Porsche’s incredible Cayman GT4 RS is effectively an off-the-shelf race car

EVERY time I drive a new Porsche it immediately becomes my lottery win car.

If you asked me this time last year what I would buy if my balls magically dropped, I would have said the 911 GTS.

A year or so before that, 718 Cayman GT4. I’ve changed my mind again – now it’s the Cayman GT4 RS.

You don’t need to be a Porsche nerd to realise that the GT4 RS is a faster, more extreme version of the Cayman GT4 — a car I didn’t think could be improved upon when I drove it back in 2019.

But this is Porsche. It always leaves something in its back pocket to milk more money out of people looking for something even sharper, even showier.

The GT4 RS is a showy car, but only because of all the track day tinsel Porsche has added to justify the extra £30k over the ‘standard’ GT4. Point is, it’s all there for a reason.

The Instagram-friendly carbon fibre bonnet saves weight (the RS is 35kg lighter in total than the GT4).

The Le Mans-style swan neck rear spoiler helps contribute to 25 per cent more downforce. The bulging brake calipers add more stopping power.

My favourite part, though, is the air intakes behind the driver’s head. Because the RS is powered by the same 4-litre engine as the 911 GT3, it had to do some high-level engineering shenanigans to make it fit.

The 911 is rear-engined, you see, but a Cayman is mid-engined.

So lots of stuff was moved around, and Porsche decided the engine’s air would be sucked into an airbox which is housed in the parcel shelf inside the cabin.

The result? The best sounding car on the planet, at least from the inside.

The noise is phenomenal. You can hear what the engine is up to in Dolby Surround Sound detail, and when you’re driving it hard it’s like having your own personal orchestra providing a soundtrack.

Makes talking to the other half a bit tricky, but some might see that as a plus.

It’s not just the noise that makes you fall in love — the RS is effectively an off-the-shelf race car.

Its road manners aren’t as terrible as you might think, but anyone who buys this car and doesn’t use it on track is an idiot. End of.

This, for me, is the lottery win car and I’m sticking to it.

Until Porsche brings out something new.