GT6 Duel of the Week #70: The Grand Finale (well, not really)

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I've finally managed to upload my lap times for the two cars. The laps are available in both Onboard and Replay Cam, as displayed below.

BMW M5 '08:



Ferrari California '08:



On paper, the two cars seem to be a dead heat, what with the M5 having a more powerful engine but the California being lighter. Initial thoughts were, I thought the M5 was going to win this; well, mainly because it's a high-performance sedan (It's an ///M car, for goodness' sake), and that the California is more of a gran tourer designed for relaxed cruising. But that quickly changed when I looked at the stock settings of both cars. To my surprise, the Ferrari has a very high amount of downforce, almost reaching that of race car levels. Which is scary, considering the M5 has none. This is something I kept in mind when I started to drive both cars. And judging from the lap times videos above, the end result is quite clear.

First off, the Ferrari shows hints of understeer. But it's not understeer that punishes you for going too fast. Instead, it's understeer that kindly tells you to ease off a little. And it's quite easy to ease off, because of that downforce that ensures all four tires are firmly planted to the ground. Driving this car as fast as I could was a blast. Despite being a convertible, it feels sooooo good. Grip is practically everywhere, and so you are urged to go faster and faster and faster on every lap. Having a couple of milliseconds shaved off from the previous lap repeatedly never gets old.

The M5, however, is a completely different story. Barrelling down the main straight it has a higher speed trap than the Ferrari, but that's all there is. The M5 has to work harder, a lot harder, just to be able to catch up to the Ferrari. A perfect example is the speed trap leading up to Turn 1, as shown in the Replay Cam videos for both cars. The M5's front brakes glow more brighter than the California's, because it has to brake earlier and harder. I also had to make a lot of corrections to the steering input, all because it doesn't have the luxury of downforce, and therefore more grip. And speaking of grip, the rear end likes to kick out a lot. You will really have to adjust your driving style if you want to maximize the car's potential. But because the rear end tends to kick out, it's a lot more fun in the corners.

I did mention in an earlier post that I planned on taking the two cars to other tracks for more lap times, but I didn't bother because the California has the huge downforce disadvantage. Laguna Seca? Downforce + lighter weight = immense stopping and ownage from the Ferrari. Trial Mountain? Even more of a nightmare for the M5 since the track is filled to the brim with high-speed corners. Deep Forest? a combination of both.


And so, now we come to decision time. Performance wise, no doubt the Ferrari trumps over the BMW. But, as a car, the M5 is better because it's a sedan, and it has incredible amounts of performance because of it being an ///M car. I don't like the California that much, despite it being a Ferrari. I would much prefer the BMW because it's a sports sedan, and I love sports sedans. But the Ferrari caught me off guard. It really did surprise me, and so my vote goes to the California. 👍👍
 
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Finally got my tunes posted, so here's the links for you guys ;)

BMW M5 '08 550PP (SS)

y1ciqbufKZVowwBptY_0.jpg

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/cowboys-tuning-garage.334171/#post-10991844


Ferrari California '08 (Drift) (CH)

vfXFrMZMc1y4kJAcAj_0.jpg

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/cowboys-tuning-garage.334171/#post-10991900
 
Long week of testing, so let's get this under way.

The M5. Four doors, 500 HP, and a 50:50 weight distribution. Testing it stock it did pretty much what I expected. It slid around a bit but was a pretty fun car to drive, plus, what other vehicle in GT6 has a better V10 sound than this car? What was even better was the fact that it was easy to tune! It has the power, but has the disadvantage of the weight.

The California. Ferrari's answer to the daily driver world. That does come at a price, at around $235,000 it makes you wonder if it is worth having over the cheaper M5. Driving it was pretty straightforward, it drove like a Ferrari with the decent grip and occasional tailslide but proved to be a great drifter. If I were to choose one of these, I would have to say,

The M5.

How did they compare on the track? These were tested on Deep Forest, TCS and SRF off and Sports Hard tires.

California: 1:24.728
M5: 1:24.605

The M5 barely edges out between the California, but I would say it's either cars game on this one.

What about your guy's votes?

M5: 5
California: 9

And the winner is.....

ferrari-california-1_3.jpg

The '08 California!!!

