Tour de Force

Once inside the Porsche 911 GT3 touring you’ll realise this is a race car for the road, albeit the most subtle-looking one ever created.

- Stephen Corby

Driving Porsche’s 911 GT3 Touring through inner suburban Sydney is about as wise as taking a giant, rough-necked Rottweiler for a walk through a childcare centre. Sure, people will stare at you, quake in fear at the gruff growling noises and possibly run away, but you’ll pay for it, because you’ll feel like your arms are coming out at the sockets.

The great thing about most 911s is that they are a carbon fibre fist in a natty leather glove – comfortable around town, pleasant and pliable at low speeds and yet capable of getting your heart racing once you reach your favourite open road – but the GT3 is an iron fist wrapped in an iron maiden.

The standard GT3 looks almost as dangerous and intense as an ancient torture device, with its vast rear wing marking it out as something very different to the standard cars. But this Touring version seems to be trying to hide its craziness, using a pop-up spoiler to provide the downforce of the deleted wing, and only revealing its true nature with some subtle badging.

Look closer at the interior, however, and you’ll notice that it features some very race-car-style seats, which offer little adjustment and even less comfort (less, it seems, is what you get for your extra money but, in the power-to-weight world of extreme speed, less IS more).

Climbing in and out of these steep-sided bucket seats is, rather aptly, like being jammed into an extreme roller-coaster. Not even a gymnast could make stepping out of this GT3 look classy, or enjoyable.