Diablo Dude

Did anyone read the driving impressions of Johannes Van Overbeek in the October issue of Excellence?

He took a 992 Touring of a friend of his for a "break-in" drive that lasted 3 days in NorCal, from the Bay Area up the Pacific Coast, through the Trinity Alps. and then back to the Bay Area.
He spent most of his driving time under 6,000 rpm. He was quite critical about quality control issues (carpeting gaps and trim pieces buzzing and rattling) and said that the car was absurdly loud, especially over broken pavement.

The Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tires sounded like a "jet engine spooling up".
But perhaps his most critical point was how the car's dampening feels off.
He said that the . . .

"GT3 doesnt hesitate, but in low lateral, pitch, and heave movements, it's dampening feels off. Either the semi-active dampers arent quick enough to control the initial spring energy, or the dampening setup overcompensates by going too stiff too quickly. Either way, the result is the same: a very harsh ride over bumps. Once leaned into the corner, it worked great, but it doesnt at first. Frankly, that is unacceptable for semi-active dampers. It's like having a fuel-enjedcted engine that runs rough in a certain reve range. The whole point of electronics is making it near perfect from start to finish. So dont buy the 'race car for the street' explanation."

I actually had to re-read the article twice just go make sure that I was in fact reading the comments by the top non-factory Porsche driver in the world (2007) when Overbeek won the Porsche Cup award.- - - Was he expecting something "softer" because it was a Touring?

Any thoughts on his comments?

colnagoG60

My $0.02, "Porsche engineers know what they are doing." That said, seems like the same "observations" have been made regarding multiple Porsche models, over multiple generations. "That" said, I had similar observations regarding my 981 GT4. I changed the PASM controller, and then (2) settings values, and my car no longer had those same behaviors.

As always, YMMV.

GrantG

Did they mention whether he had the unreasonably high standard tire pressures (or perhaps even higher for a newly delivered car)?

Diablo Dude

He didnt mention that.
But that was my very first thought.

rosenbergendo

Pirellis that we’re overinflated!

GT3Laguna

Agree. $100 says the tires were over inflated. While calling the car “bumpy” is probably not totally unfair I can say this car has better damping and rides smoother over rough payment - driving fast or slow - than my 991.1 C2S. And many way less performance oriented cars. Which shocked me given all the other comments I’ve read like his that the car was unacceptably harsh, especially because the 991 had rubber bushings and this car is all metal ball joints (in the totally new front suspension of course)!

I’m no factory racer. Not close. But i can hustle a car around curvy roads/tracks. I have driven my touring 10,000 miles over the last 4 months, a couple of advanced group track days, and many very hard/fast canyon runs. I can tell you the Pasm is much faster to react in this car than the Pasm in older 911s. worlds better. And the damping and chassis tuning is incredible. In fact I’d go as far to say this is the most impressive thing about this car. To me. More than the engine, or even the new turn in ability (enabled by new front suspension), which is saying a lot.

Is he just talking about harshness in turns? Wasn’t clear to me. I could possibly see that if you decided to switch from fairly easy driving to very hard driving, mid turn, you could maybe feel something like what he’s talking about, where you’ve effectively fooled the computers for a split second, but I think you’d have to really be trying to manufacture a feeling like this.

or maybe he was using track chassis on really poor roads?

If it’s not that or high tire pressures, I’m officially perplexed.

TRZ06

BMW and Porsche REALLY, REALLY, REALLY need to give up on their in house outdated shock technology and move to the superior Magnaride dampers that most high end MFG. (and low end for that matter, ie Mustang) are moving too.

There is just no equal for a do it all damping system.

GrantG

Let’s wait to see how the new RS shocks are with compression and rebound adjustment for each axle on the steering wheel - potentially a big advancement…

Spyerx

I felt same about my 981gt4. And a few other newer Porsches. Over sprung and under damped. In this case high speed compression.
My old 981 spyder felt fantastic.
I haven’t driven a 992 gt yet.
718 or whatever the generation is lol gt4 felt pretty good.

groundhog

The reality is Porsche do an amazing job to give a car like the GT3 such a broad range of use - however, the spring rates have continued to creep up and now sit at 100N/mm front and 160N/mm rear. The valving for the damping has to be calibrated to the spring rates and as a result the car is going to behave accordingly, particularly on 35/30 profile tires.

If you want a car thats capable of sub 7 minute ring times and speeds up to 250kmh at your local track there are compromises to be made.

The answer is simple, if you want a RWD Porsche with a broad performance envelope, that is comfortable on the street get the 992 GTS - its a fantastic car. Alternatively, consider the 991.2 GT3 Touring - as a street car you're not really giving up anything to the 992 GT3, perhaps newer infotainment if thats your thing.

AlexCeres

The TTS is also fantastic for a broader range of driving needs, quieter, and has more useful torque.

I really don’t get the appeal of ragging on an NA engine for behaving like an NA engine. If you want turbo, just go choose that already. No need to write about how you chose the wrong tool for the job

edub

It seems unlikely, that if I can notice the tire pressure difference of 2.3 and 2.0 bar, that someone with JVO's experience would not notice it immediately. Or at the very least when they flip through the dash and see the TPMS readings.

mooty

yes he is on.
the car feels underdamped. for lack of better term it pogo sticks on bad payment.
the ride is hard indeed
that said if you ignore it, it will stick and corner. no prob there.
but not elegant
JVoB put a set of incredible semi active suspension on my 73... now that long hood handles kinda like my various GT3RS's. so better dampers are out there, but we are spoiled.

mooty

u will in oct or whenever luft is.
pls let betim know he needs to align it while I am there, seriously.

but it is underdamped...
I ignore it, b/c I fly over speed bump anyways..

oh build qty...
yes it rattled more than 997, I knew that. so I ordered BOSE, I play it loud

exhaust sounds ok, but it drones. so you are not missing anything turning up the BOSE.

despite all that, I still like it very much. I have not sold it yet.

Spyerx

HHAHA yes. The tree root with the paint marks? Scary.

I’ll let him know Monday, hopefully swapping well neglected rs for well neglected 964.