NarutoRamen
Kraftwagen König
I said they don't inspire emotion in me. That's your opinion dude.
I'm not saying that those cars don't put a smile on my face, but the emotion from my heart is completely different.
EVO Issue 149: Ferrari vs. Porsche
- Thread starter martinbo
- Start date
I said they don't inspire emotion in me. That's your opinion dude.
I'm not saying that those cars don't put a smile on my face, but the emotion from my heart is completely different.
martinbo
Staff member
They've got the new GT2 RS in the window at Porsche Centre JHB. Even with its porno chav carbon fibre bonnet it evokes powerful urges in me to have an inappropriate relationship with an automobile. I'd spank it. It'd punch me in the mouth.
Ferrari's most powerful drawcard is that they instantly engage you on the visual front - well most of them at least - especially the little mid-engined numbers; they're just so special to look at - inside and out. One only needs to imagine what it must feel like to drive such a fantastic looking machine. Same went for 550, F40, 599 GTO as examples - they just looked like they'd be epic to drive. And, I'm led to believe, they pretty much are.
Park a lovely GT3 RS next to an Italia and you'd not give it a second glance. Naturally in isolation the GT3 RS is just Wow! on many levels but it simply doesn't have the visual drama of the Italian.
But, the thing with Porsche is that the emotional attachment is created in the drive. I can only imagine what it must be like to drive a modern Carrera S, GT-anything-RS or even Turbo (I've only ever driven a 930 Turbo and Boxster S 550 Anniversary) but I believe that I won't need to to know that they're just brilliant, totally absorbing and emotionally compelling to drive.
If a Ferrari is love at first sight then a Porsche is post-shag addiction. Or so I'm told.
Ferrari's most powerful drawcard is that they instantly engage you on the visual front - well most of them at least - especially the little mid-engined numbers; they're just so special to look at - inside and out. One only needs to imagine what it must feel like to drive such a fantastic looking machine. Same went for 550, F40, 599 GTO as examples - they just looked like they'd be epic to drive. And, I'm led to believe, they pretty much are.
Park a lovely GT3 RS next to an Italia and you'd not give it a second glance. Naturally in isolation the GT3 RS is just Wow! on many levels but it simply doesn't have the visual drama of the Italian.
But, the thing with Porsche is that the emotional attachment is created in the drive. I can only imagine what it must be like to drive a modern Carrera S, GT-anything-RS or even Turbo (I've only ever driven a 930 Turbo and Boxster S 550 Anniversary) but I believe that I won't need to to know that they're just brilliant, totally absorbing and emotionally compelling to drive.
If a Ferrari is love at first sight then a Porsche is post-shag addiction. Or so I'm told.
coolraoul
Torque Titan
As a whole I think I prefer Porsche's all-manual, all-mechanical approach to the now digitalized Ferraris.
And I just don't see myself in a shouty red bolid.
However, Ferrari make truly stunning cars, among the best sportscars ever...
For me:
GTO-GT2RS: Ferrari, easily.
Enzo-CGT: Porsche easily
Italia-GT3RS: Porsche, easily
288HGTO-959: Ferrari.
Let's not forget: Scagliati-Panamera... Ferrari here. I have a very strange love for that rather ungainly looking car... It fascinates me, weirdly!
Among my all-time favourite:
-Ferrari 250GTO, 275 GTB, F40, F355, 456GT, F430 Scuderia, 599GTO, and... Scaglietti.
-Porsche 911 2.7RS, 911 G-type , 930, 993 Turbo, 996 GT3, 997S, 997 GT3RS, CGT, but also the 928.
Epic machines, but ultimately, I love my favorite Porsches more than my favorite Ferraris.
I think I'd take a 2.7RS (+ serious driving lessons), a 911 G-Type (white-lowered) and a Scaglietti, from all those cars mentionned above. And then I'd be a happy man as far as cars are concerned.
And I just don't see myself in a shouty red bolid.
However, Ferrari make truly stunning cars, among the best sportscars ever...
For me:
GTO-GT2RS: Ferrari, easily.
Enzo-CGT: Porsche easily
Italia-GT3RS: Porsche, easily
288HGTO-959: Ferrari.
Let's not forget: Scagliati-Panamera... Ferrari here. I have a very strange love for that rather ungainly looking car... It fascinates me, weirdly!
