991 vs 992 GT3 BATTLE OF THE GEARBOX

Both these Weissach superstars are equipped with the same six-speed manual gearbox from Porsche Motorsport... but can Total 9 find any tangible differences between the two?

- Lee Sibley

North Wales. A glorious pocket of the UK, where the locals are friendly, the scenery is pretty and the roads are twisty. Never mind God’s country, today it’s GT3 country, our two stunning examples from the 991 and 992 generation playing cat and mouse on the slithers of blacktop running through vibrant, green topography.

Ahead of me, Phil Farrell is carving a fast line through the cambered curves in his Carmine red 991.2 GT3, the howl from its exhaust reverberating around the Welsh hills. I’m in hot pursuit in a Gentian blue, Touring specification 992 GT3, its low, wide nose hunting the tall uprights and shark-fin end plates mounted to the 991.2’s sculptural wing. We’ve covered these two glittering Porsche 911s in broader detail before, but today we’re back on winding asphalt to delve a little deeper into just one aspect that makes them both so special: their gearboxes.

The history of Porsche’s six-speed ‘box in the company’s GT product is well known. Binned for the 991.1 GT3 generation in 2013 when Andreas Preuninger famously announced PDK would be the de-facto transmission for Porsche GT cars going forward, a public outcry led to this decision being reversed. It was the 911 R in 2016 that first revived a manual stick-shift in a Weissach car, the U-turn complete when Porsche introduced the 991.2 GT3 a year later, when enthusiasts could choose either PDK or manual. By 2018, Porsche was producing a Touring version of said GT3, where any choice of transmission was once again removed, this time with stick shift being the compulsory gearbox.