring, even in Touring’s standard shock setting. But Touring’s suspension is by no means punishing. In fact it feels very well damped and “rubbery”, which is a good thing. I’ve heard in reviews that 911 R is a bit softer suspension than GT3, so I imagine it might feel a little closer to the softer ride of the Spyder, which is maybe what you (and others) mean by describing it as “more playful”(?). I suppose if that’s true, I would like that about the 911 R.

In terms of engine on the new GT3 Touring vs the 991.1 GT3, RS and R, I think I preferred the way the older engine sounds, which is more high pitched with almost a whistle sound as it quickly revved.

On the OP’s 911 R, which is also Mexico Blue, of course I loved the factory houndstooth LWB seats, so had to get those on the Touring as CXX. Despite there being a short-lived option to get those inserts only via CXX for $3555 without having to go all-in for full custom tailored seats, I ultimately caved and went for the full custom tailored CXX seats ($8875 or so, if I recall), which allowed me to also opt for stitching or piping in a color of my choice (Olympic Blue, the only blue piping they have available) instead of the standard black stitching (not piping) the Touring would have otherwise come with on them, and a choice of options for the headrest.

The extra coin for the full custom tailored seats also let me choose whatever leather I would have wanted for the rest of the seats, but I kept them the standard smooth black leather, as going with a brown, for example, might have been a bit too much and may have looked odd unless I started to spend even more to coordinate that with the same color leather on some other bits of the interior trim, which would have made things even pricier.

However, on the headrest, I wanted something special, the Touring script, for which I asked about early and which Porsche Exclusive originally said no. But just couple weeks before it hit the CXX shop they reached out and said yes so I had to quickly decide and choose color for that stitching. If I recall, I think they charged an extra $1100 or so for that special request. Without that extra CXX bit, the only choices for the headrest would have been the embossed Porsche crest (same as standard), the embossed Porsche crest above with the GT3 script embroidered below, or the GT3 script embroidered only.

I went with the Touring chrome trim instead of black, since I liked them silver wheels and other bright work as an accent against the Mexico Blue paint, and I thought the chrome is one thing that sets the Touring apart from other GT3s, which all have black trim (as does the 911 R). For that reason, also went with the standard Xenon headlights, which are silver and whose single eyeball is more classic looking, IMO. Doesn’t hurt that doing so saved anywhere from $800-$2900 vs the other headlight options, which helped offset the cost of the CXX stuff inside.

The wheels are the standard glossy silver, not the Satin Aluminum (basically a white aluminum matte finish) that the OP’s 911 R has. While I do like the satin aluminum wheels, I felt the glossy silver would better compliment the chrome trim.

Want to sell?

Now we just need to get all of these GT3T guys to actually understand a GT3 with optional wing delete does not make it a 911R, nor does it make anywhere close to as rare.