Among my all-time favourite:
-Ferrari 250GTO, 275 GTB, F40, F355, 456GT, F430 Scuderia, 599GTO, and... Scaglietti.
-Porsche 911 2.7RS, 911 G-type , 930, 993 Turbo, 996 GT3, 997S, 997 GT3RS, CGT, but also the 928.
Epic machines, but ultimately, I love my favorite Porsches more than my favorite Ferraris.
I think I'd take a 2.7RS (+ serious driving lessons), a 911 G-Type (white-lowered) and a Scaglietti, from all those cars mentionned above. And then I'd be a happy man as far as cars are concerned.
Sovereign
Porsche Perfektionist
As a brand I prefer Porsche in general, because to me it is less arrogant i.e. more accessible of the two.
I must admit that Ferrari has more beautiful cars in its porfolio then Porsche but none of them imo hold the emotional attachment as much as the aircooled 911s. The engine placement of the 911, the unique styling, dimunitive size, near vertical windshield in the sports car, 4 seats and the best part, an aircooled flat 6, all represent something so unique which is beyond merely beautiful exterior styling. The 928 was another milestone in styling for a front engined GT.These two cars togather take my vote on any other sports car in the automotive history.
However I strongly feel that Porsche since the inception of 996 is no longer a brand of creative styling. Even the 997 is quite ordinary comapred to the air cooled 911s. 911 so large in size? With the introduction of Cayenne, and Panamera the brand is futher drifting from its core values and hence for me the brand connection is weakening. They are trying to apply generic 911 styling on every model. Can we see another original Porsche like 928 in near future please.
Ferraris imo arent as beautiful either as they used to be. But their designs arent derived from one particular model. The prettiest Ferrari, and may be the prettiest car ever was the GTO of 1980s. The new models dont come close to matching 308 or 328 but all their designs are quite unique to a model. Ferrari imo is doing a better exercise of managing their brand's core values of building superb sports cars. That must be appreciated.
I must admit that Ferrari has more beautiful cars in its porfolio then Porsche but none of them imo hold the emotional attachment as much as the aircooled 911s. The engine placement of the 911, the unique styling, dimunitive size, near vertical windshield in the sports car, 4 seats and the best part, an aircooled flat 6, all represent something so unique which is beyond merely beautiful exterior styling. The 928 was another milestone in styling for a front engined GT.These two cars togather take my vote on any other sports car in the automotive history.
However I strongly feel that Porsche since the inception of 996 is no longer a brand of creative styling. Even the 997 is quite ordinary comapred to the air cooled 911s. 911 so large in size? With the introduction of Cayenne, and Panamera the brand is futher drifting from its core values and hence for me the brand connection is weakening. They are trying to apply generic 911 styling on every model. Can we see another original Porsche like 928 in near future please.
Ferraris imo arent as beautiful either as they used to be. But their designs arent derived from one particular model. The prettiest Ferrari, and may be the prettiest car ever was the GTO of 1980s. The new models dont come close to matching 308 or 328 but all their designs are quite unique to a model. Ferrari imo is doing a better exercise of managing their brand's core values of building superb sports cars. That must be appreciated.
martinbo
Staff member
One that instantly springs to mind is CGT over Enzo. Even as special as the Enzo is, the CGT has that something-you-can't-quite-put-finger-on factor. That and the fact that it's a manual - putting the driver in total control of one of the greatest V10s ever made - and having the added benefit of open top motoring as an option, then the CGT makes a solid case for itself against even the epic Enzo.
^Not if you prefer coupes over convertibles, as I generally do. 
I dunno, the CGT looks a little bland compared to the Enzo. And something about the mini targa-hoop design doesn't look quite right to me. The gauges and steering wheel should look a lot different from what you could get in a Boxster. I think for the kind of car the Enzo is, its F1 tranny is the right choice. Blipping through the gears on a fierce overrun has got to be epic. Those doors are a nice touch too, as is the nose lift hydraulic system. I don't doubt that the CGT is a sharper driver's car though; by some accounts, too sharp with too abrupt a breakaway.
Maybe something against an F50 (but not the F50 GT1)...
