C-gt3

Love, LOve, LOVE LAS VEGAS!!!
and my Man Krush on Steve Wynn never cease's to amaze me... my wife say's it's ok because well, he is Steve Wynn...
I did exotics racing in the past to test drive a few cars, so after recently selling my RS (to a private Rennlister) im trying to figure what my next car is...
still have a cayman r and its still a great car...
But i flew out there to drive the new 991 gt3...
i drove the 458 italia, the corvette ( which i now know ill never own one of those)
the R8, then the 991....
i drove the the gt3 last... did 8 laps in it... it is true, you need to drive a car first, or you should before wasting time fantasizing about it... ex.. corvette.. both the wife and i hated it and her girlfriends said im not allowed to been seen in the vette with a gold chain..
the 458 was the best sounding and shifting car... absolutely love it.. but if you dont track it and drive it hard and dont mind paying for the maintenance, it just doesnt make sense to me... we all love the look and brand.. i just dont feel like paying for it personally...
on the 991 gt3, i wasnt allowed to drive it and sport mode... i tried to give the guy a few hundo's to look the other way... no dice... then i said how about my wife flash you? he laughed ... he said even there not allowed to drive it n sport mode...
the track layout is good enough to get a feel for every car...
on the front straightaway.. i was able to 4th gear and redline just a little over 100mph in each car...
the gear box and sound in the 458 is intoxicating... the gt3 has a different sound and bang when shifting.. i really wanted the sport mode on for this...
did paddles on the gt3 and rode it in auto for a few laps..
i wasnt really interested in learning the proper race line.. i was just trying to hammer each car as hard as i could....
since tracking an RS for a few years i knew how to toss the car around..
the truth came in the laptimes... and it made me feel good when i got the results...
i wouldve assumed i was faster in the 458 till i got the times...
gt3 lap times was 55.3 ( i asked the instructor when we were done, what are pros and instructors times out here and he said 51s-52s)
458 was 56.9
c7 was 59.8
the r8.. no opinion on the car... theres a lag in the throttle response...
bottom line.. they have one to rent so go out there and test em out..
rent the lambos, 458, gt3,.. do at least 8 laps per car and dont drink heavy the night before...
at the end of my real conclusion... i will only own Porsche's for the rest of my life.. there were things i liked, and disliked but it's minimal...
i am now one of the people who just sold a perfect 997.2 RS and will regret for the rest of my life... but i had fun and did what i was supposed to with the car..
I will say this... on this particular track i missed the manual.. gt3's are meant to be manual... the suspension and handling of the car are superior ..
when you go out there to do your experience say hello to Mr Wynn for me.. and dont bother staying anywhere else... Steve is da man....

C-gt3

i guess i should follow up with my true observation...
for track driving, D E days, just all out reliable fun for the weekend events...
the gt3 is the go to car... to me its like the gixxer 1000... how do you go wrong...
at this point im on the fence with my cayman r.... a possible engine upgrade is on the table...
but for my next car if the cayman gt4 is a reality, i want one... signal green...
maybe a 997.2 gt3 for the right price
or i find any leftover allocations and start the process...
really want a signal green cayman gt4 with 420hp...

orthojoe

Thanks for posting your experience. I continue to hear disappointing things about exotics racing. They run overinflated street tires, they won't let you run out to redline and make you short shift (on a GT3??), and now they won't let you run in sport mode either (probably because it lets you run to redline). Dream racing has reassured me that they run OEM MPSC2 tires and will allow you to run all of the way to redline. Hopefully they follow through with their reassurances. I'll report back on my own experience with them next month.

neanicu

They also have a brake pedal on the passenger side. If you don't brake when they tell you,they'll brake for you. It's all BS!

C-gt3

they now have a permanent track.. the previous track was shared and had alternate layouts...
they built this track with some slight elevation and off camber section...
yes the instructor has a pedal, but you do a have a guy giving hot laps, and a cayenne doing ride alongs for the track instruction...
it was very rare that my instructor used the brakes for me other than i was passing almost everybody during my sessions.... lol
they have to have that brake for good reason at times... imagine the morons that go out there with zero experience.... i didnt have any issues... and my lap times were good...

