This review was written prior to the Update 1.57's adjustment to Gr. 2 cars. However, most of what I wrote prior the update still stands in Version 1.57, and I'll include an addendum at the end on my thoughts on the car on Version 1.57.
Review: Epson NSX 2008
"Oh, hey, look. Another guy's writing a review about the original NSX. I'll bet I'll get bored to death within three sentences of unbridled praise for the car", is probably what you're thinking right now. Or maybe you came specifically to hear yet another person be awed by a timeless piece of machinery, looking for a friend perhaps to clutch aching backs together and wave canes at the sky shouting, "they don't make them like they used to anymore!" and "Back in my day...!"
Yes, the original NA1 and NA2 generations of the NSX is an automotive fairy tale that is both quantifiably amazing, yet also has that intangible "it" factor, that sprinkle of magic, that makes cars more than the sum of the parts that make it up, that make cars feel truly alive and unique. It was Honda's first engine to incorporate their now trademark and legendary VTEC technology. It was the first mass produced car to feature an all aluminum chassis. It looked and sounded like nothing else on the road, and was a stellar knockout on both fronts. Even the incomparable Ayrton Senna was stunned by it. This was the car that made Ferrari rethink their entire philosophy with their road cars. This was the car that started the whole "Type R" tradition and craze. Oh, and it has pop up headlights!
Now that I've briefly showered the car with some due, albeit clichéd praise onto the road car, I can, with a better conscience, say that the race car version in Gran Turismo Sport is a load of crap.
The 2008 Epson NSX is a GT500 car that raced in the 2008 season of Super GT. While the production car went out of production in 2005, Honda continued to field the NSX in GT500 until 2009, after which it was replaced by the rather confused looking HSV-010 GT, making this example one of the last, and theoretically most advanced evolution of the original NSX. Being a mid engined car in a category that in theory doesn't allow mid engined cars, every NSX in GT500 is saddled with 50kg of ballast just for being mid engined, and that's even before success ballast comes into play after doing well in a race. This mass increase has been faithfully replicated in GT Sport, with both its contemporary rivals, the 2008 Xanavi Nismo GT-R and the 2008 Petronas Tom's SC430 weighing in at 1,100kg, whereas the Epson NSX weighs in at 1,150kg. It's like the Epson NSX came equipped with the optional air con and stereo of the road going NSX-R.
GT500 cars are all lumped under Gr. 2 in GTS, meaning that the Epson NSX is in the same category as the aforementioned 2008 SC430 and GT-R. These three cars share Gr. 2 with their 2016 counterparts, the Raybrig NSX Concept-GT, the Motul Autech GT-R, and the au Tom's RC F.
2008:
2016:
While the game does try to balance out the performance between these two distinct groups of cars that clearly shouldn't be in the same category, there has always been a general consensus that the 2008 cars are the more finicky, harder to control, slower cornering cars, with their only saving grace being an insane power bump to get them to roughly the same hot lap times as the 2016 cars, which is about as effective as slapping a bandage on a bullet wound. As of late however, the 2008 Xanavi Nismo GT-R proved to be the car of choice for all Gr. 2 events as the power it had was way too much for even the 2016 cars to compete with, as the latest FIA event to use Gr. 2 cars should nicely demonstrate.
(This isn't shameless self plugging, I swear! This is supporting document for my argument I'm about to make!)
(Come on PD, Gr. 2 consists of only six cars! How difficult can balancing Gr. 2 be?!)
What I'm trying to say with this long winded explanation is, Gr. 2 can be clearly divided into two, the "better cars" and the "worse cars". The Epson NSX is, without question and beyond debate, the worst car in the worse cars class, both on paper and in practice. It weighs the most both before and after BoP. It has the least amount of power in the 2008 class after BoP, despite having the most before. All this, just for the cardinal sin of being mid engined, it would seem. Even as-is without "Balance" of Performance mucking it up, the Epson NSX barely felt like it could handle its own power. The chassis flexes and numbs out on you the moment the rear steps out, making this car an inconsolable beast at and past its limit, requiring a lot of practice and mishaps before you learn where the car's limits are, learn what upsets it, and how exactly to correct a minor mishap. I can only speculate that the original NSX's chassis was already comparatively weak to begin with, what with the rear greenhouse glass panel, and having a roof design that's easy to lop off to make a Targa NSX. Even its younger stable mate, the S2000, a convertible, felt stiffer. To compensate, the suspension is set so tight to give some semblance of precision control, that any slight bump, any slight unevenness in the road will send the car hurtling and screaming in a cloud of smoke into the nearest available barrier. The best example I can give of this is the near flat rumble strips on the exit of the Dunlop Chicane, turn 12, on Fuji Speedway. In every other car, you would try to make the most of the rumble strip to straighten out your exit as much as possible, since the rumble strip is so flat, it's more part of the road than rumble strip.
