The 991 is probably every sportscar you'll ever need.
The noise was lovely, then I turned on the PSE
Really quite odd against the trend of every new modern car getting quieter and quieter, either because they can (more and better materials = progress or luxury) or because a Euro man with a clipboard says so.
I guess we have the 991's tuned induction and "Sound Symposer" resonance membrane behind the rear seats to thank.
You almost don't need PSE (not quite).
Taking the car out, it handles almost completely flat with minimal body roll, then you turn the PDCC on.
That will be the new wider stance, better weight distribution, retuned PASM and exemplary passive chassis doing their stuff before PDCC even gets a look in.
Even under vivid acceleration on such a cold and wet day, the perfectly placed tyres never even lit up the traction control light, let alone the rubber.
The traction and grip on this RWD Carrera is astonishing, the forthcoming AWD and wide-body's handling and road holding will be something to behold.
I didn't notice any lack of steering feel, but then I didn't notice any particular presence of steering feel either. Although this could be down to any steering inputs being translated flawlessly and accurately to an amended line, no scrabble, no under- or over-steer, no characteristic bob or dart from the nose. Perhaps with such verbatim responses you don't need to feel every lump and bump in the road, every change in surface grip?
(VW) DSG was good, PDK1 was better, PDK2 is something of a revelation.
It's not so much it replaces a manual, but with such instantaneous and smooth changes it's almost like you have just one gear.
The power transfer and acceleration are at once linear and phenomenal.
Whether accelerating from a standstill, or overtaking other traffic, the resultant slingshot from a floored throttle is awe inspiring, particularly from what is in effect almost the entry-level model (admittedly £90k+).
This version of PDK I found impossible to trick: it was always in the right gear.
That was unless it was in no gear.
Slightly bizarrely, at almost any let off from the throttle (except whilst cornering), the gearbox drops into "coast" mode and the gearbox selects neutral and the engine drops to an 800 rpm idle. It took me back to my first driving days, and popping the gear into neutral or simply depressing the clutch on hill descents to save fuel.
Another fuel saver (and a first for the 911), is the new stop-start system that kicks in immediately any time the car comes to a complete standstill. This is also a little disconcerting initially, mostly the sudden loss of the sound symphony, replaced by the noises from the outside world, or more likely the quiet of the outside world.
You soon get used to it, though.
Before the throttle has even moved a mm, the engine has instantly, and without drama, fired back up into life - and again in the right gear. If anything, it just seems like the soundtrack has been put on pause before resuming seamlessly from where it was at the press of a button, not the reality of a 200kg 3.8 litre 400 BHP flat-six being spontaneously started up. There certainly isn't any pause in the intending to go and the car moving off as expected.
The interior of the 991 is stitch perfect.
The quality of materials used, fitting and even tactile feel of the buttons are all beyond reproach.
The centre console may have been inspired by the Panamera or Cayenne, but with the seat set low, the feeling is of a cocooned sports cockpit, rather than luxo-barge.
The view out of the side window includes the new curiously anti-Tardis wing-mirrors: they look enormous housings, but have really quite small mirrors inside.
Even so, during the drive, the sheer performance of the 991 did get me asking myself if I
REALLY needed all those savings.
However, the pivotal moment came on returning back to the OPC and parking the 991 up against its 997 predecessor.
Somehow the 993-esque headlights of the 997 seemed even more appropriate.
It was almost an exact replay of the day the short, stubby, sit-up and beg, upright 993 saw its future as it stood next to the sleek, stretched, aerodynamically designed (soap-on-a-rope), technologically advanced 996.
My heart skipped a beat.
For me the shorter, narrower, taller, slower, rawer, flawed 997 was suddenly the more loveable, cute even, more iconic, more seminal, more NINE ELEVEN.
The digital 991 with all its technological tours de force was somehow more anodyne, its responses a little too perfect, a little too engineered, a little too PS3.
The 991 is extraordinary, but at the same time, extra ordinary.
The 991 may be every sportscar you'll ever need, but for me, it won't be every sportscar I'll ever want.
For me, it generates no desire.
For me, a little of bit of the 911's soul has died.
