Folks-

As you may know, I am trying to decide between a 996GT2 and 997GT3.

I drove a GT2 recently, and I did not find it hard to control, but I have had a great deal of seat time. I also want my wife to drive it at the track and around town (she has track experience).

Everyone I talk to says that I am nuts to even consider this car. The dealers are the worst, and seem to know the least.

How bad can this be? Does anyone out there that drives this car both on track and street provide feedback? Thanks in advance.

 

If the driver has skill and experience AND the car is properly aligned, etc.... a GT2 isn't any more challenging than a well modded early 930. I think all the talk is that the 996tts and all will save the incompetents and inattentives from themselves. The 996 GT2 will definitely allow you to hurt yourself if you do something stupid. Some people have grown up on the new babysitting Porsches and don't understand that it can be hugely rewarding to have to use skill to control a high performance Porsche. I cannot speak to the 997 GT3 side of this as I have no experience exploring their limits. I wouldn't mind one of each but not enough to sell my older 911s. Good luck and judging by your list of cars I would say ignore the scare talk and buy whichever one you like.
JR

 

I agree. I've had powerful cars for two decades and allowed the "fear" of power and expensive damage potential scare me into keeping PSM turned on this year at the track. I think that if you are used to driving aggressively at the track, and slowly warm up to "racepace", you should be fine.

What's funny is when I tracked my C5 vette I never left the pits without turning off TCS. This coming year I plan to run the season without PSM. I've got 13 days tracking the car in its current configuration in 2007 and expect that next year I'll be much more used to the feedback the car provides.

Mike

 

some times you don't have to be stupid, if you like pushing the limits, the GT2 will goad you into thinking all is well.........then bam! see ya! if you like to push the limit and go over you will get bit sooner or later. caveat emptor. I have seen experienced track divers and race drivers push the GT2 and get bit. ok see you at the track!

btw, I have learned to always leave my psm on! even on the track, it is not invasive only if you are hacking, or if your suspension is out of whack.

 

As I said in several threads/posts when I first got my car and in recent topics, I won't say the car is overhyped as being so scary, but rather has an aura around it that people stick by with absolutely no first hand experience with the car at all.

The car when pushed at its limits is where it gets scary/a bit hairy in stock config IMO , at least from my experiences. The car setup with a new suspension and alignment gives so much more feedback and is much easier on the drivers nerves, so much so that you can take it out on the backroad twisties and have a blast without thinking about the back end whipping out at any given point.

People who get in the car after all they have heard are so surprised on how civil it can be just driving around normally, its the real jeckyl and Hyde for sure

Bottom line is it all depends on the person to make the judgement, and that could be based on experience with previous cars or just their nerves, to me it was what I need after my stripped wild m3, not the 996tt! And the psm is not needed at all, the grip is so immense that it can be mind blowing .

 

yes, I get sweaty palms just thinking of pushing a GT2 to the limit.

 

Oak I've been at some high limits with this car on and off track, and knowing my friends who actually races and took me in his viper gts acr, I can only imagine it was nowhere near the cars actual limits but rather MY comfort level on street tires hah. Again its scary to think what the car can really do, I would sayivs been all out in the car at 8/10's and it was surreal.

 

This is a highly subjective and debatable topic. I know of atleast two other GT2s who are typically driven at every event in PCA's Potomac Region without a single issue, and typically the one driver runs with or faster than 996/997 cup cars.

My other track car has no TCS, no ABS, and is about 1000# lighter than a GT2. It also makes about the same power as a GT2... lions and tigers and bears Oh my! It boils down to what choices each of us want to make.

Oak, TCS absolutely interferes in Vettes, and I'd bet dollars to donuts that in the hands of a capable driver PSM is the slower way around a course. I'll certainly try it out this coming year and I'll time the two. If there's no advantage to running with it off, I'll turn it back on. But I tend to think PSM is impacting lap times.

To each, his own...
Mike

 

oh, no doubt in the hands of a proffesional I'm sure he will be albe to clock quicker times. but in the hands of us mere mortals it won't make any diff. psm rarely ever kicks on for myself, only if I get way, way out of control or if the wheels get air unevenly.

 

there's a reason why if it's intruding. I wonder how many crunched GT2 GT3 could have been saved if psm intruded? so many lost already. I wonder what the attrition ratio in comparo to the turbo is. I'm sure the GT2/3 is much higher than the turbo.

 

Man I'm glad we live in America, where we can make these decisions ourselves!

Mike

 

mike, If you are racing the turbo, I'm sure as you know the primary killer is the weight of the turbo not the psm. If your psm is kicking well under the threshold of being in control, I suspect something maybe askew with your suspension setup causing premature intrusion. wr is quicker around the ring w/psm on.

 

After 6 months of GT2 ownership, I finally got a chance to take it to the track earlier this week. After hearing all of the "widowmaker" stories about the diabolical GT2 and how quick the back-end would come around, I was a bit nervous to say the least.

All I can say is WOW!!!!!!! - I was pleasantly surprised!!!! I found the car to be very predictable and fun near the limit. With the 2wd and no TC, I found it very easy to steer with the throttle - in fact it was much easier to drive under power than when off the power.

I happen to have quite a bit of experience in driving older 911's and I also had my car set to Euro ride height, corner balanced and aligned. This no doubt helped, but all in all, I found the car to be pretty easy and fun at the limit. Just my $0.02!!!!

 

Oak, PSM rarely kicks in for me, and I'm running respectable times on the courses I run. I'm not running anywhere near cupcar times though. That said, I'll experiment a little this year and see what happens. In other platforms traction control becomes very intrusive once the slipangle limits are met. PSM doesn't seem as intrusive, so maybe you're right, but I'll still try it this coming year.

Mike

 

Where is LuisSr to tell us.

He Concours his GT2 as well as does some serious track days.

His experience would be valuable from a mature viewpoint.

I am with OAK (and would love to have one), so unless you are Walter,
Lieb, or Bernhard do not fool yourself into thinking you are in full control.

PSM save my life at Road America.

MK