After the very successful Geneva unveiling of the new hi-tech, track-poised, Porsche 911 (991) GT3, and the Porsche GT3 R (the racing version, pictured here), Porsche has confirmed the 911 GT3 RS will be arriving a year from now in 2014, and this will be preceded by the 911 Turbo variant, sometime this year in 2013.
More importantly however, it has been confirmed that the GT3 RS will borrow the electric steering, rear-wheel steering and PDK dual-clutch transmission of the GT3 which many enthusiasts hoped wouldn’t be the case. Many had hoped the GT3 RS would retain at least the option of a manual gearbox and perhaps even hydraulic power steering.
Clearly feeling the heat, Porsche have felt the need to defend this move already by stating that next year’s 991 GT3 RS will “…steer as well as the GT3 RS 4.0, while the PDK will provide even more involvement than the manual option.”
While you might imagine the decision for PDK-only is actually routed in lowering lap times around the circuits of the world; because the technology was commended for shaved several seconds off the GT3’s lap time at the Nürburgring; the reason for it is actually for more pedantic than that.
Porsche say the 2014 GT3 RS will not receive a manual transmission because the company doesn’t want to provide too many variants and would require different aerodynamic, suspension setups and tyres. They are a “small team that can only concentrate on one car.”
Nevertheless, what are we likely to expect from the 2014 991 GT3 RS? Well, Porsche seem to suggest that the PDK will be able to shift even quicker and more aggressively as an RS. The steering will be made to work with the bespoke RS-spec suspension.
The 991 GT3 RS will most likely receive a titanium exhaust, bigger wing with specific aero tweaks and a tuned engine with power on the high side of 373 kW (500-horsepower). Like any fast Porsche, we welcome it, but we already know some GT3 enthusiasts are turning their noses up at the thought of PDK-only.
Nobody has driven the new GT3 yet, so we can’t say if it’s good or bad news that the 991 RS will be getting all these techie bits thrown into the mix as well. We do know that in the regular 991 Carrera range in South Africa, there is currently only one car that’s been optioned with the seven-speed manual gearbox. Just one, isn’t that crazy?
Perhaps manual gearboxes really are as dead as every says it is. If the purist driving machine of them all, the 911 GT3 RS isn’t bothering with them anymore, what is to become of them?
