What do soon-to-be-NYC-Mayor Zohran Mamdani and elite-yet-crumbling-german-car-maker Porsche have in common?
With a “free” includedi invitation in-hand, I set sail for North America’s third “Porsche Experience Centre” this week to find out.ii The newest such facility in the 10-strong global network, PECTO just opened in June 2025 in the eastern suburbs of Canada’s largest city, home of soon-to-be-World-Series-Champions(?!).
Driving up in my Uber, the dimensional-lumber-cladiii facility seemed modest enough by urban standards, but was practically Tolkowsky Cut amidst the industrial rough. First impressions are that this is a brand amenity par excellence. While other carmakers offer rally driving or winter driving programmes for their customers and enthusiast community, they tend to host them at existing tracks and facilities, not to invest in their own. None other than Porsche seem to be building out quite so many dedicated facilities for all-season handling and car control with which to showcase their bonafides.
So there I was at 356 Porsche Drive (har), ready to “Experience My Dream” or some such marketing phooey, but really just to drive the shit out of a new 911 on a closed circuit. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect because to be honest I think I’d missed the fact that this place existed at all until I received an unsolicited email in my inbox last month. Apparently if you spend unspeakable sums on a new sports car, you get an invitation to PECTO on Porsche’s dime (minus the Uber fares). Finding a date that lined up with an already-scheduled work trip – and given the choice between Macan, Cayenne, Taycan, 718, and 911 – I didn’t hesitate in choosing the 992.2 generation slot-car for my 90-minute session.
Walking in, the staff seriously couldn’t have been nicer, more accommodating, or more enthusiastic. Clearly, there was a lot of cachet in working at this place because they engaged every visitor with a pride sadly atypical of the Canadian service industry. None of them were working for tips, and it seemed unlikely that their salaries were Bay Street levels, so what else could explain the staff’s unexpected warmth? Really good training? Perhaps they were still in the honeymoon phase of the new facility? Going back in a few years would surely test this theory. But in any event, I wasn’t complaining. Anytime I can get proper customer service outside of Japan, or Georgia, I’ll take it.
After being given a lanyard with my name on it and grabbing a surprisingly affordable coffee from the Carrera Café, I was treated to a safety briefing that could’ve easily been as unpleasant as Costco before the long weekend,iv but was actually as quick and painless as illegally immigrating to the West. That bit of classrooming out of the way, the other guest and I were introduced to our respective driving instructors and off we went to the tarmac downstairs.
The multi-surface layout is actually split into four courses: slalom cones for warm-up, a dry-handling circuit, wet-handling circuit, and full 2km race track with corners inspired by Le Mans, Nurburgring, Silverstone, and Laguna Seca. I was given the choice between a black Carrera S and a grey one, so I picked the lighter hue. My coach (Hayden) took a few moments to make sure I was seated ergonomically and knew where all the buttons were.
Settled in, buckled up, helmet-free (bless), we started up the 2026 C2S, its 473 HP 3.0L twin-turbo flat-six hrumming into life. Although this car was capable of the same 0-60 MPH time as my new GT3, the subdued start-up gave little of this potency away. Still, the car immediately felt right-sized for two six-plus-footers to spend an-hour-and-half sloshing around together in.
It was a quiet Thursday afternoon in October, overcast in that Ontario way, the deciduous trees in full condiment-coloured glory, air temperature a perfectly pleasant 14C. I clicked the 8-speed PDK into gear and we set off towards the warm-up cones. Three passes later (and only one cone casualty), we quickly graduated to launch control. Even slightly warmed up, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires were simply no match for the imperceptibly damp surface, meaning that even all the electronics in the world and a fat engine over the driven wheels still couldn’t prevent massive wheelspin through 3rd gear, and just as the car shifted into 4th it was time to slam on the reins again. Which… whatever, it’s fine. Point made. This new 911 is perfectly quick enough in a straight line, especially for a non-hybrid ICE car weighing in at 3,400 lbs wet and more like 3,750 loaded up. The performance was never going to leave your jaw on the floor, but still managed to feel perky enough to be relevant in this amped-up, over-regulated era.
