GTP Cool Wall: 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (997)

[motortrend]

I like this car a lot, it's a level of special that usually isn't done by car manufacturers yet it was done here and executed as well as only a major carmaker could. That said, this is uncool due to the price speculation and the fact that most of these will never see over 10K, which is just wrong in a Porsche.

Also, y'all have to stop applying systematic guidelines to classify cars as cool or not, that's uncool as hell.

 

[Skygrasper550]

One of the finest examples (if not THE finest example) of precision German engineering. This is my favorite amongst all of the 911s ever produced. Plus, it doesn't have a turbo, which means instanteneous engine response from that monstrous 4.0L 493hp flat-six.

Sub-zero. Please don't hate me.

 

[Roo]

Try talking about anything else to anyone not interested in it, and I'm sure they'll do the same. Trying to describe the feeling one gets from doing an activity is impossible, or atleast really hard. Really, try explaining what does it feel like to play or watch football (or soccer, whatever) which is a "cool" sport and even then you'll sound like a 'prat'.

That's right. Nothing is ever completely cool.

Think of driving as reading a book, you can, and have to read books for school or work, like driving from A to B. Yet, you can read books for fun, just as you can drive in a track for fun.

Yet here we are, along with another 250,000 members all around the world, who think this is cool, and joined just for that reason. You must be hanging around the wrong people to make you think it's really that uncool. I mean, when I've talked to people I wouldn't call my "friends" (and friends, of course) while they'll never be as interested in cars as me, they listen and even show basic knowledge, which they wouldn't have if it was something really uncool like, say, MLP.

I never said it wasn't fun. I never said I didn't like it. I just said it isn't cool. I don't talk about cars with people generally or friends in particular because I know it bores them and they don't care; that's not cool. I have a few friends that are in to cars to the same extent I am, and we do talk cars, but we're not going to pretend for a moment that doing so makes us cool. Not that we care about being cool, of course. Why waste your time on trying to be cool?

Like does not equal cool. I like some shouty, V8 muscle cars, but they certainly aren't cool. I quite like this Porsche, but it's still SU.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

To me. People who drive cars made for the track look like complete dorks to me.

Plus, I feel like this is how the owner of a car like this would look like:

Hey, where'd you get that photo of @axletramp?

 

[TexRex]

It's not entirely unlike the above, but it's the ways that it's not like the above that keep it from hitting SZ. Cool.

So, @Roo, dare I ask what is cool?

 

[daan]

What about bowlers?

Hats or wildcats?

 

[Famine]

So, @Roo, dare I ask what is cool?

If you have to ask...

 

[TexRex]

If you have to ask...

​

That's for danged sure. No, I was just curious what sort of thing he wouldn't shoot down if someone were to call it cool. And maybe that's a bit hypocritical of me, given my propensity.

 

[Luminis]

To me. People who drive cars made for the track look like complete dorks to me.

Fair enough.

Plus, I feel like this is how the owner of a car like this would look like:

I kinda imagine him having one:

A guy who's (obviously) got the money and didn't buy your default pussy magnet super car (read: Ferrari). Even drives a limited edition Porsche instead of stashing it away.

That's what I'd get from someone driving a 4.0, but that's just me.

Since forever.

All cars are uncool.

Quick, someone tell everyone who voted on this they're wrong...

/edit: Including yourself, it seems...

Neither are you, or anyone else on this site - we're members of an Internet forum about a video game about motor racing. That's about as seriously uncool as it's possible to be.

Nothing like a good dose of self-deprecation, huh? Gotta say, if you truly believe that your, mine or any other member's defining trait as a human being was their membership on GTP... Eh, nope, I don't even want to know.

 

[Mr_X]

Meh
Good performance but the looks aren't great
That's what you get with a road going track car though

 

[INEEDNAWZZZ]

Great car, no doubt. But it's a 911 (already a bit of an ostentatious thing to the general pop) with a massive wing and canards, which barely anyone would see the point of. People would think you're trying wayyyy too hard. Also the name doesn't roll off the tongue very well, but that's just nitpicking. Uncool, almost seriously so.

 

[chzsln485]

Incredible car? Absolutely.

Cool car? Definitely not.

Racing cars for the road, in any capacity, are not cool in the slightest to the general public. Car nerdiness is also not cool, and these are cool only to car folk, ergo, these are uncool.

