Porsche 911 GT3 RS 2024 Review - carsales.com.au (2024)

As usual with cars in this market segment, this is a question of two halves. The standard price of the 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS is $537,600 plus on-road costs – a stratospheric $120,000-plus increase over its predecessor – but a smattering of high-value options increased the as-tested ask of our press car to $670,660 plus ORCs.

This isn’t unknown territory for a 911, but such models usually wear a GT2 RS badge rather than the number above.

It puts the 386kW/465Nm GT3 RS in serious supercar territory among rivals that are much more powerful, such as the 610kW/740Nm Ferrari 296 GTB (from $568,300) and 552kW/800Nm McLaren 750S (from $580,163), though the 470kW/565Nm Lamborghini Huracan STO (from $596,000) is probably its closest competition in spirit.

You’re certainly not paying that money for luxury toys, though the 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS isn’t as stripped-out as you might expect.

There’s keyless entry/start, dual-zone climate control, electric windows and dynamic LED headlights, plus a lift system to keep the nose clear over kerbs.

Our test car added tinted Matrix LED headlights ($6100), the eye-catching Ruby Star Paint-to-Sample colour ($32,440), brake callipers painted in high-gloss black ($1720), illuminated carbon door sills ($880), Bose sound system ($2970), accent package logos ($1590), light design package ($1050), Porsche logo LED courtesy lights ($300) and Race-Tex sun visors ($880).

Then there’s the $76,420 (yes, really) Weissach package that turns the bonnet, roof, upper mirror shells and parts of the rear wing into visible carbon elements while also using the lightweight material for the shear panel, anti-roll bars and coupling rod in the rear suspension.

Forged magnesium wheels are 20 per cent lighter than the standard rims, there’s more extensive use of carbon and Race-Tex in the interior and new magnesium shift paddles derived from the 911 GT3 Cup racing car. Finally, the steel roll cage of the Clubsport package is replaced by a carbon version.

Porsche’s warranty is three years/unlimited kilometres though can be extended for extra cost. Service intervals are 12 months or 20,000km, but regular track work may alter this to keep note of certain components.

Understandably, there’s no official crash rating for the 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS and it would fare poorly if it were crashed, as there is a complete lack of any active safety systems.

Which is just how Porsche likes it.

There are, however, front, side and head airbags for both occupants and a rear-view camera with sensors for parking manoeuvres.

What you’re paying for here with the 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS are the mechanical changes.

Porsche’s widescreen infotainment system is present with digital radio, wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto, Porsche connected services and music streaming with an eight-speaker stereo as standard.

But where the GT3 RS moves the game on is its mechanical make-up.

Compared to the GT3, the RS wheels are a half-inch and an inch wider front and rear respectively, now 20x9.5-inch and 21x13.0-inch, with an extra 20mm of rubber at each end (275/30 front, 335/30 rear). Tracks are 29mm wider front and rear and the car itself is 48mm wider and 43mm taller.

The 408mm front brake discs are the same diameter but 2mm thicker, there are helper springs in the front suspension as well as the rear and all suspension joints (rather than just selected ones) are ball-jointed. No rubber bushes means better response.

Where the new GT3 RS really changes the game is aerodynamics. It produces twice as much downforce as its predecessor at 285km/h, three times as much as the standard GT3 and more than just about any other production car (without getting into things like the Aston Martin Valkyrie).

It introduces active aerodynamics by using one large central radiator instead of three smaller ones in the nose, freeing up space for two electronically-adjustable flaps in the front underside. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of eliminating the 911’s usual front luggage space, though I guess that also then saves further weight.

The giant double-plane rear wing is also adjustable with an F1-style drag reduction system, the top element able to be flattened in a straight line to help the car slip through the air.

Then there are the giant cutouts behind the front wheels – which along with the front guard vents reduce pressure in the wheel wells – as well as the flat floor and the fins on the roof that direct hot air from the radiator outwards rather than into the engine air intakes.

Another big change for the latest GT3 RS is the addition of driver-adjustable parameters. The traction and stability control can be increased or decreased depending on the conditions, while the differential lock rate (on deceleration and acceleration) and the damping (for rebound and compression) can also be adjusted, this all possible via four rotary dials on the steering wheel.

More on this in the track section.

In essence, the 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS uses the same 4.0-litre flat-six as the standard GT3 but the use of individual throttles, new camshafts and rigid valve gear alter the power profile slightly.

Whereas the regular GT3 produces 375kW at 8400rpm and 470Nm at 6100rpm, the RS manages 386kW at 8500rpm and 465Nm at 6300rpm. Small differences, but differences nonetheless.

There’s next to nothing in it in terms of power-to-weight, but RS has a shorter diff ratio to compensate for its greater drag.

Its wider tyres give it a traction edge off the line, its 3.2sec 0-100km/h claim besting the GT3 by 0.2sec, an advantage it holds to 200km/h (10.8 v 11.0sec). This is a very fast car.

