Gt4 arrived to Brunswick today.
08-20-2015, 05:22 PM
#166
Guy with RS is one of the 918 VIP's and took delivery of GT4 same week as the RS. He was really enthusiastic about his GT4. RS is wicked but it's an ungainly looking car. Not a pretty car. mean looking and purposeful but the lines are too broken up. Perhaps better in darker color? Engine sound was quiet at low and mid revs. Wing is impressively large, as big as the 991 cup cars that were there. The tires on it are MASSIVE. Design wise the stance and lines of the GT4 are better to my eye.
GT4 on track was as I was expecting
Brakes: ceramics are very impressive. Excellent feel/modulation. great power. never got soft. better than my 991 with Pagid yellows. thrilled I got the ceramics (providing they last)
Handling: excellent. car is very stable and has more grip than 991 on corner entry and mid corner. 991 can put power down earlier out of corner. Feels planted, really good.
Gearing: the longer gears worked great on the track I was at. The slower corners had me exiting around 5200 in second gear so was always in power band. The taller gearing worked well for this track. I suspect that the taller gearing will be a liability at the hairpin at sebring. I'm guessing you will come out of that around 3500/4k in second and then it's a long way to get back on power. I guess you can downshift to 1st but that's always been a taboo. can you even do that?
Tires: sport cup 2's have great grip and didn't get greasy
engine temps ran middle of the gauges on a muggy august Florida night. cooler than my 991 ran.
Motor: they rated it at 385 and it feels accurate. This is not an underrated motor as the GT department insinuated in an interview. It runs out of breath the last 400 RPMs where my 991 pulled until redline. Car was around 3mph slower terminal velocity on back straight relative to 991 at a similar ambient temp.
On any track with a long straight I think lap times between this and a 991S would be similar. On a short technical course GT4 should be faster. There was a 991 GT3 on track and I had no problem keeping up in the tighter sections. On the back straight he walked away from me. Not even close. Feels like Porsche left 40 hp on table. It's really tempting to recapture that with Plenum/Throttle body/Headers and tune.
Issue is with the software tune what happens when you bring the car in for dealer service? I would think it would be read right off the OBD II that it was not stock software and the dealer would flag the car as modified ECU and you would be screwed if anything went wrong. If anybody has inside insight on this please share. Anybody work at a porsche service department know how they would handle that and if it would be picked up and flagged? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post.
Most importantly, car is really fun to drive. Chassis is lively and connected. All the mechanicals feel precise. It is a more engaging car to lap than my 991S was. It's a little disheartening that the power delivery isn't more impressive when everything else really is so stunningly good.
GT4 on track was as I was expecting
Brakes: ceramics are very impressive. Excellent feel/modulation. great power. never got soft. better than my 991 with Pagid yellows. thrilled I got the ceramics (providing they last)
Handling: excellent. car is very stable and has more grip than 991 on corner entry and mid corner. 991 can put power down earlier out of corner. Feels planted, really good.
Gearing: the longer gears worked great on the track I was at. The slower corners had me exiting around 5200 in second gear so was always in power band. The taller gearing worked well for this track. I suspect that the taller gearing will be a liability at the hairpin at sebring. I'm guessing you will come out of that around 3500/4k in second and then it's a long way to get back on power. I guess you can downshift to 1st but that's always been a taboo. can you even do that?
Tires: sport cup 2's have great grip and didn't get greasy
engine temps ran middle of the gauges on a muggy august Florida night. cooler than my 991 ran.
Motor: they rated it at 385 and it feels accurate. This is not an underrated motor as the GT department insinuated in an interview. It runs out of breath the last 400 RPMs where my 991 pulled until redline. Car was around 3mph slower terminal velocity on back straight relative to 991 at a similar ambient temp.
On any track with a long straight I think lap times between this and a 991S would be similar. On a short technical course GT4 should be faster. There was a 991 GT3 on track and I had no problem keeping up in the tighter sections. On the back straight he walked away from me. Not even close. Feels like Porsche left 40 hp on table. It's really tempting to recapture that with Plenum/Throttle body/Headers and tune.
