I have some bad news on the eve ofÂ
the introduction of the new Porsche  911 GT3 (992). See, Porsche is notÂ
in business to make 911s. Porsche,  like every other company in a capitalistÂ
world, is in business to make money. Luckily for us porsche can still make money byÂ
producing 911s. But — and here's some even more bad  news — the 911 is increasingly stuck betweenÂ
the brand's promise of a pure sports car  and the economic reality of needing it to appealÂ
to the old men who have money to pay for them.  And those old men? They want luxury cars. WhichÂ
is why as the 911 edges nearer and nearer a  rear-engine Panamera coupe, it's the GT ModelsÂ
that have gradually taken over as the 911's  image maker. Simultaneously the differenceÂ
between the standard 911 Carrera cars and the GT  cars has grown and grown and grown — and theÂ
911 GT3 has grown to the point where it is  the single most important car in the entireÂ
Porsche lineup. At least as far as I'm concerned. Let's get one thing straight:committees makeÂ
terrible cars. A committee made the Pontiac Aztek,  notable within GM for hitting all of its targets —Â
and on time, too! Well, targets and timelines don't  make a compelling product. It may be fun toÂ
look at now but the Aztec cost GM millions.  On the flip side, almost all legendary carsÂ
have been the work and vision of one person  who understood their market. I'm talking aboutÂ
people like (Ettore) Bugatti, (Enzo) Ferrari, (Soichiro) Honda, Gordon Murray, and a beanpole of a German guy you've probablyÂ
never heard of named Andreas Preuninger.  Andy Preuninger runs the GT-Car division withinÂ
Porsche, and it's part of the motorsports  department. It's their job to take whateverÂ
911 Porsche turns out, no matter how fat and full  of German "technological innovations" and turn itÂ
back into the car that we all think of when we  think of 911s. That gap is growing larger andÂ
larger. For the 992, Andy's team was able to ditch  the entire front strut suspension and replace itÂ
with double wishbones. This is not a tuning change! This is a wholesale rethink of the front end ofÂ
a Porsche 911 and by the way it's something we've  never seen before. You'll see this at the backÂ
end of a car — for example Volkswagen Jetta. The  cheap versions get a torsion-beam rear suspensionÂ
the more expensive GLI gets a multi-link. But we  don't see those kind of changes at the front of aÂ
car because it's massive. This signals a sea change...  a time where the GT3 starts to dictate the wholeÂ
911 experience, and not the other way around. Â Â And so i think it's time for us to take a look backÂ
at the GT3 and where its entire name came from.  The GT3 was born with the 996 generation, whenÂ
Porsche decided to abandon competition in the  GT2 racing class where the 993 GT2 had competed.Â
Because the germans are so creative, these cars  are named exactly the same as the racing class inÂ
which they compete. And in racing, don't forget, the  lower the number, the higher the performance — which is why Formula 1 is at the top. In Porsche speak, GT2 cars are turbocharged, GT3s are naturallyÂ
aspirated. The 996 GT3 used the famed Mezger  engine from the 993 GT2 and the GT1 Le Mans car,Â
just minus the turbos and tweaked to rev to 8200 rpm. The GT3 wasn't actually meant to be aÂ
"thing" — it was just a homologation requirement: to race in the GT3 class, Porsche had toÂ
build some road cars in the race car spec. Those GT3s had no back seat, sunroof, air-Â
conditioning, rear speakers, or sound deadening.  And they were sold as a lightweight trackÂ
special. Somewhat later, the GT3 race car needed  some additional tweaks to be competitive, and toÂ
homologate those upgrades, Porsche had to sell 200Â Â upgraded cars for the street. That is this thing,Â
the GT3 RS. RS in German means "Rennsport," or "racing." Those Germans are so creative ‚ because this hadÂ
the upgrades the race car needed. But rather than  just slip those upgrades in unnoticed, Andy decidedÂ
to make a thing out of it: a thing with a wing!  The RS got a carbon fiber hood and plastic rear window for weight savings; a big wing; and carbon- ceramic  brakes — pretty heady stuff for back in the day.Â
As was the case with the original Carrera 2.7 RS,  Porsche's marketing people didn't think anyoneÂ
would want this car. In fact, they were concerned  they wouldn't be able to sell the 200 requiredÂ
for homologation. But once the order books opened up,  the orders started flying in by the rear-enginedÂ
