I won this experience in a sales contest at my former job and finally got around to using the voucher on Memorial Day Weekend. This place is on the south side of Atlanta, off 75 and in an industrial area that's run down, close to airport (several planes flew over). The facility is gated with a security guard, and is part of Porsche's National Headquarters. Once you drive up, you notice how nice the place is with Porsche cars scattered in the front, mainly for looks.
We had to set up a time in advance, which was in 2 hour increments. They had my name on a list and let me through. When I walked into the front doors, I had no idea where to go. There was not anybody at the main front desk and I just got lucky by walking to the right place. They had plastic on the floor and everything smelled new. I loved seeing some of the Porsche racing cars inside the building too (I'm sure some of these were on the game Gran Tourismo).
Once I found the right check in desk, I got my visitors badge and then my instructor, Jeff, grabbed me and we headed past the Carrera Cafe, past the viewing lounge deck and down to a bunch of Porsche cars facing their simulation track. I had won the Boxster Experience, which was $350, so the Boxster was what I drove. Not my choice car. They had carrera's to drive and an upgraded version of the Boxster.
My instructor had me get in the car, and adjusted it to fit me. Literally, it was straight to the car and on the track. No simulation driving or anything. Yikes! This is not like Andretti but you find these cars can handle anything! I drove a lap around the track with cars flying past, and then he started the training.
Training Step 1: Take off and hard braking. LOVED THIS! Pure adrenaline rush. Car is put into a sport mode by pressing a button. You hold down brake with left foot and slam gas, then let off brake and zoom! You fly down about 100 yards, hitting almost 70-80mph and then SLAM on the brakes. This warms up the tires and I also found it gets the wetness off the tires for better traction. FYI - I was scared on the braking but you find out fast that these cars can brake very fast.
Training Step 2: Cone slalom. This was fun and required hands on the wheel and moving in perfect motion to go around the cones. Trick was to keep your eyes ahead of you at the cones in the distance and not on the ones right in front of you. This was easy.
Training Step 3: Traction control. Ok, this scared the crap out of me the first time and then got my adrenaline going. Basically, you head into a wet area at around 20-30mph. Once you hit a certain spot, the back end of the car gets kicked left or right (you never know) and you have to regain traction to get the car going straight again. It's almost like hitting an ice patch. I nailed it the first time with instincts. You have to use throttle in order to regain control and quick hands on steering wheel. Braking only causes you to spin out 360 degrees, which I did the next three times. Very fun to test handling skills.
Training Step 4: Wet circle. My favorite part. It's an advanced version of step 3 and this time you are purposefully making the car's back end kick out to the right by giving it throttle, while trying to maintain that right kick around the entire circle. It's constant bursts of throttle and quick hands, and very hard. I was able to get halfway around the circle before spinning out. Once again, no brakes! I got to see another instructor do it, and it's very cool to see somebody go all the way around. The car basically drifts around the entire circle with the right amount of timed throttle and steering wheel movement.
Last part, the instructor took over and did two laps around the track. I thought we were going to crash, but the car's handling and grip perfect tires made it another adrenaline rush. He basically floored it the entire time.
Once done, I did a picture with the car I drove and headed up to the viewing lounge deck to meet my friend. The Carrera Cafe was closing at that time and the lady gave us some free food since they were going to toss it out. FYI - the food was ehhhhh. Save your money. You can also buy the $50 insurance plan they offer for any damages, but I knew I wasn't going to be crazy.
Overall, it was fun! I didn't like driving so far to find it or not knowing where to go when I got into the building. It was odd to not to do a driving simulator first but, hey, why waste time when you can drive a Porsche? The voucher I had expired on May 22nd, but they do allow you to book the experience past the expiration date as long as you book before it expires. I wouldn't pay $350 to do this on my own though, but if you have the money, it's a lot of fun. read more