It's often been said that there's only a thin line between genius and insanity, and unfortunately for the radical Renault 5 Turbo, Audi's genius quattro system made sure Renault's pioneering efforts would forever be relegated to automotive asylums. Here in Gran Turismo 7, we pretend racers only get access to the road–going production R5 Turbo that homologates said insane rally car. Can the pedestrian R5 Turbo fare any better on digital tarmac from the safety of living room couches and sim rigs?
#r5 #turbo #bond
If you ask my peers, yes, actually! Too bad I have NO IDEA what they see or feel in this heap of a car. I find its handling to be floaty, vague, and indirect. And yet in spite of this, it's violently allergic to small patches of grass and even minor rumble strips, unhesitating to break its rear end out with little provocation from those slight off–road excursions, not helped at all by the fact that the car is wider at the rear than the front, making it unintuitive to precisely place and punishing to push. Its brakes are barely strong enough to be considered adequate for slowing a 159HP, 970kg (119kW, 2,138lbs) car, and they have absolutely no bite to them whatsoever. Couple this with spitefully thin front tyres and a steering wheel that talks as much as a gagged mute, and it can often feel like there's just no response from the front end whatsoever. More than a few times during this week, I've caught myself wondering if I've somehow managed to puncture my front tyres in a Gran Turismo game, because that's what it often feels like deep into a corner.
I don't even think tuning can fix much of this car's problems. Sure, its incredible lightness means it can tango with Gr.4 cars and even rival their fuel efficiency when maxed out, but giving this thing more speed just highlights even more how tall the cg is, making the mirror smooth asphalt of Tokyo wear away at the overly stressed rear tyres of the R5 as though sharp gravel. I don't even want to think about how the rally car handles in tight, walled–in stages.
It genuinely baffles me to hear the boundless praise heaped onto the R5 Turbo from my friends over the course of the week's lobbies, because I can't see much to like about it at all. Look, I get it: the R5 is a historically significant car that deserves to be immortalised in Gran Turismo. It's born from a sorely missed and much beloved time in rallying, and it's rare to see a French manufacturer go balls to the wall insane like this. It's the very first of the very exclusive club of RMR hatchbacks, and every car it inspired to adopt that layout become historic beacons themselves. Hell, they even inspired Audi of all people to follow that formula decades later. Take it from a guy who ardently refuses to have a TikTok account and think touchscreens in cars are stupid, though: a modern day hatch, even an unassuming one, is much better than the R5 Turbo in every aspect. A 2007 Suzuki Swift Sport has much more stable and direct handling, costs a ninth of what the R5 goes for, and is readily available for purchase in any stock colour in the Brand Central. Around Streets of Willow, the Suzuki would even edge out the Renault despite the Swift weighing more, having less power, being FF, and undercutting the R5 by some 10PP when both are bone stock on their default tyres (CS for the Swift, CM for the R5).
That is to say that, you'd have to really appreciate the R5's historical significance to want one. Or just be insane like the car.
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