Mitter was born in Schönlinde, also known as Krásná Lípa, in the Sudetenland region of what was then Germany and is now the Czech Republic. Following the end of World War II the Mitter family was expelled from the Sudetenland in 1945 and relocated to Böblingen, near Stuttgart. Mitter grew up in the Stuttgart area, working as a mechanic and establishing his own business in nearby Leonberg.
Mitter began his motorsport career on motorcycles before moving to four wheels at the end of the 1950s. He competed in Formula Junior, designing and building his own car — the Mitter-DKW — powered by a two-stroke three-cylinder 1.1-litre DKW engine. He recorded his first victory in this car at the 1959 Preis von Linz at Flugplatz Hörsching in Austria and went on to score more than 40 Formula Junior victories in total. In 1960 he progressed to a Lotus 18 fitted with a DKW engine tuned by himself, winning the first German Formula Junior Championship that year. He won the national title again in 1962, sharing it with Kurt Ahrens Jr. — though both were subsequently disqualified for six months after controversy arose over engine displacements that year. In 1963 he won the prestigious Formula Junior Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring. Beyond racing, Mitter prepared and sold DKW and later Volkswagen Formula Vee engines to fellow competitors, establishing himself as a respected engineer alongside his driving career.
Mitter participated in seven Formula One World Championship events, making his debut on 23 June 1963 at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort in a Porsche 718 entered by Ecurie Maarsbergen. His most notable championship result came at the 1963 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, where he finished fourth driving the same Porsche, earning three championship points. He also entered the 1963 Italian Grand Prix but withdrew without setting a qualifying time. Team Lotus engaged him for the German Grands Prix in 1964 and 1965; he finished ninth in 1964 and retired with a water leak in 1965. A final Formula One appearance came at the 1967 German Grand Prix in a privateer Brabham BT23 with a Ford engine, from which he retired with an engine failure.
The European Hillclimb Championship was the arena in which Mitter achieved his greatest sustained success. He finished second in the 1965 championship behind Lodovico Scarfiotti's Ferrari Dino 206P. He then won the championship in three consecutive years from 1966 to 1968, each time driving Porsche Bergspyder machinery. He was the first driver to win three consecutive European hillclimb titles. The Porsche 909 hillclimb car he drove contributed to the development of the Porsche 908/03. Across the history of the European Hillclimb Championship to the time of his death, Mitter's total of seventeen championship event victories placed him joint seventh on the all-time list.
Mitter was a central figure in the Porsche works sportscar programme throughout the 1960s. He joined the Porsche development department in 1966 and competed in the World Sportscar Championship and related international events.
He drove a Porsche 906 at Hockenheim and the 500 km Zeltweg in 1966 alongside Hans Herrmann, winning both. In the European Touring Car Championship in 1967 he and Karl von Wendt won the opening round at the 4 Hours of Monza outright in a Porsche 911. At Sebring he made the podium in 1967 as part of the leading Porsche entry behind the winning Ford Mk IV.
His 1968 season brought him a close co-driver in the World Sportscar Championship in the form of Lodovico Scarfiotti, who had left Ferrari to join Porsche. The pair finished second at the 6 Hours of Brands Hatch. Scarfiotti was killed in June 1968 at a hillclimb in Germany, ending what had become an important partnership.
Mitter made five starts at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and retired from all of them. His Le Mans co-drivers included Colin Davis (twice), Jochen Rindt, and Vic Elford. He did achieve class victories at Sebring in 1965, 1966, and 1967, and won a class victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1966.
His final and most celebrated sportscar victory came in 1969, when he and Udo Schütz won the Targa Florio outright in a Porsche 908/02, completing the gruelling Madonie circuit at an average pace that outpaced all competitors over the full race distance. The Targa Florio win was the last major racing victory of his career.
For 1969 Mitter joined BMW to race and develop the BMW 269 Formula Two car, built in collaboration with the German aircraft manufacturer Dornier. The 1969 German Grand Prix format at the Nürburgring allowed Formula Two cars to start alongside Formula One machinery and be classified separately. BMW entered three cars for Mitter, Hubert Hahne, and Dieter Quester.
During Friday practice on 1 August 1969, Mitter suffered a fatal crash in the section between the Flugplatz and the Schwedenkreuz on the Nordschleife. Eyewitness accounts indicate that a wheel detached from the BMW 269 at an estimated speed of over 240 km/h, leaving Mitter unable to regain control. The cause was attributed to a suspected front suspension failure, though the precise mechanism was never fully established. He was 33 years old.
Following the accident, BMW withdrew all three of its entries from the race. Hans Herrmann, also entered at the race, withdrew as a mark of respect for his close friend. Udo Schütz, who had survived a serious crash at the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans only weeks before and had shared the Targa Florio victory with Mitter, retired from racing permanently after Mitter's death.
Gerhard Mitter is buried in the Waldfriedhof in Böblingen, Baden-Württemberg, near Stuttgart.
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