Mostly just overblown on the internet, official Porsche figures are much lower than what people will tell you - ask Porsche people, they'll tell you that a hard driven 996.1, 996.2, 997.1 (fixed for 997.2) won't have this issue but babied ones will have... at least that's what I know from when I personally asked around. I wouldn't really bother. And if so, fix it for two grand and you're done for the life of the car. But with them being so old, I'd even go further and say most false bearings have exploded by now and those who don't have, won't ...
Also, why low point? Never really understood why. People just jump on this bandwagon. Maybe because it's the first watercooled and the first 21st century Porsche and not based on a car from the 60s anymore. People wanted the 911 to be different once - Porsche does it differently on the interior and exterior and suddenly people say it's not as it used to be.
Can't have it all I guess? I like them because they're different. I think they're really good looking and the only reason they could be considered a low point I think is because of the interior with its build quality nothing short of a VW Golf mk3.