Porsche GT2 RS
Wraps unexpectedly come off road racer at LA gaming show
THE new Porsche 911 GT2 RS has made a surprise debut in the metal at this year’s E3 event in Los Angeles – one of the biggest trade shows in gaming. It’s the star car in the next game in the Forza Motorsport series, and was introduced on stage during Microsoft’s Xbox news conference. Oddly, Porsche has made no official announcement on the vehicle.
It’s hard to miss the huge vents and splitter at the front of the car, while the bonnet gains two triangular shaped brakecooling ducts. Aggressive GT3 Rs-inspired gills are placed on the wheelarches, and naked carbon-fibre stripes loop from the bonnet and over the roof. The new car rides on lightweight multispoke centrelocking wheels, 20 inches in diameter at the front and 21 inches at the rear, hiding carbon-ceramic brakes.
Pushing the back end into the tarmac is a huge rear wing, and carbon-fibre vents plucked from the 911 GT3 RS are placed just ahead of the rear axle, cramming air into the twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre flat-six placed at the back. It’s the same engine that powers the Turbo S, but fettled with a new watercooled intercooler and allied to new turbos with greater boost and revised internals.
Porsche has yet to provide a power figure, but the ‘conservative’ number tentatively revealed during our ride of a pre-production prototype (Issue 1,476) points to this being the most extreme 911 ever made.
The engine will produce at least 641bhp and 750Nm, but nearer 700bhp is more likely when the car enters production. This will be sent to the rear wheels through a seven-speed PDK gearbox and electronic locking differential; 0-62mph should be on par with the Turbo S at around 2.9 seconds, while the GT2 RS is expected to hit 211mph.
An optional Weissach pack cuts weight by 30kg, boosting performance further. In the words of Porsche GT boss Andreas
Preuninger, the new GT2 RS will deliver “brutal power, that’s a joy to drive on track because it’s so precise and so agile”.
More details will emerge at the end of the month when the car is expected to make its official debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex.
“Engine will offer at least 641bhp and 750Nm, but nearer 700bhp is more likely when car arrives”