Strimdog

Great thread guys! I'm headed there Friday and was planning on visiting exotics to toss around the GT3. I didn't even know about Dream racing so after visiting their website I'm going to try them out this Saturday. It looks like exotics is a touch cheaper but hell, if I can't run the car to redline I don't want to run it. Paying an extra $75 or so is well worth it IMO to run the car flat out.

Cuda911

I'm headed there this weekend. Driving to Vegas on Sunday, my track day is Monday.

neanicu

Regardless,they make you brake too early. If you've been on the track before,you'll know where to brake after you've gotten used to the track. I drove the Scuderia and that car is very capable!

shapiroeric

Thanks for the review.....I would agree that there is no sound (at least from cars I've heard) like the 458....it is just unreal.....For me it's not a DD for many reasons...I'm hoping the GT3 will be 80% of that excitement on a daily basis especially in Sport Mode and Sharkwerks....I've never tried the Vegas thing because all I've heard is negatives....

orthojoe

No way. I didn't know that. LOL. I can't say I blame them given the idiots that must show up everyday. I wonder if dream racing does the same. I didn't ask them.

Let us know how it goes!

Mech33

I had a great time at Exotics Racing driving the 991 Turbo, 991 GT3, and Cayman S. GT3 was the most fun by far, and is why I now have one on order.

I was able to get the guying the Turbo and the Cayman S to let me put it into sport mode, but the GT3 guy wouldn't. But knowing what I know now about the GT3, putting it in sport mode wouldn't have made a difference anyway for my driving that day on the track.

I didn't get a good look at the tires on the cars. Overall I had a good time and didn't go to Dream Cars because they didn't list a GT3 on their website. If they have a GT3, then I hear Dream Cars is overall a better track than Exotics Racing. Definitely do one of them when you're in Vegas either way!

C-gt3

after a lap or two, the instructor's are gonna know if you know how to drive or not....
i drove as hard as i could and went as deep as i could.. actually blew a few turns in the 458 and gt3, but i also did it on purpose... to feel some things out...
the only thing that bothered me was the constant verbal communication from the instructor... it was beyond non stop and very distracting .... but i can only imagine the people who show up to drive cars that are insanely fast and very costly...
the only other issue is all cars are auto mode.... but seriously, for a small amount of money, you get to drive a car you either want to buy or will never be able to buy....

also talked to a lot of the instructors about the maintenance of the cars... pretty interesting stories about some cars... and the cost to run em...
the gt3 only had 3300 miles on it and was rock solid... i asked about breakin period.. he said 50 laps on the track was the break in...
ask them how the c7 is holding up... lol

Dr.Bill

Exotics isn't bad. If you demonstrate that you know what you are doing, they let you drive pretty hard. I had to do a cool down lap after flogging the 458. Interesting side note - I noticed that all the cars that come standard with carbon ceramic brakes had cast iron rotors installed instead.

Just imagine - they take all who walk through the door and place them in some very powerful, very expensive cars. Some have never driven on a track. Some don't speak English well. Some may have been partying hard the night before, or the morning of. Of course they will be cautious. I wouldn't let a stranger drive my car like they do! Hell, there are very few friends I would let drive my car!

shawsan

New car, new instructor, new track .... all add up to huge information overload that can't possibly be processed to reveal a 'true' impression of a car. I have a 458 and a 997 Turbo S, have been to Racing Exotics, and won't go back because it's almost impossible to process all the input, especially with the instructor talking and directing you all the time, no rear view mirror, instructor braking at times, non-sport mode, and 5-10 laps on a little track. For the huge majority of participants, Racing Exotics is for people who revere fast cars, likely don't own one, and were given a gift or decided to splurge to video themselves in a 'roller coaster'.

llstuey

Not sure what you are talking about with "sport" mode - do you mean you were driving in automatic mode only and wanted PDk-s on?