Say what you will about Porsche’s tendency to get a little carried away with its niche variants for the 911, but credit should be heaped on the company for being aware of what customers want. Take the Porsche 911 GT3 for example. By every sports car metric, the 911 GT3 is a shining example of the best of Stuttgart engineering. The only problem with it is that it’s far from being the most understated 911 in the market, no thanks to its attention-grabbing aero bits. Then there’s the 911 R, the answer to prayers coming from Porsche purists who were crossing their fingers for a manual transmission 911. The 911 R was the answer to those prayers, except it was limited to just 991 units. Enter then the Porsche 911 GT3 with Touring Package. Think of it as the love child between the 911 GT3 and the 911 R, carrying elements from both models and wrapping them all up in one scintillating package.

The car’s name may not roll off the tongue as smoothly as I’d like, but remember, there is a precedence in Porsche’s history of the “Touring” name being used on a 911, specifically the 1973 Porsche Carrera 911 RS Touring. So we’ve established the roots of the 911 GT3 Touring. But far more than just being a product of Porsches-gone-by and previous iterations of the current-generation 911, the 911 GT3 Touring is a car of its own devices, understated in appearance yet ferocious in performance. In my view, this is the Porsche 911 variant that purists have been waiting for.

Continue after the jump to read more about the Porsche 911 GT3 with Touring Package

2018 Porsche 911 GT3 with Touring Package

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 with Touring Package
  • Engine/Motor: flat-6
  • Horsepower: 500
  • Torque: 339
  • Transmission: six-speed manual
  • [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array

What makes the Porsche 911 GT3 with Touring Package Special

The Porsche 911 GT3 with Touring Package is, in essence, the best of multiple worlds. Like what my colleague Jonathan Lopez said, "Its understated nature is a big draw, especially for those who want a 911 that’s bred for the race track, but doesn’t come with an attention-grabbing rear spoiler."

In place of that jumbo piece of aero, the GT3 Touring Package features the far more subtle automatically deploying spoiler found on the 911 Carrera. Silver window stripes also come standard on the car, as do a sports exhaust system tailpipes, and headlight washer system covers. Opt for the “Black Exterior Touring Package” and as the name suggests, these same silver elements are instead finished in black. And since Porsche’s vanity is just as glowing as any other automaker out there, the exterior features a good share of badges indicating its GT3 Touring name, specifically on the engine cover grille.

Move to the cabin of the car and you’ll be greeted with a handful of its own exclusive features. Fine leather appears to be Stuttgart’s material-of-choice as surfaces normally finished in Alcantara have been replaced with the leather stuff. In keeping with the all-black tone of the interior, Porsche also added a black aluminum trim around the cabin, creating a stealthy and understated look that coincides with the subtle approach given to the exterior of the sports car.

If you think all of this was done intentionally by Porsche, you’d be right. The automaker itself said that the 911 GT3 with Touring Package was born from a desire to give customers who “value an understated appearance and classic driving enjoyment” want they want out of their Porsche 911.

Speaking of classic driving enjoyment, the 911 GT3 with Touring Package also comes with the same naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six engine as the actual 911 GT3. Power numbers remain the same, too, at 500 horsepower and 339 pound-feet of torque. Even better, the 911 GT3 with Touring Package comes with a standard six-speed manual transmission to go with a mechanical rear differential and rear-wheel steering.

As impressive as the car looks and sounds, there is a price to be paid for stripping away that massive rear spoiler and replacing it with a more subdued deployable spoiler. That “price” manifests itself in the car’s acceleration time where the 911 GT3 Touring’s ability to cover 0 to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds is 0.1 seconds slower than the manual-transmission 911 GT3. It may not sound like much, but in the game where every tenth-second matters, this perceived drawback still needs to be mentioned, as does the Touring’s top speed of 196 mph, which is a smidge slower than the 198-mph top speed of the manual transmission 911 GT3.

I suppose that’s the price customers are going to have to pay to get rid of the massive rear spoiler in the name of maintaining a car cloaked in incognito. I don’t think it doesn’t matter too much unless someone is obsessive about the numbers. And for what it’s worth, the 911 GT3 with Touring Package really is a Godsend from Porsche. No longer do we have to complain about losing out on the manual transmission 911 R because we weren’t fast enough to scoop up any of the 911 units that it was limited to. Porsche has officially granted the collective wishes of PDK haters out there who wanted a 911 that they could be fully in charge of. Even better, the 911 GT3 Touring Package is a general release that’s already available as we speak for a price of €152,416 in Germany and $143,600 in the U.S.

Think it was worth it to lament missing out on the 911 R and then weep afterwards after finding out how much that variant sold in the second-hand market? Well, with the 911 GT3 with Touring Package, you can now wipe those tears away because finally, you can now have your cake and eat it too.

References

Porsche 911 GT3

Read our full review on the Porsche 911 GT3.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Read our full review on the Porsche 911 GT3 RS.

1973 Porsche Carrera 911 RS Touring

Read our full review on the 1973 Porsche Carrera 911 RS Touring.