California Relents, Allows Porsche To Sell Manual 911 GT3 And 911 GT3 Touring

Porsche introduced the 911 GT3 Touring earlier this month and it promised to appeal to fans who hated big wings, but loved a naturally-aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six developing 503 hp (375 kW / 510 PS) and 346 lb-ft (469 Nm) of torque.

However, it came with one big caveat for California residents – it would be PDK-only. The same ruling also applied to the standard 911 GT3, so it seemed like enthusiasts were out of luck.

As Porsche explained to us at the time, “We have to fully accept and respect national and local guidelines in every market – not just in the U.S. but around the world. Unfortunately, this precludes a manual gearbox option on the 911 GT3 in the state of California because of a sound regulation that is in the process of being updated.”

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Fast forward to today and Porsche Cars North America Product Communications Manager, Frank Wiesmann, has provided us with an update that should please the ‘save the manuals’ crowd. As he explained, “Following consultations with California authorities, Porsche Cars North America is pleased to confirm that its dealers will be able to sell the new 911 GT3 with a six-speed manual gearbox – meaning that, when the first cars arrive in the fall, they can be legally registered and driven in all 50 states.”

Wiesmann went on to say, “On June 11, Porsche Cars North America received a notification from California Highway Patrol outlining that their existing test procedure (SAE J1470, from March 1992) was obsolete but it could not identify a procedural process to allow Porsche to test the new 911 GT3 equipped with a manual transmission through the modern test procedure (SAE J2805, from May 2020). Discussions with the regulators continued but without visibility to a solution we took the difficult decision to inform dealers that the manual option would be no longer be available in California, since there would be no way to legally register the cars in the state.”

However, the company was able to work with the California DMV and California Highway Patrol to “quickly identify [an] appropriate regulatory path forward.” This means California residents will be able to get a GT3 Touring with a manual when it arrives in America early next year.