Tom, thanks for the feedback. My car is my main "practical" driver and will also be used for track days. I had gt3 seats in a boxster some years back and liked them a lot but since I am also using this car to commute over the mountains, access to the back is nice. I may put a roll bar in but would still use the back space quite a bit.
I am 6'3 and about 210, although I fit in the gt3 seats ok, I could use a bit more room, especially in the shoulders.

 

DGreen, do those seats have the adjustable lumbar?
Look great and very supportive bolstering.


Pics are awesome, please keep them coming.
Anyone tried Cobra seats??

 

So do most people run the oem seats?
Sure would like to see some more in car examples!

 

Well I know these aren't aftermarket seats, but I'm definitely a fan of OEM Sport Seats. They're easy to get in and out of, and definitely provide more support than the stockers.

A couple pics...

 

Adam,
I am with you on the oem sports seats. They are a great all around seat but cost even more than many of the aftermarket seats available.
Heres a pic of 993 hard back sport seats in my old school car.

 

How about this

 

Yeah, I love those seats but have not been able to bring myself to open the wallet THAT wide

 

GT3 seats ALL THE WAY! I use mine as a DD occasionally and much prefer the GT3 seats over the OEM sports

 

Have those in my 05 TT and had them in my 97 TT, a little tight in the
lat area. I liked my Pole Positions in my Speedster but a bit snug in the
*** area and not the easiest to get in and out of, although they were
great when I was single, if her *** couldn't fit she couldn't ride. Love
the 997 GT2 seats also but at 7K? Drove a 997 with the adaptive sport
seats, very nice being able to widen up the back.

RD

6'2'' 220 lbs, 34 waist 46 to 48 up top.

 

here are my alcantra GT3s

 

I love my GT3 seats.

 

I've bought a number of aftermarket seats for my cars over the years and can give first hand comments on the quality of some of them:

http://www.sparcousa.com/seats_street.asp
Sparcos fixed back seats vary from model to model. They're composite shell seats are well made for track use, but are just lke the Recarro in as far as they're tough to live with daily. Their recliners come in a wide range also, same as most seats. The one thing I don't like about the Sparcos in my buddies Zcar project is that the sun faded the red material.

http://www.corbeau.com/
Corbeau - I've owned the Corbeau A4 Reclining seat and it would fit well in the 996TT. They wear very well, provide plenty of shoulder support and side bolster for a recliner and come at an attractive price point... "Wide" drivers need not subscribe! Corbeau has a fairly decent product line of fix back and recliners and are worth checking out...


http://www.cobraseats.com/sebringpro.htm
Cobra - My buddy Jim has a Cobra H&N containment seat in his Z06 track car that fits us "big boys". Tom Kerr, We just lost an instructor recently up at Summit and the discussion was about the fact that a full containment "hans style" seat, like the Cobra unit I refer to here, and a hans device would have saved this driver's life. Something to think about! The quality seems on par with the Sparco seat my buddy has in his GT3.

http://www.kirkeyracing.com/
I've got a Kirkey Road Race seat in my Zcar track project. The Kirkey fits me much better than any seat I've used so far. It is an aluminum construction and is very well built, but not a good street seat. I compare its use to that of the GT3RS seats most of us use. Weekend or trackday use, but not daily driver friendly. It is about the same weight (maybe a pound or two less) as the GT3RS seat and costs about $500 with all hardware for mounting and the seat covering of your choice.

The key is to find a place that sells a variety of seats close to you and test SIT in them to see what fits you best. I'm fortunate to have OG Racing around the corner from where Im' working a couple days per week www.ogracing.com and CDOC www.cdoc.com 20 minutes from my home. Both have a wide range of seats on hand to test sit in. What works for one doesn't fit "all"... Just like shoes or other size related purchases...

I just took the GT3RS seats out of my car (same as Tom's and the others above). If you're using them in a daily driver and they fit "snug" on you, they will not wear well. Rivets on jeans with mark them, also.

My car is going back to more of a street trim for a while, so I bought Adam's stock heated seats, and will be installing them today.

I will likely sell the GT3RS seats and install a H&N style "halo" seat like the Cobra I reference above when I start tracking the 996TT again...

Mike

Mike

 

I wonder wow much of a pain would it be to use heated seats for DD duty, and swap them with Recaro fixed backs on track days? I'm finding that the stock heats is not holding me in place at all on the track, yet it's my DD car so I can't really justify putting in GT3 or Recaros full time ..

 

Nice watch Tom!

 

Thanks guys for the response and feedback.
Mike, special thanks for the exhaustive rundown on seats. Sorry to hear about the loss of the instructor.
I can see the value of full Hans set up, esp. as the track times and go down and exposure in laps goes up. For me, its really mostly mountain driving and not wanting to slide around. I also feel a bit like a school kid in the oem seat, as in its a bit too small all the way around and just not quite right. Being tall and long does not lend itself to the old "one size fits all" program!
I have the hard back oem sport seats from 993tt in my other car and they fit great.

I think swapping out to a full hans setup for track days would be a good choice.