2023 PORSCHE 911 GT3 RS FIRST TEST

PORSCHE'S MOST FOCUSED 911 OF ALL TIME MUST BE EXPERIENCED AT ITS LIMITS TO BE UNDERSTOOD

- ERIC TINGWALL

The thing that makes modern Porsche sports cars so dang easy to love is that they come into their element no matter where or how you drive them. The same precision that makes a 718 or 911 brilliant on a rollicking two-lane creates a sense of control during a stressful commute. Want to use a sports car for a 2,000-mile road trip? For a relaxed Sunday cruise? To peacock down Rodeo Drive? Porsche abides.

The 2023 911 GT3 RS is the exception to the rule. Drive it slowly or on a highway or in a city or with a non-car-crazed passenger riding shotgun, and it’s kind of miserable. An order of magnitude stiffer than even the 911 GT3, the RS needs the right environment to reveal its superpowers. If there’s a Michigan road that’s both twisty enough and smooth enough to fully experience the car, this lifelong resident isn’t aware of it, but that didn’t make me any less enamored of the RS. In a world where automakers can’t stop blathering on about no-compromise vehicles, the newest GT3 is gloriously, unapologetically committed to doing a single thing—cracking off incomprehensibly fast lap times—at the expense of all others. We’ve already seen this ability in action when we put one head to head against a 911 GT3 Cup race car at Road America in our October 2023 issue, but until now we hadn’t had opportunity to strap our regular timing gear to the car while putting it through our standard battery of tests.