The Epson NSX is having none of that.
Pictured: All the road imperfection needed to upset an NSX.
The moment any roll goes through the car, especially on the inside of a turn, the inside rear tyres will spin without warning and spit you off the track. This also means that most rumble strips, the normal ones with some elevation, are to be avoided almost entirely, and only grazingly kissed if you really must. Driving the Epson NSX requires a thorough preemptive understanding of the car, and rewiring some hard racing driver habits, such as "aim for the apex". It's a car that needs the driver to keep it "on rails", so to speak, and as such is not an easy car to drive in an adaptive fashion, be it adjusting your lines mid race due to rain, having to pass someone/ let someone pass, or just getting tapped mid corner.
Now, if I were to be allowed the pleasure of asking you, dear reader, the question of, "what do you think this car needs to be competi-"
You're wrong.
What this car needs to be competitive is...
More power, clearly.
I can't help but to feel that it was perhaps overcompensated just for its mid engined layout. Spa is a circuit that heavily favours a mid engined car, yet no NSX, be it 2008 or 2016, even made it onto the field in a somewhat respectable A/S lobby. Increasing mass and power might average out a car's performance for one lap, but it also makes it a lot more difficult to drive, and causes a long term disadvantage with tyre wear and fuel consumption. With the extremely tail happy nature of this car, one wouldn't be remiss in feeling a need to protect the rear tyres over the course of the event by shifting brake bias to the front. In fact, I find my fastest, and most consistent lap times in the NSX is set with brake balance all the way at -5, the most I can shift braking bias towards the front. -2 to -3 might work for some others for a hot lap, if you're looking to better rotate the rear of the car to point the nose into an apex. At -5 where I like it, the front tyres are audibly cooking even with ABS on default in each heavy braking zone, and you can feel it through your wheel that the car has very little turning capability under trail braking. Signs like that in any other car would result in severely uneven wear front to rear, yet as my video above proves, setting the brake balance all the way up front actually results in the front tyre wear being just ever so slightly worse than the rear, which just goes to show how much stress the rear tyres are constantly under, having to cope with 122% of the power this thing was originally intended to barely cope with. This may also have something to do with the engine being mounted longitudinally as opposed to the transverse mounting in the road car, OR, you know, the excessive mass and power. Take your pick.
And for all the theatrics of the Epson NSX in the corners, it's not like it's any faster in the straights, or that its contemporary rivals are just as difficult to handle in the corners. It just... sucks, for no trade off. For no reason. In fact, I would argue that the 2008 GT-R, for as uncouth and barbaric as GT500 cars are to drive, actually feels somewhat tame and reasonable to drive, with some semblance of predictability. It's a hell of a shock after switching from the NSX. There is zero reason to drive the Epson NSX in Gr. 2. Zero.
And that's just so sad, because I love this thing to death (almost literally).
I've always been obsessed with the jet fighter inspired styling of the NSX, believing it to be one of the most timeless and multi purpose styling in all of automotive history. In production guise, it looks distinctly special, yet with a strong flavour of understatement and modesty, especially the earlier models with the pop up headlights. You could proudly take it to a first meeting with your hopeful in-laws. Yet, as a race car, that fighter jet styling is elevated and fully realised. I am irrationally and inexplicably in love with the roof snorkel on the GT500 NSXes, and the fact that Honda was made to sell 5 street legal NSXes with said snorkel still tickles the 10 year old kid inside me. It's such a conspicuous part, jutting out of an otherwise flush and smooth silhouette, yet it's hard to convince myself that the snorkel didn't belong in the design of the car once I laid eyes on it. It gives this car a very rugged, old Formula 1 car vibe, just from that one part alone.
The car has an almost enchanting way to lead your eyes through its body, almost as easily as it leads and directs airflow over it as smoothly as possible. Even with all the screaming aero parts and the imposing flared fenders, this NSX still somehow retains a fair bit of the cohesive look and feel of the road car. I am somewhat gutted that this particular NSX has omitted the side air intakes aft the doors however, as those were standard on all road going NSXes and was even specifically pulled further out to be more of a RAM air intake on the homologation NSX-R GT.
