996 GT2....ownership experiences? How dangerous?
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Yes, I track it regularly, and it has taught me a lot about proper driving and vehicle dynamics at the limit. It only lacks the punch in the back speed.
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for a beginner, or someone with the inexperience to push the car without knowing their limits, the car can quicky become a deathtrap. The gt2 is so confidence-inspiring that when you actually lose control, youre doing deadly speeds. Once you master it, it is a very rewarding car to drive. I would never drive the car in the snow, or the rain as the turbo is a far better car for that. I can tell you that I have had the tail out on my car many times and it is just as controllable as a neutral front engine rearwheel drive car like an M3 once you get used to it... Just stay away from harsh throttle inputs (both on the gas and off the gas) and try to be as smooth and fluid as possible. this will minimize the "snap" that most drivers comment about when driving the car.
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That is amazing! For someone with the thrill of all those accomplishments, yet has those types of words to say about a GT2 is short of amazing.
All I know is that I have to have one.
Thanks for the comparison!
All I know is that I have to have one.
Thanks for the comparison!
Here is my take on the GT2:
My experience is primarily 2 wheeled. I ran a string of 500hp turbocharged bikes and set many land speed records including on at 253mph at Bonneville.
My bikes can't compare to the rush of my GT2 (680whp) I've only had the car for 1 month now and I am very cautious while driving it. My friends have GT3's, 996TT Gt700 kits etc. and they don't compare to the kick in the pants that is the GT2!
Pull the trigger and treat the car with respect, enjoy.
My experience is primarily 2 wheeled. I ran a string of 500hp turbocharged bikes and set many land speed records including on at 253mph at Bonneville.
My bikes can't compare to the rush of my GT2 (680whp) I've only had the car for 1 month now and I am very cautious while driving it. My friends have GT3's, 996TT Gt700 kits etc. and they don't compare to the kick in the pants that is the GT2!
Pull the trigger and treat the car with respect, enjoy.
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its not scary at all its perfect!! and id like to add i cant wait to be done with work uncover the car and wash it.. ( even if its clean ) lol.... its an awesome car to drive and not dangerous at all if respected... now a z06 corvette in the cold weather with traction control off.... thats a widow maker!!!!.... oh and id like to suggest r compound tires!!! good luck !
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its not scary at all its perfect!! and id like to add i cant wait to be done with work uncover the car and wash it.. ( even if its clean ) lol.... its an awesome car to drive and not dangerous at all if respected... now a z06 corvette in the cold weather with traction control off.... thats a widow maker!!!!.... oh and id like to suggest r compound tires!!! good luck !
Anymore question? 
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Another thing that's different about the GT2 that I haven't really experienced in any other Car is that it seems to get faster the higher up the gearbox you go...
Get FULL on the throttle and PLANT your right foot; shift as fast as you can to keep the revs and the boost up...Second gear is fast (but short).. 3rd feels faster, 4th is getting serious and when you look down at your speedo, it's a shock... keep planted in 4th and shift to 5th.. HOLY @^i& !! how in the name of GOD did I get to THIS speed???? 6th comes up and if you still have your foot planted, the Car is STILL accelerating like a bat out of Hell... no letup, no pauses, no diminution of the crushing rate that speed is still accumulating at.
STOCK the 996 GT2 is good for either 197 or 198 mph (depending on which Magazine test you read)... THAT folks is insanely fast for an 8, 7 or 6 year old Car.. and again, that's STOCK. For a Car that was rated at 456 HP (488 for the 2004 and 2005 Cars) that's strangely, against the laws of physics fast. With just a 1.2 Bar tune, an exhaust with 100 cell cats and nothing else, it's crazy, loony, Tom Cruise Bat5hit level, NUTS fast.. It's the way it gathers speed above 100 mph that's just flat out shocking to me...
Quite the Car our 996 GT2.. quite the Car.
I know.. I am sick and need help.. I worship at the altar of boost and velocity.. I practice my evil heathen tendencies at the Cathedrals of speed like Laguna Seca, Infineon Raceway and Thunderhill.. I pray for forgiveness...
