The 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 is unquestionably bad-ass. Its naturally aspirated 3.8-liter flat-six provides 435 hp from behind the driver's seat, and its track-tuned chassis can dance with the world's most nimble supercars. The free-wheeling product of Stuttgart has been undergoing testing at the famed Nurburgring in Germany (along with every other sports coupe worth its salt) and it's been timed at an unofficial 7:40. Porsche driving ace Walter Rohrl was behind the wheel for the sprightly lap.

While 7:40 isn't enough time to best the 7:26 from the 638 hp Corvette ZR1, it's a very impressive time nonetheless (BTW - During testing Rohrl posted a 7:45 in a borrowed Ferrari F430 Scuderia). Nissan probably isn't impressed, though, since it recently clocked the GT-R at 7:27. Well, Porsche is still calling balderdash on that claim, telling Motor Trend that the twin-turbo Nissan is only good for a time of 7:56 in stock US form. Just under eight minutes is an amazing time, but almost 30 seconds slower than reports from Nissan.

The Nissan vs. Porsche 'Ring smack-down feels as though its about to peter out, but the grudge match is almost to the point that the GT-R vs. GT3 drama should play out on premium cable.

 

I don't care what the numbers do or don't say, I'd still buy the GT3.

 

+1

 

Agreed. No one buys the 911 GT3 for the numbers; they buy it to appreciate the obvious engineering effort, the manifestation of Porsche racing heritage, and to have the absolute apex of 40 years of Porsche 911 development. It's an emotional purchase, but it straddles the line between practical potential daily-driver and homologated race car better than anything else. Refer to the Drivers Republic review if I'm insufficiently convincing. The premium nameplate doesn't hurt either.

For the money the 911 GT3 is a bad buy if you are solely concerned with stats.

 

gtr=garbage

 

GTR? yawn

 

I concur!

 

Maybe if Nissan considered taking warranty in performance conditions seriously, they'd actually be taken seriously.

 

While I'm prepared to believe the ZR-1's time, the GT-R's time has always been barely credible.

In simple terms, lap time for a given car will vary according to power, weight, aerodynamics (drag and downforce), centre of gravity, tire grip, and suspension sophistication. Let's compare the GT-R to the Carrera GT

Power 100+ HP advantage to the CGT
Weight c. 700lb advantage to the CGT
Aero Drag - possible advantage to the GTR, but top speed and 1/4 mile trapspeed indicates that the CGT is pretty efficient
Aero Downforce - almost certainly advantage to the CGT
CoG - advantage CGT

So, barring things like trick differentials, the GTR needs to absolutely kill the CGT in suspension sophistication to have a shot at a similar lap time. Even putting DoT tires on the GTR, while good for seconds a lap at the Ring, still leaves us to the conclusion that the GTR would need massively superior suspension/traction management to approach the CGT's lap time. It's just not credible to me. The Porsche estimate for the GTR, as a solid sub-8 minute lap, seems believable.

 

porsche claims 7:29 for ctg
HvS did it 7:31
evo did it 7:28

nissan claims 7:27+-
DR did it in 7:54 and said that they don´t see where nissan was get the another 24 seg...eeee right

lets see in the future another independent GT-R review in the ring.. for now that nissan time don´t tell me much