I dunno, the CGT looks a little bland compared to the Enzo. And something about the mini targa-hoop design doesn't look quite right to me. The gauges and steering wheel should look a lot different from what you could get in a Boxster. I think for the kind of car the Enzo is, its F1 tranny is the right choice. Blipping through the gears on a fierce overrun has got to be epic. Those doors are a nice touch too, as is the nose lift hydraulic system. I don't doubt that the CGT is a sharper driver's car though; by some accounts, too sharp with too abrupt a breakaway.
Maybe something against an F50 (but not the F50 GT1)...
martinbo
Staff member
I've said it before (you may recall) that with its hardtop roof in place, when viewed in profile, the CGT looks like one of those dropped SEMA pickup conversions. The pod-like greenhouse with the vertical rear window followed by a long rear deck gives the CGT truly weird looks in this perspective. As for the cabin, I didn't get the impression that I'd feel short-changed in the kit or quality department when I gave the one down the road a good and proper scrutiny.
Throttle blipping - terrific. Even better if it's done with the ball and side of your right foot! Imagine the woody you'd get from waxing a fifth-to-third heel-n-toe downchange at the helm of V10's all time greatness? Sure, the CGT is sharp - needs to be treated with respect - but that challenge makes for all the more of a long-term prospect.
Look, not diminishing the Enzo in any respect; it's a classic and probably faster rival to the CGT. Interestingly, Roger Green (EVO's own tame racing driver) preferred the Enzo to the CGT around... erm... now which circuit was it? Snetterton? Oulton Park? Gotta go check!
Even more interesting is that both cars were owned by one chap - Paul Bailey - lucky fish!
So I guess therein lies the ultimate point - if you have one, you probably have the means to have the other...
Throttle blipping - terrific. Even better if it's done with the ball and side of your right foot!
Imagine the woody you'd get from waxing a fifth-to-third heel-n-toe downchange at the helm of V10's all time greatness? Sure, the CGT is sharp - needs to be treated with respect - but that challenge makes for all the more of a long-term prospect. Look, not diminishing the Enzo in any respect; it's a classic and probably faster rival to the CGT. Interestingly, Roger Green (EVO's own tame racing driver) preferred the Enzo to the CGT around... erm... now which circuit was it? Snetterton? Oulton Park? Gotta go check!
Even more interesting is that both cars were owned by one chap - Paul Bailey - lucky fish! So I guess therein lies the ultimate point - if you have one, you probably have the means to have the other...
458 Italia vs GT3 RS portion is up on MSN Australia's Motoring section.
"THERE is a moment, just the briefest, fleeting instant, when the GT3 RS feels obsolete.
It’s difficult to fathom how the pinnacle of Porsche’s racer-for-the-road portfolio could ever feel out of date given that its 3.8-litre engine now pumps 331kW, and when the abiding impression you’re left with after a decent drive is a sense of wonder at how these GT3 variants can just keep getting better.
But the Ferrari 458 Italia isn’t the normal updated-V8-Berlinetta. It isn’t a 360-to-430 exercise. The 458 is a paradigm shift in the way Ferrari approaches performance, and it does things that other – perhaps lesser – machines cannot.
Accordingly, after a squirt in the Ferrari, I clamber back into the RS. Synapses still tingling from the Ferrari’s outrageous pace, you twist the key and the flat-six fires with a baaaaarp and the single-mass flywheel chunters away behind you. You push the heavy clutch pedal down against its stop, move the Alcantara-covered gearlever to select first gear and get rolling.
And it’s during these first few moments that the 911 suddenly feels almost vintage after the 458. Minutes earlier the 458 was imperceptibly swapping gears in fractions of a second at the touch of a paddle, steering with such speed that it wasn’t necessary to cross your arms – and now the Porsche is asking you to move a lever. It feels slightly backward: almost like stepping from a full-carbon Bianchi racing bike onto a penny-farthing.
The disappointment – if you can call it that – doesn’t last long. Once your hands, feet and bum acclimatise to the messages that fizz through the RS’s structure and controls, it comes alive and its burgeoning personality is utterly addictive.
Only then do you begin to understand the fascinating dichotomy playing out between these two superb sports cars. Because they are just that: perhaps the two best series-production, road-going sports cars ever produced, and yet having driven them both back-to-back, and now sitting here writing about them, I’m still not sure that they should be compared to each other.