It gets taken down a further notch because I keep seeing GT3s driven by large businessmen who think they're racing drivers, but only pootle around town in them.

Conclusion: seriously, tragically uncool.

 

[Stotty]

One of the greatest 911's ever (and there have been MANY fantastic 911's!) - pretty much a Cup car without the sequential gearbox and slicks. Amazing engine (the noise!), fabulous handling, proper manual gearbox etc.

But it's not a 'cool' roadcar.

Then again, you don't buy a GT model Porsche to try and impress people and shout about your wealth - if you want that you buy a Ferrari or Lamborghini. You buy a Porsche because they are truly epic to drive.

 

[Joey D]

If you don't mind me asking; what is it about racing cars for a living that makes a person so uncool, in your opinion?

Trying to explain to the average person why you drive a car around a track for a living would be a process and make you look incredibly dorky. It would be similar to a professional athlete trying to justify why they get paid millions to play a children's yard game. Not saying they are bad people and I'm not saying I wouldn't take their spot in an instant if I was given the choice, I just don't think they are cool.

A guy who's (obviously) got the money and didn't buy your default pussy magnet super car (read: Ferrari). Even drives a limited edition Porsche instead of stashing it away.

That's what I'd get from someone driving a 4.0, but that's just me.

I'll be honest here, I have no idea who that is other than he looks like he's either homeless (I'm guessing he isn't) or listens to a lot of Iron Maiden. Whoever he is, he doesn't looks like a cool guy. Interesting? Yes. Worthy of a beer? More than likely. Has cool stories? Probably. Cool? Nope.

 

[GTFireball]

..."because they are truly epic to drive" makes most such cars cool to me, but then I'm not the least bit cool.

Watch any post-race driver interview and it is a bit hard to label the driver cool.

 

[Stotty]

I'll be honest here, I have no idea who that is other than he looks like he's either homeless (I'm guessing he isn't) or listens to a lot of Iron Maiden. Whoever he is, he doesn't looks like a cool guy. Interesting? Yes. Worthy of a beer? More than likely. Has cool stories? Probably. Cool? Nope.

Magnus Walker... a Brit, living in LA, who 'customises/modifies' Porsches (primarily pre 964 models).

Interesting chap, and some of his cars are very nice, but he's not cool... looking like a tramp is not a cool look

 

[Tornado]

Hats or wildcats?

Yes

 

[Luminis]

I'll be honest here, I have no idea who that is other than he looks like he's either homeless (I'm guessing he isn't) or listens to a lot of Iron Maiden. Whoever he is, he doesn't looks like a cool guy. Interesting? Yes. Worthy of a beer? More than likely. Has cool stories? Probably. Cool? Nope.

Magnus Walker, self made man and Porsche collector. Coolness? Debatable. My point? Not a guy in a midlife crisis.

If I think midlife crisis, I think convertible Ferrari, 458 Spider. A 911? Not flashy enough. And if it was to be a 911, it has to be the Turbo. Top of the line, more comfortable and that's the car the Porsche salesman will try to hook such a person up with.

The 4.0? Not a car I'm assuming to be bought by someone who's just looking to compensate. Such is the fate of the 911, though. It's all in the details and those are lost on the majority of people - then again, the majority in Germany is overweight, indebted and listens to Schlager music (German version of country, basically). What does their opinion matter to me?

 

[Vegard]

Trying to explain to the average person why you drive a car around a track

 

[Roo]

So, @Roo, dare I ask what is cool?

Quick, someone tell everyone who voted on this they're wrong...

/edit: Including yourself, it seems...

In the grand scheme of things? Nothing:

In two posts you've nailed the problem I have with the idea of rating cars on their coolness.

If all of society voted on a car, any car, I expect the largest proportion of votes would go to meh - because it's a car, and most people don't give a crap about cars - and the second largest proportion would vote uncool, because it's a car, and cars are uncool.

The only people who would vote cool would be uncool people (us).

Thus I imagine our little cool wall - from Sub Zero to Seriously Uncool - fitting in to society's cool wall somewhere around the meh/uncool boundary.

Now that's sorted, we can forget this whole silly enterprise and find something else to bitch needlessly about.

In terms of cars, TexRex, I generally find sleeper cars to be cool. The mix of high performance with ordinary looks and - for preference - ordinary sound I think is cool. I know @Famine thinks differently, and that's fine. But what I find cool can depend on many factors, including how I'm feeling at the moment of voting. There's no formula, no consistency.

