Testing the Porsche 911 GT3 S/C: Not the Fastest, But the GT3 That Made Me Smile the Most and Feel Part of the Car

It’s not the most powerful Porsche GT. Nor the fastest on a circuit. Nor the most radical of those that have emerged from Weissach in recent years. Yet, after covering hundreds of kilometers in the new Porsche 911 GT3 S/C on some of the finest roads in the Black Forest of Germany at an unusually hot 35 degrees, I stepped out with a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a long time behind the wheel of a German sports car. It had been a long time since a Porsche moved me so much. Probably since the unforgettable 718 Spyder RS.

That, in a brand that has spent decades refining the concept of the sports car, both in the 911 family and in the 718 with its RS-badged latests, is saying a lot.

The new Porsche 911 GT3 S/C doesn’t aim to become the most capable GT ever or the king of lap times. That role remains reserved for the 911 GT3 RS, as our Silverstone test demonstrated. It also doesn’t seek the almost artisanal refinement of the 911 S/T, a limited edition conceived as a tribute to purists. Its philosophy is simpler, and precisely for that reason, much harder to achieve: to make every driving kilometer unforgettable.

It may seem like a simple idea, but behind it there’s a huge engineering load, as Porsche has combined the lightweight construction developed for the 911 S/T and the 991 Speedster, the extraordinary four-liter atmospheric boxer engine from the GT3 family, and a six-speed manual gearbox to create something many enthusiasts had imagined for years, but which seemed unlikely to be put on the streets: a genuine GT3 convertible.

Until now that idea seemed reserved to the memory of the 991-generation 911 Speedster, a car that, due to its limited production, quickly became an object of worship. The new GT3 S/C picks up that baton, but takes it much further.