You see, Ferrari hasn’t just moved the game on in terms of performance – although taking this car out to 419kW at 9000rpm, with a kerb weight of 1485kg is pretty extreme – it has also genetically enhanced the price to $526,950. And a generously specified car like the one tested here now occupies a price-point so far removed from the GT3 RS’s $337,700, that for the same money you could have a base spec RS for track days and a cooking Carrera for everyday use.
Then again, price comparison points fade into insignificance when Porsche and Ferrari unveil their latest, naturally-aspirated machines. Regardless of price and intent, a comparison is inevitable.
The Porsche may be 88kW shy of the 458, but it does counter with a delicious specification of its own. That famous Metzger-designed flat-six now displaces 3.8 litres and runs beyond 8000rpm. Interestingly, it uses titanium rods to run at those crank speeds, whereas the 458 spins to a crazy 9000rpm with steel internals. The torque deficit isn’t as great, but the Italia’s extra displacement (4.5 litres plays 3.8) brings 540Nm to the Porsche’s 430Nm.
However, perhaps the most telling figures are the power-to- weight ratios. The 458 offers a startling 282kW/tonne, the 911 trails with 242kW/tonne.
Back to the 458 then. Styling is a personal thing, but in black the Italia is surely one of the company’s more interesting shapes. Combining distinctive mid-engined Ferrari Berlinetta traits with some stunning aerodynamic detail work, there are so many scoops, intakes and outlets that the car seems semi-porous. And, of course, those triple exhausts are a respectful nod to the F40.
But if the exterior seems futuristic, the interior goes several steps farther. It’s an environment that allows the driver to either keep both hands on the wheel at all times or, at the very least, have him reach no more than a few centimetres. It’s a complete departure from anything we’ve seen from Ferrari before and it’s notable for looking stunning, being mostly logical and, even on this early production car, very well constructed.
Then the V8 yelps into life and idles surprisingly smoothly. You pull the right lever to select first, just as you did with the old-style F1 ’boxes, but this time there’s no unseemly clunk as the gear engages and no ugly shunting as you try to drive away slowly – the new dual-clutch transmission has transformed the slow-speed manners of the smallest Ferrari. It’s now a pussycat in town.
The steering is very fast and light: almost arcade-game in its apparent detachment from the front axle. Throttle response is also very sharp, and combined with the steering and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gearshift makes the first few minutes in a 458 rather unsettling. And then you realise to drive and enjoy the 458, you have to adjust to its way of doing things, and that means managing your inputs with a greater degree of delicacy – especially the steering.
Performance is pretty startling. Don’t think for a minute that the peak output point of 9000rpm leaves this car lacking in the mid-range, because it hauls from 2500rpm in one great wall of noise and those seven ratios are so closely stacked, and the gearshift so fast, that the impression is of one long, sustained, ballistic rush of acceleration.
The chassis’ electrical systems are truly amazing. At first you push gently on the long-travel throttle, waiting for the point when the e-Diff begins to lock and push the car into oversteer. But with the manettino in ‘Sport’ mode, the differential and traction control work almost imperceptibly – to the point that you’re quickly burying the throttle with increasing anger, just to see what happens. The answer, on dry asphalt, is grip and grip. Plus grip. Traction is superb.
The ride is busy with the dampers on the firmer setting, but you can improve this by knocking them back to ‘bumpy road’ mode, but even then the 458 is less supple than the RS, which I didn’t expect. The car has good wheel travel, though, and rarely gets deflected.
What emerges from the 458 is a driver-vehicle relationship unlike any other. You drive the car with your wrists; making small, neat inputs. You lean on the electronics to transfer as much of that 419kW to the road as possible and you almost forget about the gearshift because it’s so damn efficient. You cover ground at an extraordinary rate, you snigger at the ebullience of the engine and you admire, greatly admire, the technical brilliance of Ferrari’s achievement.
And, at first, the precocious genius of the 458 does hang heavy over the RS. As I said, it just feels antiquated and unnecessarily demanding by comparison. At first.
The gearshift is so heavy, the steering much slower and the engine, despite being superbly responsive, doesn’t fling the car at the horizon the way the Ferrari’s V8 does. There’s somehow slightly more inertia in the package, which is odd given its 115kg weight advantage. Like all 911s, you need to gel with the latest RS – work with it, not against it.