To be honest, I wouldn't mind having the California either, but I still think the M5 is better in my opinion. Comment aside, this was yet another great duel, so stop back here tomorrow for the next duel.
 
Long week of testing, so let's get this under way.

The M5. Four doors, 500 HP, and a 50:50 weight distribution. Testing it stock it did pretty much what I expected. It slid around a bit but was a pretty fun car to drive, plus, what other vehicle in GT6 has a better V10 sound than this car?

Lexus LFA. Bitch please. :P
 
Well apparently the Lexus LFA has an equally good or if not better V10 than the M5. I will honestly agree since I forgot about the LFA :boggled:. Anyways, this week I have dug way back to the beginning of this thread and found an interesting suggestion withing the first few posts. So this week's duel is.....

Lotus-Evora-01.jpg

The 2009 Lotus Evora

vs

tvr-tuscan-2-1.jpg

The 2000 TVR Tuscan Speed Six!!!

(Thanks to @Furinkazen for the original suggestion)

This one sounds a bit crazy. The Tuscan is one of the best handling cars that I know of in GT6, but try these out and tell me what you think.
 
Well apparently the Lexus LFA has an equally good or if not better V10 than the M5. I will honestly agree since I forgot about the LFA :boggled:. Anyways, this week I have dug way back to the beginning of this thread and found an interesting suggestion withing the first few posts. So this week's duel is.....

Lotus-Evora-01.jpg

The 2009 Lotus Evora

vs

tvr-tuscan-2-1.jpg

The 2000 TVR Tuscan Speed Six!!!

(Thanks to @Furinkazen for the original suggestion)

This one sounds a bit crazy. The Tuscan is one of the best handling cars that I know of in GT6, but try these out and tell me what you think.

Thanks.

K.
 
Well apparently the Lexus LFA has an equally good or if not better V10 than the M5. I will honestly agree since I forgot about the LFA :boggled:. Anyways, this week I have dug way back to the beginning of this thread and found an interesting suggestion withing the first few posts. So this week's duel is.....

Lotus-Evora-01.jpg

The 2009 Lotus Evora

vs

tvr-tuscan-2-1.jpg

The 2000 TVR Tuscan Speed Six!!!

(Thanks to @Furinkazen for the original suggestion)

This one sounds a bit crazy. The Tuscan is one of the best handling cars that I know of in GT6, but try these out and tell me what you think.
Very interesting! I know I like the Tuscan in GT5...

I will find out later what I like best.

And thanks for choosing premium cars. :)
 
Interesting duel - I have to say I like all things TVR, but the Evora is a car I've never really done more than a few laps in ... time to alter that before this "very soon" update drops in.
 
Well apparently the Lexus LFA has an equally good or if not better V10 than the M5. I will honestly agree since I forgot about the LFA :boggled:.

:lol::lol::lol: Sorry to have blown your bubbles on that earlier post. :D

Anyways, this week I have dug way back to the beginning of this thread and found an interesting suggestion withing the first few posts. So this week's duel is.....

Lotus-Evora-01.jpg

The 2009 Lotus Evora

vs

tvr-tuscan-2-1.jpg

The 2000 TVR Tuscan Speed Six!!!

(Thanks to @Furinkazen for the original suggestion)

This one sounds a bit crazy. The Tuscan is one of the best handling cars that I know of in GT6, but try these out and tell me what you think.

Hmmm, two British sports cars in name, but not in essence.

Ahh yes, the Tuscan. An absolute beast in GT6, its Racing Mod version even more. I've actually raced with some friends last Sunday, we used GT original race cars. I was surprised the race version kept up with the RX-7 TCs. The RX-7s might have had the grip advantage, but I most certainly had the weight advantage. In the end, I was triumphant and ended up winning the race :D

But that's the race version of the Tuscan. For the road version, I have only tested it for drifting, and not for grip racing. Should be interesting.

The Evora, however?? I'm not so sure about this. Because I remember a couple of weeks ago I bought one and fully upgraded it. No tuning yet, just drove it around aaaaanndd... let's just say it wasn't what I expected it to be. And that is on a bad note.

I have yet to drive these two cars in bone stock form. Hopefully this will be a close fight.
 
