When immortalised into the digital realm of Gran Turismo 7 however, the Toyobaru twins face much, much stiffer competition than a softly sprung Roadster. The twins' performance windows put them square in what I consider to be the "Performance Sweet Spot" of sports cars: around 230HP, and around 1.1 to 1.3 tonnes in mass. It's in this window where I feel that power, speed, mass balance, suspension, differential, and tyres all form the perfect, harmonious balance with each other with nothing dominating the experience, allowing the whole package to be cohesive and really come alive. Some of the industry's most legendary sports cars fall into this bracket, such as the 901 Carrera RS 2.7, E30 M3 SE, AP1 S2000, and of course, my absolute darling RX-8 Spirit R. Given this wealth of options in a racing game, can the Boxer–engined newcomers punch out a niche for themselves in this esteemed company?
#Hartge #BMW #TommyKaira
As the most modern cars in the group, the ZD8 BRZ and ZN8 GR86 twins definitely look and feel their spring chicken age; they are the only ones that make usable torque in the mid range, despite the fact that they are Naturally Aspirated like everything else in the group. The "DN8 Twins", as I'll refer to them from now, have achieved this mid–range shove from their Boxer engines having been bored out from 86 millimetres to 94mm (3.386in to 3.701in), but before the fanboys go crying foul that the 86 doesn't have an 86 engine anymore, the stroke is still unchanged at 86mm. Despite the increased bore, rev limit for this new FA24 engine remains unchanged from the previous FA20 engine at a healthy, ample 8,000rpm, with the only difference this time round being the increased power output of 231HP (172kW), and that one doesn't have to play "Blackjack: Engine Revs Edition" to find it. With this hike in mid–range torque, the torque "waves" of the FA24 are so well balanced against the gear ratios that the DN8 Twins are among the very few cars that can shift at a wide rpm range without losing any speed; anywhere from 7,4 to 7,8 is good, the former of which is when the game will shift for the driver if left in automatic shifting. The real benefit of this mid–range torque is of course, coming out of tight corners; as manual gearboxes take an eternity and a half to shift in this game, and this game heavily rewards short shifting to control power oversteer out of corners, making luggable engines a godsend.
#brs #blackrockshooter #elishka
But it's not just in the torquey engine backed up by the cars' speakers where the DN8 Twins feel modern; they also have a stupefying amount of chassis rigidity—possible only with today's technology—that makes them feel incredibly responsive and direct, which is of course upholstered by similarly stiff suspension setups. If the enlarged engine wasn't enough to pull the DN8 Twins away from the Mazda Roadsters, the no–nonsense springs ensure that a serious track day enthusiast would never cross shop the focused coupé twins with the lackadaisical convertibles. The suspension setup on the top grades of the DN8 Twins represented in this game are set up for track duty out of the box, permitting very little pitch and roll to make sure that all four tyres are always within their drivers' reach and control. These springs are so stiff in fact, they can sometimes boarder on unforgiving, even on a paved racetrack; hitting rumble strips at weird angles, even some seemingly innocuous ones like the inside of Lesmo 2, is liable to disconcertingly hop the DN8s and rob the driver of crucial milliseconds of control, which can quickly result in a spin if the driver is not prepared for it.
But when the oldskool approach is best, the DN8 twins can feel like they have rolled right off a time machine. There are good old fashioned buttons and knobs for air con and audio, for starters, and any company sensible and caring enough to still give us that in 2024, I will trust with childlike faith. There are no weird gimmicks, overprotective nannies, or overbearing understeer hard–baked into the suspension and tyre setups to dampen a spirited drive, and in the context of 2024, that is such a breath of fresh air to a man desperately in need of CPR. Uplifting spirits further is their quoted mass: 1,270kg (2,800lbs) apiece, which, while representing a 40kg (88lbs) increase over the preceding ZN6 when comparing top trims of the Toyotas, is still an impossibly light number by today's stringent and demanding standards, and I would even go as far as to argue that the mass increase is well worth it for the extra performance on offer, because the difference in mass is only something I might barely notice hopping between ZN6 and ZN8 back–to–back. That is to say that, judged on their own merits, the heavier DN8 Twins stand on their own four wheels as a compelling drive. The front ends of the DN8 Twins are so sharp and crisp that steering them both felt like trying to redirect origami cars rather than brutish metal chunks, and it's a sensation long thought extinct in the industry. This of course is due in no small part to the Boxer Engines, which boast a low centre of gravity, but the bonnet, front fenders, and even the roof being made of lightweight aluminium also deserve special mention for contributing to that sensation. And very unlike modern cars that try to protect its driver with crippling understeer, the DN8 Twins are not afraid to play, helpfully peeking out the rear end just a tiny bit on hard trail braking to get the car rotated into a tight corner. Equipped as–standard on all grades with a Torsen Limited Slip Differential, the torquey engine is of course capable of breaking grip on the 215mm section tyres to put on a smokescreen.