When you do, what emerges is one of the great analogue driving experiences: this is very much Porsche’s vinyl to Ferrari’s MP3. That slower steering rack greets the driver through a thin-rimmed wheel and the way it writhes and wriggles in your hands might actually be the clearest representation of the differences between the two cars.
The Porsche is obsessed with involving the driver, it just wants you to take charge and feel everything, whereas the Ferrari is much more concerned with technical excellence, with deploying its fearsome potential to the surface at all times.
Through a series of tight, technical sections, there’s no doubt that the Ferrari is marginally quicker, its front axle holds a slightly tighter line (even on normal Michelin rubber compared with the Porsche’s Cup tyres) and its traction is remarkable. But the RS is more effervescent; you feel its mass moving around, you have to manage the power more actively and it sends some glorious messages back through seat, pedals and wheel. The noise is telling, too. For all the 458’s volume and shriek, it offers a slightly synthesised shout; the 911 is more natural.
By now you’ll have picked up on the vast differences in the way these two go about their business. The Porsche is infinitely more demanding of the driver. All it takes is a second- gear turn, approached by a fifth-gear straight to expose the vast gap that exists between the two experiences they offer. In the Ferrari you simply choose your line, avoid any notably bumpy sections in the braking zone, thump the left pedal, feel those huge 398mm carbon-ceramic Brembos come to life, flick the left paddle three times and turn-in. Easy as A-B-C.
Not so in the Porsche. Again, you pick your braking zone to avoid bumps, even though the Porsche is actually deflected less by them because it’s a little softer. But each gearchange requires a perfect combination of shifting, steering and heel ’n’ toe if you’re to avoid agitating the rear axle.
You have to manage the mass more carefully, too. Hit the brakes hard (smaller at 380mm, but with a more consistent pedal response) and the nose dives under deceleration, but release them too quickly and it rises too suddenly, unloading the front axle and bringing a whole world of pain called understeer. In short, the driver has a much bigger influence on the quality of the RS’s behaviour. Does that make it the better car? That depends on your point-of-view.
The 458 is a superior technical statement and its spread of abilities shades the 911’s. You could use the 458 every day, the gearbox is brilliant and the cabin is ideal for long distances. What it doesn’t deliver is as pure a driving experience as the RS.
Some will find the 911 too difficult, too demanding, but its judgement of hardcore adrenalin rush and surprisingly useable machine isn’t that far behind the 458’s. This one even has sat-nav, iPod input and folding seats. It’s just not as refined as the Ferrari.
No, I prefer to summarise them thus. If you told me I had to drive one of this pair every day for the next 12 months, I’d take the 458. It’s a stunning achievement. But if you told me I could only drive one car, for one hour, I would choose the latest GT3 RS. It’s a rush and it reminds me what driving is all about."
458 vs GT3 RS
"THERE is a moment, just the briefest, fleeting instant, when the GT3 RS feels obsolete.
It’s difficult to fathom how the pinnacle of Porsche’s racer-for-the-road portfolio could ever feel out of date given that its 3.8-litre engine now pumps 331kW, and when the abiding impression you’re left with after a decent drive is a sense of wonder at how these GT3 variants can just keep getting better.
But the Ferrari 458 Italia isn’t the normal updated-V8-Berlinetta. It isn’t a 360-to-430 exercise. The 458 is a paradigm shift in the way Ferrari approaches performance, and it does things that other – perhaps lesser – machines cannot.
Accordingly, after a squirt in the Ferrari, I clamber back into the RS. Synapses still tingling from the Ferrari’s outrageous pace, you twist the key and the flat-six fires with a baaaaarp and the single-mass flywheel chunters away behind you. You push the heavy clutch pedal down against its stop, move the Alcantara-covered gearlever to select first gear and get rolling.
And it’s during these first few moments that the 911 suddenly feels almost vintage after the 458. Minutes earlier the 458 was imperceptibly swapping gears in fractions of a second at the touch of a paddle, steering with such speed that it wasn’t necessary to cross your arms – and now the Porsche is asking you to move a lever. It feels slightly backward: almost like stepping from a full-carbon Bianchi racing bike onto a penny-farthing.
The disappointment – if you can call it that – doesn’t last long. Once your hands, feet and bum acclimatise to the messages that fizz through the RS’s structure and controls, it comes alive and its burgeoning personality is utterly addictive.
