2022 Porsche 911 GT3 review

We know the Porsche 911 GT3 is a track-day powerhouse, a bulging and be-winged spectacle that takes the arty of subtlety and… Tosses it in the bin.

In its place, a monster, a furious explosion of colour, noise, movement and technology that transforms what is an already accomplished sports car in the regular 911, into something else again.

Porsche has made an art form of extracting the most out of its 911. With almost 60 years of engineering refinement behind it, the current-day regular Porsche 911 continues to be the car by which all sports cars are judged. It’s the benchmark, and has been for decades.

But alongside the regular 911 models, Porsche also has a long history of building low-volume, performance-focussed versions of its halo car.

It began in 1972 with the Carrera RS, a lightweight homologation special that has since passed into the Pantheon of Porsche greatness.

The Carrera RS set the tone for what was to come in future generations, and in 1999, the first 911 GT3 rolled out of Zuffenhausen with 265kW and 370Nm, 44kW and 20Nm more than a regular 911 and a 0–100km/h time of 4.8 seconds, 0.4s faster than the base Carrera.

Fast-forward 23 years and the new 911 GT3 treads a familiar path.

The 4.0-litre naturally aspirated six-cylinder inside the GT3 makes 375kW and 470Nm, helping to propel the lightweight racecar-for-the-road from 0–100km/h in 3.4 seconds. Today’s 911 Carrera packs 283kW and 450Nm and covers the same benchmark sprint in 4.2 seconds.

It’s easy to distinguish the Porsche 911 GT3 from other variants in the range. Sitting 20mm lower than a base Carrera, the GT3 hunkers down low. The presence of a new swan-neck rear wing adds ‘wow’ factor to an aggressive aero package that also includes a new front splitter and rear diffuser.

That standout wing can be adjusted too, manually, to offer more downforce or less drag, as is your want. Porsche says in its most aggressive setting, the aero package develops 150 per cent more downforce at 200km/h than the model it replaces.

A diet of lightweight components, including window glass, starter battery and a carbon-fibre bonnet, ensures the GT3 remains lighter than the 911 Carrera (1445kg against 1585kg) even if this generation GT3 weighs 5kg more than the model it replaces.

And a lot of work has gone into the GT3’s suspension set-up, with a new front axle set-up that now features race-derived double-wishbone suspension for the first time. Race car. For the road.

This review, though, is not a track test of Zuffenhausen’s latest roadgoing racecar. We’ve already tested the 911 GT3 extensively on-track, and its performance is as you’d expect. Fierce, frenetic, yet also composed. You can read our comprehensive track day review here.

Instead, this week-long garage review will determine whether a 911 that looks like a road car but sounds and smells and tastes like a racer can, in fact, serve double-duty as a regular weekday commuter.

The price of entry into the rarefied air of 911 GT3 ownership isn’t for the fainthearted.

Even at its most basic level, without any options and additional go-ever-faster bits, the 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 will want a large chunk of your cash, a $388,600-sized chunk. And that’s before any options are added, a long list that can add tens of thousands to the bottom line quicker than the 911 GT3 can cover 400 metres (for the record, 10.85 seconds).

Our test car came fitted with around $60K worth of options, bumping the as-tested price to $448,590 before on-road costs are added in. That works out to $481,442 drive-away (in NSW).

A lot of money? Absolutely, but buyers in this segment likely won’t bat an eyelid, simply happy to enjoy what is one of the most hardcore street-legal Porsche 911s ever, even as the ‘harder-corer’ GT2 RS mumbles “halte mein bier”.

We’ll detail some of the fitted options in later sections, because first we have to go through what buyers get as standard in their 911 GT3.

There are the usual highlights we can expect from just about any modern new car: keyless entry and start, a 10.9-inch touchscreen with satellite navigation, wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto, digital radio, LED head- and tail-lights, staggered 20- and 21-inch alloy wheels with a race-inspired central locking nut, automatic headlights, rain-sensing windscreen wipers, rear-view camera, front and rear parking sensors, and dual-zone climate control.

Other standard equipment highlights in the GT3 include:

Our test car, as already mentioned, wore some hefty options, the most visible the $7500 optional coat of Shark Blue paint. It’s one of four $7500 optional colours, the others Python Green, Arctic Grey and Crayon. Don’t want to pay for paint? There are nine no-cost hues to choose from.