The Evora is my least favorite Lotus of all time. Stock, on Comfort tires, it's a miserable car. One small mistake in your steering input and you're going to slide. And it's unpredictable, unlike for example, the NSX. Just an all-around garbage car that Lotus should be ashamed of having built.

I'm just grumpy because I spent a whole HOUR trying to get a 1:21 lap in this stupid car at Mid-Field and it's not happening. The Tuscan on the other hand can do 1:19

Evora
3.5L
277 hp / 6,500 rpm
252 ft-lb / 4,500 rpm
1,330 kg (2,932 lbs)
460 pp

Tuscan
4.0L
360 hp / 7,000 rpm
309 ft-lb / 5,000 rpm
1,100 kg (2,425 lbs)
500 pp


 
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I'll definitely have to try this one out. But I might be a bit biased. Who can forget the speed six spy car from looney toons back in action!
 
I like the balance of Evora a bit more than the Speed 6's to be honest. Evora is less understeery on 9/10 of pace. On 10/10 though Evora as a MR is less predictable indeed and TVR has more logic in its behaviour (camber does the trick there maybe). In pure speed TVR is too far ahead for sure as PS/kg is a great factor in hotlapping and Evora lucks much in this aspect (3 for TVR, 4.8 for Evora). I am almost sure that if Evora is tuned for same PS/kg it wouldn't be slowest. I might gat the time to test my theory later in the week on a track which values handling above all (Laguna Seca maybe).
 
Lotus Evora '09
From the rugged turnip fields perched on the Mountains of East Anglia In Englandland.

100,000 cr - 276bhp - Mystery Torque and Weight.

Mid engined three and a half litre Toyota V6 (2GR-FE) (35.7 Torques, 1382kg in the blurb in GT6)

20 paint chips (2 wheels) - 4 interior trims (Red, Cream, Dark Grey, Darker grey)
Isotope Green - And Chrome Orange are high points in a very good spread of colours.

Looks -
I'm not sure about this. It is a car that is new - but it doesn't instantly grab you like say a Countach or a Viper, But it isn't a clown car like a Zonda or an Enzo. The front end is a bit "Mitsubishi FTO" - The glassy bit has a wiff of "Lancia Stratos" - Back end is a broader "Elise" -
Overall it has nice proportions. But the more I looked at it the more it grew on me. - Has a centreline cleft in the roof that flows well from the vents in the bonnet of the car. But look at those huge clunky door handles!

(I bought Persian Blue as I already have it in Racing Green...)

GTAuto
Aero kit - (Neat rear diffuser and a front splitter and the side skirts at extended slightly and coloured black.)(4,750cr)
Wings - you can get 5 generic wings - but also two Special wings...
Type A - A rather disappointing small straight wing
Type B - A Large Boomerang wing wide with a couple of spoons either side of the simple centre section to retain some rear visability.
(Both cost 3,250cr)

***Madrid Test - 1m38.2 - 5m21.973***
*********************************

4342x1848x1223 (LxWxH)
MR Sports Hards tyres - 460pp - 277bhp -35Torques - 1330kg - 41:59 Weight distribution. 3.5 litre V6 Naturally Aspirated- 6 gears - Red line is at 7000rpm
1st -35mph : 2nd-70mph : 3rd-112mph

(3 laps - September Seasonal Event) - Able to clear 680,000 bone stock with the girlieman driver aids removed.

Mid engined nice amount of oversteer but not "axemurder" style - you can break traction and get it back without breaking out into cold sweats.

One issue I had was the engine note had an artifact resonance at about 6,000rpm - which grumped me.

Gearbox - Felt very long - and gear changes felt pretty laboured at times.

Oversteer - The car will step out pretty easily but you can balance this very easily - I don't do drifting (I used to 4 wheel drift, but that is crossply tyres stuff from back in the day.) The car felt like good fun,

Overall - great fun, the big let down was the gearbox felt chunky and the power felt a bit delayed - The artifact in the engine note was not good.

------------------------------

TVR Tuscan Speed 6 '00
From the jagged coastal mountains of the Fylde in Englandland

94,800cr - 359bhp - 42.8 torques - 1,100kg

Typical TVR - 2 doors - 2 seats - 2 exhaust pipes - No door handles - No Anti Lock Brakes - No Traction Control.