Only then do you begin to understand the fascinating dichotomy playing out between these two superb sports cars. Because they are just that: perhaps the two best series-production, road-going sports cars ever produced, and yet having driven them both back-to-back, and now sitting here writing about them, I’m still not sure that they should be compared to each other.
You see, Ferrari hasn’t just moved the game on in terms of performance – although taking this car out to 419kW at 9000rpm, with a kerb weight of 1485kg is pretty extreme – it has also genetically enhanced the price to $526,950. And a generously specified car like the one tested here now occupies a price-point so far removed from the GT3 RS’s $337,700, that for the same money you could have a base spec RS for track days and a cooking Carrera for everyday use.
Then again, price comparison points fade into insignificance when Porsche and Ferrari unveil their latest, naturally-aspirated machines. Regardless of price and intent, a comparison is inevitable.
The Porsche may be 88kW shy of the 458, but it does counter with a delicious specification of its own. That famous Metzger-designed flat-six now displaces 3.8 litres and runs beyond 8000rpm. Interestingly, it uses titanium rods to run at those crank speeds, whereas the 458 spins to a crazy 9000rpm with steel internals. The torque deficit isn’t as great, but the Italia’s extra displacement (4.5 litres plays 3.8) brings 540Nm to the Porsche’s 430Nm.
However, perhaps the most telling figures are the power-to- weight ratios. The 458 offers a startling 282kW/tonne, the 911 trails with 242kW/tonne.
Back to the 458 then. Styling is a personal thing, but in black the Italia is surely one of the company’s more interesting shapes. Combining distinctive mid-engined Ferrari Berlinetta traits with some stunning aerodynamic detail work, there are so many scoops, intakes and outlets that the car seems semi-porous. And, of course, those triple exhausts are a respectful nod to the F40.
But if the exterior seems futuristic, the interior goes several steps farther. It’s an environment that allows the driver to either keep both hands on the wheel at all times or, at the very least, have him reach no more than a few centimetres. It’s a complete departure from anything we’ve seen from Ferrari before and it’s notable for looking stunning, being mostly logical and, even on this early production car, very well constructed.
Then the V8 yelps into life and idles surprisingly smoothly. You pull the right lever to select first, just as you did with the old-style F1 ’boxes, but this time there’s no unseemly clunk as the gear engages and no ugly shunting as you try to drive away slowly – the new dual-clutch transmission has transformed the slow-speed manners of the smallest Ferrari. It’s now a pussycat in town.
The steering is very fast and light: almost arcade-game in its apparent detachment from the front axle. Throttle response is also very sharp, and combined with the steering and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gearshift makes the first few minutes in a 458 rather unsettling. And then you realise to drive and enjoy the 458, you have to adjust to its way of doing things, and that means managing your inputs with a greater degree of delicacy – especially the steering.
Performance is pretty startling. Don’t think for a minute that the peak output point of 9000rpm leaves this car lacking in the mid-range, because it hauls from 2500rpm in one great wall of noise and those seven ratios are so closely stacked, and the gearshift so fast, that the impression is of one long, sustained, ballistic rush of acceleration.
The chassis’ electrical systems are truly amazing. At first you push gently on the long-travel throttle, waiting for the point when the e-Diff begins to lock and push the car into oversteer. But with the manettino in ‘Sport’ mode, the differential and traction control work almost imperceptibly – to the point that you’re quickly burying the throttle with increasing anger, just to see what happens. The answer, on dry asphalt, is grip and grip. Plus grip. Traction is superb.
The ride is busy with the dampers on the firmer setting, but you can improve this by knocking them back to ‘bumpy road’ mode, but even then the 458 is less supple than the RS, which I didn’t expect. The car has good wheel travel, though, and rarely gets deflected.
What emerges from the 458 is a driver-vehicle relationship unlike any other. You drive the car with your wrists; making small, neat inputs. You lean on the electronics to transfer as much of that 419kW to the road as possible and you almost forget about the gearshift because it’s so damn efficient. You cover ground at an extraordinary rate, you snigger at the ebullience of the engine and you admire, greatly admire, the technical brilliance of Ferrari’s achievement.
And, at first, the precocious genius of the 458 does hang heavy over the RS. As I said, it just feels antiquated and unnecessarily demanding by comparison. At first.