boatload. Porsche made as many of them as they  possibly could, but had to pull the plug afterÂ
like 670 units because all of the tooling for the  special parts wore out. It was only designedÂ
to make 200. The next generation of 911 was the 997, and following the surprise success of the first GT3, Porsche smelled an opportunity and made  another one. Though the basic GT3 carried overÂ
the 996's lightweight formula, adding in center-lock wheels, it started out with that famed 3.6-liter Mezger, which then climbed to 3.8, and then  eventually to 4.0 liters, which was the biggestÂ
engine ever put in a road-going factory 911.  This time, AP reserved a special treat for the RS:Â
it was based on the Carrera 4 widebody, giving it  two and a half inches of extra width. The engineÂ
revved to 8500 rpm (are you detecting a theme?)  and it made 500 horsepower from just 4 liters. The steering? Perfect. The brakes? Perfect. The shifter? Perfect. The chassis balance? Perfect – or at least as perfect as you can get  without computer-controlled trickery. And thatÂ
engine? It was a fizzing, violent send off to  that magnificent Mezger! This is 911 distilled toÂ
its core, with no sacrifices for creature comforts.  But more than that, it's not just any 911 — it'sÂ
one of the best driving cars of all time. Ever. The (R35) Nissan GT-R beat the GT3's lap time onÂ
Porsche's turf at the NĂĽrburgring, and, well,  let's just say that didn't go unnoticed byÂ
the GT team in Weissach. Porsche declared war on  Nissan and this was the GT-R's H-Bomb. KnownÂ
to the outside world as the GT2 RS, it was  effectively a GT3 RS with two turbos slapped onÂ
the back. Internally, it was known as Project 727,  named after the GT-R's lap time: 7 minutes 27Â
seconds, which Porsche was hell-bent on beating. The twin-turbo 3.6 made 620 horsepower, good for  205 mph, and it kissed the GT-R and its 7:27 auf Wiedersehen, with a lap time of 7:18.  What a fitting, happy ending for the secondÂ
generation of water-cooled 911. It was replaced  by the stunning 991 and when its GT3 arrived,Â
it arrived with a bunch of flaming pitchforks. See, the 991 GT3 was the first GT Car not to useÂ
the Mezger engine — it had its own, new flat-six. It also had electric power steering, which on the base 911, sucked. To add insult to that injury, the GT3 also had rear wheel steering. Oh, and and there was no manual transmission! For the first time, the GT Car's  pursuit of speed meant technologies that impliedÂ
a reduction in involvement. The people revolted.  I was one of them. Andy fired back: "shut up andÂ
drive the thing!" And so I did. And on track? Man, he was right. The 991 was a completely worthyÂ
follow-up to all the previous GT3s. It was magic. AP's team fixed the 991's terrible steering.Â
The engine pulled like a monster to 9000 rpm,  making some of the most insane sounds everÂ
from a street-car engine. Its chassis was perfect — you never noticed the rear-steer or the PDK. Fact is, the 991 GT3 disappeared under you and let you concentrate on driving... exactly the way any race car should — electric gizmos or not. Still needs a manual! Look, I was lucky enough to have a veryÂ
heated debate with Andy Preuninger about this. And I like to think i won that debate.... ...mostly because I stunned him into silence by likening a driver's preference for transmission... to sexual orientation. Let's assume for a second you're into the ladies... someone could spend hours reciting all of theÂ
logical, rational reasons why you should want  to sleep with Ryan Reynolds: he's so funny! He's soÂ
talented! He looks just like that Jason Cammisa guy! All of that is true — but none of it matters. TheÂ
Germans keep doing the same thing to us with their  dual clutch automatics. I don't care what gear it'sÂ
in! I don't really care how quickly it shifts! I'm just not into it. Yanking on a paddle ain't gonna lock my torque converter if you know what I mean. The fact is: you're into what you're into andÂ
it ain't up for discussion! In Andy's defense, there had only been enough budget to develop one transmission for the GT3... and as an offshoot of the Motorsport Division, the GT Team knew the PDK would be quicker around a track. So the automatic won. The screams for the manual transmission fromÂ
around the world were just as loud as the cries  for fast lap times. A committee of bean-countersÂ
might have never understood this subtle difference  but Andy's a car guy — and he realized that thereÂ