Next to the 2km circuit. Starting out in Normal mode on the wheel, we did two orientation laps, picking up speed as we went, before clicking over into Sport and giving ‘er for another half-dozen laps, getting up to about 6/10ths on my seat-of-the-pants calibration. Exotics Racing at Las Vegas Speedway, this was not, but nor was it trying to be. More relational, more educational, and more flowing was the name of the game here.
Coming off the circuit, we tucked back into the infield for the dry-handling circuit, which was a series of very tight left- and right-hand turns on highly polished concrete, with the idea being to kick out the pendulum rear end, catch it, and for bonus points “link” one drift into the next, all at very low, manageable speeds. It felt quite a lot like driving my Taycan on the frozen neighbourhood roads of wintery Alberta, but without the inherent vehicular balance, and with more boosty turbo non-linearity. I managed to control a few decent slides, but could’ve spent longer there.
Next to last was the wet-handling circuit, complete with non-stop sprinkler system. For added challenge, I soon discovered, and Hayden was all happy to confirm, that indeed the 12 – 3 o’clock sections were substantially slicker than the rest of the round. Still, I found a sweet spot for the grippier sections and eventually found the most success with all TC/ESC/PASM turned completely off and engine in Normal mode. In Sport mode the engine boost was too spiky, with all electronics on it was too easy, and with electronics partially off it was too inconsistent to find a flow state. Coach Hayden was great at reminding me to keep my eyes just a little bit left towards the A-column (we were driving CCW), which was a testament to his professional drifting resume (and his patience with me). Apparently some of the other driving coaches are even IMSA competitors, past or present.
With just 10 mins to go, we actually snuck in a few extra laps of the 2km circuit before our time was up, but by then I’d mostly had my fill. Ninety minutes doesn’t sound like much a priori, but it’s actually very decent seat time when you’re not taking breaks, absorbing instruction, and taking-in that many aspects of a new layout. I certainly got what I paid for, and would even have considered the CAD$ 1,356 including tax sticker price to be relatively reasonable, to the point that I may even book a GT4 RS (or Spyder RS) for a similar such experience down the road.
Now what about the 2026 Carrera S in all this? Does it feel like a $200,000 CAD car? Sure, why not. The 911 has always been a premium product without any genuine competition. So it costs what it costs and it delivers in a way no other can. Revered for over 75 years – and stubbornly engineered in spite of its engine being in completely the wrong place – it offers attentive drivers a learning curve and charm all its own. Even in its latest iteration with its much-maligned Größe, bounty of electronics, and ho-hum engine note. Perhaps a bit like Ferrari, the next Porsche is still the best one? Old men with onions on their belts shouting at clouds will talk about 997 GT3 4.0L and 993 GT2 in hushed reverential tones, forever insinuating that anything less isn’t worth the bother, but for mere mortals, a new C2S really is a worthy aspiration. For those who don’t want (or honestly know they can’t handle) more, the near-entry trim is as capable and relevant as ever. The steering is weighty enough, the engine is potent enough, the size is practical enough, it feels solid enough, and playful enough.
Back to the track, no matter how contrived the Porsche Experience Centre may be, it’s still a strong-value reminder that most of us meatsacks can’t handle more than the entry-trim sports cars anyways, no matter how much we drool over and lust after the raciest racers. For a little taste of this much-needed humility – like the country club vossi bop that is Mamdani’s campaignv – PECTO whets appetites.vi
- I’m always keen to remind my children that their state-provided healthcare, education, etc. isn’t “free,” but rather included. This is not a distinction without a difference. ↩
- PECATL was first in 2015, then PECLA in 2016, now PECTO in 2025. ↩
- “Biophilia” hurr. These 2×4 planks look “modern” now but will age like milk, much like raw corten steel and the rest of the impoverished attempts as post-post-modern architecture, but we needn’t digress by dwelling on the curent morass of antichristic self-centred circularities too much today.
- I don’t actually know what Costco is like before a long weekend but I can imagine! ↩
- On the scale of contrivances, PECTO isn’t quite as extreme as, say, Zohran Mamdani, but both are similarly symptomatic of the weaponised decadence of our time:
— SonofLiberty357 (@SonofLiberty357) October 25, 2025