GRUN WITH ENVY

IT MAY SHARE AN ENGINE WITH THE GT4 RS, BUT A MANUAL GT3 IS PROOF THAT GETTING INVOLVED IS BETTER THAN WORSHIPING NUMBERS.

- EZRA DYER

THE 2022 PORSCHE 911 GT3 has one analog gauge: the tachometer. It's huge, dead ahead through the steering wheel. And if you spec the GT3 with the six-speed manual transmission, it's a vital instrument. Because unless you own an early Honda S2000 or some type of Hayabusaengined Ford Festiva, you're probably not accustomed to 9000-rpm gearchanges. Rely on your ear and you might grab a gear at 7000 rpm-which is seriously short shifting. So you keep that tach in your peripheral vision, and when the yellow lights start to flash alongside it, your left foot goes to the clutch and your right hand to the shifter. At 9000 rpm, the 502-hp 4.0-liter flat-six sounds like it's trying to overtake the car itself. It's as if the GT3 Cup engine were back there. Which, of course, it mostly is.

The GT3's six-speed manual is a different animal from the seven-speed manual in other 911s, tracing its lineage to the 911 R. The shifter is gloriously easy to slot into place, somehow frictionless until the soft crunch of engagement tells you that you've hit the next gear. Revs climb—and fall off-instantly, as if the 4.0-liter has a fidget spinner for a flywheel. Mundane chores like parallel parking inevitably attract lookie-loos, so keep those revs up. Stalling a GT3 is almost as bad as stalling an airplane, in terms of embarrassment if not consequences.

The 911 GT3 manual has one cupholder, directly in front of the shifter. Do not use the cupholder.

In Normal drive mode, you can try to rev-match downshifts yourself. In Sport and Track modes, the car does it for you. Reverse is up and to the left of first gear, and its detent is not exactly a seven-foot-tall bouncer with brass knuckles. Tip: If you think you're in first gear but the backup camera is on, best check your work before dropping the clutch.