#AD Thank you to the Porsche Experience Center for sponsoring all of us from A Girls Guide to Cars, to come hang out and drive some sick cars! Please note, all opinions are my own.
A Girls Guide To Cars takes on The Porsche Experience Center
This incredible group of women (and one man), were all able to experience the infamous Porsche Experience. These are all female car enthusiasts, who write about cars from a woman’s point of view. Of course we all love to drive fast and drive awesome cars, but for some women out there, they want to know things like “where can I put my purse” and “will this car sit a car seat?” I can tell you that the Cayenne and Macan will definitely fit a car seat, but the 911 Carerra S and 718 Cayman GTS are more so for those drives with no kids, unless they’re older and don’t require a car seat.
For my nerds out there, the above building may look familiar. This is the building that they used in the Avengers. However, I will say, the architect behind the Porsche Experience Center building did a beautiful job!
There is a video at the end of this post that documents my entire trip to Porsche, so make sure you watch that, but when you first walk in, you see these beautiful cars basking in the sun in all of their glory.
After you get your badge and go upstairs, this really cool display (there are two walls worth of this) is near where you walk to the dining area. YES, they have a restaurant! Which I’ll go into that a little bit later. However, these are models of different Porsches throughout the years.
I do have to say that whoever the architect was for this building, did a beautiful job. Everything about this building just fits so well with the Porsche brand. It’s sleek, innovative, classy, a little simple, but at the same time has a lot of pizzazz.
While we were waiting for our itinerary for the experience, a few of us walked around the building a little bit. We got to see the track from all different views, and of course the cars.
Related: A fellow car journalist talks about her experience as well.
They have a restaurant!
If you know me well, you know that I love food. I can very easily be bribed with food. We had a seating area that was just for us in the back. I didn’t realize how many of us there were until we were all in that room. I started to feel a little sick at this point in our trip unfortunately, so I didn’t even get a chance to document the food that was brought out. However, I can explain what we ate. First, there were rolls with butter (that had honey swirls in it, I never even thought to do this!). We had an arugula salad come out first, which was extremely tasty. We were able to pick what we wanted for our entrees, and I must say, I really wanted to bring the chef home with me. I chose the salmon option and it was the best seared salmon I’ve ever eaten. Dessert was brought out and unfortunately I didn’t get to try any because of how sick I was feeling. I later found out that I was experiencing vertigo from all of the traveling and driving in different elevations. However, that didn’t stop me from having the absolute best time that I could!
Driver’s on your mark, get set, go!
The group that we were part of was sent to the simulation room. This is where we put our nerdy years of playing video games to the test. I guess all of those years of avoiding the bananas in Mario Kart paid off. This simulation game was really awesome. I wish that they had a manual option, because that would have made this experience even better. Anyway, even though it’s a simulation, it’s pretty close to the real thing with the way it reacts to what you do.
This is what is looks like when you’re actually sitting in it. You do have to take your shoes off for this simulation which is fine because you get to be really comfortable. Unfortunately, there is no manual option, so even though there are 3 pedals you have to drive it like an automatic.
What to expect when preparing for the track
The above photo is a layout of the track. Now, this is not a racetrack, so don’t think that we were racing each other. This track is designed to teach drivers how to handle different types of road conditions, and to basically become a better driver, or just feel more comfortable on the road. Many times, I’ve talked to people who have either gotten in an accident or for example spun out in the snow, and even though more times than not, these situations are unavoidable. This track is meant to teach you how to take control of your vehicle and feel more comfortable. I’ve been in these situations before, which is why the Kick Plate was my favorite obstacle. The Off Road circuit is where we started off, which I filmed in the video below. Our driving coach was so incredibly knowledgeable, and the great part, is he is an Off Road veteran. You can tell this wasn’t his first rodeo. Moving on to the actual track. I did not get a chance to go in the Wet, Low-Friction Circle, which is where the driving coaches actually got behind the wheel and showed how to handle the car there. Basically, it looks like they were drifting beautifully. The Low-Friction Handling circuit was a polished surface where you learned how to handle the car with a track that was more slippery than the regular circuit. When you are brought to the dynamics area is where you learn how to take the car through launch control, and how to go in between the cones at higher speeds. Of course, the Kick Plate, as you already know was my favorite part of this track. Let’s get into the actual track in real life!
Let’s meet the driving coaches
Don’t worry, you aren’t driving on the track by yourself. When we were done with our simulation, we went to meet the coaches that would be in the passenger seat, explaining how to drive and information about the car we were driving. We were split up into two groups at this point in time. One group was brought to the Off Road Circuit, while the other group got to drive on the track.
Off Roading Circuit
This was our driving coach for the off road portion of this track. We were not able to drive, because off roading takes skill that has to actually be learned over time. If you’ve never been off roading, trust me, this is a skill. I filmed the entire experience, that video is at the end of this post. The course has so many obstacles, from being submerged in water, to going on 70% gradients to basically looking like a weeble wobble. We were brought to the circuit in a Macan, and then hopped into a Cayenne to experience the capabilities of this car. My mom owns a Cayenne, and I showed her the video of what her car is capable of. I highly doubt she will be practicing her off roading skills any time soon though!
Driving the 718 Cayman GTS
In my opinion, this car handled a little better than the 911, but of course, it’s not as fun as the 911, which I’ll get into later. I drove this car first, and had a great driving coach. He taught me how to hug turns better and not use the brakes as much, and also how to be more comfortable behind the wheel. We talked about the cars we currently drive as well, and I will say my current daily driver, is no match for the Cayman. I mean it hugs turns pretty well, but let’s be honest here, if I had the money, I’d totally buy a Porsche in a heart beat. Driving the Cayman was a great way to warm me up for the 911.
Driving the 911 Carrera S
Ok, so this was my favorite car to drive, and it was a great way to end my Porsche Experience in Atlanta. My driving coach was definitely experienced with driving and his knowledge about cars with multiple different brands. I preferred driving this car, even though it didn’t handle as well as the Cayman, it was faster, and just more fun. My driving coach was highly impressed with my skills at the kick plate so he kept having me go a little faster each time. He said I was a natural, and once I told him I was originally from the Northeast, he put two and two together and said ok so you’ve spun out of control before. You sir, are correct! Launch control in this car was also much better than the Cayman because it was faster. I was shocked at how great the brakes are because we were driving at high speeds and when we would slam on the breaks, the car stopped almost immediately.
An absolutely incredible experience!
If you ever get a chance to go to the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta, I highly recommend it. It was an amazing experience to be able to drive these beautiful cars, and learn how to handle the road better. Essentially, even though I was only there for a little bit, that short amount of driving time on the track taught me things I didn’t know before about driving.
xoxo Monica
