The development of Carrera GT can be traced back to its predecessors, the 911 GT1 and LMP1-98 racing cars. Due in part to the FIA and ACO rule changes in 1998, both designs had ended. Porsche at the time had planned on a new Le Mans prototype for 1999. The car was initially intended to use a turbocharged flat-6, but was later redesigned to use a new V10 engine, pushing the project back to planned competition in 2000.

 The V10 was a unit secretly built by Porsche for the Footwork Formula One team in 1992, but later shelved. The engine was resurrected for the Le Mans prototype and increased in size to 5.7 litres. Unfortunately the project was canceled after two days of testing for the first car, in mid-1999, mostly due to Porsche's wish to build the Cayenne SUV with involvement from Volkswagen and Audi, thus requiring engineering expertise to be pulled from the motorsports division. It was also speculated that VW-Audi chairman Ferdinand Piëch wanted Audi's new Le Mans Prototype, the Audi R8 not to face competition from Porsche in 2004.

Performance

The Carrera GT is powered by a 5.7 litre V10 engine producing 612 DIN (605 SAE) horsepower (450 kW), whereas the original concept car featured a 5.5 litre version rated at 558 hp (416 kW). Porsche claims it will accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62.1 mph) in 3.9 seconds and has a maximum speed of 330 km/h (205 mph), although road tests indicated that in reality the car can accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 3.5 seconds and 0-100 mph (160 km/h) in 6.8 seconds, while 0-125 mph (201 km/h) in 9.9 seconds.

The Carrera GT has a basic five colour paint scheme which includes Guards Red, Fayence Yellow, Basalt Black, GT Silver and Seal Grey. Custom colours were also available from the factory. A traditional six-speed manual transmission is the only available transmission.

 Attached to this gearbox is a beechwood gearknob which pays homage to the wooden gearknob used in the Porsche 917 Le Mans racers. In its second year of production, a limited edition carbon fibre knob was also made available.