stevecolletti

But 'young people' don't wear either type of watch. Their cell/smart phone is their world.

And that's what bothers me, I think your watch analogy does apply.

Tisibeast

You're right, most kids don't wear them today. But my 17 year old son regularly asks to borrow my watches - and only the mechanical ones. When I do allow him to borrow them his friends are all jealous of what he's wearing. Time will catch up I PRAY and bring back the tradition.

PoloTurbo

I don't care if the gtr is ugly it's fast.
With a brick like car put a thousand nannies and lots of hp and it kills the gt3 at the green hell.

I don't want to turn this in a gtr vs gt3 debate but just because the gtr is a LOT faster at the Nurburgring Porsche decided and maybe realised that without reducing driver involment they couldn't even compete.
So a controlled computerized car may compete now.

We don't need to drive the car to realized that, anybody could see it and the 991 gt3 GTR is born.

StirlingMoss

This thread cracks me up. If you don't like the 991 GT3 because it is not "involving" or "emotional" then go get a 964 RS. The competition has moved on and Porsche needs to move on too otherwise there will be no Porsche tomorrow.

Tisibeast

Sadly, it's not a world beating time either. A 7:34 at the ring is fast, but certainly not world beating. Not even close.

Nissan GTR (2009-2014) 7:29 - 7:14
Corvette C6 Z06 (2012) 7:22

Tisibeast

I guess that's why im sticking with my 993...

Bob Rouleau

I admit I find this thread a little odd. Nobody decried the fact that the 458 and the McLaren have autoboxes and when it comes to electronics - both are loaded - with the MP whatever having more than even the GTR Nissan. As F1 has shown, technology helps make fast cars faster.

As to the GTR - yeah it is fast but they aren't sports cars. The extra 1,000 lbs can certainly be felt, so can the fact that the computer is driving the car. If the computer wasn't driving the car, it would be a lot slower.

I am a track guy, and I wish my RS had PDK. I hope the next RS has PDK. I have done heel and toe maybe 100,000 times - yeah it feels good, but when it comes to shaving lap times, PDK is a winner. VR likes sequentials - so do I, but I'd never drive one on the street. There is also the fact that if in the heat of the action you mess up the down-shift more than a few times you lunch the tranny. Pros complain about this.

I got to experience rear steering in the 918 at Barber. Such a simple thing but it sure does make the car faster - the car turns in so accurately in slow turns and inspires confidence in the crotch tightening fast ones. I'm looking forward to the next gen RS with all those enhancements. I just hope that we can still turn off the nannies!


Regards,

jfr0317

Bob, thanks as usual for your comments. Spot on in my humble opinion!

neanicu

My thoughts exactly but people will still try to compare a WHALE to a PIRANHA...

stevecolletti

Actually, I don't understand this, either - though likely for different reasons.

I understand why many of us are disappointed. What I don't understand is why others are so excited by the 991 'GT3'.

Is the whole point of this new 'GT3' to allow owners to be beaten by their same "DE competitors" by an incrementally slimmer margin? Is that really what its fans are looking for?

If it is time to drop the manual transmission, move on and "get with the times", why is this new 'GT3' not a mid-engine car. Given the same development time and dollars, it would be faster. Why wouldn't the same rationale that is being applied to the transmission apply to the chassis configuration? I find that dichotomy particularly odd.

I think Porsche is trying to cash in on the GT3 name while they can. Soon enough, they'll have the mid-engine 960 (or whatever it ends up being called). It's going to cost twice as much (or more) as a GT3 and it will become Porsche's endurance racer - allowing them to compete on equal footing with their competition. If that's the future, the most important near-term thing for Porsche is how much money can they wring out of the GT3 moniker.

Personally, I'm not wedded to Porsche, and certainly not to the rear-engine configuration. But Porsche has made driver's cars. I won't buy a Ferrari without a manual, and I've told them as much.

As for the GTR, as much as I hate it for what it has done to ruin cars, the Nissan Skyline did not start off as a computerized WHALE, either.

frayed

Im a manual guy but believe Porsche will pull this off. I remain on the my dealer's wait list.

Alan Smithee

Porsche will have an answer for that market segment. The 911, in any form, is not it.

The GT3 used to be the anti-electronics, back to basics race car for the street that did not suffer fools, and was therefore unique in the marketplace and appealed to a very limited audience. The Turbo has historically been the technology leader with amazing magazine stats at a similar price point.

Having PDK, PTV, and RWS optional on the GT3 would have satisfied just about everybody, but Porsche wants another magazine-stat car rather than something remotely close to the factory race car.

Hey, maybe the 991 GT3RS will be AWD! Won't that be great!

axhoaxho

Never say never... Porsche has been racing the GT3 R Hybrid (AWD) for a while, just plug-and-play the Hybrid thingy (can use battery instead of flywheel) in the 991 GT3RS, and Voila!

MEM82

Frayed I recall seeing you years ago on roadfly if I remember correctly. Nice LTW. My e36 m3 is mostly a garage queen with 30k miles. I can never let it go.

cgomez

Finally!! A voice of wisdom among all his crap of rant based on specs and not driving the real thing!