Can Porsche Really Make An incredible Car Better?

Driving the new 911 Carrera T is akin to living your best life, and doing so perfectly.

- Stephen Corby

It’s hard to compare the sheer satisfaction and tactile titillation you get from making a manual gear change in a car like Porsche’s new 911 Carrera T to anything else you know how to do. I can’t hit a perfect golf shot, but I imagine it feels very much like that.

Nor can I smash a flawless forehand, or tuck my surfboard into the barrel of a giant wave while looking tanned and insouciant. I can, however, shift from fourth to fifth gears, at pace, using the world’s most perfectly weighted, exactly gated manual gearbox, as can anyone that can afford this 911 and its US$364,500 asking price. And doing so feels, for me, very much like those rare moments where you pot a ball in pool perfectly, and the white spins off to land exactly where you wanted it. As with so much about this perfection-pushing Porsche, there’s a feeling when shifting cogs and engaging the clutch that you are a living, breathing part of something that’s been engineered purely to make you happy.