Getting Back Behind the Wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3

Our household has a few sports cars—a manual Boxster, a 911 Cabriolet, a manual 911 GT3, and a 911 (964). But they’re often parked near the train station or close to my husband’s office. They’re also mostly two-seaters (the 911 may have four seats, but in practice it feels like a two-seater…), so I don’t get many chances to drive them.

My husband always tells me, “You should take them out more often,” but with a three-month-old at home, it’s not easy to get out and about.

Then, one day, my husband stayed home to look after the kids, so I decided to take the GT3 out for the first time in a while.

When I did the math, I realized it had been exactly two months since I’d last driven the GT3. Which means I only drive it five or six times a year… (A bit of a waste, considering it’s right there at home.)

Since I drive it so rarely, I always feel a little nervous getting behind the wheel. So I asked my husband, “Is there anything I should keep in mind when driving the GT3?” He replied:

Nothing in particular—just drive it normally, haha. If I had to mention something, Sport mode turns on auto-blipping, and switching PASM to Sport stiffens the suspension, which makes it easier to drive.

So, thinking, “It’s supposed to get really cold next week, so this might be my last GT3 drive of the year,” I set off for Royu.

Taking the GT3 on the Mountain Roads

The GT3’s ride is as firm as you’d expect. I used to think, “It’s totally fine to drive around town,” and, well, you can drive it around town. But hit a manhole cover and you feel the impact full force. And on the move, you hear all sorts of things—the sound of pebbles flicking up, the engine, and more.

That doesn’t exactly make me eager to use it as a daily driver. Driving it is one thing, but I imagine the ride can be pretty tough for a passenger. A GT3 is a car that really comes into its own on a good road.

As I approached the Royu Driveway, I switched to Sport mode to firm up the suspension and tried driving while shifting up with a light, steady pressure on the accelerator, just as I’d read about here. It really is incredible. The acceleration when you press the throttle, the gear changes—everything responds so quickly. I was reminded all over again just how athletic this car is.

My husband once said, “Driving the GT3 is like running in tabi boots. You can feel exactly what the road surface is doing.” He was right. The tires feel so connected to the road, and all that surface information comes straight through to the driver. There’s a wonderful sense of lightness, backed by real grip.

What struck me again was just how well it turns. The Boxster and other 911s are excellent in corners, too, but the GT3 takes it to another level. When you turn in, it doesn’t just drift wide—it feels like it wants to keep turning even more. Even without meaning to, I found myself carving a really tight line through the corners. (Haha.)

But that day, the GT3 and I just weren’t in sync. I hadn’t driven a sports car much in recent months. Most days, I was in the easy-to-drive Cayenne, spending about ten minutes behind the wheel on school drop-offs and pick-ups. My driving had clearly gotten rusty.

Ah, I braked too early there. I didn’t need to downshift just then… and, yeah, I still didn’t quite get the revs to match…

Before I knew it, I was driving with intense concentration. Then I caught myself and nearly laughed: “What am I even trying to prove? I’m just a regular person—I should relax and enjoy the drive, haha.”

And that’s when it hit me.

Our Boxster GTS is a car that puts the driver in a playful mood, while the GT3 is a car that makes the driver take things seriously.

I remember an episode of the motoring show *Top Gear* about the 911 R (Season 23, Episode 6). It described the car as one that gives the driver nowhere to hide, making them feel tested by this high-performance machine—a car you drive as a team, with driver and car working as one. That’s exactly how the GT3 felt to me: it’s a car that brings out your serious side.

After driving for a while, I started to feel tired (Seriously, what was that about? Haha.), so I headed home early. I told my husband:

The GT3 is really hard to drive. I can have so much more fun driving the Boxster, but getting the most out of the GT3 is genuinely difficult. I’m no longer worried about stalling or making mistakes with the manual, but when I think about driving better, I realize I still have a long way to go. The GT3 just wouldn’t open up to me.

He replied:

What does that even mean? (Laughs.) Maybe you were intimidated by the GT3 again. I think a lot of it is psychological, haha. But, yeah, the GT3 Touring is a car for experienced drivers. It takes real skill to drive it smoothly and quickly.
I bet it’s easier to drive on a circuit.
And the GT3 Touring is a GT3 you can enjoy touring in on public roads, so in some ways it may be harder to drive than a regular GT3 quickly around a circuit. It really is a car for seasoned drivers. I still haven’t completely mastered it myself.

I said:

I’d love to ride along with you next time. I want to watch closely and learn where you brake, what lines you take through the corners, and what gears you’re using.

He said:

What’s gotten into you? (Laughs.) If we get the chance, we should take the GT3 on the Shōten Kaidō (Mimasaka Yamanami Highway) in Okayama. It’s a fantastic road, and I think you’d really get a feel for the car. We’d need someone to look after all three kids, though. Still, I’d love to go sometime.

Since we have a GT3 at home, I’d like to get better at driving it—at least better than I am now. I used to watch my husband practice or go to driving schools because he wanted to improve his driving, and tease him: “What are you training for, anyway? Planning to become a racing driver?” But lately I’ve found myself wondering what on earth I’m trying to achieve, too. (Laughs.)