Get FULL on the throttle and PLANT your right foot; shift as fast as you can to keep the revs and the boost up...Second gear is fast (but short).. 3rd feels faster, 4th is getting serious and when you look down at your speedo, it's a shock... keep planted in 4th and shift to 5th.. HOLY @^i& !! how in the name of GOD did I get to THIS speed???? 6th comes up and if you still have your foot planted, the Car is STILL accelerating like a bat out of Hell... no letup, no pauses, no diminution of the crushing rate that speed is still accumulating at.
STOCK the 996 GT2 is good for either 197 or 198 mph (depending on which Magazine test you read)... THAT folks is insanely fast for an 8, 7 or 6 year old Car.. and again, that's STOCK. For a Car that was rated at 456 HP (488 for the 2004 and 2005 Cars) that's strangely, against the laws of physics fast. With just a 1.2 Bar tune, an exhaust with 100 cell cats and nothing else, it's crazy, loony, Tom Cruise Bat5hit level, NUTS fast.. It's the way it gathers speed above 100 mph that's just flat out shocking to me...
Quite the Car our 996 GT2.. quite the Car.
I know.. I am sick and need help.. I worship at the altar of boost and velocity.. I practice my evil heathen tendencies at the Cathedrals of speed like Laguna Seca, Infineon Raceway and Thunderhill.. I pray for forgiveness...
Last edited by 80shilling; May 12, 2010 at 11:15 PM.
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Great info
The 996 GT2 is most definitely a Car for seasoned drivers that have a decent level of skill.. If you have driven Shifter Karts, done a few dozen Track Days and are at the top of the fast group, have a ton of experience driving high HP Cars, or you have ridden Sport Bikes, you should be OK.
First, the warnings;
The Car is extraordinarily fast, it is light, it requires that you pay attention... In the wet, you need to really think about what you are doing.
This Car is one in which you cannot just mash the throttle wherever and whenever you want.. You have to plan ahead .. If you floor it in second gear on anything other than completely flat road, the chances are the rear end is going sideways on you, which is not a big deal if you are expecting it. Flooring it in first gear is just a complete waste of time.
If you plan on driving the snot out of it on public roads through the odd set of twisties, you will need to learn the Car in increments.. In a GT3, or most other Cars, you can get up to speed fairly quickly because the power delivery will be fairly smooth and even.. The GT2 delivers it's power with a bit of a bang.. you don't want it to come on full boost in the middle of a corner where you have your foot planted on the floor; so again, planning what you are doing and making sure you learn to apply the throttle gently, so the power comes on when you want it, is part of the lessons to be learned in driving this Car; throttle control is a major deal in this Car.
First gear is so short that it's just there to get you going from a stop.
The handling with the Car's geometry set exactly as it was from the factory, is a handful. They set the front end to understeer.. what they forgot was that if you are going into a corner too hot and turn in, the understeer will eventually stop, the Car will grip and then the rear end goes into snap oversteer.
The GOOD news:
The Car is extraordinarily fast, it is light... It has almost unlimited potential in terms of the amount of power you can extract from it and also in terms of the suspension and handling.
It comes from the factory with fully adjustable suspension.. Adjustable coilovers, 5 position adjustable swaybars, adjustable camber front and rear etc. If you get away from the diabolical factory settings and get the geometry set correctly, you will have a Car that handles as well as, if not better than almost anything out there.. (A 996 GT2 just won the One Lap OF America race, beating numerous Nisssan GTR's, Corvette ZO6's and other similar Cars). Even WITH the suspension sorted, the Car STILL requires your full attention, it will just be a lot more controllable and considerably more fun to drive.
I bought the 996 GT2, because I have spent my life riding Liter Sport Bikes, racing Shifter Karts and Cars and have been a race/driving instructor for the past 14 years.. Over the last few years, I have owned and driven almost every major performance Car on the market, including: ZO6's. Dodge Vipers, Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, Ferrari F430, GT3's, Audi R8 (I spent 3 days driving one to the limit at the Audi advanced Race School at Infineon/Sears Point), Lamborghini Gallardo's etc, etc and NONE of those Cars has given me the sheer rush that a Liter Sport Bike gives me.. BUT the GT2 is the closest thing to it that comes in a Car shape.
