Porsche Cayman GT4 RS Track Drive Review | Instant classic
The most emotive road-going Cayman boasts power, poise and all the go-fast toys
With fourteen corners packed into the 1.6-mile circuit, Streets of Willow is a tight, technical road course where sports cars packing 200 to 250 horsepower typically seem to shine the brightest – think Subaru BRZ, Honda S2000, Mazda Miata and the like. Yet even with twice the power on tap, the 2022 Porsche Cayman GT4 RS carves a surgical line through the zigzagging tarmac, effortlessly devours the straights, and then seems to ask, “Is that all you’ve got?”
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The promise of the GT4 RS has been a long time coming. Since the Cayman’s original debut back in 2005, Porsche has produced a string of progressively more potent iterations of its mid-engined sports car, but vocal members of the peanut gallery posited that the automaker would always hold the platform back from its true performance potential due to concerns about it potentially outshining the 911. It could be argued that the notion was put to bed back in 2016 with the introduction of the previous-generation Cayman GT4 (aka the 981), but if there was any lingering doubt left, the new GT4 RS (aka 982) has decidedly ended the discussion.
The big headline is the powerplant, which is a wholly different mill from the 4.0-liter, naturally aspirated flat-six that motivates the 982 Cayman GT4. Plucked from current 911 GT3 (992) ostensibly unchanged – its deficit of 10 horsepower and 15 pound-feet versus the GT3 chalked up to the backpressure created by the Cayman’s longer exhaust system – the 4.0-liter flat-six good for 493 hp and 331 lb-ft bestows the GT4 RS with the GT3’s prodigious grunt as well as its soaring 9,000-rpm redline. Here the side scoops that are positioned just behind the doors provide engine cooling instead of feeding the throttle bodies, and with the loud pedal pinned to the floorboard, the flat-six’s banshee wail competes with the sound of air rushing into new RS-specific intakes that are installed where the rear quarter windows would normally be, right behind the occupants’ heads
But there’s a lot more going on here than just an engine swap. Because that flat-six is mounted backwards relative to its orientation in the 911, engineers needed to develop a new seven-speed PDK gearbox specifically for the GT4 RS. It utilizes the same gear and axle ratios used in the previous-generation 911 GT3 RS PDK, which Porsche says effectively makes this the most aggressively-geared GT model produced thus far, while ancillary components like the dual-mass flywheel come directly from the GT4 Clubsport race car.
Supporting the beefed up powertrain is a host of chassis tweaks that include the integration of the previous-generation Carrera 4 front structure to improve rigidity, the use of ball joints for all the connection points on the front and rear axles, revised dampers, and increased spring rates all around. Stopping power is bolstered by the larger standard cast-iron front brakes from the GT3 with cooling enhancements provided by new wheel well air guides as well as the NACA ducts on the hood. That hood is made of a carbon fiber, by the way, as are the 911 GT1-inspired front fenders. On the aerodynamic front, enhancements like the adjustable front diffuser and swan neck rear wing also provide up to 25% more downforce than the standard GT4 at 125 mph.
Fixed-back carbon bucket seats come standard in the GT4 RS, but sport seats are also offered as a no-cost option. If you opt for the latter, however, I’d argue that you’re doing it wrong. These buckets are surprisingly comfortable despite the aggressive bolstering, and since they place you lower in the car, even taller drivers like myself can find an ideal seating position with a helmet on and still have headroom to spare.
With relatively short straights and tight corners, Streets of Willow tends to showcase a car’s chassis balance and contact patch more than anything else, but Porsche’s decision to run the track counter-clockwise threw an interesting curveball into the mix. After spending a lap getting re-acclimated while chasing Porsche factory driver Patrick Long in a 911 Turbo S, the pace quickly began to ramp up and it all started to make sense.

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