midcont

if the question is which one is a keeper, i think you have to say the 993tt.
arguably the high point of the marque. while the gt3 is a great great car, its been replaced several times over in the last 6 years while the 993tt represents a high point for the brand that has never quite been duplicated.
just look at the posts on this board. guys traded up from 996 gt3 to 997.1 to 997.2 and even the RS guys lined up for the .1 and .2 and now it looks like a higher hp version of the RS is just around the corner.
with the gt3's you have to keep playing catch up while the 993tt will just always be the no excuses classic.

pstoppani

They are almost too different to compare...

Both are equally rewarding for different reasons.

TT Surgeon

993tt is a special car.

ADias

If one looks reward... why 993? Turbo or NA? The 964 and the 993 are at the inflection point in the 911 evolution. Why not look further back to a 930 turbo, or mid-70s like this 73 RS clone, or a late 60s S?

silverboy

Like someone said earlier - if you wanna collect then the 993TT wins hands down. But since your heading is asking which is more rewarding - the 997 GT3 wins! Heck even the 997 GT3 RS beat the Scuderia in Evo's 2007 test for car of the year. You can't get closer than that. A AWD turbo cannot beat a RWD N/A IMO.

964C4

As I see, we may conclude:

- More rewarding to drive: GT3

- A keeper: 993TT

WAY

100% agree.

va122

agreed, you need both.

mooty

just BOTH?
no, you need 73RS, 964RS, 993 GT2 or RS, 993TT or TTS, 996gt3/rs, 997 gt3/rs.

they are just too many candies.

Snowboarder54

What Mooty said!

KINGSRULE

Any 993 variation is one of the most beautiful cars ever designed.

Any 997 will leave a 993 in the dust......

I prefer the more analogue and beautiful 993.........

Harold

Actually, for me, when pushed to the limit (at the track), the 993 doesn't feel more analog than a GT3, it just feels old, spongy, soft, and antiquated.... admittedly based on my 993C4S which is potentially the least driver oriented 993 of them all....

The GT3 gives massive feedback, and is so direct you actually feel what the car is doing and reacts to the drivers input with unparalleled levels...

As for the 993tt, I would still love one... but for analog driving..... nah, no 993 could ever compare to an NA GT3... and my GT3RS takes many standard 993TT's on the straights at the track... dont even talk about the corners... all with the gorgeous delicacy of a 2wd NA driveline....

Lookswise yep, the 993 is a winner though....

roberga

Coffee and cruise = 993TT
Track fun = GT3 996 or 997

OldGuy

I have owned both, and like you I have a 997.2 carrera but a 2 not a 4. Right now one year into it
I LOVE the C2S PDK. It has 3 cars in it. THE normal carrera, The GT3 like Car in Sports Mode, and the all out Track GT3 in Sports plus. Over all its a better all around. When I smoked a 2004 996 TT, that was it. THis is the car for me. All I need is an aero package. The car stops on a dime. It accellerates like a scaled cat in Sport mode. It handles better than any 911 I have had so far, and the PDK is just awesome. I LOVE the fact I can say I have owned TWO gt3s. But right now the one in the garage is the best!!!

Carrera GT

I've taken a 993 C4S and updated the dampers, bushings and "compliance" from nose to tail. It becomes a new car. And the chassis stiffness of the C4S is ample for medium slicks like the Hoosier R6. Given the benefit of state of the art dampers and springs, modern bushings and control arms, the 993 lacks nothing in performance and handling.

The engine is as flexible and tractable as the GT3, save for the gorgeous rpm limits. A modest project to build a 3.8 using 9m heads can bring the GT1 up to current day performance levels, but air-oil cooling will impose limits below the capabilities of the water-cooled heads. Or so I would imagine. 9m might be getting close to the kinds of numbers seen in the water-cooled GT1 in the 3.9 version. So, there's approximately equivalent power. Personally, I went with forced induction and a factory turbo engine, arriving to the ground in 2WD. the next project will be naturally aspirated.

Chassis geometry in the 993 is some ten years or at least two versions behind the pace. Fundamentally, they're not so far apart as all that, but I think it would a little too romantic to argue that any amount of updating can span that decade completely. The chassis stiffness and the control of the 2010 car is unequalled. But we are mortals and the 911 is, well, at the very least, immortal. I think both the 993 and 997 exceed human abilities. I've done the basics to improve the 993 and the results are spectacular. But the job is not to make the 993 a copy of the 997, what's the point? A smaller 997? Maybe. But that would be a third car and not a Porsche 911, it would be a customer or third party "tuner" 911. At some point, you're no longer driving a 911, you're driving something created by a different group of people.

I think the general question that floats around between the ears and the gonads of every 911 driver worth their salt, sooner or later, is to compare the last of the air-cooled (and give it the fair concession of being allowed the lastest suspension technology) with the apex of the water cooled -- anything from PDK Carrera to a new RS could be considered and compared.

Has Porsche built a better car or a newer car; something that has strayed away from the lineage of the 911 or something that has carried it forward?