Extracting almost 100kW/litre from a normally-aspirated engine requires a lot of air and a lot of fuel, which combined with massive sticky tyres and huge wings means, well, the 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS drinks like a lost traveller found in the Outback.

The official claim is 13.4L/100km but the shorter gearing means even on the highway it’s not particularly frugal.

Under hard use that figure skyrockets and you’re likely to need at least two tanks’ worth on a typical track day.

It’s not at all out of step with rivals, but don’t think the lower (relatively) power figure means less fuel.

Nothing like as intimidating or extreme as the looks suggest. Click the 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS into drive, hit the nose lift – press the save button on the infotainment and it’ll perform the manoeuvre automatically next time you arrive at this location – and off you go.

Vision isn’t the easiest, though again not as bad as you might think as the rear wing is effectively above the window line, the steering is light and the lack of refinement means you get to enjoy the sensations feeding back from every corner of the car.

The ride is very firm, though the ability to select (ironically) Track mode and soften the dampers off gives a fraction more compliance than the standard GT3. It’s not much different, but it is noticeable.

Likewise, it’s a noisy machine, especially on coarse-chip road surfaces, but not to the extent of the previous-generation GT2 RS, for instance.

Simply put, the idea of the GT3 RS is that you can drive to the track and back in it and it’s certainly habitable enough to accomplish this.

Start to explore the car’s performance on a good road and it quickly becomes sensory bombardment, the engine screaming to 9000rpm, the loud click of the magnesium gearshift paddles, the way the steering wheel writhes in your hands over bumps and cambers.

It’s not a car you really get up on its tiptoes – a Cayman GT4 might be more pure fun on the public road – but with some familiarisation the feeling of the car subtly shifting its weight in corners is beautiful.

And more so than any other 911, 275mm-wide semi-slick front tyres mean you never have to worry about the front-end biting.

We’ve already sampled the 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS on track at its launch on the wide, fast, super-smooth expanses of The Bend Motorsport Park, but were interested in how it fared in a potentially less favourable environment.

Enter Sandown Raceway, which is narrow and bumpy with plenty of slow 90-degree turns.

The GT3 RS was unbelievable. For all the talk of the crazy engine and wild aero, it’s the brakes that are the most impressive.

The Turn 1 braking point was the same as that used by, say, hot hatches, despite the Porsche travelling way, way faster, yet it pulled up time and time again with rock-solid stability. And forget about brake fade.

Grip from both ends of the car is stunning and it gives you so much confidence to push to the ragged edge, especially now there is adjustable traction and stability control which retains a safety net but only where you really, really need it.

Sandown’s lumpy surface also proved no problem. It’s a slightly busy experience down the front straight as the steering wheel jiggles in your hands, but the car always tracks straight and true, never actually perturbed by the road irregularities.

To save eulogising further, the best way to sum it up is the GT3 RS is in all likelihood the most capable and involving road-going track car there is.

But what of the new driver-adjustable settings for the diff and suspension? They do make a difference, albeit a subtle one, but the suspicion is you’ll play with them for a while only to end up with everything on ‘0’ where it started.

You would have to be a truly elite driver for a click to the differential acceleration preload to make any meaningful and worthwhile change to your track driving experience.

Inside, the 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS isn’t exactly an opulent environment, but the biggest problem is getting in and out of it. The latter, in particular, is difficult to achieve with any grace or elegance.

Once ensconced, it’s a very pleasant environment. The carbon bucket sets are superbly supportive, most surfaces are covered in Race-Tex and white-stitched leather, and in terms of habitability there’s really no compromise over a standard Carrera.

There’s still the digital instrument screens that are easy to adjust, the full infotainment screen with smartphone mirroring and a decent stereo, storage nooks and crannies and a cup holder for your coffee, though careful with spills in a car this focused.

The biggest shortcoming is the lack of luggage space. With the boot now non-existent and the rear seats full of roll cage, your helmet etc is going to have to live on the passenger seat on the way to the track.

There is an interesting philosophical question surrounding the new 2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Fantastic though it is, it makes no sense.

Even at the 20.8km Nurburgring Nordschleife, the RS was only 10.6sec quicker than a standard GT3, so at most tracks the difference will be a couple of seconds at best.

And that’s assuming the driver in question is already driving the regular GT3 at 100 per cent – no easy feat.

Simply put, if you’re good enough to extract the difference between the regular GT3 and the RS, you’re good enough that you’ll get more enjoyment out of a proper Cup Car, which you could buy for the price of an RS and have enough change left for a tow car and trailer (or pay someone to take it to the track for you).

And all this doesn’t matter one bit. Porsche is selling every GT3 RS it can build to enthusiasts who want one of the wildest-looking road cars ever and, happily, many are enjoying them on track.

Where on earth does Porsche go next?

2024 Porsche 911 GT3 RS at a glance:
Price: $537,600 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now, if you’re lucky
Engine: 4.0-litre six-cylinder petrol
Output: 386kW/465Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 13.4L/100km (WLTP)
CO2: 305g/km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Not tested

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