are two different buyers for the GT Cars:  One, for whom the cars just need to be outrageously fast — which of course they already were... ...and another, for whom, so long as the cars are fast enough, will accept no sacrifice at all for involvement . A thus the 911 R was born — for those in the latter camp. It was basically a  parts-bin special: GT3's narrow body with the GT3 RS's engine, polycarbonate windows, and a magnesium roof... ...without the spoilers, and with a manual! Once again, Porsche's marketing department didn't think anyone would care — and didn't think Porsche would be able to sell more than 500 of these worldwide. So they came up with the harebrained idea toÂ
offer the five hundred 911 Rs to the 918 rich people  who had bought 918 Spyders, hoping half of themÂ
would take the bait. Well, unfortunately almost all of them bought one — and that created quite the problem! Porsche was forced to make another run of almost 500 which was the most they could do before the factory had to shut down  for the upcoming model changeover — and even thatÂ
didn't come close to meeting demand. The 911 R was trading at two times its sticker price before the first one even left the production line! ...and guess who didn't make that money? Yep,Â
Porsche! Way to go, bean counters! The 911 R had two very distinct job: firstly, it shut theÂ
committee up and told the marketing people to  go back to their cubicles and leave Andy alone.Â
And number two, it paid for the development of  a new manual transmission that he couldÂ
then use in other cars. (Andy is a genius!) From here on out, the 911 GT-Car lineup wouldÂ
be split between the cars that prioritize  the experience like the GT3 Touring and thoseÂ
that were all out lap time machines... Like this one! That slight oversimplification allows forÂ
laptime champions like this: the 991.2 GT2 RS. Turbocharged to 700 horsepower withÂ
all of the GT Car suspension tricks, nobody complained about it not having a manual.Â
Certainly not when it beat that old 7:27 lap time  by 40 seconds! That is a production car lap record —Â
one of many. The GT2 basically set a lap record everywhere it went. And this isn't a numb 'numbers-generator.' It does trade some of the naturally  aspirated drama for speed, but then it adds soÂ
much more speed that that creates its own drama.  This car was conceived and engineered before theÂ
successes of the GT3 Touring and the 911 R had  really sank in — to say nothing of the mid-engineÂ
cars, the GT4 and Spyder. So I really think this  will be the last GT Car before Andy and his teamÂ
get carte blanche to do whatever they want... ...like replace the entire front suspension in a car.Â
Because while it's Porsche's job to make money,  and it's the 911's job to suck that money out ofÂ
the pockets of old men, it's Andy and his team's  job to make the 911s we really want. And theÂ
911s we really want all say GT on the back. [To Cameraman]
Okay so you're just gonna keep the FerrariÂ
framed out the entire time right? Yep, okay!  Action!
I'm not some rich YouTuber asking youÂ
to like and subscribe - hey up up up up up up up  up up up up up up - keep the Ferrari out! ...I'm anÂ
automotive journalist asking you to like and  subscribe and that's because that's how YouTubeÂ
works. If you don't click those buttons, YouTube  doesn't know you liked what you've just seenÂ
and isn't going to show you any more of it. And if you don't like what you've just seen, well, join the club! ...and by that i mean the Hagerty Driver's Club, whichÂ
gets you access to this award-winning magazine  as well as discounts on amazing stuff and [crash] ifÂ
you still don't like what you've seen, well then  just leave a nasty comment because that's howÂ
the internet works! I need to go clean that up...
Man Jason and Hagertys keep killing it with these videos.
This is video practically car porn at this point.
I see Jason Cammisa, I click.
Holy shit! I'm so looking forward to my 992 GT3...
ITBs and double wishbones come to me.
Does the 911R have shorter gearing? On screen it looked much more fun during the track drive, and I think it's a combination of the sound and gearing.
When 992 GT3 gets RSR front suspension, Can expect that Porsche would bring GT1 back in future.
Agree GT trim is most important for Porsche even GT1.
God damn that RS 4.0 sounds heavenly.
Gotta be honest, as a below entry-level Porsche enthusiast, I get confused with the models u/JasonCammisa went over in this vid. But I was enthralled by the history lesson. Reminded me of why I love cars.
This mans contents makes me hot
Man that 997 RS 4.0 is something special. I want it bad.