When you are going around a turn and lift off your foot from the gas the car wiggles... As though the rear end does not like it. This handling characteristic can be scarry when you are driving aggressively..... Do all Porsches behave this way?

 

Umm From experience it is not a good thing to suddenly let off the gas in a corner. It sounds like the nannies are kicking in and saving your ***.

 

Yes Porsche's do behave this way! If you lift off midway through any corner in any car it will upset the balance and will tend to make the car understeer. This is exaggerated in the 911 because so much of the car's weight is behind the rear axle line.

If you've not done an autocross or a track day in your car then I suggest booking yourself into a day with PCA would be a very helpful first step in getting the most satisfaction out of driving your car.

 

Never ,never, lift in a turn. Especially with all the weight behind the rear wheels. The car is trying to snap around when u do that.

 

As you gain experience, you'll actually want to press on the throttle to get you out of a corner. As noted above, never lift your foot off the gas in a corner, it may sound weird but actually accelerating (by pressing on the gas pedal) around the last half of the corner will help your car negotiate the corner in a much safer AND faster manner.

 

In the days before PSM and all the hi-tech computer gadgetry which helps keep cars going where the driver wants them to, lifting off the gas in a corner (particularly in a rear-heavy 911) would result in the tail of the car going through the turn before the front. Spin city.

Think of it this way: as you move forward at a steady pace, weight is consistently over the rear. If you slow, which lifting off the throttle will do, the center of gravity shifts from the rear to the front. That, in older cars, would send the rear through a turn before the nose, and you into a spin.

You are actually meant to downshift before the turn, and accelerate through it, upshifting as you come out of the turn and into a straight.
CATTMAN

 

+1 on these comments, exit speed is always more important then entry speed

 

You might also want to consider buying this as your Porsche driving "Bible".

http://www.amazon.com/Porsche-High-P.../dp/0879388498

 

By instead the latest edition - LINK HERE.

 

As Catt says "Hard Brake, Downshift, Turn in, Smooth accelerating, full throttle at apex , drift to exit corner" and a real BIG smile

 

A friend let his wife drive his early 911 in an autocross, held on a track with a double oval--a wide flatter oval around an inner banked oval.

His wife was really getting into the whole thing....but a little too much. She wanted to RACE, not just learn car control & build up speed from there.

So, she goes tearing into the inner over. Half way around, she has the inner front tire about 10" off the ground, doing an amazing job.....but then get's scared and takes her foot off the gas.

The car went airborne and rolled at least 5 times. First (and last) time I ever saw that. She was shaken, but ok. Car was a gonner.

As others have suggested, if you want to start exploring the capabilities of your car, get some training. No doubt the car's electronics saved you...... this time.

 

Sorry to pile on but I suspect you're very lucky.
You're lucky that you were driving an AWD model. You're lucky that you're driving a 'modern' 911 with electronics that help you get out of a jam. You're lucky that Porsche has repeatedly revamped suspension, engine mounts and wheel alignment to minimize the effect of 'lift throttle oversteer'.
As others have noted, the rear engine design of a Porsche can create some very difficult handling situations. Whereas in most cars, when you lift in a turn you induce increasing amounts of oversteer while engine braking differentially slows the rear wheels and the resultant kinematics tend to push the rear end of the car to the outside of the turn. Because of the pendulum effect of a rear engine Porsche, the same thing used to happen but frequently quite catastrophically. You would need a very high level of driving skill to pour in the opposite lock and get hard on the gas (even when your brain tells you not to) to extricate yourself from the near-disaster.
These days, your Porsche does a lot of this for you. Sensing potential oversteer, the cars electronics will apply differential braking and in your car will alter front/rear power ratios to nudge your error back in line.
BTW, you can turn all of this extra governance off. That little button on the lower right of the center console is all it takes to bring you back to the 80's.
But take a few driving classes before you do.

 

Well, I have to say I tried what Verde said. Turned that little thing called PSM off and tried a few mid-corner lifts. Maybe I wasnt going fast enough because all that happened was the back started to come around so back on the gas, a little opposite and all sorted.

Just like the old days in 105 series Alfa's. Maybe I wasnt trying hard enough. Back to Phillip Island on April 22nd to try again!

Anyway, find a nice fastish corner with plenty of run-off and give it a go is what I say. Better in the wet because then everything happens slower...until you hit something of course!

 

Well the classic failure mode is a narrow decreasing radius on/off ramp, tight metal barriers on both sides, 3-4x the stated speed limit on entry. Oh and adjusting the radio while you enter provides a higher 'difficulty factor' too.
Turn off the PSM, come barreling in, look down to change stations, look up at the situation, full lift. Rinse and repeat.
(Kidding. Please do not try this at home)

 

Reguardless of 2 wheel drive or AWD NEVER lift in a corner witha Porsche Carrera. All the weight is in the rear. Think about keeping the balance of the car.

I HIGLY suggest you sign up for a DE or take the Porsche driving school at Barber Motorsports park.

There is way too much info to try to explain to you on this forum.