The GT2 is the Car that still makes my heart beat just a bit faster, gets my adrenaline pumping.. It lets me know it can bite me back if I'm not at the top of my game, YOU the DRIVER have to do everything.. no electronics to limit wheelspin or bring the Car back in line, no multi-letter acronyms to stop the Car from spinning out if you screw up, no computer to mask YOUR driving limitations and flaws...
The payback for all it's quirks and mysteries is the process of learning to drive it.. it's a fascinating journey that teaches you things you just won't learn on any other Car... The front end gives you SO much feedback and you need to learn to drive it by getting the front end to do what you want it to do.. once the Car is settled at the front and you have the nose headed towards the apex, the wheel dancing and moving in your hands, you can get back on the throttle.. feeling the rear end searching for traction as you feed more and more power in until you can see the exit.. if you have everything right, you MASH on the gas and FREAKING FIRE the Car out of the corner.. the turbos are on full boost, the engine is making a deep, snarling wail, the rear end squats under so much torque and power and you ROCKET out of the corner in full-on attack mode, accelerating towards redline.. you ****** another gear as quickly as you can and stomp the gas again.. the rear end squirms a bit, but grips and you continue your massive rush towards the next corner.. You get hard on the brake pedal, twitch the right side of your foot, heel-toeing, blipping the throttle to rev match your downshift and start getting the nose to sniff out the next apex... Repeat, then rinse, then repeat again (and that's why I love this Car).
If you want a Car that's easy to drive, requires no real effort, will get you out of trouble if you screw up, a Car that you can have a conversation on your cellphone in, a Car that you can listen to music in, a Car that suffers mediocre drivers gladly.... then the GT2 is NOT your Car.... If you want a Car that will challenge you, make you rise to IT'S level and MAKE you a better driver, continue to excite and enthrall you and make you dream about driving it when you aren't, then I personally don't think there is a better Car out there.
First, the warnings;
The Car is extraordinarily fast, it is light, it requires that you pay attention... In the wet, you need to really think about what you are doing.
This Car is one in which you cannot just mash the throttle wherever and whenever you want.. You have to plan ahead .. If you floor it in second gear on anything other than completely flat road, the chances are the rear end is going sideways on you, which is not a big deal if you are expecting it. Flooring it in first gear is just a complete waste of time.
If you plan on driving the snot out of it on public roads through the odd set of twisties, you will need to learn the Car in increments.. In a GT3, or most other Cars, you can get up to speed fairly quickly because the power delivery will be fairly smooth and even.. The GT2 delivers it's power with a bit of a bang.. you don't want it to come on full boost in the middle of a corner where you have your foot planted on the floor; so again, planning what you are doing and making sure you learn to apply the throttle gently, so the power comes on when you want it, is part of the lessons to be learned in driving this Car; throttle control is a major deal in this Car.
First gear is so short that it's just there to get you going from a stop.
The handling with the Car's geometry set exactly as it was from the factory, is a handful. They set the front end to understeer.. what they forgot was that if you are going into a corner too hot and turn in, the understeer will eventually stop, the Car will grip and then the rear end goes into snap oversteer.
The GOOD news:
The Car is extraordinarily fast, it is light...
It has almost unlimited potential in terms of the amount of power you can extract from it and also in terms of the suspension and handling.It comes from the factory with fully adjustable suspension.. Adjustable coilovers, 5 position adjustable swaybars, adjustable camber front and rear etc. If you get away from the diabolical factory settings and get the geometry set correctly, you will have a Car that handles as well as, if not better than almost anything out there.. (A 996 GT2 just won the One Lap OF America race, beating numerous Nisssan GTR's, Corvette ZO6's and other similar Cars). Even WITH the suspension sorted, the Car STILL requires your full attention, it will just be a lot more controllable and considerably more fun to drive.
