i keep reading writeups about GT3s being (or at least "feeling") skittish at speed on the track. how they don't suffer the pavement imperfections well.

usually this is in comparisons with the 360 CS, which seems to do a stellar job at handling this stuff. i've heard this both from magazine/tv reviewers as well as individuals i've talked to that have driven both on the same tracks.

i've also heard that some notable chunk of GT3s are arriving at dealers with boned-up suspension settings.

curious to know if the latter is driving the former, as it were.

or is the GT3 just skittish at speed in turns over imperfect pavement? and if it just is (it just may be), is it ACTUALLY skittish or does it just FEEL skittish - if you know what i mean.

any feedback appreciated.

doody.

 

My car works great over bumpy roads. It's so great over bumpy roads, than people driving other cars comment how can this car handle those bumps so easy.

My Boxster didn't handle this good.

 

Doody -- My take is.... it just FEELS skittish. Don't worry, you'll love the GT3 -- it'll be the perfect complement to your existing stable.

 

When I first drove my GT-3, I felt the handling was less than impressive and at the time, worse than the X-73 suspension I had on my 996 X51. The car was very nervous, particularly around corners, wandered a fair amount, and did not handle rough/irregular pavement well. After that drive, I took it to an alignment specialist and found out that the toe settings were way off. The adjustments were the difference between night and day; the GT-3 handled beauitfully around and through corners, over bumps and some other rougher roads.

Based on my observations and some of the other R-listers posts', seems as though the GT-3 is very sensitive to alignment settings and if not aligned to the correct specs, can make an otherwise great car into a pretty average/medicore one.

 

Better tires and alignment greatly improve the car.

 

First few track days on smooth surfaces it was great, just keep pushing a little harder each lap. Last weekend at gingerman which is a bit rough this year car was very loose, snapped on me once under power tracking out of a corner, big surprise. Played with tire pressures all weekend and never got this thing to stick well. Cups only have about 14 heat cycles, however everyone using them felt they were not holding that well. You figure it out, I couldn't.

 

I have not had my car on the alignment rack yet but I would agree that the settings are way off. The first thing I noticed was that there is no positive caster at all in the front end and that is why you must continually correct just to keep the car going straight at 80 mph on the highway. The car also feels like there is a bunch of toe in at the front and the rear which gives the feeling that the front is always fighting the rear. On the other hand, my 996 C2 handles like a dream -PSS9's set neutral, supercup bars set neutral, -2 degrees in front, zero toe, .125" toe in the rear @ -1.8 degrees. I don't know how much caster there is but I do know that if you let go of the steering wheel when turning, the steeering wheel will center itself. The GT3 steering wheel stays right where I leave it, which is not so good. That said, I wouldn't even consider taking the GT3 to the track with the current, factory set up. I'm not an expert but I know what I feel and this thing is not even close.

 

My mechanic recommended not doing an alignment until 3,000 miles, when the springs had had time to settle.

 

Boy, that sounds like bad info. Springs to not require "time" to settle. They are in a perpetual (albeit very slow) state of collapse from the moment you put load on them. If anything, a little runtime to get the rubber bushings to settle into their position, but nothing like 3000 miles. Hell, your tires could be 1/2 worn out by then.

 

I think that is what he said. furthermore, he said something about an amount of mileage that Porsche would make you wait, before they would fit the bill. All this could have been in refference to the Cayenne though.

 

One thing I noticed was not the suspension setup so much but the way the locking differential performs. The difference between power on and power off is very tricky with even minor correction mid-corner causing a wagging effect.
I found that was the biggest thing to get use to. A really good driver will find this very rewarding, a mediocre driver may find it downright scary.