Nothing like a good dose of self-deprecation, huh? Gotta say, if you truly believe that your, mine or any other member's defining trait as a human being was their membership on GTP... Eh, nope, I don't even want to know.

Again, you're confusing "uncool" with "bad". I don't consider you bad people, but being a member of a video game forum just isn't cool. Taking part in a discussion about what is and isn't cool is even less cool. That doesn't make you evil, or stupid, or less of a person.

I also get the impression - and I may well be wrong - that you are taking the whole Cool thing much more seriously than I am. Whether something or someone is cool or not doesn't matter.

 

[eight6er]

Boy racer squashed beetle, for old people. SU.

 

[Luminis]

Again, you're confusing "uncool" with "bad". I don't consider you bad people, but being a member of a video game forum just isn't cool. Taking part in a discussion about what is and isn't cool is even less cool. That doesn't make you evil, or stupid, or less of a person.

Nope, I just think it's kinda stupid to judge someone's coolness solely based on being a member on an interner forum. Basically, it's not gonna change my perception of how cool someone is if he admits to being a member on GTP.

I also get the impression - and I may well be wrong - that you are taking the whole Cool thing much more seriously than I am. Whether something or someone is cool or not doesn't matter.

Not really, I just like to talk about stuff. What's the point of having these threads otherwise?

 

[axletramp]

Hey, where'd you get that photo of @axletramp?

Ah, well spotted. That's me on a banker's jolly last summer. Not sure who the seat cover is, but you know us 911 owners, we notch 'em up and don't need to know the names! I usually wear far more pastel colours than that, the fillies just can't get enough of us rich blokes in shorts, loafers and Pringle jumpers. Woof!!!

There, that should satisfy the blinkered pigeon-holers here who I doubt have been in a GT3, let alone on a circuit in one. Pure adrenaline inducing engineering genius - SZ for that alone. OK, the decals and liveries are dodgy, plus the RS I'd actually go cuckoo for would be the 964 3.8, plus they can be driven by badge chasing dorks, but a lot of them aren't. People who are real fans of 911s (especially 997s, but I'm biased ) couldn't give a monkey's about that image. Think of us more like Magnus Walker with a passion than some stockbroker who's only interested in fitting in. But then again, that could be said of so many M3 and AMG owners too of course.

SZ, just because they're brilliant.

 

[TexRex]

I generally find sleeper cars to be cool.

Ahem...

All cars are uncool.

I was asking generally, though. If cars aren't cool, what is? At this point the question may as well be rhetorical--I doubt I could be moved by an answer. (Not that you should feel the need to move someone on a forum.)

964 3.8 [RS]

Mmm.

 

[VXR]

Only a cool for me, as the 3.8 had a much better graphics package.

 

[Roo]

Ahem...

Thus I imagine our little cool wall - from Sub Zero to Seriously Uncool - fitting in to society's cool wall somewhere around the meh/uncool boundary.

In terms of cars

This handy dandy guide should help:

I find sleeper cars cool, but overall, they're still cars. Which aren't.

I hope that helps

I was asking generally, though. If cars aren't cool, what is?

Nothing. If you ask enough people, you'll find a significant proportion who find any given thing uncool. How can anything be cool if so many people think it isn't?

 

[TexRex]

If you ask enough people, you'll find a significant proportion who find any given thing uncool.

Certainly, but I don't imagine a significant proportion of the population would visit a car-related subforum on a forum site for virtual racing--I'm certainly not going to nominate a Mies van der Rohe chaise for the wall. Furthermore, the voting is subject to voters' (those visiting said subforum, with their apparent interest in the automotive world) discretion rather than all empirical evidence on the subject.

 

[Tunerguy21]

Since forever. All cars are uncool.

So then the Cool Wall is a waste of time because everything polled is uncool.

 

[ScottPuss20]

A Beetle with a body kit. Uncool

 

[noshog]

Too many votes based on what people think other people might be thinking. Who really cares what others are thinking when you are driving down the road in your favorite car.
Just because the general public may have no idea about what your driving, or cars in general, doesn't mean that its uncool, it means they have different interests. I like cars and racing, so that makes it cool to me, and well if I didn't think my own hobbies and interests were cool... then I've wasted my life.