Paint chips - 22 paint chips - (Two interiors Milk or Black) - the usual 7 spoke alloy wheels.
Amazingly this has an even better selection of Paint Chips than the fully loaded Lotus range, with
Starmist Crimson- Flip Flop Yellow - (Thong Yellow in Australia) - as well as the the TVR specific Reflex and Chameleon colours.

Looks -
This is a bit of a marmite car - You either love the styling - or you hate it. It certainly is a car that generate an opinion and it isn't a "designed by a comittee" car that has the good stuff removed incase it upsets the vocal minority. But it is a sports car - if it doesn't comewith a bit of wow then you may as well drive a MPV and give up on life.

For me there are three things wrong with the car - The arachnid style lights at the front, (I'd prefer a XJ220 big lamp and a sliding eyelid to make it seem like it has no lamps) the Interior "Racing" instrument cluster (I'd prefer the Tamora cockpit hands down.) and the fact, a bloated headed John Travolta drove one in the film Swordfish. Shudder - So now I think of a topless Halle Berry whenever I see this car that was in Swordfish. Better now?

I bought a new one in.... Starmist Crimson (With the Black Leather interior - yes I know it will get very hot in the sun and I also know it will stink of Epoxy Resin.)


GT Auto - You can get an aero package - chin whiskers, front splitter and diffuser at the back. No Unique Wings...

Only 5 gears - this has a 6 cylinder engine, but it is a big straight six slap bang in the middle of the car. 50:50 weight Distribution that even the mighty BMW try to emulate (I think you have to lose a few pounds Helga.)

Only 5 gears - Maybe they are too short looking at the cogs, But At Madrid I doubt top speed will be an issue.


***Madrid Test - 1m35.1 - 5m14.685***
*********************************

4235x1810x1200 (LxWxH)
FR - Sport Hards - 500pp - 360-bhp - 43torques - 1,100kg - 50:50 weight distribution - 4 litre straight 6 Naturally Aspirated - 5 Gears (7,500 red line)
1st - 48mph : 2nd - 72mph : 3rd - 105mph

The car is a rocket - Obviously it isn't a Mid engined beats in the corners, and if you goof up it will tend to understeer, The biggest issue will be the lack of Antilock brakes for those who have not got that skill set. If you plant the brakes the fronts will lock, and as a sliding object has no directional integrity... you will go straight to the scene of the accident. I better repeat this, the car is very fast and it is a handful under brakes

If you drive "in car" then the dash could be an issue, Usually TVR's have very excellent hand built bespoke to the owners requirement dashboards... it seems someone wanted a digital readout for the rev counter...Well not every TVR owner is blessed with class!

It is a certified 680,000 credit car at the Madrid Seasonal Event.

--------------------

Verdict... TVR Tuscan

An unfair contest - the TVR dominates the Lotus - which isn't to say the Evora is bad but it is 82 bhp down and 507 pounds heavier (That is more than a pair of Joanna Jedrzejczyk's and a couple of Ronda Rousey's in the car!)

The plus point to the Evora is the mid engined layout which makes the car more eager in the corners - This can be a grind to many players, but I enjoy oversteer.

The Evora is great fun to drive, A helpful novice friendly car that seems to have more in the grip department to help a driver out. The Tuscan is a lighter, more powerful with more paintchips, better paint chips, an Engine that doesn't sound like an alarm clock. The Tuscan is "harder" to drive, but if you want things easy you are best putting the ABS and Traction control on, you softie!

The Doors open with a button under the wing mirror.

-----------------------

version 1.21 I think the Evora has had its engine note fixed... great news... Bueller?
 
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Both cars wound up being pretty rowdy, moreso than my tastes call for. I found the SRT Viper challenging but fun to drive. I enjoyed driving a stock Shelby Cobra around the Nurburgring because the pitch and suspension roll made for a fun drive. While both of those cars did like to kick the tail out, you could very well control it with proper throttle control. Now you can do that for the Evora and Tuscan but the Evora carries a bit too much of its weight at the back and the Tuscan carries too much of its weight in the front. The Evora will step out of line and it's significantly harder to get your bearings than an FR car. The Tuscan has the controllable oversteer similar to the Viper, but it also carries a lot of understeer under braking.