Issue is with the software tune what happens when you bring the car in for dealer service? I would think it would be read right off the OBD II that it was not stock software and the dealer would flag the car as modified ECU and you would be screwed if anything went wrong. If anybody has inside insight on this please share. Anybody work at a porsche service department know how they would handle that and if it would be picked up and flagged? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post.
Most importantly, car is really fun to drive. Chassis is lively and connected. All the mechanicals feel precise. It is a more engaging car to lap than my 991S was. It's a little disheartening that the power delivery isn't more impressive when everything else really is so stunningly good.
http://www.wired.com/2015/07/117500-...r-thats-steal/
08-22-2015, 04:37 PM
#169
Drifting
^^
08-23-2015, 02:49 PM
#170
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Track session
Tracked car again this am. Engine feels to be opening up. Midrange feels less flat but still not as strong as 991S. Car was a blast this am. Temps got up to 92 degrees with what felt like 10000000% humidity. Oil and coolant temps never got past midway in their range. Ample excess cooling in this car.
Club professional Shane Lewis ran the car to give me some chassis setup advice. Car still has delivery alignment and no adjustments were made yet. For frame of reference he has competed and won many 24 hour races in various Porsches. He has been brought in by numerous race teams to assist with chassis setup. After driving the car on what was a brutally hot day he was really impressed by the GT4. Said is was the best handling/braking non dedicated race car Porsche he has driven. He felt only minor understeer in 1 corner (which by it's nature will cause any car to understeer). Felt car was basically neutral in other corners. He recommended doing alignment on car to maximize range of adjustment possible out of the box. He said to keep the roll bars in the stock middle position for now. On a future day he will bring a jack to the track and we can do adjustments at the track to play with the various settings. He agreed that the midrange torque feels a bit flat and that it ran out of air at the upper end of the rev range. It was a lot of fun being in the car and watching his line.
For my part the GT4 felt even better than last time. Engine seems to be opening up. The car will carry more speed through the corners than the 911 and will that exit speed coming onto the main straight I was able to match my terminal velocity in the 991. With the 991 my terminal velocity would change by up to 4mph depending on temps. Today being a worst case scenario so I expect it to be even quicker once the temps become more humane here. I have a friend who is a 260 lb gorilla and he cuts my V max by 2-3mph when he is riding shotgun.
Club professional Shane Lewis ran the car to give me some chassis setup advice. Car still has delivery alignment and no adjustments were made yet. For frame of reference he has competed and won many 24 hour races in various Porsches. He has been brought in by numerous race teams to assist with chassis setup. After driving the car on what was a brutally hot day he was really impressed by the GT4. Said is was the best handling/braking non dedicated race car Porsche he has driven. He felt only minor understeer in 1 corner (which by it's nature will cause any car to understeer). Felt car was basically neutral in other corners. He recommended doing alignment on car to maximize range of adjustment possible out of the box. He said to keep the roll bars in the stock middle position for now. On a future day he will bring a jack to the track and we can do adjustments at the track to play with the various settings. He agreed that the midrange torque feels a bit flat and that it ran out of air at the upper end of the rev range. It was a lot of fun being in the car and watching his line.
For my part the GT4 felt even better than last time. Engine seems to be opening up. The car will carry more speed through the corners than the 911 and will that exit speed coming onto the main straight I was able to match my terminal velocity in the 991. With the 991 my terminal velocity would change by up to 4mph depending on temps. Today being a worst case scenario so I expect it to be even quicker once the temps become more humane here. I have a friend who is a 260 lb gorilla and he cuts my V max by 2-3mph when he is riding shotgun.
08-23-2015, 03:20 PM
#171
Rennlist Member
Tracked car again this am. Engine feels to be opening up. Midrange feels less flat but still not as strong as 991S. Car was a blast this am. Temps got up to 92 degrees with what felt like 10000000% humidity. Oil and coolant temps never got past midway in their range. Ample excess cooling in this car.