Inside, the most visible option is also the cheapest, the Club Sport Pack in our test car adding exactly $0 to the bottom line. It brings an FIA-approved half rollcage, as well as a lightweight fire-extinguisher and aluminium bracket, and a six-point racing harness for the driver’s seat.

But, what the gods of cost-free options giveth, they also taketh, the Club Sport Pack only available in conjunction with the Full Bucket Seat option that brings lightweight race-inspired seats made of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic finished in carbon weave and upholstered in black leather and Race-Tex (microfibre). Embroidered GT3 logos adorn the headrests. The price? Try $11,250.

And the final high-vis interior option is the $11,210 leather interior with extensive leather and Race-Tex, finished in black with contrasting elements finished in Shark Blue.

While $22,460 in total for some fancy seats and lashings of leather and Race-Tex microfibre is a lot of money, it’s money well spent, if only to score the half-cage and fire-extinguisher that lend the interior of the GT3 a decidedly dangerous mien.

Despite their firmness, the optional Full Bucket Seats are snug and comfortable. Ticking this box removes electric adjustment for fore and aft, now done manually via a good old-fashioned lever located under the seat. Height adjustment is still powered, though.

Despite the presence of the six-point racing harness, regular seatbelts are still in play. In our test car, they were finished in Shark Blue (a $570 option).

The steering wheel – round, not flat-bottomed – is the centrepiece of the driving position and frames the centrally mounted tacho, the hero of the GT3’s Track Screen option. This is a digital iteration of the 911’s classic five-dial set-up that displays only important data like oil temperature, oil pressure and fuel on one side, and coolant temp and track-specific tyre gauge on the other, which not only provides information on pressures, but also tyre temperatures.

Pleasingly, the gear lever takes on the appearance of a regular manual shifter, despite our test car featuring Porsche’s excellent dual-clutch automatic transmission. Why pleasing? Because Porsche hasn’t carried over the short, stubby, plasticky gear selector that looks like a pint-sized electric razor from the regular 911.

Overall, the cabin looks and feels as focussed and purposeful as the GT3 does from the outside, all while still retaining a level of modernity and comfort.

Don’t look for back seats. There aren’t any. And if you want to lug overnight bags or groceries, there’s a scant 132L lurking under the carbon fibre and aggressively vented bonnet.

Porsche’s excellent PCM operating system underpins the GT3’s infotainment system. A 10.9-inch touchscreen integrated into the dash plays host.

It’s equipped with the usual features expected today – wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto smartphone mirroring, satellite navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, digital radio – and it all gels nicely from a user’s perspective, responsive to inputs, and with a contemporary graphical interface that looks and feels the business.

Our test car was optioned with the $2970 Bose sound system, not that you’ll spend much time listening to tunes, the mechanical symphony of that 4.0-litre naturally aspirated flat-six just behind you all the music your ears need.

A pair of USB Type-C points inside the small central storage bin keep devices charged up, while a 12V plug offers more charging ability. It’s located in the passenger-side footwell.

Like the broader Porsche 911 range, the GT3 has not been crash-tested by either ANCAP or its European counterpart NCAP.

Don’t look for modern safety technologies, such as blind-spot monitoring or autonomous emergency braking, as there aren’t any.

A suite of six airbags is on board, while the Porsche Side Impact Protection (POSIP) set-up is standard in the GT3. It adds side impact protection elements in the doors, a thorax airbag integrated into the side bolster of each front seat, and head airbag for driver and passenger in each door panel.

Cruise control is of the standard, non-adaptive variety.

Anyone who can hand over almost 500 large on the road for the Porsche 911 GT3 won’t care whether their investment represents good value or not. If you want one, you want one, and comparing it to other similar offerings in the market is redundant.

Porsche covers the GT3 with its standard three-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, while servicing is required every 20,000km or 12 months, whichever comes first.

Servicing costs are conditional-based and vary from dealer-to-dealer depending on the scope of work required.

We approached several insurance providers for a quote on comprehensive coverage but all declined to provide a quote, with one insurer telling us “we do not insure this type of vehicle”. Ouch.

Porsche claims the 911 GT3 will use 12.6L per 100km of 98-octane unleaded on the combined cycle.