The problems in these two cars were made absolutely apparent on the downhill section of Matterhorn Rotenboden. If this was real life, my Evora would have rolled itself down the mountain, and my Tuscan would have sailed off it. Trying to regain control of the Evora when it stepped out of line made me remember when I was driving my Scion xA home from college in icy conditions. It exhibited the same back and forth movement to which steering input and brakes only made worse. (Good thing I was able to bring my Scion to rest in the middle of a sidestreet with nobody around rather than in a ditch.)

The Tuscan nearly nosedived right into the guardrail on that sudden left at the bottom of the downhill section. I was trying to tap the brakes to get the rear to step out to a point where I could get the car to go through the corner, but it didn't budge. So now I'm slamming the brakes as hard as I can, creating even more of the weight to shift to the front of the car and exacerbating the understeer. Thankfully I was able to slow the car enough that the car's direction righted itself when the road switched from downhill to uphill.

Not much to really note about these cars on the city trial at SSR5 though. Same characteristics, just not quite as pronounced.

Mountain Trial:
Evora - 1:51.823
Tuscan - 1:46.541

City Trial:
Evora - 1:35.360
Tuscan - 1:34.698

The Tuscan emerged the clear winner by sheer performance advantage. Though to be perfectly honest with you, neither car really impressed me.
 
Gotta buy Tuscan and test that against replica of Evora.. Starting to dig real-life setup specs for Tuscan.
 
I think the Evora wins for looks, but the Tuscan wins for speed and handling. However I prefer the Evora because it feels better to drive for me, probably because I prefer the mid engine layout.

Also suggestion for next week, this was brought up at the inception of the thread and I was suprised to see it not used. The Ferrari 458 and the Mclaren 12c
 
Right, finally got to drive these two cars and record footage of their best laps. The laps, like last time, are available in both Onboard and Replay camera.

TVR Tuscan Speed 6 '00:



Lotus Evora '09:



First off, the Tuscan. Ah yes, that light weight coupled with a powerful straight-6 engine means this car can really pull. The speed of the car is great, and I like the stock gear ratios on the car. They are close enough to allow the car to maximize its immense power-to-weight ratio, but long enough to give the car a considerable top speed without topping out. My biggest gripe on this car is, as stated by other people before, the hideous trailbraking ability. In order to have a fast and clean entry, you would really have to be careful with the brakes, because if you press them too hard even the slightest, the front wheels would lock up and you would end up plowing towards the grass/gravel/barrier/what-have-you. Other than that, grip is surprisingly plenty, and only runs out if you deliberately mash the throttle when exiting low-speed corners, or even attempt the slightest to go around a corner faster than you should. Which is just alright.

The Evora, on the other hand, oh dear. This is a mid-engined car, and it should have the better handling of the two. But thanks to GT6 ruining the performance of mid-engined cars, the Evora just has no sense of grip at all. Attempting to get the fastest lap time possible out of this car requires a lot more than 120% of your concentration. Seriously, the rear end just likes to kick out ALLLL DAAAYYY LOOONNGG. It's so annoying, I couldn't get the car to close the 3-second gap it had from the Tuscan. The lack of grip really is that bad. And one other thing I noticed is that, while this car has the specs of your average sports car, it has the gear ratios of a supercar, something which really bugged me. The transmission was one of the problems of the lack of grip because the Evora's gear ratios were too wide, and so it can't maintain its revs on the powerband. You just go grip-slide-grip-slide-slide. I tried to address the solution by fitting a close-ratio transmission, and to my expectations, it worked like a charm.

Lotus Evora w/ close-ratio transmission:



As you can see from the replay, it is more confident-looking, more planted to the ground, and much, much faster. I was able to shave off 2 full seconds from the previous fastest time, because the car had substantially more grip thanks to the revs being maintained in the powerband. Still, it wasn't enough to overcome the gap between it and the Tuscan, and therefore, ultimately lost.

And with that, my vote goes to the Tuscan. Amazing car, the awful trailbraking can be remedied by tuning, and so I recommend it to anyone who hasn't driven it yet. 👍👍
 
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Both cars drove completely different, so let's get this under way.

The Tuscan. TVR never ceases to give their cars interesting looks, and the Tuscan is no exception. The Tuscan must be great if it has its own touring version right? Well, maybe not. Driving it stock felt kinda like driving on ice, aka understeer. The good thing is though, it has a 50/50 weight distribution, so it can be tuned to perfection. In fact, one of my psn friends has a well tuned Tuscan.

