I spent a week (off hours) paint correcting my '99 986 two years ago. I decided because I still drive it regularly not to correct it to 100% because didn't want to take too much of the clear coat off, just remove swirls. I used a microfiber pad on a Griots DA, with Megiuar's D300 then Menzerna SF3500. I could have used this setup at full speed and more passes to get close to 100% but chose not too, I normally did 1-2 passes with average pressure on medium-high speed.
Depending on how much paint correction you want (ie - how much clear you want to take off), and how deep any scratches you want to remove are, if you use a more aggressive compound you will probably need to 2-step with a polish. If you just want to remove swirls like I did, you could probably get away with an all-in-one compound/polish. Start with the least aggressive product first and see what you think of the results, then decide you if need to use two products or just one.
I don't have a reference point on paint hardness, because I only started detailing after I got my 986, but if I had to guess based on all the stuff I have watched online, my 986 has medium to hard paint.
