Car enthusiasts often argue that manual gearboxes make for better driving experiences, yet modern automatics are incredibly efficient and swift in shifting gears, which contradicts this notion. To determine whether the ‘stick-shift’ truly reigns supreme, Vehicle Virgins tested the manual variant of the quintessential purist’s sports car: the Porsche 911 GT3.
Regardless of the transmission you chose, the 992 GT3 is equipped with a 4.0-liter naturally aspirated boxer six-cylinder engine, boasting 502 horsepower and 346 lb-ft of torque. The engine revs up to 9,000 rpm and has little in common with the unit found elsewhere in the 992 range and a lot to do with the one in the GT3 Cup car. It’s important to note that the six-speed manual configuration propels the new 911 GT3 from zero to 62mph in 3.9 seconds, while the seven-speed PDK automatic achieves the same feat in just 3.4 seconds.
Watch this video from Vehicle Virgins as they give us their driving impressions of a Porsche 992 GT3 with the six-speed manual transmission.