2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T: For the - (Increasingly Rare) Thrill of the Clutch

It might surprise Earthlings to learn that the racier gearbox doesn’t make the T faster or stronger.

YOU'RE A CONNOISSEUR, a Porsche-ophile, an enthusiast collector, with multiple examples of Stuttgart's finest in your garage or on your résumé. As a superfan you can recite the driver teams from each overall win (19) at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. You named your first child Ferdinand. She is not happy about it.

Our test car-the 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera T, for "Touring"-has been curated especially for you and a few thousand like-minded and well-moneyed obsessives, globally/ annually. Behold, one of only two 911 models to retain a traditional, manually shifted six-speed transmission, relying on a pedal-actuated clutch.

Borrowed from the trackhardened 911 GT3, the six-speed uses the same bushings and robust linkages, allowing more mechanical and vibratory feedback to reach the driver's right palm. The T's stick shifter is topped by a finial of open-pore walnut about the size of a jai alai pelota. Nice haptics, that.

Compared to the slick, frictionless shifting action of the retired seven-speed manual, the GT3-derived unit feels chunky, chonky, even a bit clunky, with a distinct metal-on-metal, hammer-and-anvil moment when the shifter finds its mark.

With 7th gear eliminated, the shift-gate pattern is less crowded, which reduces the chances of a missed or muffed shift as drivers are practicing their heroics. In Porsche-speak the six-speed offers more "precision."

The clutch pedal throw is short, well weighted, with progressive feedback as the clutch loads up. The pedals are ideally spaced for heel-and-toe downshifting and include a proper dead pedal to help drivers brace themselves.