The manual 991s
Stick shift is well and truly back at the centre of the 911, but which of these driver-focused 991s offers the most scintillating steer?
It’s a celebration of stick shift as the 991 Carrera T, GT3 and R do battle in the Alps…
What a difference a few short months can make. For a time it looked like the 991 generation was threatening the very existence of a manual gearbox in a Porsche 911 altogether. Unwanted alterations to the new stick shift, twinned with the prominence of PDK, lead some to believe the company was at one point shaping up for a future solely dedicated to auto-shifting sports cars, similar to events at some of its rivals.
While this ‘death of the manual’ movement has raged like a fire through the workshops of other automotive manufacturers, nobody really expected the flames to be fanned as far as the doors of Zuffenhausen. After all, a Porsche has always been about style over outright speed – exemplified by the company’s time-honoured tradition of placing the tachometer and not the speedometer in the centre of the 911’s five dials. It’s how you get there, not how fast.
And yet, as is well documented, it was the
991 generation which began to change the 911’s relationship with the manual gearbox from the getgo. Upon launch at the tail end of 2011, enthusiasts found the six-speed stick shift in the 997.2 replaced by an all-new gearbox for the 991.1, which featured an additional seventh ratio. Conceptually something of a modern-day overdrive gear, this seventh ratio was exceedingly tall, intended for cruising on motorways or the Autobahn, all the while keeping engine revs low and thus improving the new 911’s MPG return.
On paper these changes made sense, but in reality enthusiasts struggled to adapt to the feel of the sevenspeed shifter, it unnecessarily clunky and lacking a directness through each gate which the 997’s unit had mastered so wonderfully. Somewhere beneath that protracted H-pattern, Porsche’s slick stick shift had seemingly been lost.
Then the arrival of Porsche’s first 991-generation GT car in 2013 gave rise to another revelation. The GT3 was presented for the first time with a Pdk-only transmission, Porsche telling Total 911 in issue 99 at the time: “There’s no chance of a manual gearbox in the future.” The Pdk-only GT3 RS that followed went some way to hammering home the point, which left many enthusiasts wondering what future lay ahead for the manual gearbox in a Porsche.
Alas, we know how the script developed from there. A wave of appreciation for manual gearboxes (some might even have called it a public outcry) brought about the Carrera S-engined Cayman GT4 in 2015, before the emphatic arrival of the 991 R in 2016 as the 911’s savior of the stick shift.
The R proved Porsche’s GT department was prepared to listen to its customers, yet the car’s exclusivity (just 991 were produced worldwide) meant only a few could benefit from this significant U-turn in company policy. Porsche again listened, unveiling the 991.2 GT3 last year with PDK but, crucially, a six-speed manual gearbox was available as a no-cost option.
The company went further still. For those who couldn’t get their hands on this latest prize GT car, Porsche presented the Carrera T: essentially a pared back and driver-honed version of its base Carrera
911. The line-up was thus complete, with stick shift available, at last, throughout the entire contemporary model range.
So, these are the crusaders; reviving the spirit and flair of the manual gearbox, this the crucial ingredient in any sports car that wishes to be associated with any notion of an analogue, purist drive. The big question, of course, is what is the driving experience on offer from all three?
It’s the weekend of Porsche’s 70th anniversary, so we’ve taken these three special 991s to possibly their best and most suitable playground to celebrate: the Alps. Our three manual driver’s cars are in tow, their flat six symphonies echoing off the rocky canopies of Switzerland’s Gotthard Pass. The R leads, closely followed by the GT3, though really it’s nip-and-tuck between the two all weekend.
In many ways it makes for a nice metaphor, as much debate is currently encircling Porsche forums as to how similar these two cars are – particularly when the GT3 is in flat-back ‘Touring’ trim, which brings it ever closer to the R’s silhouette. Indeed, these two 991s have a lot in common: they both make use of Porsche’s Carrera 4 body, have a purely atmospheric, four-litre flat six hanging out back producing 500hp, mated of course to the Gtdepartment’s specially crafted six speed manual.
Both are rear-wheel-drive, fed via a mechanical
LSD, and both have the same footprint too in terms of wheelbase, track widths and tyre sizes. While in Touring guise the GT3 shares that unmistakable flatback outline as the R, Guy’s car here comes complete with full GT3 aero addenda.
There’s no denying similarities between the two are overwhelming, on paper at least. But there are a few crucial differences too. The GT3’S engine is the later, Cup-derived 4.0-litre lump also found in the GT3 RS, so there’s no lightweight flywheel to speak of, Porsche saying it is simply not required. A single-mass flywheel, however, was a popular option on the R, fitted here to Richard’s black example with silver stripes, the R also benefitting from a magnesium roof as it looks to save as much weight as possible. This meticulous dedication to weight saving, which includes a rather more comprehensive paring back of sound deadening inside, means there is a 43kg difference between the two cars, in favour of the R, of course.
The R has long been a Total 911 favourite for what it represents and for how it drives. The first model of this great swing back in favour of the manual Porsche, really the company never needed to build it – unprecedented demand for its Pdk-only GT2 and GT3 RS has since proved this. However, the R showed Porsche could listen, and the idea of a modern, lightweight manual is every bit as good in reality as it is on paper. The crux of it is that absolutely everything in the R has been optimised, especially when compared directly to the 991.2 GT3. Its steering is lighter, the R’s system featherlight by comparison to the GT3. That’s not to say steering in the GT3 is heavy by any means, with both systems providing wonderful communication right to the driver’s palms, but there’s a delicacy to the R’s wheel which adds another layer of finesse. Likewise, the R’s clutch is notably lighter without feeling superficially so, its immediacy in throttle response too providing an edge over its white-winged rival next to us. That single mass flywheel plays a key part here.
