I drive a 4 pot turbo. (remapped golf 7.5 r). Its more than fast enough. Can hold its head in lofty company. BUT, the 4 cylinder sounds anodyne, no matter what silly popping exhaust etc you add. Its never going to sound or feel like a straight 6 or flat 6. Until the ICE finally dies and we are all chasing Teslas, the engine is the heart of the motoring experience for me.
IMO Porsche done the right thing. They fill every sub niche with a derivative of their parts bins. I drove a 718 turbo last year. It was lovely - handling grunt, grip. But the (torquey btw) flat 4, is just not Porsche, and i was hankering after the flat 6 signature.
With the 992 range entirely turbo'd, and having made $$$$s on the GT4, its entirely logical for Porsche to add the 4L n/a flat 6 lump to enhance the boxster/718 - a 'new' flat 6 400hp boxster is going to be v popular with enthusiasts amongst the turbo 4-only current offering.
GTS is in effect a Gt4 lite. Manual only, but PDK will surely come. I want one. BUT, not as much as I would like a 992C2s - however that's still
nearly £30K more expensive than the 718 on list (£93k vs £65K), before you add extras.
This car will sell well - even with the 'poor man's 911' tag (wrongfully imo) often applied.
skillful marketing Porsche. Leave no gaps...