The times that I have had a "spirited" (read: fast!) drive in my '09 Carrera S I find the steering response almost hyper-sensitive. Not so bad on a smooth road, but on a typical country road with dips and bumps I almost get the feeling that I cannot keep up with the motions of the car as it seems to react to every surface deviation. It seems that uneven surfaces are not this car's forte, which I know isn't supposed to be the case. I've driven high performance cars ranging from Corvettes to 300ZX Turbos to Mustang GTs in all types of driving situations and don't recall having this issue with those cars. I have no track time with this car and maybe that is the answer, but I suspect that some tracks can be as uneven as my country roads and I suspect I could experience the same lack-of-control feeling. Or, is it a simple alignment solution? The car has just over 10K on the odometer and the tires are in great shape with no weird wear or balance issues. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

Do you have your car set in sport mode? PSM on or off?

 

The 997 has one of the best steerings in the world. The cars you mentioned (and yes I've driven them) have very poor steering. What you complain about is a very precise, communicative, steering. And BTW...the GT3/GT3 RS is even more chatting... and chatting is good. This is a sports car, not a limo.

I beg your pardon, but I cringe when I read comments like this, especially on an enthusiast's site. It is a sign of things to come. Manufacturers know that their market is going soft and they soften their future products. Not a good thing.

 

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if you do not know what kind of alignment you have now - it means you do need one.
get to good shop that services racers (not dealer), ask them to get proper sport tuned stock setup and then proceed with your events, ax or track.

 

Usually sport mode. It tightens up the car significantly. PSM on always.

 

Pt,

Paul is correct. You need the alignment but slot of seat time will help also. You need time to realize that the 911 talking to you is the best aspect of the car.

When you start to understand the 911's particular dynamics the car really comes alive.

 

Usually sport mode. It tightens up the car significantly. PSM on always.

Try deactivating the sport mode. The instructors at the Porsche School in Alabama (PSDS) have told me that on a bumpy track or AX course it's better to leave the suspension in the soft setting.

FWIW, I only use the sport suspension setting on a smooth track or very smooth road. For street driving I'm usually in the softest suspension setting in my GTS. (The Panamera is a different story.) I do a fair amount of track driving - 5 AX days and 8 DE days so far this year, and I'm a regional AX and national DE instructor.

DMoore
'11 GTS
'10 Panamera 4S

 

That may well be the solution (although I will also check the alignment).

 

Try non sport mode first on the 'same' roads you currently have issues with. If it works that's good and changed one thing at a time. Even if it does work I'd still wonder a bit about the situation if this has only recently cropped up. To that end I would have the alignment checked.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with this. Porsche of the Village set up my car with Damptronis, camber plates, adjustable rear toe links, adjustable dog bones and corner weighted. They did a great job.

 

+1 on that. A very slight change to toe setup makes a huge difference.