Back in the 90s, Super GT's fastest class, GT500, looked very different from the FR silhouette racecars of today; Japan's "Big Three" manufacturers—Toyota, Honda, and Nissan—would field their flagship sports cars with their own unique hardware against foreign giants like Porsche, Ferrari, and McLaren, in a class that allowed RR and RMR cars to compete alongside FRs. The numbers in the class names also used to carry meaning, too: the GT500 cars had just under 500PS, and the slower GT300 with yellow headlights and number boards had just under 300PS. Nowadays, though? The silhouette racecars of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan all share the same FR chassis with turbocharged 2L Inline–4 engines that put out figures closer to 700PS, differing only in the body shells and tyres that envelop said chassis. And yet, despite this simplification and cost cutting, foreign makes have disappeared completely from the category. To me, that's just a straight downgrade from the varied grids of what GT500 used to be.
#jgtc #jtsah #sdrt
The #16 Honda Castrol MUGEN NSX '00 of Team Mugen x Dome that was added to Gran Turismo 7 in Update 1.48 is a relic of the more honest years of Super GT, and as such, it is powered by a C32B Naturally Aspirated V6 just like the road going NSX that paying customers could have driven out of a showroom at the turn of the millennium. The familiarity with said engine ends in its name and noise however, because in GT500 trim, its displacement has increased from 3,179cc to an oddly exact 3,500cc (likely PD's way of saying, "even we don't know"), allowing the race–prepped NSX to produce the eponymous 488PS (359kW) in GT500 trim. The whole package weighs in at a mere 1,150kg (2,535lbs). While these figures—together with its relatively primitive aero—mean that this relic of a GT500 machine would get spanked silly by modern GT500 silhouettes, they're just by happenstance very close to current–day GT3 specs, allowing the old NSX to slot in surprisingly comfortably into Gr.3 with some success ballast and a slight power nerf, joining its classic rivals like the 1997 #36 Castrol TOM'S Supra and 1999 #1 Nissan PENNZOIL Nismo GT-R in Gran Turismo 7's most prolific and fiercely competitive class of racecars. But does this dinosaur NSX have any business being in Gr.3?
Unfortunately, I think we already know how older cars get shafted by "Balance" of Performance in GT7. The '00 NSX may have keen acceleration in a straight line, but I think that falls a tad too short in making up its cornering deficiencies around most tracks in the game. Being an RMR car and part of a three–way tie for the fourth lightest in Gr.3 car under BoP at the time of writing, the '00 NSX's cornering difficulties certainly don't lie in the initial turn–in, but rather, deep into a corner, where its prohibitive rear differential engages to lock the '00 NSX in place and prevent it from spinning out. The last round of the 2000 Super GT season being held at Suzuka, whose turn 1 is a classic RMR deathtrap, might explain this conservative setup we GT7 players wound up getting. Everywhere else, players on a wheel are going to have to put in extra effort to fight the steering wheel to fight the front tyres to then fight the rear tyres, just to coax the the car into somewhat keeping up with the times. Not only is that rather tiring to do in the long run, it's not exactly good for tyre life either, in spite of its low mass of 1,250kg (2,756lbs) under BoP across the board at the time of writing. On corner exits, the extremely progressive—and totally gutless in the mid range—NA engine gives no nasty surprises, with the diff letting the '00 NSX capitalise on its acceleration advantage extremely early, making it a beast absolutely worth the effort to wrestle.
However, the '00 NSX isn't just old; it's also a figurative fish out of water. As a GT500 car, the '00 NSX was never built for standing starts, and with increased mass and decreased power to slot into Gr.3, the poor NSX will bog so severely off the line that it might as well have stalled, with modern cars—NA and turbo alike—having to take evasive action around the fossilised car. Japanese racetracks I find are smoothed over to an obsessive level, and cars set up for Super GT duty tend to reflect this mirror smoothness of the tracks in their suspension setups, having no give whatsoever. Take the '00 NSX out of its comfort zone of Japan and into some proper hell like Bathurst and the Nordschleife, and the '00 NSX quickly crumbles into a nervous heap in a shower of sparks, almost as though it were being beaten around the track rather than driven. Combine this unforgiving suspension setup with the stiff, snappy diff, and not even the demonic roar of the C32B engine can convince me to choose the '00 NSX over other, easier to drive alternatives.
That all being written, the '00 NSX may sound like a total outlier and a misfit in Gr.3, akin to other racecars shoehorned into the category like the Skyline Super Silhouette and its contemporary GT500 compatriots. One might think then, that driving the '00 NSX would transform the hot–blooded racing action into turn–based combat, wherein the NSX sags embarrassingly in the corners, only to exhibit acceleration beyond anything resembling Gr.3 to catch back up to its more modern competition. However, that is not the case. Instead of the completely disjointed and comical racing that is typical of an outlier, racing the '00 NSX against bespoke Gr.3 cars feels almost like running with slightly worn tyres against competitors with fresh tyres on a fuel saving strat. The '00 NSX's performance isn't so radically out of sync with the majority of Gr.3 that I have to re–wire my brain to drive it—all I have to do is just to brake a tad bit earlier for corners and avoid the more raised kerbs and grass—it very much drives like a Gr.3 car. In other words, proper door to door battles can occur between the '00 NSX and your typical Gr.3 car. It's less a misfit and more the crazy one with an extreme personality in the group, and I can't say the same for any of its contemporary GT500 compatriots.