I've written about how god awful the Epson NSX is to drive in a competitive setting above, but if taken on its own, as-is, the Epson NSX is actually a rather pleasant, and dare I say it - exciting - drive. As a race car, it has unfailing and assuredly planted aero. Even with worn tyres, fast, thrilling corners such as 130R at Suzuka, or Eau Rouge at Spa is taken flat out. It responds wonderfully well to weight shifting, and is always happy to communicate. Despite the switch to a longitudinal engine layout, the car exhibits a very natural ease and impeccable balance into and through a corner, in a way that only a very well refined mid engine racing car could (as long as you avoid rumble strips and other road imperfections). Being a Naturally Aspirated engine that redlines at 8,000rpm, the power delivery is as tactile as it is precise: it has linear, instant power from mid to high rev range, like an attentive instrument. And my god, this engine sings. It howls. It hums along patiently at low speed, relaxed, but already imposing. As revs climb, it slowly turns into an impatient growl, a precursor, a playful tease, to very, very good things happening at the touch of your foot, almost as though the car is waiting for the road to straighten out, almost as if the car is begging you to rag on it more. And then finally, a fully competent and distinct howl as the car gets into its operating range on the track, before the crescendo, the chorus, at the last 2 or 300rpm. That's where everything is assuredly and cohesively screaming, lights flaring on your wheel, scenery falling behind in a blur faster and faster, completing the magical picture that is motorsports. This C32B is a certifiable orchestra from idle to redline. This is a car that sounds so, so irresistibly good that I often bounce off the rev limiter on upshifts, because I just don't ever want that glorious soundtrack to end. It warps the way your mind perceives time and engine notes. Each downshift is an event, almost like getting physically injected with adrenaline, and the car is only way too happy to deliver that sensation hard and fast, with gearing so purposefully close, and the car stopping so fast.
As a nine tenths car, this car is second to none in this game. It might even be a very good ten tenths car, but I honestly can't tell you, because the line between 10.1 and 10 is so blurry and rapidly crossed in this car. But, in spite of all its imperfections and well deserved bad rep, this car is one of the very, very few cars that always puts a smile on my face when I drive it. Each drive is always such an occasion. Such a rush, a blend of reliability and suspense, that excites like nothing else in the game.
And you know what's the craziest part about all this? That this spectacle, this insanity, is all based on a production car, unlike the 2016 silhouette cars that have the exact same engine and chassis underneath a skin that resembles a production car. The craziest part here is that I can hear that same engine note if I go out there and buy a NSX right now. I can have that body shape. And while a very, very long shot, I know there will be people out there insane enough to be able to make a profit off of bringing the appearance, sound, and performance of a production NSX close to those levels. Despite how insanely over the top a GT500 body kit is, thanks to Japan's vibrant and flourishing car culture, even the real deal doesn't look horrendously out of place in a parking lot somewhere in Japan.
Dare I say it, Super GT has lost the plot entirely with the silhouette cars. Why would I, as a fan, be interested in watching three automotive giants race identical cars? What stake have I in the race, what do I stand to gain from it? With the earlier cars, they all sound and perform very differently. You can see bits of yourself, your car, and even those of your friends', in the cars on TV. There is pride and emotional investment.
I get that this is just me nitpicking, but this car suffers from a number of small, yet annoying nonetheless, graphical errors. Enough of them to seriously annoy me. For starters, this is one of those cars whose brake light cover seems to vanish in a lower LOD, meaning that they expose their brake lights if they pull away from you, making it seem like they're applying their brakes from a distance, even when they're not.
High LOD when in close viewing range, and when the game is paused:
Low LOD when the car pulls away:
Secondly, the tachometer on the steering wheel seems to be reading a whole thousand revs more than what the car is actually doing. You can see this disparity between the game supplied tachometer in bumper cam and the rev counter on the steering wheel.
Idle:
Top Speed:
For comparison, this is the car at idle and at max revs in Gran Turismo 6:
Lastly, cockpit view is horrendous in this car. Okay, fine, cockpit view is horrendous in any car, but especially so in this NSX. The A pillar has been thickened with the necessary roll cage for safety reasons, and the flared fenders look wide enough to have about 3 or 4 time zones in them when viewed from the driver's seat. The seat itself is also set so low that you'll have a hard time looking over the fenders. Driving in cockpit view makes some wide open turns completely blind, such as Fuji's T1:
That's a gif of me driving in bumper cam, taking a normal line and hitting the apex, then viewing it back in cockpit view. There is absolutely zero frame of reference and feedback that you have done anything correctly from cockpit view.
Because the rear greenhouse glass panel is completely replaced by an opaque piece (the snorkel would've blocked most of your rear view, anyway), there is no rear view mirror in the cockpit. Instead, rear view is provided by a small monitor, which is standard fare in GT500 cars... except that the monitor itself is mounted to the FAR left of the dash, meaning that, in a best case scenario, you'll have to turn your head a lot and divert your eyes from the road for an unacceptably long period of time just to see what's going on behind you if you have a VR Headset. If, in the worst case scenario, you're like me, using a wheel with no analog stick control and no VR, you simply cannot see what's going on behind you, with only the game supplied radar giving you some sense of situational and spatial awareness.
Oh, and for some doggone reason, the monitor feed itself continuously flickers.
