There are statements here that are really just purely individual opinion. I happen to own an air cooled 911, early 996.1, a 997.2 S, and a 991.1 GTS, and my wife owned a Cayman for 13 years before taking over the 997.2S. I've driven and occasionally tracked most of these cars since I bought my air cooled car more than sixteen years ago. I only mention all that for perspective. I will offer up my own experience and some personal insight on the matter.
First of all, weight. Contrary to what was written above, the published weights of the 997.2 S and my 991.1 GTS are identical - 1,425 kg, or 3,135 lbs.; in fact, between the 997.2S and 991.1S, the 991 published as being 30kg or 66 lbs lighter than the 997. So the 991 certainly is NOT heavier than the 997, at least between two similar variants. With that said, the 991 is definitely BIGGER physically than the 997 (but not heavier).
The best steering is definitely that of the air cooled car, without surprise. Hard to beat the feel of an unassisted steering rack with so little weight on the nose. The 996 rack is nice and light and very communicative, as is the 997's, but to say the 991's rack is anemic and putrid is a horrible mischaracterization of what is unquestionably the best electrically assisted steering in the industry. It's solid, very communicative (if not quite as much so as the previous cars) and quick. I can feel and know exactly what the front end of the car is doing.
The car with the most tendency to understeer in stock form (all of my cars are stock except the air cooled 911) is the 996 - by a long shot. It'll oversteer too, if really provoked, but its default is a big front end washout if pushed hard. The 997 shows much less tendency to understeer or even oversteer. It's very neutral (for a rear engined car), but make no mistake, it still FEELS like a 911 in the sense that you really notice the weight in back during quick direction changes. Now, contrary to what was mentioned above,
MY bone stock 991 GTS shows the least tendency of the bunch understeer. It has a very noticeably planted and stable front end that reacts more quickly and more like my wife's old Cayman. In fact, the whole car is locked down and feels more like a mid engine car than a rear engine car. As I mentioned, It really reminds me of my wife's old Cayman in that the front is more willing to hold a line and allow mid corner corrections without the back end feeling like it may want to get loose.
That GTS is most DEFINITELY, unequivocally a sports car in every way. The issue I see though is that as these cars become more and more capable and become so easy to drive at such high velocities, they become almost TOO easy at sane road speeds. If I want more of a edge of the envelope thrill at more sane speeds, the old air cooled car is definitely the better choice, but if I am willing to head out to an open canyon road really early in the morning before any traffic exists, and push it a bit more, set the dampers to Sport Plus, my 991GTS can and will also be a huge thrill with extremely high limits, a beautiful, solid PORSCHE sports car feel, with a wonderful exhaust note (Sport exhaust button on).
Anyway, I just wanted to toss out another take on the 997 vs 991 question.
