2008 Porsche 911 GT2

At around 5000 rpm the world as you've always known it explodes, your innards tumble as if you've just stepped out of an airplane, your eyeballs churn into marmalade. Five quick manual shifts, and you're catching the horizon at more than 200 miles per hour, the audio system playing a Bartok string quartet, your cerebrum struggling to believe it's all real.

You've just been GT2'd.

Take a moment, catch your breath, maybe grab hold of your security blanket. What follows is the very first U.S. instrumented test of Porsche's newest, wickedest-ever 911, the 2008 GT2. The numbers will astonish you. They astonished us, and we've driven a few fast cars before. This is your last chance to call for Mommy.

Imagine a Porsche that combines the blown thrust of the 911 Turbo, the tango-champion agility of the 911 GT3, and an extra-generous seasoning of Zuffenhausen alchemy-that's the $192,560 GT2. You'll recall that, in our first test of the GT3 (May 2007), we dubbed it "the greatest 911 ever." A bold statement, but now that we've driven its twin-turbo, rear-drive sibling, we're making an even loftier proclamation: The GT2 is, quite simply, the finest road-going Porsche of all time. Yes, better even than the $450,000, V-10-powered Carrera GT exoticar. Really.

The GT2 is clearly a 911, but a closer inspection reveals unique details. The front air dam is devoid of foglamps, leaving a purer, more appealing prow. Replacing conventional front signal lamps are Audi R8-like LED light bars, a fabulous touch. Sprouting from each side of the rear wing, integrated oval ducts feed fresh (and usually very fast) air to the twin intercoolers beneath. More evidence of GT2-ness lies easily visible inside the 19-inch alloys: yellow calipers denoting the standard carbon-ceramic brakes. The GT2 also wears huge shoes, its high-grip Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires dwarfing the standard rubber on both the GT3 and the Turbo.

As in the 480-horsepower 911 Turbo, the stinger in the GT2's tail is a twin-pressurized, 3.6-liter flat-six that uses variable-vane turbos to hypercharge the incoming exhaust gases, producing an almost instantaneous burst of power whenever your right foot heads south. Yet the GT2's six is even more insane, breathing a cooler intake charge through an exclusive manifold and exhaling through a lightweight, titanium exhaust system (among other refinements). The result is a blistering 530 horsepower and 505 pound-feet of torque.

Further enhancing its swiftness, the GT2 is some 225 pounds lighter than the all-wheel-drive Turbo (it's just a few pounds heavier than the normally aspirated, 415-horse GT3). More power. Less weight. Hang on.