doubleurx

^^ Old school Internet forum.

Karl911

I just recently had an oposited experience. I was in my brothers MB S550. Stupid stalk Park button. I was just going to jump out of the car to switch drivers and I pushed in the P button and jump out of the car still running.heard a noise and the car glanced of some beater car, and was driving away down the street. I had to run after it for about 300 ft away already! Jump in drive side and stopped.
SO IT IS A PROPER SAFTEY FEATURE😱

Nizer

The electromechanical steering on the 991 GT3 doesn't offer the level of feel of the prior hydraulic system. That happens to be not only my opinion but the opinion of most reviewers. Yes, for an electromechanical system it's good and so far the best of all similar systems that I've driven, but it's still not as good as what it replaces in terms of feel.

It also doesn't offer the level of feel that the 991 GT3 Cup steering system offers, which uses an electric motor to replace the pulley-driven, engine-mounted pump but retains the normal hydraulics at the rack. The 991 Cup's system provides the parastitic drag reduction benefits (better fuel economy, lower emissions, etc.) of the 991 GT3's electromechanical system without the electronic filtering that can lead to loss of feel.

The question I keep coming back to is why didn't Porsche use the system from the Cup car? It appears to offer most if not all of the upside with none of the downside. I suspect it has to do with parts-sharing and future integration of programming that incorporate more active steering applications. If anyone is interested in actual discussion - as opposed to vacuous comments and name calling - I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

mundman

Just don't see as a useful safety feature. I don't get it! What is the thinking? Will it do it in drive at speed and send you into a skid that will put you into a tree? I'm really not worried about the car running away in reverse. Not to offend anyone here but I think that a normally developed human brain can handle this!

Mike in CA

My personal opinion is that there is a certain amount of hair splitting involved in the EM steering debate. Not only is the steering universally considered to be the best EM steering out there, it's as good or better than almost any hydraulic steering I've experienced. IMO, most of the perception about reduced feel comes from the lack of twitchiness compared to earlier iterations. The 964 had less kickback than my 3.2 Carrera (boy, did people complain when Porsche adopted power steering), and became more refined down the line through the succeeding models all the way to the 991 and 991 GT3.

While the kickback was an interesting feature, and we became used to it and expected it in a 911, it didn't really provide additional useful information. The ability to feel the road, the build up of force in a corner and the overall weighting and precision are all excellent with the new system. More subtle in some ways, maybe, but all the necessary information is still there. I wonder how much complaining there would have been if Porsche had told no reviewer that the steering in the new car was EM, but simply an ongoing refinement of the existing hydraulic system?

As for why Porsche didn't use the hybrid steering from the Cup cars, I'm sure you're correct that the need to develop a system that could be used across platforms, as well as cost and a desire to reduce complexity and maintenance were big factors. We can't forget that Porsche is building a mass produced car to a price point and has been incredibly successful given that the result is more than competitive with other designs costing tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars more.

My thoughts on this subject, FWIW. Sorry to interrupt the parking brake discussion....

ipse dixit

Yeah, what Mike said.

As an aside, I used to own a 2004 Infiniti G35 Coupe, and it's hydraulic steering is certainly no better in terms of feel or feedback than the this clunker GT3 than I'm slumming around in these days.