Was there ever any doubt that a overweight 4L N/A stood a chance vs. 3.8 FI porker with AWD? As far as I'm concerned, BMW should be happy to even be included in this group. If only GTR wasn't so ugly.

 

I stopped watching when he said he left the traction control on.

 

According to my friend, he said the R35 GTR is quite a soul-less car. It's fast, but the drive isn't thrilling (compared to other exotics like GT3s, F430s, and Lambos that he has driven). The analogy is a bit like driving an S2000 vs a G35 -- except they are 10 times more expensive and faster, of course.

I just hope Honda engineers don't embarrass themselves by making something that can't keep up with the GTR!

 

It will not get even close. Faster than a regular M3 YES, faster than a GTR very unlikely. Different machines, wayyy different. Yes I know the GTR is not the greatest thing on earth but lets use some commmon sense.

 

and yet I'd still take the the GT3 over the GT-R

 

Anyone note the temperature? 2 degrees! That's 2*C, or about 36*F. While all three are on summer tires, the GT3 especially is going to be affected since the Sport Cups are easily the softest, stickiest tire in that group and will definitely be harder and less grippy in low temps. With AWD, the GT-R has a massive grip advantage in colder temps even if the RE-070 is a very dedicated summer tire as well.

I honestly cannot wait for a proper test on a dry track and summer temps. Put the cars where they're meant to race, not just when they're available to you, please...

The GT-R will almost certainly be the fastest again (I think it's proven its capabilities fairly well) but it'd be interesting to see how properly warmed up tires affected things.

 

^ Good point. I was also thinking about that. They should use equivalent tires on all vehicles in warm temperatures.

 

Not so much equivalent tires but rather at least put them in an environment for which the tires are made (summer, warm, preferrably dry). The tires are up to the manufacturer - run what ya brung - but at least use the cars in proper sports car conditions.

 

I beg to differ.

Granted, it was real cold but that just meant more power for all cars. During the time attack session, he seemed to drive the cars enough to warm up the tires.

After tracking my car a few times, I know that it only takes a few laps to get my tires hot. All things considered and given the time constraints of this comparo, I think the real reason the GTR beat the others is because it is more powerful and it is AWD. The GTR is considerably faster in a straight line and around a track, it easily inspires the confidence needed for the driver to push the car closer to its limit. I honestly think he could have posted faster times in the GT3 but he just didn't have enough time to get everything right.

The M3 was just there because of its price, it obviously didn't belong there.

 

Did you read what you typed?

1. Colder = more power

2. Near freezing temps = less grip on frozen summer tires

3. One lap is not even REMOTELY enough to warm up tires in near-freezing conditions. Been there, done that, no good on summer-only max-performance tires. Have you ever tried to warm your car tires up to operating temp in 35*F weather? You can't, no matter how hard you drive, even on a race track, unless you do a standing AWD burnout to pre-heat them. You might get one pair moderately warm through a burnout but without AWD, you're still stuck with at least one pair of cold tires (the ones not driving the car).

4. He did one warmup lap and then one flying lap - that's it. That'll never warm up tires enough in those temperatures.

1+2 = too much power for the tires and not enough cornering and braking grip

So, that means AWD rules as RWD cars are much more of a handful and exhibit traits they might not otherwise exhibit, and the GT-R gets a faster lap.

I agree that the GT-R should be fastest but I don't think this was a remotely decent comparison due to the weather conditions. No one in their right mind races on those tires in that weather and extracts anything remotely close to a car's true performance.