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The new Porsche 911 GT3 is here, 25 years on from the original’s debut, in facelifted 992.2 form. It’s arrived sooner than expected, leapfrogging the Turbos and Targas and arriving with the Touring in tow. That’s because Porsche wants to build and sell as many as it possibly can, of what is promised to be the most versatile GT3 yet, while it still can.
On the promise list are a host of under the skin updates with influence from the seminal 911 S/T and the eCoty-winning GT3 RS, while adding in-demand features and packages not yet seen on a GT3. Folding bucket seats doesn’t sound all that out of the ordinary, but rear seats and Isofix? Is this the first family friendly Porsche 911 GT3? Has the most successful GT department model yet gone soft? Let’s dig in.
Happily, the GT3 is still a 503bhp, 9000rpm revving screamer, though keeping it as such hasn’t been easy, with that being the ‘toughest nut to crack’ according to Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger. Emissions laws are tightening year on year, even between generations of GT3, with some particulate regulations a full 50 per cent harsher than when the last car launched. So, staying over 500bhp required the hotter cams from the GT3 RS, as well as a redesigned cylinder head and flow optimised individual throttle bodies. The full figures are 503bhp and 450Nmlb ft.
That’s not actually more power, though, which in today’s world could leave some underwhelmed. There’s no such fear from AP – ‘500 horses and 1400-ish kilos, that’s the sweet spot with the GT3. No matter what the competition does, we’re faster anyways.’
The first in a number of S/T-influenced additions that will enliven the GT3 experience in the place of added power, is an eight per cent shortened final drive ratio, in both the six-speed manual and seven-speed PDK transmissions. Predictably, acceleration is strong, with PDK cars good for 0-100kmph in 3.4sec and manual cars good for 3.9sec. The top speeds are 310kmph and 312kmph respectively. Lower than before, yes, but Prueninger made it known swiftly enough, this isn’t something he’s worried about.
‘Straights for a GT3 are necessary because they’re the connection between two curves. I really couldn’t care less about top speed. Even on the Nordschleife’s Döttinger Höhe, the longest straight on any track in the world, this car is faster than before with the same horsepower because the gearing is better.’
Preuninger told us he ranks the S/T above all others as a performance road car, at least from his tenure in charge. Yes, including the 911 R and the GT3 RS 4.0. Encouraging given how much the new GT3 borrows from the anniversary special.
Because yes, the S/T’s meticulously developed suspension and steering learnings carry over too. The 992.2 should be less nervous just off centre thanks to the S/T’s ground-up-new steering box. The ride and stability are improved by S/T suspension hardware and tuning, as well as RS-inspired anti-dive at the front. The longitudinal arms on the front axle are RS-esque too, with a downforce-generating teardrop cross section.
Does softer mean slower on track? Not a bit of it. The plan originally was to finally separate the setups of the GT3 ‘wing car’ and the Touring, to allow the former its track focus and allow the latter to be a more compliant road car. A plan that it turned out, wasn’t needed. According to Walter Röhrl and Jörg Bergmeister, the car inspires more confidence than ever at the limit on track.
Though not born out of necessity, there are cooling upgrades to the new GT3 too. A lot of it is to do with reprofiled and redirected aero underneath, where you’ll also find coolers from the GT3 RS. The reinforced drive axles for the 992.2 benefit, as do thicker, more warp-resistant brakes and the gearbox. ‘We expanded the buffer zone,’ Preuninger told us. ‘The cooler something is, the longer it lasts’.
Moving onto what we can see, the changes to the exterior are visually iterative – Porsche standard fare. What Preuninger calls an ‘edgier’ look is most obvious at the nose, with the tapered ‘mouth’ of the old car making way for a larger opening that’s panelled off at the sides. Redesigned front Matrix LED lights from the Carreras now integrate all lighting too. In addition to the underbody aero, the splitter, diffuser, inlets, engine lid and endplates for the wing have all been modified to subtly improve balance and downforce.
One of the goals with the 992.2 was to further differentiate the disparate characteristics of the ‘wing car’ and Touring. The GT3 is the track and driving enthusiast’s weapon of choice, while the Touring should be the ultimate road and weekend driving machine. Totally new for the GT3 and Touring are the Weissach Pack (Rs 17.10 lakh) and – not seen in the modern era – the Leichtbau, or Lightweight pack (Rs 32.04 lakh).
The former adds a dusting of exposed carbon across the bodywork, from the plates on the nose to the single exposed carbon strip that stretches from the nostrils to the engine lid. The roof itself is carbon on the Weissach Pack, as are the sway bars. The optional (Rs 15.08 lakh) magnesium wheels save 9kg (the standard alloy wheels are 1.5kg lighter overall than before), while the lithium-ion battery saves 4kg. On the inside, a Weissach-equipped GT3 is a sea of Race-tex and carbon, with a new version of the carbon roll cage (raising the pack price to Rs 21.41 lakh) joining. All up the GT3 at its lightest will weigh 1420kg.
What about adding the glorious magnetised paddles from the GT3 RS Weissach? ‘We considered it,’ Preuninger tells us. ‘But they’re super expensive and can’t be produced in the high daily number we need’. You can’t have it all.
The Leichtbau package is exclusive to the Touring and is basically Weissach minus some of the racey extrovertion. The glazing of exposed carbon and the Race-tex on the inside isn’t there, but you do get the lightweight components. Why is it Rs 15.35 lakh more expensive than Weissach? The magnesium wheels are thrown in. On manual cars, Leichtbau brings across the short-throw gear shifter from the 911 S/T too.
On the inside, more change is afoot than you might first notice and where the biggest wish of customers has finally been granted: the option of rear seats in the Touring, which was apparently ‘by far the strongest demand’ coming from customers who wanted to share the GT3 experience with their families.
Keeping the 918 Spyder’s fixed carbon bucket wasn’t an option, then, so arriving in the 992.2 GT3 is a new folding bucket, still with the same seat feel and support parameters but also now, the option of heating and, get this, Isofix. Preuninger calls this the ‘enabler’ of the rear seat option, seeing the bucket seat as the most important box to tick in any GT3. Don’t worry, it’s better for the track too, thanks to a lid friendly removable panel in the headrest. Folding seats also mean you can finally access the rear compartment for helmet storage.
Once sat in the seat, you look ahead and notice the central analogue dial is gone. In its place, a full digital driver’s display, which was something Preuninger didn’t like at first. But with some selective scything of display options he thought unnecessary – ‘why have a map here and over there? It makes no sense…’ – and some development of the visuals, he now doesn’t miss the physical tach. New display options include canting the 9000rpm redline to the top, in a nod to Porsche racing cars of old. You can also have it symmetrical or just the traditional Porsche five-dial display, too.
Not even a GT3 can escape legislated safety systems in 2025 but fear not, there’s a button close to hand to make switching it all off easy. ‘Our customers don’t want to be patronised by systems’. Quite right, too.
The GT3 is the last bastion of the more traditional twist start switch, as well as the last 911 to use the ‘sequential’ PDK shift knob. As to whether that assist button can be specced in bright red with ‘OFF’ emblazoned on it? ‘Sunderwunch does everything,’ Preuninger tells us through a grin. Sunderwunch left thoroughly alone, both 2025 Porsche 911 GT3s will set you back from Rs 1.72 crore (in the UK) and are available to order from the end of the year.
– Words by Ethan Jupp
