If you've recently shelled out almost a mill for a much-coveted, manual-only Porsche 911 R, you may want to look away. A rumor has been making the rounds suggesting that a "X90 Touring Package" for the refreshed 991.2 GT3—a car that's notably available with three pedals again—essentially turns it into a 911 R.
In case you're in need of a refresher, the R differentiated itself from the GT3 RS on which it was based not only by offering a traditional stick shift, but also removing the rear wing and adding a delicious houndstooth interior, creating a machine that offered the mighty hardware of a GT3 RS with a skew towards on-road driving pleasure and the experience instead of outright lap times and speed.
Spotted by Road & Track, a screengrab from the June 2017 issue of UK's Car magazine indicates that an optional package for Porsche's brand new GT3 will feature an aero kit lifted directly from the R and a throwback, mixed-material interior. From the image:
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Mind you, if this rumor does prove to be true, a new Touring Pack-equipped GT3 won't completely mimic the R, as Porsche claims the engines used in the 991.1 GT3 RS and 991.2 GT3 not-RS are slightly different despite having identical headline figures of being 4.0-liter flat-sixes producing 500 hp apiece. There's also the issue of exclusivity. Only 991 examples of 911 R were made (get it?) and therefore, only 991 cars wear the '911 R' badge. To many Porsche fans, that in and of itself deserves a premium, no matter how many similarly-specced models came out of Stuttgart after the fact.
So, if you are one of the lucky 900-something owners of the R, Porsche bringing back the GT3's manual coupled with today's rumor may quell your thunder a bit. But at the end of the day, you're the one who gets to say, "I own a 911 R" and no one can take that away from you.