Club professional Shane Lewis ran the car to give me some chassis setup advice. Car still has delivery alignment and no adjustments were made yet. For frame of reference he has competed and won many 24 hour races in various Porsches. He has been brought in by numerous race teams to assist with chassis setup. After driving the car on what was a brutally hot day he was really impressed by the GT4. Said is was the best handling/braking non dedicated race car Porsche he has driven. He felt only minor understeer in 1 corner (which by it's nature will cause any car to understeer). Felt car was basically neutral in other corners. He recommended doing alignment on car to maximize range of adjustment possible out of the box. He said to keep the roll bars in the stock middle position for now. On a future day he will bring a jack to the track and we can do adjustments at the track to play with the various settings. He agreed that the midrange torque feels a bit flat and that it ran out of air at the upper end of the rev range. It was a lot of fun being in the car and watching his line.
For my part the GT4 felt even better than last time. Engine seems to be opening up. The car will carry more speed through the corners than the 911 and will that exit speed coming onto the main straight I was able to match my terminal velocity in the 991. With the 991 my terminal velocity would change by up to 4mph depending on temps. Today being a worst case scenario so I expect it to be even quicker once the temps become more humane here. I have a friend who is a 260 lb gorilla and he cuts my V max by 2-3mph when he is riding shotgun.
Club professional Shane Lewis ran the car to give me some chassis setup advice. Car still has delivery alignment and no adjustments were made yet. For frame of reference he has competed and won many 24 hour races in various Porsches. He has been brought in by numerous race teams to assist with chassis setup. After driving the car on what was a brutally hot day he was really impressed by the GT4. Said is was the best handling/braking non dedicated race car Porsche he has driven. He felt only minor understeer in 1 corner (which by it's nature will cause any car to understeer). Felt car was basically neutral in other corners. He recommended doing alignment on car to maximize range of adjustment possible out of the box. He said to keep the roll bars in the stock middle position for now. On a future day he will bring a jack to the track and we can do adjustments at the track to play with the various settings. He agreed that the midrange torque feels a bit flat and that it ran out of air at the upper end of the rev range. It was a lot of fun being in the car and watching his line.
For my part the GT4 felt even better than last time. Engine seems to be opening up. The car will carry more speed through the corners than the 911 and will that exit speed coming onto the main straight I was able to match my terminal velocity in the 991. With the 991 my terminal velocity would change by up to 4mph depending on temps. Today being a worst case scenario so I expect it to be even quicker once the temps become more humane here. I have a friend who is a 260 lb gorilla and he cuts my V max by 2-3mph when he is riding shotgun.
08-23-2015, 03:33 PM
#172
6th Gear
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: São Paulo Brazil
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Congrats for the review.
Nice to hear that engine is opening up as I felt a little bit concern on the mid engine relative lack of torque. How many miles do you have now ?
Nice to hear that engine is opening up as I felt a little bit concern on the mid engine relative lack of torque. How many miles do you have now ?
08-24-2015, 09:22 AM
#173
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
did cold starting pressure of 27/29. gained around 5psi when hot. will try other settings but that seemed to work well. Going in for alignment Wednesday. Tires seem to be wearing evenly but will have a better view once it's up on the lift.
08-24-2015, 09:25 AM
#174
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 120
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Engine seemed to start opening up around 1200 miles. I wonder if the ECU somehow dials back some parameters until the 2k recommended break in is met? The two things that would help this engine are stronger mid-range torque and better airflow at high RPM.
Gearing is long on the street but worked great on my local track.
01-04-2016, 02:05 AM
#177
Instructor
Love the color
NOPDK, familiar w your 73 from ESR and have always loved it. Seeing your Carmine Red and the various colors it takes on in differing light conditions just about has me convinced to get CR, though I may not have the Luxury of that choice.