Analog Aficionado? Porsche's Digital Surprise Goes Way Back (Can You Guess the Car?)

More Models In The Porsche Line-Up Are Taking The All-Digital Route

The Taycan was the first production Porsche to not only embrace electrification, but it was also the first to feature an all-digital dash with a 16.8-inch panel. Considering it’s an EV, you can cut it some slack as it’s not an air-cooled Porsche that got robbed of some of its character, but on an all-electric vehicle where a digital screen can really come in handy to display a lot more than traditional dials can ever do. I’m sure many of you will also agree that it is totally acceptable in Porsche models that you can use daily; think Cayenne, Macan, and Panamera, and you won’t mind such a setup. An all-digital instrument panel has made its way into the latest variants of all of the aforementioned models.

But with the 911 or Cayman/Boxster, in my opinion (and I’ve also read this on the forums), you want to retain the analog gauges, especially that central dial. In an age where we’re surrounded by displays right from the elevator to your digital watch, the last thing want to look at after a hard day at work, is yet another screen, especially when you own a sports car like the 911. Most people were also happy, with the analog-digital dash situation that we had on the outgoing (992.1) 911, where you had two 7.0-inch panels on either side of the central analog tach, with that central rev-counter. The small panels were more than up to the task of even showing maps and nav. With that physical element now missing, all that you get now is a Taycan-inspired 12.65-inch curved LED display, where clearly Porsche is trying to recreate that same effect on a screen. Now this might sound like overkill, but could they have not retained some physical element with a moving ring mechanism, similar to what we saw with the Lexus LF-A?

The Carrera GT Concept Was Cleary Ahead Of Its Time

As for the Carrera GT Concept, Porsche built two examples, that were made for the North American and European auto show circuits in 2000, respectively. Not much is known about the exact specifications of this panel, but given the technology of the time, it’s got to be a flat TFT LCD display, measuring between 8.0 to 10 inches across. But even back then, Porsche didn’t give up on its central rev-counter, with a digital mockup. The contrast ratios and vivid blacks are a joke by modern standards and the graphics appear to be straight out of a racing game from the time, it’s unlikely to be a touchscreen, given how many silver buttons you have surrounding the old-school digital display.

There are two reasons why I think Porsche went was this setup. One: Is with the time constraint of getting the car ready for the 2000 Auto show circuits and two: to show that the automaker was at the top of its game of developing bleeding-edge tech around the turn of the millennium and wanted to showcase something significant. Remember that this was also a time when the German automaker was just coming out of a tough spot and was in the process of reinventing itself and what better way to do that than with a futuristic concept like the Carrera GT, which went on to become one of the all-time-great supercars.