That scene in Top Gun: Maverick when Tom Cruise gets catapulted off the USS Theodore Roosevelt in his F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet. The clenched teeth. The facial contortions. The sharp intake of breath. Exciting stuff.

It’s precisely the same sensation you get executing a launch-controlled acceleration run in the latest 640-horsepower, $230,000 Porsche 911 Turbo S rocketship. Same clenched teeth. Same grimaced expression. Same tingle in the fingers.

And the best part? To experience this kind of thrill ride, you don’t have to travel to an aircraft carrier bobbing around in the the middle of the Pacific Ocean. How about Atlanta? 

We’ve come to the new-and-expanded Porsche Experience Center a stone’s throw from bustling Hartfield-Jackson Airport, where the German sports machine maker has just added a second driver development complex. 

It’s called the West Track and it’s nothing less than Disneyland for car lovers.  

The Experience Center itself has been open since 2015 where the original 1.3-mile South Track has seen over 400,000 Porschefiles line-up to drive the latest and greatest Porsche models, and get coached on how to drive them. 

This new 1.6-mile West Track, which will operate in addition to the old South Track, takes things up a notch. A big notch. The really fun part here is that it includes a 1.3-mile ribbon-of-asphalt Handling Circuit that incorporates grin-inducing elements from some of the world’s most iconic racetracks.

So you get to spiral down a section inspired by the infamous Corkscrew at California’s Laguna Seca track, sweep around a version of the banked, wall-of-death Carousel from Germany’s Nürburgring circuit, and even snake through a section of curves inspired by the Tail of the Dragon mountain road in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains. 

While a couple of laps of that will send your heart-rate off the scale, the fun doesn’t stop there. This new 33-acre expansion includes some serious driver-skill-enhancing activities. Like the 196-foot diameter skidpan, aka the Low-Friction Circle. 

This huge asphalt pad has a polished surface that, when drenched with water, offers the same kind grip as Teflon. 

Here you can test your drifting skills, and experience the handling differences between, say, a rear-engined 911 GT3, a mid-engined Cayman, and all-wheel drive Panamera. Fun doesn’t even come close to describing it.

Move across to the new Autocross course and you get to experience off-the-line acceleration then test your handling and braking techniques through a series of slaloms. 

But nothing compares to a launch-controlled 0-to-60 mph blast in a 911 Turbo S (2.2 seconds) or a spookily-silent, all-electric Taycan Turbo S (2.6 secs). 

The way both Porsches catapult off the line is just astonishing. The technique involves planting your foot hard on the brake pedal while you mash the throttle, then simply come off the brakes. Just remember to breathe.

But for the ultimate thrill-drive, a couple of laps of the new Handling Circuit behind the wheel of a track-focused 502-horsepower 911 GT3 will give you enough grins to last a lifetime. 

The sheer precision and agility of this speed machine, its balance and poise, not to mention its monumental stopping power, is nothing less than other-worldly.

That’s the beauty of this Porsche Experience Center program: Variety. With pretty much every model in the Porsche line-up to chose from – the fleet is around 130 cars – you can experience everything from a 300-horsepower 718 Boxster, to a gut-wrenching 750-hp electric Taycan Turbo S.

The sessions are typically 90 minutes and come with a Porsche driving coach in the passenger seat to give handy hints. Prices ranges from $450 for a customizable session in a Boxster or Cayman, to $1,275 for back-to-back blasts in a 911 Turbo S and 911 GT3.  

Book it for a special occasion, book it to sharpen your driving skills, book it because you’ve always wanted to drive a Porsche in anger. Or book it to be like Tom. You won’t be disappointed.