Chris Harris - Porsche 991 GT3 RS
 

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hTLk1rU_ZI"]Porsche 991 GT3 RS on road and track - Chris Harris on Cars - YouTube[/ame]

Looks like an amazing car. One of my friends I track with already placed his order. Hoping he'll let me take it out for a few laps!

I do wish it came with a manual option though.

I fully understand this sentiment but I am hypothesising that at this level of performance manual gear changes take too long. Not that it matters in real life but in comparing performance figures against other marques. It might also be the case that an auto box is easier for the ecus to deal with. This is all conjecture on my part.

Given that 98% of buyers want an auto box I guess it doesn't make economic sense for a manufacturer to have to deal with a manual box option.

I think you hit the nail square on the head. Porsche probably recognized the manual gearbox would be a detriment to its performance (unacceptable for a GT3 RS) and took that option away from buyers.

Maybe I'm not hard-core enough for this car (also not really the target audience either ;)), but I'd be willing to give up a second on my laptime for a good manual setup.

If I won the lottery the GT4 seems to fit my wish list: manual, not stupidly powerful but still challenging.

Who am I kidding? I can't even utilise all of my BRZ :( but the GT4 is my dream car. I love the way Chris Harris makes fun of having 3 pedals and a stick in his video.

Haha you know, I was a seriously considering emptying my retirement savings to buy a GT4 Cayman. Thank God Porsche sold out its US allotment because I probably would have made the best stupidest decision in my life. :lol:

The Cayman is dead sexy. If I folded the bank I would definitely think about getting one.

Yeah, I used to LOVE the 996 and 997 GT3 RS, but the new GT3`s with PDK only, it hurts me. I get performance and things like that, but numbers aren`t everything really. I think all of us that love the FRS and BRZ, if you used to be a numbers lover, are no longer numbers lover. I never did like the Cayman very much, but they have now become my favorite Porsche. As much as I would LOVE the 9000 RPM of the GT3`s or 8800 of the RS engine, I would rather have the GT4 with manual box and the huge grin of heel-toeing.

I respect the GT3 performance, as I respect the Nissan GT-R, incredible cars, but just too serious.

My thought exactly.

This.

Am I the only one that feels like if "numbers aren't everything" you should just get a 911 GTS or one of the Cayman options?

Not to mention 90% of the people complaining about there not being a manual option offered will never purchase a GT3, RS or not, even if there was a manual option. Especially not new where it really matters to Porsche.

Holy smokes, they went nuts on the body! A little too busy for my taste, I wish the front fender vents were a little less crazy looking lol, but crazy can be a good thing on a car like this.

One thing I don't get is why people bother manually shifting on a track with a PDK. The paddles are pretty hard to use if the wheel is turned, and if you want to drive as fast as possible it would be better to just let the computer shift at just the right time. These engines rev up so fast and the shifts are so fast you don't need to keep the rpms high manually, just stomp the pedal and go.

Using some paddles or buttons or pushing the stick up and down isn't anywhere near as fun as a real manual.

For Ch? Because slides. PDK will bang off the rev limiter all day if you don't pull that up paddle unlike most paddle shift boxes. Also have a 'clutch dump' mode where you pull both paddles and let go if I recall.

It's more like a sequential box in a race car than anything. I find them just as fun in their own way. Mostly because of how insanely fast the shifts are.

No no, I meant put it in full automatic mode...it should still apply power in a slide no? I've banged the rev limiter in manual mode on a PDK car before, but I haven't tried sliding a PDK car in auto mode yet.

I'm saying, if you want a good track time you might as well put it in full auto mode, because you'll never short shift or bounce off the limiter that way.