Our week with the Shark Blue apex predator, a week spent entirely on the streets and highways of Sydney with not a wheel turned in anger on a racetrack, consumed an indicated 13.0L/100km. That’s a pretty decent return against Porsche’s claim.

The fuel tank measures in at 64L.

There’s a deliciously mechanical growl when you fire up the ignition of the GT3, the naturally aspirated 4.0-litre flat-six grumbling to life in a symphony of mechanical parts working in concert. No turbocharging here for the flat-six that makes 375kW at 8000rpm and 470Nm at 6100rpm.

Porsche’s excellent dual-clutch automatic (PDK) sends drive to the rear wheels (there is also a manual variant available… It costs not a cent more, nor less, than the PDK model).

You’d think driving something as thoroughbred as the GT3 is on normal suburban roads would bring levels of compromise most of us are not willing to make.

But the news here is good. Yes, there’s an inherent rawness to the way the Porsche goes about its business, underscored by that beautiful symphony of cylinders, a sound heightened inside the cabin thanks to the GT3’s race-bred composition. It’s loud inside, but beautifully so.

Some cars of this ilk feel restrained, as if wobbling around at 60km/h is a crime against their very essence. Not so the 911 GT3 that can, and does, behave with a composed assurance that seems to say, ‘I’ll happily stick to the signposted speed limits with a degree of comfort but know this… Your right foot can unleash hell in a split second if that’s what you want’. Entering a motorway has never been so much fun.

Acceleration isn’t just prodigiously quick, it’s an event, the engine exploding with a manic howl you’ll want to replicate time and time again.

Playing its part, the dual-clutch auto offers precise and razor-sharp gear changes, its intuitive nature making the paddle-shifters and manual mode redundant.

You can, of course, effect your own ratio swaps via those paddle-shifters, allowing the GT3 to hold onto revs longer and louder, but really, the PDK is so good, so intuitive at knowing when to shift up or down, you don’t need to.

While the ride is understandably and necessarily firm, it’s also surprisingly composed on Sydney’s scrappy streets. Yes, you feel the bumps and lumps that make up our urban roadways, but it’s entirely within acceptable levels. Selecting the firmest setting offered by the Porsche’s adaptive dampers does add a sharper edge to the GT3’s composure, but again, it’s at a level that lives well within the bounds of acceptable.

The hydraulic lift kit is a boon, too, raising the nose by 40mm to help navigate driveways and speed humps.

Of course, it would be remiss to not explore just a fraction of the GT3’s potential out on the open road. So we did just that, heading out of town for a stretch of more adventurous driving.

And it’s here the GT3 comes alive. That 60–100km/h grumbling howl takes on a harder-edged growl as the engine responds with an alacrity that’s as astonishing as it is enjoyable. Down low in the rev range, there’s still a feeling of docility, like the GT3 is out for a Sunday stroll, but once the needle eases past the 4000rpm mark, things start to get louder and everything becomes more urgent.

Selecting Sport mode from the steering-wheel-mounted drive selector applies a honed edge to everything. As revolutions climb and that hard-edged growl turns into a mechanical wail, the GT3 simply hunkers down and hurtles at the horizon at an eye-watering rate of acceleration.

Sadly, it’s all over within 3.4 seconds, the triple-figure mark a sign to ease off the accelerator.

And you can banish any thoughts that this is a straight-line monster. More spirited cornering – not that we are able to get anywhere close to the GT3’s limits – provides just a taste of what this car is capable of. Four-wheel steering provides a sharper turn-in than you might otherwise expect, while the electromechanical power steering offers good feedback and pinpoint accuracy.

And when it comes time to stop, the 408mm (front) and 380mm (rear) rotors do a commendable job of retarding speed in an entirely predictable manner.

The Porsche 911 GT3 has long been – in my eyes – the epitome of the racecar-for-the-road philosophy, blending crushing on-track performance with compliant road-going manners.

And it’s that ability to blend the two needs of the GT3 that makes it so accomplished. On the one hand, you have what is for all intents and purposes a proper race car; one that can assault your local track with a vigorous yet confident demeanour.

On the other, let everything cool down, and the GT3 feels just as capable of committing to the daily grind that is our road network. Sure, it might not be as plush as a 911 Carrera, but what you lose in comfort, you gain in thrills and the knowledge that when the situation demands, there are few cars more capable.

And to answer the question… Can you live with the 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 as a daily driver? That’s an emphatic yes.