Hot Wheels 2017 - 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Is this casting the biggest disappointment of the 2016 Hot Wheels Mainline? I don't think so.

Back when the 2016 line was announced in full, this was the casting I was most excited for, and quite rightly - the 991 generation of the Porsche 911 GT3 RS is one of the most achingly fast and technologically advanced performance cars of all time, the product of years of honing and tweaking. It's 997 predecessor has been a collector favourite for almost 6 years now, so  a casting of the 991 was an inevitability that we waited for with high hopes.

This anticipation was prolonged too, as it didn't emerge until the penultimate case of the year, 2016 Batch P. It arrived in a striking red colour rather than trademark orange, and missing a key detail: the collecting world was left feeling underwhelmed.

Until now.

The detail in question was the line between the bonnet and bumper, which in the real car is part of the grill/front air intakes. Without it, the casting just didn't look right - see the difference between the 2016 and 2017 versions in these official Mattel photos:

The 2017 version in Birch Green with classic GT3 RS decals and a detailed wing sitting on plain black J5 wheels is a massive improvement on the original - hats off to the HW designer responsible, as it is always great to see mistakes corrected. It mimicks the real thing even better, and what's even more interesting is that it represents a version of the car of which in 1:1 only one exists, created tailored specially for an owner by Porsche Exclusive. How great is it that HW have chosen to replicate that one-off in 1:64 rather than one of the car's standard colours.
For the full story click here.

'Alongside the green paint, it includes a number of other special elements. For starters, it includes the Porsche logo on the rear wing in glass black paint as well as matte black for the rear wing endplates and uprights, rear lip, front splitter and side skirts. A set of matte black wheels are also featured as is a black GT3 RS side livery just like the previous-generation model.'

Overall, the casting is generally proportionally accurate and well executed - it just took a deco change to fully bring it out. I really look forward to the future of Hot Wheels with models like this in the basic range. 

Thanks for reading :)