I bought the 996 GT2, because I have spent my life riding Liter Sport Bikes, racing Shifter Karts and Cars and have been a race/driving instructor for the past 14 years.. Over the last few years, I have owned and driven almost every major performance Car on the market, including: ZO6's. Dodge Vipers, Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, Ferrari F430, GT3's, Audi R8 (I spent 3 days driving one to the limit at the Audi advanced Race School at Infineon/Sears Point), Lamborghini Gallardo's etc, etc and NONE of those Cars has given me the sheer rush that a Liter Sport Bike gives me.. BUT the GT2 is the closest thing to it that comes in a Car shape.
The GT2 is the Car that still makes my heart beat just a bit faster, gets my adrenaline pumping.. It lets me know it can bite me back if I'm not at the top of my game, YOU the DRIVER have to do everything.. no electronics to limit wheelspin or bring the Car back in line, no multi-letter acronyms to stop the Car from spinning out if you screw up, no computer to mask YOUR driving limitations and flaws...
The payback for all it's quirks and mysteries is the process of learning to drive it.. it's a fascinating journey that teaches you things you just won't learn on any other Car... The front end gives you SO much feedback and you need to learn to drive it by getting the front end to do what you want it to do.. once the Car is settled at the front and you have the nose headed towards the apex, the wheel dancing and moving in your hands, you can get back on the throttle.. feeling the rear end searching for traction as you feed more and more power in until you can see the exit.. if you have everything right, you MASH on the gas and FREAKING FIRE the Car out of the corner.. the turbos are on full boost, the engine is making a deep, snarling wail, the rear end squats under so much torque and power and you ROCKET out of the corner in full-on attack mode, accelerating towards redline.. you ****** another gear as quickly as you can and stomp the gas again.. the rear end squirms a bit, but grips and you continue your massive rush towards the next corner.. You get hard on the brake pedal, twitch the right side of your foot, heel-toeing, blipping the throttle to rev match your downshift and start getting the nose to sniff out the next apex... Repeat, then rinse, then repeat again (and that's why I love this Car).
If you want a Car that's easy to drive, requires no real effort, will get you out of trouble if you screw up, a Car that you can have a conversation on your cellphone in, a Car that you can listen to music in, a Car that suffers mediocre drivers gladly.... then the GT2 is NOT your Car.... If you want a Car that will challenge you, make you rise to IT'S level and MAKE you a better driver, continue to excite and enthrall you and make you dream about driving it when you aren't, then I personally don't think there is a better Car out there.
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Wow...I'm convinced you're a TROLL. Sound pretty gay.
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Yeah, I've been trolling for 4 years now... 
Anyway, back on topic. Upon further reading, I've discovered that even the latest GT2RS consists of:
And TXGold - I am not too proud to admit that I am an amateur enthusiast at BEST, and based on the posts above, I am NOT the intended customer of such a beast. I'm that guy who had a hard time with the 1st gen Vipers. High HP RWD cars are NOT for me (or my ability) at this time. I hope I can learn to tame such a monster in the future.
(I know that driving a lesser C2 and a GT-R is not the way to go about that).
Anyway, back on topic. Upon further reading, I've discovered that even the latest GT2RS consists of:
Extreme cornering dynamics are ensured by the setup of the springs, Porsche Adaptive Suspension Management (PASM), unique anti-roll bars, specific engine mounts and recalibrated Porsche Stability Management (PSM), whose stability and traction control functions can be switched off individually.
(I know that driving a lesser C2 and a GT-R is not the way to go about that).
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Its ok Jasper, not all enthusiasts are on the bat shiz crazy level that some of us are on! Laughing maniacally like the joker in the face of death while going sideways at freeway speeds. I would get bored with a car that was too competent, I almost need to have a certain fear in the back of my head to give me an adrenaline rush! Nothing beats mastering a car that can bite you, and can bite you hard! A 600 or 700 rwhp GT2 sounds like a car that would feed my addiction very well!