Must say this was a rather interesting match up, also in the fray was a 360 spider but it wasnt around for long. Many people look at the 599 and they say a GT car, sure it has 620 bhp but let me tell you anyone that speaks ill of this car hasnt experienced one, there is but one wordhenomenal! Comming back from the track, new 997 GT3 was behind us, a straight road presented itself and the outcome was predictable to say the least, make no mistake a GT3 is a very quick car but so is an Impreza STi, by 250 km/h the 599 had pulled around 8 car lenghts and was still pulling away when traffic intervened. The amazing this is this was achieved changing at 6500 rpm, no more, the massive torque of this V12 really makes it a totally differant proposition to the V8 F cars I had experienced before. Perhaps more telling but by no mean scientific was when we all got stuck in traffic, the GT3 driver trying to wow the other motorists with some revving, and nobody looked, one rev of the 599 and we had I an exaggerate not, people clapping and whistling.....Just driving through the city, seeing peoples reactions is interesting, there is such an adoration for the Ferrari, by contrast people give the Porsche respect but there isnt that emotion.... At the risk of being attacked perhaps this is why we can never compare Porsches to Ferraris, both are great cars but....will stop here!
With a Ferrari you are look at like a mith, with a porsche you could be envy. I have both, 599 and 997gt3rs and I can say that on a straight line there is no match but in the turns the gt3 is much much much faster
Manuma: Some Americans have complained the the factory suspension settings for the 997 GT/3 RS compromise the handling. To protect the driver it seems the car is set up by the factory for lots of understeer and actually can transition to snap oversteer quickly. Have you left the big rear spoiler and the suspension with the factory settings or have you improved it? CH
We have both in the family. Yes, in a staight line the V12 always beats the V6. On twisty mountain roads the GT3 is more fun to drive and holds its own quite well. We had 430's before the 599 and GT3. Naturally the 599 is in a world of its own. But the GT3 is so good that we don't miss the 430's one bit. The 599 and GT3 will soon be gone as we are waiting to order 2 430 Scuderias. Our 360CS was the only car we regretted selling.
Great kill......now id like to see how your 599 does against a 997 GT2, should be interesting. About people's reaction to both cars, i experienced the same scenario while cruising in the 348 and a 997TT next to me, all eyes were clapped on the Fcar.............Porsche and Ferrari, so close yet so far.
no doubt the 599 is about as fast as they come with 600+ hp and true f1 technology behind it. whats more amazing is i just had my unmodified 997 gt3 on track with local ferrari club and my car was significantly faster than 355/360 challenge, 430 street car, gallardo and z06. this had nothing to do with driving skill either as im only talking about the long strait portions of the track. some of the 360 challenge cars were heavily modified to almost 360 gt specs but i could easily pull away esp between 100 to 150 mph. doubt it would happen with 599 (or 430 challenge) but no way is the gt3 just 415 hp. has to be well over 450 to be able to do that.
I dont see how you can compare a 409hp car to a 620hp car. Obviously, even though the 599 weighs more the extra horsepower will put the GT3 in the dust.
Well, to be fast on the straights you need (i) lots of power and / or (ii) driving skills... Driving skills determine how fast you enter the straights and thus are a major factor behind your relative performance vs. other cars on the straights.
My car hasn't the factory setup because as you said it had a lot of understeer and on fast turns it oversteer. I had to oversteer at 170km/h with tc off. Now I have a bit less than 3 degrees of camber front and rear, 2.5 I think. All the arms were setting hard, now those are medium. 1, 1,5 cm lower only in the front. Now it's a fantastic car, in oversteer only if you want and it's not so easy because of the big traction. You can make it slide giving a strong turn with the steering wheel as you can see on my ring video on www.manuma.eu at minute 4.04 For the understeer now there are no problem but you have to enter the turns braking so all the weight is in the front
Well my feeling is that there are two environments, one being the open road, the other being the track. Sure the GT3 with its more race biased suspension will have some advantage but its this precise setup in that in SA makes its hugely compromised on any road with a bump, I have never understood this thinking from Porsche because at the end of the day the GT3 is neither an out and out racing car nor an ideal road cars because of this compromised set up. Then again maybe you guys have more smooth roads than we do here in South Africa.....
Manuma: thank you for the details about your car 'set-up' choices. The car also seems to like the rear wing set for maximum downforce to. Great videos you have on the link! CH
Intersting observation. While we all agree that Porsche makes nice engines, their suspensions can be controversial. Over the years of 911 production there were several "refinements" made to the suspension to correct prior design flaws.
I have both too. I like the Porsche better in the city and the track and the 599 is the ultimate for the open highway. The 997 GT3RS is a fantastic car for little money
lol - I guess everything is relative Do you think the RS badge is worth the extra over the 997 GT3? That's a debate that's been going on for a little while now.
No question. The little differences add up to a lot. I also think that an Evo is worth the extra over a Lancer