The gearshift is so heavy, the steering much slower and the engine, despite being superbly responsive, doesn’t fling the car at the horizon the way the Ferrari’s V8 does. There’s somehow slightly more inertia in the package, which is odd given its 115kg weight advantage. Like all 911s, you need to gel with the latest RS – work with it, not against it.
When you do, what emerges is one of the great analogue driving experiences: this is very much Porsche’s vinyl to Ferrari’s MP3. That slower steering rack greets the driver through a thin-rimmed wheel and the way it writhes and wriggles in your hands might actually be the clearest representation of the differences between the two cars.
The Porsche is obsessed with involving the driver, it just wants you to take charge and feel everything, whereas the Ferrari is much more concerned with technical excellence, with deploying its fearsome potential to the surface at all times.
Through a series of tight, technical sections, there’s no doubt that the Ferrari is marginally quicker, its front axle holds a slightly tighter line (even on normal Michelin rubber compared with the Porsche’s Cup tyres) and its traction is remarkable. But the RS is more effervescent; you feel its mass moving around, you have to manage the power more actively and it sends some glorious messages back through seat, pedals and wheel. The noise is telling, too. For all the 458’s volume and shriek, it offers a slightly synthesised shout; the 911 is more natural.
By now you’ll have picked up on the vast differences in the way these two go about their business. The Porsche is infinitely more demanding of the driver. All it takes is a second- gear turn, approached by a fifth-gear straight to expose the vast gap that exists between the two experiences they offer. In the Ferrari you simply choose your line, avoid any notably bumpy sections in the braking zone, thump the left pedal, feel those huge 398mm carbon-ceramic Brembos come to life, flick the left paddle three times and turn-in. Easy as A-B-C.
Not so in the Porsche. Again, you pick your braking zone to avoid bumps, even though the Porsche is actually deflected less by them because it’s a little softer. But each gearchange requires a perfect combination of shifting, steering and heel ’n’ toe if you’re to avoid agitating the rear axle.
You have to manage the mass more carefully, too. Hit the brakes hard (smaller at 380mm, but with a more consistent pedal response) and the nose dives under deceleration, but release them too quickly and it rises too suddenly, unloading the front axle and bringing a whole world of pain called understeer. In short, the driver has a much bigger influence on the quality of the RS’s behaviour. Does that make it the better car? That depends on your point-of-view.
The 458 is a superior technical statement and its spread of abilities shades the 911’s. You could use the 458 every day, the gearbox is brilliant and the cabin is ideal for long distances. What it doesn’t deliver is as pure a driving experience as the RS.
Some will find the 911 too difficult, too demanding, but its judgement of hardcore adrenalin rush and surprisingly useable machine isn’t that far behind the 458’s. This one even has sat-nav, iPod input and folding seats. It’s just not as refined as the Ferrari.
No, I prefer to summarise them thus. If you told me I had to drive one of this pair every day for the next 12 months, I’d take the 458. It’s a stunning achievement. But if you told me I could only drive one car, for one hour, I would choose the latest GT3 RS. It’s a rush and it reminds me what driving is all about."
458 vs GT3 RS
Sunny
Premium
^Awesome article, thanks. Also has some amazing pics, so definitely click the link.
I seen a black 458 couple of times near my work. It is a sight to behold. I catch it while walking early morning to work along streets of SF financial district where the streets are not too wide and the the sound of the V8 reverberating off the buildings is truly spine tingling.
I never seen a 997.2 GT3 RS, just the 997.1 GT3 RS in the not too flattering silver+orange paint scheme.
I seen a black 458 couple of times near my work. It is a sight to behold. I catch it while walking early morning to work along streets of SF financial district where the streets are not too wide and the the sound of the V8 reverberating off the buildings is truly spine tingling.
I never seen a 997.2 GT3 RS, just the 997.1 GT3 RS in the not too flattering silver+orange paint scheme.
PanterroR
Lap Time Luminary
lambornima
Porsche Perfektionist
the list of cars id take over an Enzo is REALLY short (Zonda F, Murcielago, Veyron, Mc F1 and thats about it really). its actually one my my favourites. Sounds incredible and even by todays standards is one of the fastest out there.
Ferrari für mich
Ferrari für mich
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