I guess the normally perfectionist folks at PD really didn't expect anyone to end up behind you when you drive the NSX, huh.
It goes like hell and sounds like the apocalypse, yet isn't actually good for anything quantifiable. It may not be a go anywhere, do anything car. In fact, I'd argue it's a go nowhere, do nothing car. Under the pressure of a race and the precision it demands, the NSX falls apart into shambles. But simply as a toy, with no expectations, no pressure, no goal in mind, except just to enjoy a drive, there is simply nothing else that gets driving pleasure as right, on point, or as intensely as the Epson NSX. In a competition focused title like Gran Turismo Sport, the Epson NSX feels very out of place. But I am so glad and happy that it's here, nonetheless. With the game's eponymous Sport Mode being as broken as it is right now, I was struggling to really gleam any enjoyment from it. And then I drove the Epson NSX, for no real reason. And then I started taking photos of it. And then that made me want to share them. But I already have a post on the NA NSXes on my gallery, so I guess I'll write a review as an excuse to post more photos. And then I drove it more and shot it more for the review. And before I knew it, I had spent an obsessive amount of time on the game, when previously, I was ready to put it down.
While this car is largely ignored in a competition focused game like Gran Turismo Sport, I think it still has use through its appeal, and hence why I actually entered my first photo mode competition with this car.
Sunrise
They truly don't make them like they used to, back in my day. Now if you'll excuse me, my back pain is calling me.
Update 1.57 Thoughts:
Not much has changed with the Epson NSX in Version 1.57. The most glaring and noticeable one is how much more planted the rear end is under braking as compared to before. This however also means that it doesn't rotate into deep apexes as well as it used to, understeering and missing apexes where it used to oversteer into them, but the change is very minor on that front.
This change, while feeling minor, I've found has had a big snowball effect on how I drive the car. Because the rear end now is so planted, I've found that my comfort zone with the car has changed from -5 Brake Bias to -1. -1 seems to emulate how the car behaved best on -5 previously. However, on Ver. 1.57 on BB -1, I feel that trail braking has become a lot more tactile and open to options as compared to the -5 before. With -5 BB pre 1.57, your braking was a very "stop or turn" affair, with very little overlap between the two. Now I feel like I can actually trail brake the car a lot more. I actually feel the car respond a bit more when I modulate the brake pedal, when before, steering under braking was a largely numb and fruitless affair until you've scrubbed off most of your speed in a straight line.
This then got me to wonder how exactly a -1 BB would affect the tyre wear of the NSX over a long race, seeing as I got almost equal front to rear wear rates on my NSX previously, as shown in the above embedded video. I thus reran the entire race in single player, with the same strategy, and this is how the tyres looked like at the end of the race.
1.56:
1.57:
Track: Spa, noon
Tyre Wear: 10x
Fuel Con: 4x
Grip: Real
Power: 122%
Mass: 100%
Tyre Strategy: 4 laps on Hard tyres, pit for 6 laps of Mediums. Use aggressive engine braking.
Fuel Strategy: Short shift at about 40% of the rev bar for each gear, which is around 6,700rpm. No refuel. Rev out first gear.
As you can see, with -1BB now, one would think that this would put extra stress on the rear tyres, but tyre wear for the NSX seems to have been adjusted in Ver. 1.57 as well. Comparing -5BB previously with -1BB now, the rear tyres are understandably a little worse for wear, though only slightly. However, the front tyres are in a MUCH better shape now. In short, it's a net improvement for roughly the same driving characteristics. Behind the wheel though, the car's grip balance didn't feel thrown off balance at all, as I think this car would sooner understeer than oversteer mid corner, unlike the nightmarish Audi R8 LMS in Gr. 3, which is limited by its rear tyres more than its fronts mid corner and corner exit.
Overall, I think this change is a good one, as it makes these 600+BHP fire breathing monsters just a tad bit easier to drive for both new and old drivers, while giving those already familiar with these cars more realistic options in brake biases to play with. I'm just not very sure if Ver. 1.57 made these cars any faster or slower, because I'm too garbage of a driver to really nail laps with the consistency I'd want for a test. If there's any pace to be had in being more consistent, though, then I suppose one can say that this update made the cars realistically faster for us mere mortals.
The changes seem to apply across the board, as I wasn't able to pull a significant hot lap time advantage in the 2008 Xanavi Nismo GT-R over the Epson NSX; just 0.3 of a second quicker. I am not at all familiar with how the 2008 GT-R drives, however, so realistically speaking the Nismo should be a bit more than 0.3 seconds quicker per lap than the NSX around Spa on Medium Tyres. I also cannot comment on how Update 1.57 has changed every other car in Gr. 2 aside from the Epson NSX as a result.
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