911rox

No doubt Macca, these technologies should and will filter down... They'd be crazy not to use a PDK-S like box in all pdk cars or the upgraded steering feedback of the GT3 but there in lays the issue for the GT platform in 3 years time... What does it have over the rest of the fleet to justify price???

IMHO, VW had two options for this platform, leave it low volume, niche and motorsport based for those enthusiasts wanting to flog their car on track OR go large volume, broadened appeal and give the masses what they think they want... In affect, they've sat on the fence by building a car more customers want at the expense of a core group of enthusiasts yet limited supply so severely that they alienate both ends of the customer spectrum...

Indeed, allocations to markets like yours and mine are ridiculous... It's like they don't want to make money on this platform despite making every necessary change to ensure huge success (except QC obviously ). Any one got a manual to the German mind???

redleg321

We've been told that PDK-only is the way of the future because easy speed, broad market desire and that it'll add customers. Well, I'm not sure more customers are being generated when we're damn near at March 2014 and there's only 785 MY2014 GT3's on the planet (minus the crashed and burned ones so it's less).

So in the end we get a mandatorily less analog car with a less special engine as we were promised speed and all-time-high sales, but the sales numbers clearly aren't there, so Porsche loses. The traditional analog experience is allegedly impossible to engineer into the car, so the classic GT3 aficionado has lost.

Finally, the reliability isn't there as evidenced by recent events (yes I know, new platform new problems--still my point stands) so that's a loss for both Porsche and the customers.

So the speed is there but it would be there with three pedals and a race engine as well. You'd just, you know, actually have to have some skill to reward yourself with said speed. The reliability: not there (for now). A race engine? Nope. An analog experience? Forget it--not optional. Sales? 785 as of late-February 2014.

Yep. I don't get it either.

/rant

Full disclosure: I'm still getting one.

Macca

Next gen they will just have a GTS product. This will be the last gen of GT3 and rightfully or wrongly it will be recognised probably as the fastest and most accomplished downstream. People forget about recalls fast like they did the leaky 964s and the 993s that burned to the ground due to wiring harnesses Porsche recalled 8 years after production!

That's my prediction and it probably will be wrong. I think Porsche meant to kill the GT3 last gen but still hadn't mapped their Motorsport future and increasingly that looks like if will be with a different engine and chassis config in a few years time.....

911rox

Redleg, you must keep in mind that there's a huge number of dealers with far more people on lists than car allocations to fill... There are 785 cars because Porsche for whatever reason are severely limiting availability. I bet there would be 2000-3000 or more cars on the road by now albeit to a different kind of customer to before...

Agree completely with your further comments and this was the gist of my post above, why give up a unique and niche market they held almost exclusively which has worked so well for so long and yet not increase volume to accommodate the broader market now that they've succumb to what they perceive the market demands??? ...

silverrules

Feel lucky to be owner of 1/785 for now. Be happy guys.

wanna911

Then what is Porsche going to race, or better yet, what race car is Porsche going to sell to make billions???

They surely aren't going to base a race car on a GTS (that would horrible business sense)

They sure don't seem to be planning to withdraw from GT racing or stop making tons of money from motorsport.

They also don't seem to be developing a replacement.

I would say there is a 100% chance they aren't leaving racing.

This is counter intuitive to Porsche's business model, and secondly wouldn't make sense for Porsche to do. Why would they not advertise a quicker shifting PDK than a base 911, a little more hp from pretty much the same motor now, a wider version of the same body, sporty wheels and a few other tweaks and slap a GT3 tag on it and sell it at a premium?

It makes perfect sense for them to keep on doing what they are doing. They have successfully obliterated the cost of manufacturing a GT3 vs a 911 by using a similar motor and pretty much the same gearbox. It's almost to the point of aftermarket tuner, and add money to the bottom line. It also gives them more flexibility for homologation and provides a motorsport connecting name, which for the vast majority of customers is all they need (the same name).

It's easier than ever for Porsche to make a "GT3" model and make more money with fewer and fewer changes from the entry 911's. No reason for them to stop doing that, especially if the goal is profit.

Mike in CA

Letting all the other speculative opinions I've been reading here go, I just have to add this, as it's something that can be logically deduced, not just guessed at.

In a good year, Porsche builds around 10,000 911 models of all types. The GT cars have typically represented about 10% of the yearly mix and in fact that was the stated goal for the 991 GT3. The car has only been in production for 6 months and in that time Porsche has delivered almost 800 GT3's which is well ahead of projections.

Not only would having 2000-3000 cars in customer's hands in 6 months make this model one of, if not the biggest sales success in Porsche history, there's no way in hell that Porsche even has the capacity to build that many GT cars on top of their other model demands. And shifting production priorities is not something that can be done in a few months time as building the cars trails marketing, customer orders, supplier capacity, and tooling, among other things.

The bottom line is, Porsche are selling as many 991 GT3's as they can possibly build; there is no artificial shortage, only an excess of demand.

rave426

Agreed. I don't see how anyone can say the 991 GT3 has been a sales dissapointment. It fact it is well above the rate of the previous GT3s. The issue is that I'm not sure that is a good thing.

Mike in CA

The point I was responding to was that supposedly Porsche was artificially limiting 991 GT3 supply and based on historical numbers, they clearly aren't. As to whether the excellent sales of the 991 GT3 are a good thing or not, that's subjective and could probably be argued for a while.

Ken B

Oh yes, we saw $40K over here in Phoenix.

I did contact the dealer that posted that they had a car, they want $15K over MSRP. I told them to contact me when they come down to MSRP.

I also contacted my local Dealer and asked them to contact me when they meet MSRP.

Right now you can't touch many cars GT3, Turbo, TurboS because they just arn't available. However if I wanted to order a 911S they have a slot for me today.

As it was When I ordered my 981S I had to wait 2 months for an allocation but I did manage a 5% discount. It was the first they offered at the time.

As for the GT3 RS, it's going to be most likly exceed what I want to spend for my track/fun car. I set my budget at 140K and at MSRP the GT3 hit it.

TRAKCAR

I say the days of over MSRP on new 911's any 911's are gone.

mooty

i hope you are right, b/c i have one on order.
let this be the last gen, then i can move to cayman where the einge is wehre it needs to be... or maybe 960 should i win the power ball tomorrow.

TRAKCAR

Cayman GT is already here, 350HP, 6 speed.
Should be beating up 996 GT3's and those are plenty fast enough for DE's.

mooty

i see that my smartness is rubbing off on you
i flog a 996gt3
and my deposit has been sent for CGT (cayman GT/S, relax, not carerra GT)

if you just chop off a foot of your legs, you might fit the cayman!

TRAKCAR

I always follow your lead, I thought your for 4.0 was sold....

Old ones don't fit, but the new ones do!
The old ones can fit with race seats and modifications, Mjenk fits in one for racing but for DE I'll take a new Euro delivery stripper.