I finally got to drive the Porsche 996 Turbo today and it was well worth the wait. It was a 2002 model with only 7,500 or so miles on it and was in pefect condition.
The car had a nice boxer engine rumble on idle and it was somewhat loud even with the windows up, a nice change to the overly quiet cars nowadays. The clutch was pretty easy to modulate and the pedal didn't require loads of effort. I wasn't very impressed with the gearbox, it was notchy and the throws were somewhat long. The brake pedal was very stiff but it didn't exactly translate to the stopping power that I was expecting from the big red brembos. The handling was almost identical to the Porsche 996 C4S, the steering has excellent response as you would expect from a 911 but the car felt heavy. There was a slight bit of understeer on turn-in and the nose felt unusually heavy. The suspension was quite stiff, as you would expect in a Turbo, especially on bumpy city streets. The highway ride was perfectly balanced and confidence inspiring. What I really loved about the car was the phenomenal acceleration under full throttle, it was very addictive. Even when I floored the gas at 60mph in 6th gear the turbos spooled right away and there was a nice surge of power. I was expecting a bit of lag in the Turbo but compared to my Subaru Legacy GT the lag was almost non-existent. I can only imagine what the 996 GT2 and the new 997 turbo are like. There is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the best GT cars which can get you form point A to point B without much effort.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the 996 Turbo. I would've liked the steering and other controls to be even more direct and engaging. Given the choice, I would take the 996 GT3 over the Turbo since i'm a fan of naturally aspirated cars pushing past the 100hp per liter mark. But for most people the 996 Turbo is powerful and engaging enough.