You Can Now Buy A Porsche 911 GT3 RS With A Manual Gearbox

Porsche isn’t offering the GT3 RS with a manual transmission – but this tuner is.

Porsche answered the prayers of enthusiasts everywhere when the new 911 GT3 was rolled out with a manual gearbox – particularly as it was considerably cheaper than the limited 911 R which was commanding over $1 million in the used car market at the time. You can imagine the outcry, then, when it was announced that the track-focused GT3 RS would only be offered with a PDK transmission. Porsche argues that customers who buy a GT3 RS prefer the precision of a PDK transmission to set faster lap times.

However, some hardcore enthusiasts will say you can’t beat the satisfaction of thrashing a Porsche around a track with a manual setup. One disgruntled GT3 RS owner decided to take matters into his own hands and fit the track-focused sports car with a manual transmission. As a result, what you’re looking at here is the world’s first manual 991-generation Porsche GT3 RS. Rob Janev, the man behind the project, had only clocked up 900 miles in his GT3 RS before he decided to swap the PDK transmission with a manual. Enlisting the help of Florida-based tuner BGB Motorsports, the PDK was swapped with a six-speed manual from a 911 R sourced from a local dealership.

Speaking to Road and Track, BGB Motorsports boss John Tecce confirmed that the gearbox cost $22,000 and $45,000 to fit it. The transmission fits into the GT3 RS relatively easily, but the hardest part is getting the hardware and software to work correctly. Tecce said the GT3 RS “basically thinks it’s a 911 R” because the source coding had to be imported from an R. This means the rev matching works as it should, as does the gear indicator in the tachometer. Traction control and rear wheel steering uses the programming of the GT3 RS, however.
Janev has been documenting the progress of the project on Rennlist which is nearing completion, and has gained the support of Porsche enthusiasts.

“I don’t like that Porsche took the manual option away from us GT car owners only to put it back into a limited numbered car and play games with allocations,” he said, referring to the 911 R which sold out almost immediately after it was announced. $45,000 may sound like a lot for a manual transmission swap, but the 911 R typically sells for double the price of a PDK-equipped GT3 RS which makes this look like a bargain.