The 2020 Honda Civic Type R Limited Edition. What the hell are we even doing anymore?
Indulge me for a bit as I show my age a little by waving my DualShock 1 at the clouds yelling about how good things used to be: I remember the first Honda Type R—the 1992 NSX-R. The original NSX blended together supercar performance with plush ergonomics, and the NSX-R was simply a track focused version of that with stiffer springs, less creature comforts, and lighter mass. From the outside, the 1992 NSX-R would've been completely indistinguishable from a base NSX if not for its Enkei wheels, sporty interior, and red Honda badges. The engine didn't even get a power increase! It felt to me like taking away all the chores, responsibilities, bills, and the day job of a person, and telling them to just concentrate on doing their best at their hobby. It didn't seek to completely change the person; it just took away everything holding them back and let them focus on the one thing they loved to do to fully realise their potential in that field. Just these small and unapparent changes however, resulted in changes so prominent that, from the cockpit, it was almost difficult to feel the resemblance between a base NSX and an NSX-R, proving to the world just how much potential was slumbering in a base NSX. In short, a Type R doesn't transform the base car; a Type R simply awakens it. Aside from the slightly bonkers but completely brilliant 2nd NSX-R in 2002, Type R models followed that ethos pretty closely until the gloves got yanked clean off (weight savings, bro) with the FK2 Civic Type R in 2015.
Suddenly, the sacred purity of a high–revving, naturally aspirated engine would be blown away by turbochargers. Suddenly, being a Type R meant needing to proclaim to everyone in the neighbourhood that they have a more expensive car via gaudy boy racer parts. Following up on the FK2, the FK8 CTR that debuted in 2017 was so radically different from a base Civic, boasting widened fenders, completely different suspension hardware, and a turbocharger that almost doubled the power output from a base Civic, all of which allowed it to reclaim the Nürburgring lap record, albeit with non–standard tyres, a floating cage, and deleted audio systems and rear seats. It just feels to me like modern Type Rs have completely lost the plot and spirit of the original Type Rs.
Idealistic ramblings and subjective interpretations of intent aside, 20 years of technological advancements and accrued know–how are impossible to ignore when the FK8 is brought out onto a racetrack; despite the FK8 being much heavier, much larger, and much more powerful than the original EK9 Civic Type R, the older car is some two to three times more difficult to hustle; the suspension setup of the EK9 is soft and tends to tangle the car up if driven without a great deal of care and precision, and the engine is almost uselessly peaky. The FK8 in comparison, is so composed it boarders on being completely deadpan. The turbocharged engine has such a tabletop torque "curve" that most tight corner exits in Tsukuba are best taken in third gear, and understeer is so minimal on power that it genuinely creeps into AWD territory. I know I'm an old–fashioned prude when it comes to cars, but I'm also old enough to remember an old adage of, "you can't put more than 250HP into an FWD car". The FK8 wipes its fake grilles and triple exhaust tips with that adage, packing a whopping 315HP (235kW) straight from the factory, which goes through a 6–speed stick shift gearbox and a limited slip differential to the specially lightened 20–inch forged aluminium BBS wheels of the Limited Edition, coated with the black magic that is Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tyres, 245mm wide all four corners. All told, the serious hardware of the FK8 mean that the car routes its tidal wave of power so efficiently that tyre squeals only serve as affirmation that all the grip available is being used, instead of being a surrendering cry that is typical with powerful FFs. At this point, I'm almost convinced that the only reason the FK8 hasn't adopted All–Wheel–Drive in its radical Type R transformation is only so that its engineers can flex how well they can tame an FF car.
That said, sometimes the car feels a bit too smart for me. With enough brake pedal input over laden and turned front tyres, the rear end will come around a bit to rotate the car into an apex to counter the understeer inherent to an FF car. That's great for tighter turns, but it just makes the car needlessly squirmy under trail braking for mid to high speed turns with deep apexes, such as the U–turn on the end of Trail Mountain's back straight. That is to say, the seemingly intentional tail happiness doesn't always marry up to the corner at hand, and it feels a bit artificial and very unintuitive to me, as I never feel like I know just how much the car wants to turn. Maybe I'm just not good at it.
Overall, I can recognise what a feat of engineering the FK8 CTR is, and it is menacingly fast; it outgunned stuff like a FR Hyundai Genesis and an AWD WRX STi handily during race days, and will even harass a stripped out GR Corolla. It's an easy prize car for attaining all bronze in the "Beyond the Horizon" mission set, and additional copies of the car are readily available to buy at around a fifth of what an NA1 NSX-R would cost in GT7's terrible economy while offering comparable performance. If money is no object, though, I find the FK8 hard to recommend not only because I don't enjoy driving it, but also because the FL5 CTR that succeeds it is somehow, an even better car on–track. Plus, I don't care how old you are; you can't tell me that you'd prefer a Civic to an NSX on a track.