It may not be a meta, or even a wise pick in most Gr.3 races, but I'm incredibly glad nonetheless that there's finally a "real" NSX in Gr.3, and it's a poignant, visible, drivable proof of the ridiculous power creep of motorsports, and how over time, names like "GT500" and "NSX" can come to lose all meaning. The '00 NSX was an incredible racecar during its day, both in real life and in Gran Turismo, and with just the addition of basic driver aids like ABS and TCS, it still can find a way to remain relevant even in 2024—even moreso I suspect if the race has open settings. And despite it's insane asking price of 1.5 million Credits (more than 3 times the price of a regular Gr.3 car!), I argue that it's one of the very few Gr.3 cars worth spending the credits to buy: the sheer N O I S E it makes on startup sounds like a demon being rudely awoken by an exorcism ritual, and you don't get to hear it if you simply rent the car.
The 2000 NSX GT500 is truly a car of all time.
BONUS REVIEW: #36 Toyota Castrol TOM'S Supra '97 AND #1 Nissan PENNZOIL Nismo GT-R '99
The Supra GT500 '97 understeers like it's trying to turn into gale force winds, can't put power down in spite of that, has explosive surprise butt sex turbo, and I've never liked the Anti–Lag noises of GT7, so the Supra constantly popping away as it gracefully slides face first into yet another wall is just the annoying swarm of flies on top of the crap cake. No wonder it never won GT500 before all its European makes got bopped to hell and back, and had to wait three years until the GT-R got bored of winning GT500 to finally taste gold.
The Supra is truly the most overrated car I've ever seen.
The GT-R GT500 '99 behaves much better than the Supra, but it's 30 kilos (66lbs) heavier than the NSX under BoP, and its also very nose–heavy. I don't see why anyone would drive it over the NSX '00 or GT-R GT3.
BONUS BONUS REVIEW: Toyota FT-1 VGT Gr.3
I reviewed the Toyota FT-1 VGT Gr.3 during Week 18 of COTW, and I was utterly let down by just how bad it was to drive, contrary to the reputation it once had. It's awfulness was at a level so hard to believe that I would occasionally go for quick spins in it, just because I keep thinking, "I must've been mistaken or done something wrong, it can't be that bad!", but every time I thought that, the FT-1 Gr.3 made my figurative quick spin very literal, no matter what wheel, assist, and setup settings I used.
In the 13 or so months since then, I've learned a bit more about the game, and we've even had a physics update. The thought of adding an addendum to that old review has always been in the back of my mind, and Vic deciding to run one bonus race at Bathurst on Wednesday to celebrate Toyota's announcement into entering Repco Supercars Championship gave me the chance to sample the FT-1 again in a mostly Toyota–themed race. Here's me trying to scratch an itch that just never seems to want to go away. Yes, I WANT to like the car. I think it looks fantastic, and it has the right tools seemingly to be a top handling car. I even spent five whole days making a livery for it.
In my original review, I wrote to the effect of the FT-1 Gr.3 being extremely sensitive to bumps on the road, and that it was not able to load up its tyres or shift weight to the rear. The car therefore was incapable of putting power down out of a corner, instead having to limp where other cars are looking to put their best foot forward. Despite some rudimentary tinkering with the suspension setup, like raising the ride height and softening the springs, I simply could not find a way to assuage these issues. And to be candid, it did make me doubt myself and my assessment of the car.
Since writing that however, I've learnt that wheels aren't a purely cosmetic change to a car in GT7, and also how exactly different wheel sizes affect the way a car drives. The FT-1 Gr.3 has 19–inch wheels by default, which is an inch larger than the Gr.3 norm. I theorise that the FT-1 Gr.3 has to run higher tyre pressures to fit the same amount of air to carry its loads, which would explain that annoying sensation of me being unable to load up the rear tyres on corner exits, with the car instantly breaking sideways when I use more than 3/4 throttle with steering lock applied. I would dearly love to test my theory by fitting 18–inch wheels on the FT-1 Gr.3, but unfortunately, the wheels on the FT-1 Gr.3, like most VGTs, can't be changed, only painted, nor are tyre pressures disclosed to players, let alone adjustable. If I'm right about this however, I think I'd be even more disappointed in the FT-1 than before, because this would be simultaneously the stupidest and easiest to fix flaw in a car I've come across in all my years playing Gran Turismo, and it's on a built–to–spec fictional racing machine of an official partner of Polyphony Digital in the most prolific category of racecars in GTS/GT7.
In the current v1.50 physics, the FT-1 Gr.3 still has its old quirks, as though an old injury, but they feel a bit more manageable, especially with the new and improved TCS. It's still much better than the 1997 Supra GT500.
