10 Reasons the New Porsche GT3 RS Is Unlike Any Other 911

PORSCHE PERFORMANCE

1. Quantum Leap in Performance

This RS is different. In fact, the sixth iteration of the GT3 RS is a quantum leap. Not because of fundamental changes to its powertrain—on the contrary, it remains business as usual for the naturally-aspirated flat six—but because of its newfound dedication to downforce while simultaneously putting an extraordinary degree of dynamic adjustability into the hands of its driver.

PORSCHE TRACK LEGACY

2. Track-Focused, Street-Legal

Technically, the 992 GT3 RS is still street legal. But where its predecessors steadily kept their tread blocks firmly rooted in the realm of road use, this one unapologetically strides away from street-focused sensibilities in favor of diminished lap times and mind-altering, sinew-straining levels of lateral g forces. This is still an RS, then, but not quite as we once knew it.

PORSCHE AERO INNOVATION

3. Uncompromising Aero

Even in the context of modern GT cars, the new RS makes a visual statement like no 911 before it. This car is an uncompromising exercise in nose-to-tail, top-to-bottom aerodynamic optimization. It’s genuinely shocking to see just how far removed it is from the normal GT3 and how overshadowed that car is by the drama of its be-winged alter ego. Parked side-by-side, it’s like having Bruce Wayne and Batman in the same room. Homologation regulations have long severed the direct link between 911 GT3 road cars and their competition siblings. Still, there’s delicious irony in the fact that the new RS’s extremist aero—complete with an F1-style Drag Reduction System—is far too radical for actual GT3 racing.

PORSCHE EMPHATIC STATEMENT OF INTENT

4. Performance Over Luggage Space

The biggest single change is the adoption of a centrally-mounted radiator. Taken directly from racing, it has released the most restrictive aspect of the 911’s ability to generate downforce, allowing far more air to pass over the front splitter and then over a two-piece active wing buried deep within the left and right apertures that were previously reserved for radiators. One can only guess at the moral maze Preuninger and his team must have navigated in committing to the central radiator design. For although they have known for years that it was the key to making huge gains in front-end downforce, they also knew it would come at the expense of the frunk and therefore leave the RS without a single dedicated luggage compartment. If you’re looking for an emphatic statement of intent, this is it.

PORSCHE MAXIMUM DOWNFORCE

5. Dynamic Aero Mastery

The double-element rear spoiler is now the highest point on the car, even standing proud of the roofline. Controlled by a hydraulic DRS system that automatically drops its angle of attack, it works in conjunction with the active two-piece front spoiler buried in the nose to achieve a low-drag setting for additional straight-line speed. The downforce numbers are huge, doubling those of the 991.2 GT3 RS for a high-downforce peak of 860 kilograms (1,896 pounds) at top speed: 260 at the front and 600 at the rear. With DRS activated, that figure drops to 306 kilograms (675 pounds): 70 front and 237 rear. For reference, that’s the same as a regular 992 GT3 with its spoiler cranked all the way up.

PORSCHE BRAKING PRECISION

6. Aggressive Trail Braking

Because the RS sheds speed so effectively, you soon begin to read the corners and braking zones rather differently. Instead of seeing each zone as a straight line with your turn-in point at the far end, you steel yourself to brake later and deeper until eventually you’re slowing the car while simultaneously aiming for the apex. It’s a bit like old-school trail braking, but with far more aggression. When you begin to see the distance between turn-in and apex as the meat of your braking zone, it’s like unlocking the next level of a platform game. In areas of the track where you were once braking, you’re now still hard on the power. This is the key difference between the RS and all other 911s.

PORSCHE DYNAMICS

7. Dynamic Fine-Tuning to Unlock Performance

Another defining aspect of the latest RS is its unprecedented degree of dynamic fine-tuning for the damping, limited slip differential, and traction control. It’s a remarkable suite of driver-adjustable offerings, and one that must have been fiendishly time-consuming to calibrate. Such elevated maneuvers place the RS directly into its element, allowing it to do things that no previous 911 street car has even begun to approach. They also confirm that this car requires more of a racing mindset than the relatively carefree headspace most people inhabit on a weekend track day.

PORSCHE TRIBUTE TO NATURAL ASPIRATION

8. Soaring Requiem to Natural Aspiration

Beyond the staggering levels of cornering and braking that it offers, the 992 RS is much more akin to its recent predecessors. The engine is as scintillating as ever, now with added urgency and aggression thanks to the lowered final drive. The ratios still have reach, though, so you get to enjoy working towards the full glory of that 9000-rpm redline and its uniquely feral shriek. Sweeter and more musical than the weapon-like GT4 RS, it’s a soaring requiem to natural aspiration.

PORSCHE SINGULARITY

9. Singular Focus—Quickest Possible Lap Time

It’s hard not to conclude that Porsche had one very specific goal with this RS: the quickest possible lap time. Whether or not that comes at the expense of a good time remains up for debate. On the face of it, it’s impossible not to be wildly excited by this new and very extreme take on the familiar 911. With this car, Porsche has clearly made a determined decision not to leave anything on the table. With the exception of the barely-road-legal GT1, no factory 911 street car has ever been conceived with track performance so acutely in mind.

PORSCHE’S ENDURING ICON

10. A Bold Statement, Winning New Fans

There’s also the statement that such an extreme-looking car makes on your behalf. While RS models have rarely been subtle—the 964 being perhaps the only exception—the 992’s high-downforce battledress will undoubtedly be a turn-off for some, even if it’s equally true to say that in going so far, it will also likely find new fans. The 992 GT3 RS deserves to be celebrated for what our limited exposure confirms it to be: The most advanced and most extreme expression of Porsche’s enduring icon. Few would dare to go so far. Fewer still would actually deliver.