It Looks Like The Next Porsche 911 GT3 Will Be Turbocharged, PDK Only

The '992' GT3 will reportedly ditch its glorious N/A flat-six for a turbocharged engine, and the manual option could be for the chop too

Matt Robinson

05 Feb 2018

Probably the biggest draw of the current Porsche 911 GT3 is its naturally-aspirated, 4.0-litre flat-six. The race-derived unit is arguably an even greater engine than the one found in the back of the GT3 RS, but sadly, it’s looking like it won’t make it into the 991.2 GT3’s successor.

Australian publication Motor reports that the ‘992’ generation 911 GT3 will instead have a turbocharged engine, sending 550bhp of thrust to the rear wheels via a new eight-speed version of the PDK automatic gearbox. Yep, it sounds like the manual option is for the chop along with the mesmerising engine.

It Looks Like The Next Porsche 911 GT3 Will Be Turbocharged, PDK Only

Sure, the turbo’s alleged 550bhp represents a 57bhp bump over the N/A engine, and the torque increase is going to be even more substantial, but who cares? There’s no way it can replicate the magic of smashing the 4.0-litre six-banger into its 9000rpm redline. The GT3 is a rarity in the increasingly turbocharged supercar landscape, and judging by this news, it’ll be one of the last of a dying breed.

A huge shame, but the silver lining is that the engine is set to live on in the 718 Cayman GT4 and 718 Boxster Spyder.

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

Turbocharged?!? WHY? The GT3 is not the all-out track machine - that job is done by the GT2. 500hp is more than enough for the GT3. Wouldn’t surprise me if this is a ploy for Porsche to sell a special N/A version for a huge profit.

Yep typical money hungry c*ckbags…

GT3 is a track version.
GT2 is a track version of the track version

Porsche. Confuse people and then confuse them even more

So… They’re basically turning the GT3 into a less hardcore GT2?

This makes no sense at all. If the GT3 goes turbocharged then the GT2 becomes merely a GT3 “S”…or another scarier way to think of it would be the GT3 actually becomes obsolete.