When Car of the Week tested the R32 GT-R back in 2020, I found it to be a quick, but dull experience, with its heavy body and tall gearing. Two years later, we tested the R34 GT-R, and I was absolutely smitten by it. Every fault I've complained about in previous GT-Rs have been rectified in the R34; the engine is peppier and more responsive. The gearing is a lot closer and evens out the power bumps better. The car is stable, yet tail happy when provoked. The car felt light despite being heavy. It was everything one could want in a sports car.
Mine's R33 GT-R Magia Record by redmist223 (GTS)
Despite having never referred to it once, that ironically is the most fitting way I could think of to introduce the R33 GT-R. Despite being born in the right period, right place, and to the right parents, the R33 GT-R's claim to fame is undone solely by being born in the wrong order, being the middle child of a triplet of trifectas. I mean, hell, Gran Turismo Sport added the R32 and R34 in Update 1.10, omitting the R33 entirely until 1.15. We at Car of the Week tested the R32 and R34 before we even bat an eye at an R33. And so this week, the questions that beg to be answered are, "is that neglect and overlooking of the R33 deserved? Does it have anything it can offer that its siblings can't?"
Certainly not in how it drives. To get an idea of what it's like driving an R33, imagine an R32, except larger, taller, heavier, but better balanced with "just" 58% of its weight up front instead of 60. The predictable result of this is that the driving sensation of the R33 feels vastly similar to that of an R32, although my lap times from Tsukuba to Bathurst both show that the R33 is heinously quicker everywhere, both on power focused and technical handling tracks. Part of that is down to the improved power to mass ratio of the R33 and its slightly more even power and torque curves, yes, but most of it is down to the suspension revisions done to the R33. Where the R32 had a bias towards hand–holding understeer when off the brakes, the R33 is much more willing to rotate mid corner... almost too much so sometimes.
Puzzlingly, the whole body of the R33 feels like it moves around a lot more when cornering, which can very quickly unsettle the rear end of the car and send it sliding out. While that can mean that it's easier to rotate the car into a corner if you know how to and do it right, it's utterly horrifying for a first timer expecting the AWD of the car and the invincible "GT-R" badges on the car to baby them. Braking for a corner in an R33 involves checking every box in a list almost as long as the one you have to go through before pressing the throttle pedal in a Veyron: make sure the car isn't too off neutral, make sure you don't steer much after you hit the brakes, make sure nobody is in range to nudge you from the rear, do NOT ever downshift into 2nd or 1st as they're instant death traps, and if the braking zone is a downhill, then well... Godzilla help you, because if any of the aforementioned factors are against you, the rear end is slipping out. You best have a comprehensive RWD skills toolbox at the ready and be prepared to read the steering wheel like a braille book once this thing goes sideways, as its rather floaty springs and heavy for its time body make no guarantees that the car can be retrieved before smashing into a wall or somebody else... assuming you don't over correct and send yourself snapping in the opposite direction.
And... that's it, really. I am at a loss for what else to say about the R33. It's a mix of everything I've already said about the R32 and R34. It's an important piece of automotive history, no doubt, as is the sheer performance capabilities of the thing. It does everything an R32 does but does it better, but there's simply no reason to bother with it in a video game that features an R34 because, drumroll, anything an R33 can do better, the R34 perfects. Oh, and there's also the small niggling fact that, if I want to drive a tail happy car, I'd go drive a much lighter, much more responsive, much better looking RX-7 or NSX.
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