Porsche 911 GT3

A new GT3 is always a big deal, and the 992 generation feels quite a different sort of animal to its forebears. But is it better?

- Henry Catchpole

Before you get in, just kneel down in front of the car and put a temple on the tarmac. Pretend you’ve just dropped a wheel nut and you want to see how far it has rolled under the car. What you’ll find is a mostly flat undertray, but around the front wheels there are also small spinneys of angular, aggressive aero vanes that wouldn’t look out of place protruding from part of an F1 car. It gives you a sense of just how serious this new GT3 is.

As you stand up and brush the small bits of gravel from your knees, the huge, swan-neck wing and pugnacious nostrils will come back into view. On reflection, perhaps you didn’t need to hit the deck to see how serious this car is. Sorry. At least it wasn’t wet.

Capable of generating 231kg of downforce with the wing and front diffusers in their standard settings, this latest GT3 has 50 per cent more downforce than the old 991.2 GT3. However, if you break out the toolbox and add some more angle then the new car will produce 385kg of downforce at 200kmph. That’s 150 per cent more than the old car, which is impressive. But more extraordinary still is that it’s also comprehensively more than the old RS, which only doubled the old GT3’s downforce at the same speed.