TRAKCAR

Wow.

sunnyr

That sucks, if you really have to have it, I guess you can always buy the seat aftermarket and add it - since we know it works elsewhere.

Jon70

That's true, but I'm tired of spending money to modify cars to get what the factory won't give me. At least the decision not to put in the sport bucket seats will save me quite a bit of $. Maybe Porsche will get them certified when they see the sales aren't quite what they predicted.

mdrums

If you want to retain your full coverage with car insurance during street driving then I highly suggest you do not put in aftermarket seats that do not have the side air bag in them like the stock seats do. This is how the car is homologated for DOT in the USA and what the insurance company will base it on.

If you crash on the street and have tampered with the federally mandated air bag system by removing the stock seats with side impact air bags you will not have insurance coverage. Lawyer will have a field day with you if your passenger gets hurt.

think hard about this!

This is a HUGE FAIL for Porsche in the USA market!

Nizer

Mike in CA

We knew from the German configurator that the FAL would be delayed until week 40. Hopefully, since US deliveries likely won't begin before December, FAL will end up being available here.

The Sport Bucket thing makes no sense, since the same seat was used in the 997. I'm very suspicious that this is a PCNA decision, not a certification issue. Regardless, it's stupid.

sunnyr

I was talking about the GT2 seats which I thought have side air bags.

mdrums

I am so disappointed...MAJOR FAIL FROM PORSCHE for not offering the Sport Bucket seats on a track orientated car!

I local dealer put in a order for a 991 GT3 for me...no obligation. I just told him to forget it due to not having these seats which on the track even at my level are an absolute must have.

I can't put aftermarket seats in the car and delete the side impact air bag system because with insurance company's that is considered as tampering with a federally mandated car safety system. If I was to get in a accident on the street my insurance would be VOID.

mdrums

Oh yes the the so called GT2 Sport Bucket Seats have side impact air bags. I have them in my 2012 GTS. No problem with those and street insurance. they are tested and a stock factory seat and maintain the air bag system as working per DOT federally mandated safety system.

NJ-GT

This is really bad for the track crowd.

PCA forbids the use of 5 or 6 point harnesses with standard seats (with no routing for the upper harnesses).

The cost of the Euro Sport Bucket Seats + Rollbar + Fire Bottle + Harnesses + track brake pads + new race brake fluid + Installation + Taxes can get close to $15k. Add 19" wheels and real track tires, and the number moves to $22k.

With an out of the door price of near $150k with basically no options other than front axle lift (as it should be ordered), and another $22k on basic preparation, a $170k Carrera GT3 doesn't look like a great deal anymore.

$170k buys a clean 3.8GT3RS with all the track prep, and money left for a spare race car, or Cayman/Boxster.

At least PCNA and VW are showing their true colors, on what's the intended market for this car.

Nizer

I suspect the Sport Buckets are being held back for the RS because Porsche is hard pressed to deliver real substantive differences with the new car while RS buyers have consistently asked for more differentiation between the plain vanilla GT3 and the RS. Whether that's a PAG or PCNA decision who knows.

They do. There's no D.O.T. or insurance issue with Sport Buckets (GT2).

hakaida702

I believe that they do have side air bags, but I have this feeling that it won't play nice with the seat harness.

I really wish that they had a pdk option for the 997.2 gt3. I would've gone with that over the gts.

Yeah I know that sounds lame, but I have permanent cervical injuries that makes shifting very uncomfortable and that is no fun. I have bad pain just sitting here posting. There has to be others with worse physical challenges that would've like the pdk in the 997.2 gt3. I just don't like this 991 gt3 for many reasons. Maybe I'll get one more surgery done and hope that it fixes my problem instead of making it worse (entirely possible) and pick up a '10 gt3/rs if I can shift comfortably again.

The rear wheel steering is the biggest fear for me. I am not skilled like many here, but love to hit the track whenever the local pca has an event going like last weekend. Either rear wheel steering is going to be the greatest thing ever or possibly the worst.

C.J. Ichiban

I thought my imaginary MSRP would be a lot worse- but it was 139k on the config.

I'm pretty intrigued about the active steering and the "racing PDK" stuff but would rather just wait for an RS anyway. I realize that a lot of us with tons of track experience are hesitant to embrace the new tech but lets face it when the 3.8 came out it was, out of the box, a much better handling, much better performance car. Just like the 997.1 was way more liveable and neutral then the 996Gt3.

We lose a little of the frightening handling on the limit with each generation in exchange for a more approachable limit...

FastLaneTurbo

Can anyone who has actually used the "Front Axle Lifting System" on the 997 GT3 or RS please advise what importance level (1-10) you would give it. Many Thanks.

paver

It's pretty flat terrain all over Florida, right? You won't have much to worry about w/o it.

Chances are you will get the occasional scrape somewhere though. If that is unacceptable, get it.

If it's a track car, you say f*** it. It's gonna scrape, you probably have a cup lip anyway, when it's trashed you replace it for $150.