There is a strange kind of restraint required to walk past the regular 911 GT3, with its sizeable rear wing and swan neck mounts, and instead sign the paperwork on the Touring. On paper it looks like the sensible choice. In reality, sensible has very little to do with it.
We recently spent time in the latest 992.2 generation Porsche 911 GT3 with Touring Package, specified with the seven speed PDK transmission, and came away with a newfound respect for a car that trades a giant rear wing for a retractable spoiler and, somehow, loses none of the drama in the process.
What Exactly Is The GT3 Touring?
The GT3 Touring has been part of the 911 range since the 991 generation, originally offered only with a six speed manual gearbox as the so called ‘spiritual successor’ to the old 911 R. That six speed manual is still standard fitment, but for the 992.2 update Porsche now offers the same seven speed PDK dual clutch gearbox found in the winged GT3 as a no cost option, which is the configuration we spent our time with.
Strip away the fixed wing, swap in the retractable spoiler and you have a car that looks, at a glance, closer to a well sorted Carrera than a race car with a number plate. It is a clever disguise, because underneath the subtler bodywork sits exactly the same hardware as the regular GT3.
Power, Torque And The PDK Advantage
The heart of the matter is a 4.0 litre naturally aspirated flat six that revs to a sensationally thrilling 9,000 rpm redline, sending 375 kW (503 hp) to the rear wheels alone. Torque stands at 450 Nm (332 lb-ft), down 20Nm compared to the outgoing pre-facelift car due to tighter emissions regulations that now require two particulate filters and four catalytic converters. Porsche has compensated with upgraded camshafts borrowed from the previous GT3 RS, revised cylinder heads and improved oil cooling, along with a final drive ratio that is 8% shorter than before.
With the PDK gearbox fitted, Porsche quotes 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 313 km/h (194 mph) for the Touring specification. The dual clutch transmission is the party trick here. Even pottering around at suburban pace, upshifts arrive with a satisfying pop from the twin tailpipes, and the harder you lean into the throttle, the louder and more theatrical those shifts become. It is the kind of gearbox that actively encourages bad behaviour.
Weight has also been trimmed through lightweight aluminium wheels and a new lithium ion battery. Choosing the manual instead saves a further 17kg, and for those chasing every last kilogram, you can opt for the Lightweight Package to save a further 22kg for an extra R900,000.
Living With It On The Road
The GT3 Touring delivers every bit of the drama of the winged car, just with less attention drawn to it. Fire it up using the physical turn key switch and you are greeted with a gruff bark from the exhaust, followed by the clunks and vibrations typical of a car built around motorsport componentry rather than everyday comfort.
The ride is firm but not punishing on smooth tarmac, and Porsche’s updated damper tuning, borrowed in part from the 911 S/T, has done a reasonable job of keeping things liveable at a cruise. Push on though, particularly on patchy surfaces, and the GT3 Touring can become a genuine workout which for drivers is known as fun. The theatre is there with plenty of road noise, tyre roar and a persistent whine from the differential making themselves known.
Turn into a corner and all of that firmness pays off. Body roll is essentially absent, the steering communicates phenomenally and grip levels are superb. The brake pedal is firm and requires a deliberate push, but stopping power is never in question. This is, without exaggeration, one of the most engaging naturally aspirated sports cars currently on sale, PDK or not.
Interior
Porsche has kept cabin changes minimal, the biggest being the switch to a fully digital instrument cluster in place of the previous car’s part analogue setup, a change some purists will mourn. Rear seats are now available as a genuine no cost option on the Touring, useful for short trips with small children, though the second row remains tiny by any real world measure.
There is minimal storage but that shows the priorities most clearly. The cupholder situation is not ideal, having moved from the dashboard to a fixed unit in the centre console that tends to sit right where your arm wants to rest. None of this amounts to a dealbreaker, and nobody buying a GT3 Touring is expecting decent amount of storage, but it is a clear reminder that comfort and everyday usability were never the primary brief here, even in the more road focused Touring specification.
On the practicality side, the frunk remains usefully sized for a weekend bag, and unlike the more hardcore GT3 RS, the GT3 Touring retains its rear seats and a reasonably sized ‘boot’, meaning a school run or airport drop off is entirely possible.
What About The Manual?
We did not test the six speed manual for this review, but it is worth noting that it remains the standard transmission on the GT3 Touring, with the PDK offered as a no cost upgrade. Reviewers who have driven the manual describe a mechanical connection to the powertrain that the PDK simply cannot replicate, along with a genuinely short, precise shift action courtesy of the optional Leichtbau package’s stubby short shifter. The trade off is a 0.5 second slower 0 to 100 km/h sprint, though the manual actually claims a marginally higher top speed than the PDK. For buyers who want to do their own rev matching and extract every ounce of driver involvement, the manual remains the purist’s choice, even as the PDK closes the gap on outright pace.
Pricing And Availability In South Africa
Locally, the Porsche 911 GT3 with Touring Package currently starts from R4,795,000, based on the standard five year DrivePlan, with no price difference between the manual and PDK gearboxes. That is before options, and GT3 buyers are notorious for ticking plenty of boxes. Some of the bigger ticket items include the Lightweight package we mentioned, the choice of a R760,000 Sonderwunsch Paint to Sample Plus or the R280,000 option to add the mighty impressive Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes.
Verdict
The Porsche 911 GT3 Touring in PDK guise proves that losing the wing costs you nothing in character. It is every bit as raw, focused and occasionally impractical like the regular GT3, just with a lower profile and, for buyers who want blistering pace without a manual gearbox to manage in traffic, a genuinely compelling case over the six speed alternative.
This is not a car that rewards being driven gently, and those who buy one hoping for a slightly calmer GT3 experience for daily commuting will likely find themselves frustrated by the noise, the ride and the general sense that the car is happiest being worked hard. It is not a daily driver in any conventional sense, no matter how usable the frunk or rear seats might be.
If you want a weekend weapon that also happens to be road legal, and one that can be driven to a track day, used hard, and driven home again without complaint, few cars currently on sale come close.
