“This is the most track-focused, surgically precise, lightest, most downforcey 911 that you can buy,” Farah begins. The stance and aerodynamic additions leave nobody guessing what this monster is meant to do—as will the exhaust note. At 9,000 rpm, the scream the 4.0-liter makes sounds like Armageddon—the good kind. We’re all familiar with the car, which is admittedly meant for smooth, fast circuits—so how does it handle Los Angeles canyons?
Anyone who’s owned a vintage car can attest to the difference the mildest increases in girth make. As these latest 991 Carreras are bigger around the midsection, they are noticeably larger. Every additional inch of width and length make any car feel harder to place, but the 991’s (GT3 RS, especially) incisive front, rear wheel-steering, and relatively short overhangs compensate for its greater size. Looking at the direction change as Farah descends through the switchbacks (4:25), we see that the car is as easy to place as anything.
Fortunately, a communicative front end is only part of this beauty’s appeal. The less confident, less skilled driver could still get all their jollies pulling a few gears through a tunnel and bask in that end-of-days shriek (5:29). Few road-going cars make a sound like the GT3 RS, and in many ways, this is a road-going car that lives up to the moniker “racing car for the road.”
A sight every GT3 RS owner relishes.
For that reason, it is more a weekend car than a grocery getter. It’s a lot of car for a public road, and it lacks the softness that’s reassuring over fast, bumpy, read-world roads. Not to say it isn’t compliant or stable, but it is firm. Also, the 265-section tires in front make the slightly darty; tramlining is just part of driving this car over crowned, pockmarked streets.
These mild criticism can’t dissuade a real petrolhead from loving all of the raw pace and involvement this car offers, and that’s no surprise. With a wide road to stretch its legs, the GT3 RS is totally electric. There’s no question about its rightful place in the pantheon of great road-going track cars, but it’s not something that is at home from stoplight to stoplight. Like putting a leash on a cougar, it’s just wrong; this machine needs to roam.