I'm now a few months into my ownership of the GT4. Not since a Peugeot 106 Rallye some 22 years did I wrestle a car with such pleasure. Driving this car in anger is a return to teenage exuberance, complete with unprompted yells and laughs. Deeply mechanical, profoundly connecting. It gives more with every drive.
Let's rewind a bit.
With its short overhangs front and rear, the Cayman looks and feels smaller than it is. It is a fair bit shorter than all 911s since the 996, but it's about as wide as a 991. Over the weeks and months I've found myself appreciating its proportions more and more. In many ways I find its lines more balanced and sculptural than the 991's. This particular car's livery is GT Silver with orange stripes which I had made in celebration of the 918 RSR concept. The words on the bonnet are slightly different from the original car's, a cheeky reminder that this is first and foremost a car for fun. Black wheels and a carbon-design rear wing give the overall package some visual contrast. And yes, there's no denying that the rear wing is absurdly large, except perhaps when compared with that of the GT3 RS. This car has the Clubsport package which includes the 918's bucket seats with 6-point harnesses, a half-cage and a fire extinguisher.
The doors open with a satisfying mechanical thump, a typical Porsche sound. Gosh this car is low. And the 918 bucket seats high walled. The combination of these two things means there's only so much elegance you can muster getting in and out of the car. In fact, getting out is more akin to crawling out of it. The seats are as stiff as they are comfortable. Even after hours of driving, they leave one's back relaxed, and while there's little adjustment available - the seats shift forward/aft and move up/down, but the back angle is fixed - somehow it's easy to find a good driving position. All controls are alcantara-clad, in GT tradition. The steering wheel is thin by today's standards, which makes rapid adjustments easier. The instrument cluster and switching gear are typical modern Porsche, with only a few buttons on the centre console: Sport, which activates rev-matching, sport exhaust, sport suspension, ESC off and ESC+TC off. No front or rear camera or proximity warning.
The key, a somewhat naff miniature of a 911, slots into the ignition. The car cranks into life with an angry bark. It's gruffer than a Motorsports engine. More baritone, less layered, less metallic perhaps, but just as loud. The clutch point is fairly low and the clutch itself light, which makes it easy to modulate. The gear lever is precise and smooth even when the car is cold.
The first thing that you notice on the move is the feeling of sitting "at the centre of", rather than just "in" the car. Compare that to the 911 feeling of sitting just "in front of" a rocket booster, or the feeling of sitting "on" an RS6 - at least after driving the GT4 for a while. The feeling comes from a couple of things. First, you sit very low in those bucket seats. Bum feel is less than 20cm from the road. Second, the mass of the car feels wrapped around you which, underlined by the absolute neutrality of the chassis, means there's no conscious feeling of mass distribution. More on this later.
Let the car warm up and once you stretch its legs, you'll discover the much loved character of the now-defunct 3.8. This engine is not the final word in terms of explosive delivery, certainly compared to a GT3 that can be wound more than 1,000rpms higher. The GT4's torque curve is very neatly engineered to provide beefy response mid-range, and a kick from 5,500rpm. It kind of encourages you to get to red line, or perhaps just short of it. Nevertheless, the engine has enough poke to trigger traction control in 2nd gear near 6000rpm in every but the most straight and smooth situations. Preuninger hinted on a couple of occasions that the engine produces closer to 400hp than the published 385 (not getting too close to the 911 range, you see). But it's not crazy-fast, and therefore the GT4 favours momentum preservation over point-and-squirt driving. Throttle response is fantastic, as you'd expect. This is also a very linear engine, with little to no negative torque on the overrun. It matches the neutrality of the chassis perfectly, and builds your confidence to take high radius turns at maximum speed and keeping the car on the edge of grip. You've probably read about the long gearing of the GT4. It sort of annoyed me at an intellectual level. The truth is that the engine will do its best work in second gear between 70 and 115km/h, which is the sweet spot on those windy roads in the country side. I actually think that it works well and haven't found myself wishing for shorter ratios. Overall, this is a drive train that's well sorted and just a tad manic at the top end.
The real magic, then, is the chassis. Coming from a 911 Turbo, this is a car that dares you to push harder, all the time, and does so in a playful way. Where other cars are always fighting something in high lateral g situations (fast Audis fighting to keep the nose turning, various generations of 911s fighting to stop the pendulum motion), the GT4 just turns. It's disconcerting at first, because it places the limit squarely on mechanical grip. But muster more courage to lean on the mechanical grip and it is hugely rewarding. I managed 1.1-1.2 lateral g on New Zealand's coarse bitumen, and a maximum of 1.7g on the track. However, as I gradually unlearned the 911's "slow in, faster-from-the-apex" style and carried more speed on corner entry, I found a degree of understeer. It seems that GT4s are delivered from factory with a safety bias towards understeer, which can be largely dialled out by resetting anti-roll bars. The steering is excellent, in my view as good as the 996/997's and better than any 991 I've driven. In summary, the GT4's chassis rewards you for finding the right line and keeping it on the edge of grip, the very definition of a driver's car. Pushed hard, it changes direction quickly, slides and wiggles here and there under heavy breaking, but it keeps going, never threatening to bite you. In fact, it suggests that nothing is too hard or too fast if you're committed. So you commit some more. It's exhilarating.
Would it be faster with a PDK? Absolutely. A few times I had to switch gear early (both up and down) to make sure I had both hands on the steering wheel through a tricky spot (eg overtaking or going through a compression turn). Some sections at Hampton Downs are just beyond the reach of second gear, and a PDK would eke out a few tens of seconds here and there. The manual 'box makes a challenging drive a bit more challenging, though. Whether it's a good thing or not depends on your definition of the 'thrill of driving': if you get your kicks from absolute speed, e.g., 10km/h faster in that tricky corner, PDK is the better choice. If your idea of a fun drive is mastering the right gear change (timing, heel-and-toe) just before that corner, then the manual gearbox is better for you. This is not about right or wrong, just taste. As manual 'boxes go, this is a good one. The lever feeling is satisfying, combining smooth flow and mechanical, rifle bolt action. The higher placement of the lever, similar to that found in the 991, works really well. Would I change anything? At a stretch, I wish I had ordered it with PCCB. The steels are very good - they do an excellent job on the heavier GT3 - it's just that the yellow capilers offer a bit more confidence when going hard.
This is a brilliant car, and perfectly matched to New Zealand's roads. The acid test, and perhaps the most important measure of all, is that I found myself laughing out loud on several drives, something no other car managed to do for me in a long, long time. This is a very special car, and I'm very glad indeed that I bought it - as well as grateful to Chris, who got one the few NZ slots from one of his mates.