It’s louder inside the R, detritus flicking up into the arches from these mountain roads penetrating the cabin more than in the GT3. Then, of course, there’s the gearbox: the bastion of both of these cars, there were claims from launch that the GT3’S six-speed shifter has been taken directly from the R. While this may be the case, there have been tweaks. Both have a wonderfully short and direct throw, possessing none of the vagueness which has long blighted the 991’s seven-speed, but the R, again, offers a more precise action through the gate. Its movement is akin to a rifle bolt, its dedication to precision offering the perfect driver’s companion when making the most of that glorious four-litre flat six. Throwing the carbonlined shifter effortlessly around the R’s H-pattern as we dance up the mountain, it doesn’t take too long to decide this is the most polished manual gearbox fitted to a 911 in years.
Switching gears in the GT3 is nearly – oh, so nearly – as good, its stubby alcantara shifter finding its home with ease through every cog swap. There’s just a little clunk through the gate compared to the R though, the feeling here reminding me of the throw in a 997.2 GT3 RS. It’s incredibly positive and perhaps more welcome on a car destined for track work, but it just can’t live up to the supremacy of the R’s rifle bolt precision.
As you can see, there’s a theme emerging here, Porsche’s time-honoured philosophy of adding lightness meaning as great as the GT3 is, the R seems to hold an additional 10 per cent of superiority in almost every department. It’s by no means a whitewash though, for when it comes to those 500hp flat sixes, the later unit found in the GT3 is far and away the superior power plant. It shows this in two areas: first, it has more torque south of 4,000rpm than the 9A1 engine in the R, though north of 8,000rpm is most impressive. Whereas the R tails off on approach to its redline, the GT3’S pull is relentless. In fact, it’s hard to pick out a weak spot in the rev range full stop – this could well be the greatest
“Whereas the R tails off on approach to its redline, the GT3’S pull is relentless”
flat six ever to be shoehorned into the back of a roadgoing 911.
The GT3, too, offers more stability at higher speeds than the R, which here is clearly missing the extra downforce offered by a fixed rear wing. The GT3’S damping is stiffer too, this expected from what is ultimately still a track-biased Neunelfer, but on these roads, slightly softer springing and a little extra body roll offered by the R in the corners is most welcome. Whereas the GT3 has a greater tendency to remain planted to the ground, the R’s chassis is happy to move around, though it’s not unnerving. The R just seems to talk to you more.
What we have here are two absolutely scintillating 911s at the very zenith of the modern analogue driving experience, and while the 991.2 GT3 is clearly leap years on from the 991.1 before it, Porsche has expertly sought to protect its halo R as the ultimate. The spec sheets may point to a single-mass flywheel and a magnesium roof (and therefore a lower centre of gravity) as primary factors, but really the R’s genius is found in the sum of its parts. On roads like these, it is superior in very nearly every way.
The Carrera T, by comparison, is a rather different proposition. Though its thesis for driver focus is the same as that of the GT3 and R ahead of it, it goes about this is an entirely different way. There’s no GT engine, no wide body and not even that slick six-speed found in the cars up ahead. Instead, there’s a modest 20kg saving and a shorter final-drive ratio over a Carrera, the T employing a delightful simplicity as a focused rendition of the entry-level 911.
The T does much to appeal to the senses: the roar of that turbocharged 9A2 engine is louder from inside than a base Carrera, the standard-spec Sport wheel, measuring 360mm in diameter, more princely to hold, too. A PASM Sport chassis, dropping the T’s ride height by 10mm, is also more communicative. The seats, covered in Sporttex rather than leather, add to the car’s sporting intentions, as do the fabric door pull straps – something even the GT3 misses out on. However, the gearbox is a big let-down, for while evocative red paint is used to mark out the H-pattern of that seven-speed atop a stubbier shifter, its mechanicals are unchanged, and so the 991’s inherent problems remain. It’s too clunky, and too vague through the gate, the T not achieving anything like the same league of precision as those GT cars ahead of it.
Porsche could and perhaps should have gone a lot further here, for a rework of the gearbox would suitably have transformed the car. Then there’s the issue of weight. At only 20 kilos lighter than a basic Carrera, once PCM is added back into the car (at no cost) the savings over a similarly specced C2 are modest at best.
Still, it’s a fun 911 in which to tackle an Alps mountain pass, especially when you’re trying to keep pace with a GT3 and 991 R. Despite the T being the only turbocharged Neunelfer in our trio of manuals, its engine still feels peaky (maximum power is delivered at 6,500rpm), and keeping revs above 4,000rpm is about the only way the T can hang on to the tails of the other two. On smaller brakes, the middle pedal is called upon earlier in the T, it not lavished with the immediacy of PCCB’S sitting behind those centre-locking wheels of the others. Lacking behind the GT3 and R even on what can be restrictive mountain roads, the better brakes and additional power and torque of a GTS are sought to keep up with present company.
As we said before though, with a Porsche it’s not how fast you go, but how you get there, and in this regard the T is very much in keeping with its peers. All are exquisite driving machines in their own right, keeping true to the 911’s genesis as a sports car built for driving. Four years ago nobody thought this test would even exist, yet the R, GT3 and Carrera T have shown us the manual is still very much at the centre of the Porsche driving experience. Far from killing it off, the 991 generation has done justice to not just preserve the manual, but evolve it, bowing out as arguably the most technically exhilarating era of analogue 911 yet.