u/kp_93

This was a really cool experience so I thought I'd share some comments, tips, logistics, etc.

Booking process:

* You can find the booking page [here](https://porschedrive.porsche.com/germany/en-DE/rental-start). I made my reservation around 4-5 days before my arrival in Germany.
* They have multiple locations across Germany, but from a quick scan and reading prior reviews I opted for the Porsche Museum location.
* Base 911 is 599 EUR/day, GTS is 729 EUR/day. I went for the GTS.
* Included mileage is 300 km/day. You pay 1.15 EUR/km for any excess. I drove 860km over 2 days so I paid for the excess 260km upon return.

Logistics:

* I flew into Frankfurt, spent a night in an airport hotel, and took the train to Stuttgart in the morning for a 13:00 pickup. Train ride to Stuttgart central station is around 1h20m, and then connect to a regional train (S8 line) which runs every 30 mins and stops right outside the Porsche Museum.
* I was worried about storage space, as I know the frunk is small. It was exactly large enough for my [Rimowa Check-in M](https://www.rimowa.com/us/en/luggage/colour/black/check-in-m/88363631.html) luggage, plus a backpack I kept in the passenger seat (traveling solo).
* If you're non-european, you need an [International Driver's Permit](https://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpf.html) (IDP). Your US license alone won't be enough. This is easy to apply for -- I usually go to the UWS location in NYC and it's done in 20 mins (valid for 1 year, which I renew annually as I do a lot of international driving).
* You need to have held your license for more than 5 years. In the US, the "issue date" on the ID is just the latest time we renewed it or moved to a new state. So I had to go through emails to dig up an original issue date from like 10-15 years ago.

Driving route / itinerary:

* Day 1:
* afternoon: Stuttgart -> Heilbronn (A81) -> Sinsheim (A6)
* I stopped in Sinsheim to visit the [Technik Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technik\_Museum\_Sinsheim). If you're into aviation, cars, military history, etc. this is very worthwhile. They have a Concorde and a Tu-144 (I'm a huge aviation geek).
* From there, continued west via A6, south via A5, to Baden Baden. I stayed at [Roomers](https://maps.app.goo.gl/KKZqraR4ziXHHqMT7) hotel. Very nice restaurant, rooftop bar, spa facilities.
* In the evening I drove the B500 (Black Forest road) and some Autobahn runs on the A5. Hit my record speed during this time which was 281km/h (175mph).
* Day 2:
* Morning: 6am wakeup for early Autobahn driving going south on A5, then back up via B28, Oppenau, B500.
* Was surprised at how much traffic there was early on a Thursday. Got a few sustained 225-250km/h stretches but couldn't max it out >280.
* Back to hotel, breakfast, nap, enjoyed sauna.
* Afternoon: depart and spent around 4 hours just driving various Black Forest roads heading southeast from Baden Baden past Freudenstadt. So much fun.
* Stayed overnight near Lauterbach at [Hotel Kaeppelehof](https://maps.app.goo.gl/VLzQy7tRVJ61J8s88). Very nice property in countryside. Limited English by some of the staff but they were very hospitable and kind. Overall a pleasant stay.
* Day 3:
* 5am wakeup to attempt more early morning Autobahn driving. Taking the A81 up north toward Stuttgart.
* The video in post was taken here, around 6am.
* Did some driving and coffee / food stops, and back to Stuttgart for a 9:30am return. (I had the car until 13:00 but had to catch a train to Munich for an afternoon flight.)

Driving experience / tips:

* I used the [Porsche Roads app](https://roads.porsche.com/en) to find good driving routes. This was a lot of fun! Took me well off the popular B500 route onto smaller roads in the Black Forest, nice twisty paths through the mountains with limited traffic.
* Not all of Autobahn is unlimited speed. When you see [this sign](https://i.redd.it/ldeky7a99a191.jpg) it's unrestricted but it can quickly change. In the video in my post you can see at 0:35 I pass a 120km/h limit sign (while driving 230!) hence the slow down toward the end.
* Drive fast or move over -- the driving discipline is strictly adhered to. If you're going 180kmh in the left lane and have empty space ahead of you, you'll have someone behind you that wants to pass.
* I found it easy to get long 200km/h stretches. Most of the time if you're in the left lane even during busy daytime you can be going 180+ easily. I had a lot of 225-250 sustained runs of a few minutes before needing to slow for traffic. But hitting the 275-300 level requires empty roads to do it safely.
* Early morning / late evening are for sure the best times for Autobahn driving. But even at 6am I found there were quite a few trucks & traffic so there was limited ability to do max speed runs.
* Note A81 (in the video) is 2-lane, others like A5/A6 are 3 lane. It's tough to do high speeds in 2 lane hwys because there will be trucks driving at 100-120 and people trying to pass at 120-140 in the left lane.
* I highly recommend splitting time between fast Autobahn driving, and smaller twisty roads in mountain/forest sections. Honestly the car was unbelievably fun to drive in the countryside; great views all around, while handling is beyond impressive. I found quite a few sections I really enjoyed driving so would sometimes just turn around and do it again in the reverse direction.

Afterthoughts:

This was my first time driving a 911. I drive a BMW M340 at home, and have done the BMW M Track Days events so have driven most of the M cars with a bit of track experience.

The 992.2 GTS is absolutely amazing to drive, I'm still missing it and seriously considering as a purchase for my next upgrade this year. Just struggling to justify it to myself living in NYC-area, given quality of the roads, insurance prices, crime, etc. Really tough decisions here!