A frill-free sports car that doesn’t dazzle with gimmicks, but rather rewards a skilled driver with outstanding handling
A firm stab at the brake pedal forces me forward onto the seatbelt as I line up the next hairpin turn. The tires’ drone over the pavement fills the gaps in sound as engine speed rises and drops past its crescendo with each gear change. The carbon-fibre reinforced seat creaks as my body loads it sideways toward the apex of the turn.
Steering response is responsive and direct; the engine revs up with astonishing speed; suspension is racetrack firm — this unruly beast requires expert-level control to exploit. The GT3 is a boisterous enabler that tempts delinquency, and it’s loud enough at speed in the cockpit that one might even ponder wearing earplugs. You won’t be loading luggage for a cross-country trip, because this, my friends, is a driver’s car. And I’m completely in love.
What’s new with the Porsche 911 GT3 for 2025?
The Porsche 911 GT3 enters its first quarter century of production this year, and for the first time, you have a choice of two variations (aside from the highly specialized RS): the winged, track-oriented GT3 with its prominent rear wing, and the more road-friendly GT3 Touring with a retractable rear wing.
What powers the Porsche 911 GT3?
- Powered by a 4.0L H6 making 502 hp and 326 lb-ft of torque
The GT3 has been refined over the years into a formidable sporting road car. Power from its 4.0-litre flat six has crept up over the various generations, from the original 996’s 355 horsepower to this 992.2’s 502 hp. While that number is unchanged from the 992 GT3 that precedes it, we’re told it was very difficult to attain that number while meeting the most recent Euro 6 emissions standards.
The new regulations necessitated the addition of two more catalytic converters (now four) within the muffler, and revised cam profiles among other changes, changes which unfortunately also dropped peak torque to 326 lb-ft, about 15 lb-ft less than before. However, to compensate for this loss, both the manual and the PDK gearboxes now have shorter gearing. The trade off is slightly less top speed; the benefit is harder acceleration through the midrange, which means the new GT3 matches the previous model’s zero to 100 km/h time of 3.4 seconds when equipped with the PDK gearbox; adding the six-speed manual adds a half second. Although the added emissions components have added about 21 kilos, weight savings on other components have kept weight at 1,420 kg, just two kilos more than its predecessor when both are in their lightest iterations.
Redesigned head and taillights, and front diffuser and spoiler adorn the new GT3, and changes have been made to the underside to improved aerodynamics and increase downforce, the latter of which applies 140 kg of downward pressure at 200 km/h.
Suspension has been recalibrated, and a few suspension components have been borrowed from the RS. There’s also 25 mm more wheel travel at each corner, so the ride isn’t as harsh when hitting big bumps. Although the suspension is softer than on the GT3 RS, it’s nonetheless stiff, and better calibrated for turning fast laps at your local racetrack than dealing with bumpy side roads on the way to the cottage, However, it’s compliant enough that it won’t rattle your bones or knock your fillings loose on the road.
Interior features in the Porsche 911 GT3
- Lightweight carbon-fibre reinforced seats, digital gauge cluster
New, optional lightweight carbon-fibre reinforced seats fold to allow access to the rear, and the headrest pad is removable to make room for a helmet while lapping. While you can opt for rear seats in the Touring model, they are are more symbolic than functional, since there’s no way a normal human — even a small one — can contort enough to squeeze behind the front seats to get back there. The space back there makes a better storage area for your helmet while driving to the track, anyway.
The digital gauge cluster still features a large central tachometer that mimics an analogue gauge, but it gets a display exclusive to the GT3, which pares down information to what is necessary when ripping around a racetrack. And that’s exactly what I did after spending the morning on the road in a Touring model.
The Touring driven on the road had an increasingly rare six-speed manual. It’s a slick unit with short, solid shifter throws, and the shorter gearing prompted vigorous use of my right hand and left foot while negotiating a dizzyingly twisty and traffic-free road that snaked its way through the mountains west of Valencia, Spain, where Porsche launched the GT3 and GT3 Touring to media. Despite lacking cheater devices like no-lift shifting and rev matching, the gearbox is delightfully precise and rewarding to operate.
While speed limits put restrictions on the fun on the roads, no such constraints were present at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, where the afternoon was spent flogging a winged GT3 with a PDK gearbox. Cornering grip was high enough to make me appreciate the snug optional carbon seats, which are an absolute must if you plan on tracking a GT3. At extreme speeds it’s well balanced, oversteering more often through turns than pushing the front end, though surprisingly it will do the latter if provoked in the slower turns by sloppy corner entry, and what eventually proved to be track-ravaged tires.
While my nostalgic side connected spiritually with the six-speed manual in the Touring model (you can get either gearbox in either GT3), on the track, the PDK gearbox allowed me to focus on going fast. Porsche makes the best dual-clutch gearbox I’ve sampled to date, providing instantaneous response to steering-wheel paddle inputs, and super-quick gear changes. I said earlier the manual had no cheater devices — the PDK is a cheater device that will help you turn faster lap times.
I drove one GT3 with steel brake rotors, and later switched to another with option carbon-composite discs. Both braked ferociously without fading, though the carbon brakes had a firmer and more consistent brake pedal. Unless planning regular racetrack outings, you’ll be completely satisfied with the standard brake setup.
The latest GT3 is a rare bird. It’s a frill-free sports car that doesn’t dazzle with gimmicks, but rather rewards a skilled driver with outstanding handling, and a luscious sound that only a naturally aspirated engine can produce. It’s a genuine thrill to drive: exhilarating, visceral and hellishly fast, but also forgiving, which isn’t a natural trait for a rear-engined rear driver.
The GT3 and GT3 Touring arrive at dealers in the spring, with prices starting at $245,300.
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