But when the oldskool approach is best, the DN8 twins can feel like they have rolled right off a time machine. There are good old fashioned buttons and knobs for air con and audio, for starters, and any company sensible and caring enough to still give us that in 2024, I will trust with childlike faith. There are no weird gimmicks, overprotective nannies, or overbearing understeer hard–baked into the suspension and tyre setups to dampen a spirited drive, and in the context of 2024, that is such a breath of fresh air to a man desperately in need of CPR. Uplifting spirits further is their quoted mass: 1,270kg (2,800lbs) apiece, which, while representing a 40kg (88lbs) increase over the preceding ZN6 when comparing top trims of the Toyotas, is still an impossibly light number by today's stringent and demanding standards, and I would even go as far as to argue that the mass increase is well worth it for the extra performance on offer, because the difference in mass is only something I might barely notice hopping between ZN6 and ZN8 back–to–back. That is to say that, judged on their own merits, the heavier DN8 Twins stand on their own four wheels as a compelling drive. The front ends of the DN8 Twins are so sharp and crisp that steering them both felt like trying to redirect origami cars rather than brutish metal chunks, and it's a sensation long thought extinct in the industry. This of course is due in no small part to the Boxer Engines, which boast a low centre of gravity, but the bonnet, front fenders, and even the roof being made of lightweight aluminium also deserve special mention for contributing to that sensation. And very unlike modern cars that try to protect its driver with crippling understeer, the DN8 Twins are not afraid to play, helpfully peeking out the rear end just a tiny bit on hard trail braking to get the car rotated into a tight corner. Equipped as–standard on all grades with a Torsen Limited Slip Differential, the torquey engine is of course capable of breaking grip on the 215mm section tyres to put on a smokescreen.
...oftentimes without the driver intending to.
Said Torsen LSD on both the twins are an evil blight upon their performance and driving feel, locking up much too early on power and actively crippling the twins. The grip and lightness of the car is there, and I know the cars can put down more power much earlier out of a corner if not for the LSD prematurely locking up and sending the rear ends sideways. It feels to me as if the diff has been set up from the factory for the cars to go drifting, and I personally hate the way it makes them drive. The stiff diff make the twins awfully twitchy on corner exits, with tight hairpins like Andretti Hairpin most clearly highlighting the problem, and they cost the twins so much pace that I legitimately set a faster lap time in an RX-8 around Laguna Seca despite the 4–door sedan being some 70 kilos (154lbs) heavier with only 1 more HP over the DN8 Twins. The diff quickly and strongly locking up also makes tracks that heavily necessitate corner cutting, such as the newly–added Eiger Nordwand, extremely precarious to navigate, as one rear tyre losing grip and spinning up quickly brings the other along, surrendering all grip on both sides and making the car extremely skittish, often resulting in frantic wheel shuffling until the driver can gather back together the car. Then again, this is hardly the first time I've complained about the diff being too tight in cars, so it could just be that I personally prefer extremely loose differentials. I just personally find the tight diff in the DN8 Twins especially disappointing because I genuinely think they could be in the conversation for the best driving cars ever made, and the diff has single–handedly ruined the DN8 Twins for me.
The ZD8 BRZ has notably softer springs on the rear than the ZN8 GR86, which does go some ways in assuaging the problem, and that's the only difference I can find between the twins both on the spec sheet and out on the track. It could also be that, much like their stiff suspension and under stressed chassis, the diffs on the DN8 Twins were set up to handle a fair bit more power and grip than the cars have bone stock, aimed at saving a builder on a budget from shelling out for an aftermarket differential. If it was me, though? I'd shell out for an aftermarket diff and leave the rest of the car as–is. And that perhaps is the area that the twins feel the most modern: they're sold as capable, perfectly serviceable bases, but just like most modern video games, they can feel a bit wanting and perhaps even lacking in personality until updates, DLC, and fan–made mods fix a few annoyances and really bring out their latent flavours. The older cars in that comparison group, the 901 Carrera RS 2.7, E30 M3 SE, AP1 S2000, and SE3P RX-8, are all sold as cohesive products that had to make sense as they left the factory, each brimming with their unique personalities and kinks that will need ironing out if their owners are to try to tune them. That is to say, if you're someone who likes to customise and tune cars, the DN8 Twins are much more accessible and accepting bases, but if you're someone who just wants to hop into a car, not have to think about much and just enjoy the drive, I think any of the other aforementioned cars will give much more smiles per mile than the DN8 Twins.
Me personally, I like my stuff to work right out of the box without having to mess and tinker with thousands of values. And it's for this reason that the 901 Carrera RS 2.7 and the SE3P RX-8 still reign supreme as the best driving road cars in the game. That being said, I also recognise that I'm in a very lucky position to be able to nitpick the ZD8 and ZN8, and I'm still incredibly grateful for their continued existence in today's market, because they carry on the dying light of the relatively affordable rear drive sports cars with stick shifts. They are cars that absolutely need to be experienced for oneself, either virtually or in reality.
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