Now we move on to.....what's that cars name.....oh yes, the Evora. A very familiar name in Gran Turismo, and not in a very great way. Driving it felt like another familiar car *cough* Yellow Bird *cough*. You have to have a perfect driving line and no driver error to get the most out of it. But the good thing about this car, is that it is not that hard to tune actually. I seem to have fixed the oversteer issue and may have a tune to share soon. Though my obvious choice here is.....

The Tuscan. Track times?

Tested at Midfield, stock tires, ABS on 1.

Evora: 1:22.986
Tuscan Speed Six: 1:19.114

The Tuscan easily wins, which is what I expected. And your guy's votes?

Evora: 2
Tuscan: 7

And the winner is.....

tvr-tuscan-speed-six-7.jpg

The '00 Tuscan Speed Six!!!

At least it wasn't a unanimous vote, so the Evora still has its fans. Be sure to stop back here tomorrow for the next duel of the week!
 
Suggestion -
526PP - There can only be one!

Corvette Stingray C7 2014
Ruf "Yellowbird" CTR 1987
Spyker C8 Laviolette 2001

FR vs RR vs MR?
27 years of age difference.

Do you choose the Car of a successful plumber? (I think Luigi bought one...),
... the old 80's record breaking classic (Rick Astley?),
... or the Parking Space Odyssey of the 2001's Flying Dutchman.
Kentucky Vs The Free State of Bavaria Vs Flevolandland.

That was the end of the suggestion.
 
Ryk
Suggestion -
526PP - There can only be one!

Corvette Stingray C7 2014
Ruf "Yellowbird" CTR 1987
Spyker C8 Laviolette 2001

FR vs RR vs MR?
27 years of age difference.

Do you choose the Car of a successful plumber? (I think Luigi bought one...),
... the old 80's record breaking classic (Rick Astley?),
... or the Parking Space Odyssey of the 2001's Flying Dutchman.
Kentucky Vs The Free State of Bavaria Vs Flevolandland.

That was the end of the suggestion.

I'm already predicting that the Corvette C7 would have a landslide victory on that 3-way battle you suggested. :lol: Me and a friend actually drove a C7 and a C8 Lav bone stock on Nordschleife a long time ago, I was in the Vette. The C8 certainly has the power-to-weight ratio advantage, and it ended up it was the faster of the two around the Nord, but my friend complained it had mad understeer, it wasn't as nice to drive as the Vette :lol:

If I may, before the Duel between the Tuscan and the Evora gets officially closed, I would like to give bonus points to the Tuscan because it has a wider selection of paint chips than the Evora, and it has the two coolest paint chips in the game. Seriously, none of the Evora's stock colors can ever hope to match the awesomeness that are Reflex Purple and Reflex Spice. :D Even if those two paint chips are the only ones available for the Tuscan, it still wins in the color department. 👍
 
I know you're anxious for next duel, so here we go. This week I'm steering away from Europe for a while, so this week's duel is.....

$_57.JPG

The 1991 Mazda éfini RX7 Type R (FD)

vs

300ZX_Z32_1.jpg

The 1989 Nissan Fairlady Z 300ZX Twin Turbo 2 seater!!!

(Thanks to @MidFieldMaven for the suggestion)

We've had an RX7 in the duel of the week thread before, but not the éfini version. Should be interesting since I have no clue how the 300ZX drives stock. Anyways, take these for a drive and let me know what you think!
 
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I choose the 300zx.
I think it drives better, it may weigh more but theres no pointless oversteer like the RX-7, or maybe I just suck? :P
I'll post some laptimes from my point to point track "Eifel Field to Hill Sprint".
 
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Specs after purchase, without oil change:

Nissan Fairlady Z 300ZX TwinTurbo 2seater (Z32) '89

3.0L
276 hp / 6,200 rpm
286 ft-lb / 3,600 rpm
1,510 kg (3,329 lbs)
440 pp

Mazda Éfini RX-7 Type R (FD) '91
1.3L
252 hp / 6,500 rpm
217 ft-lb / 5,000 rpm
1,260 kg (2,778 lbs)
434 pp

The Nissan has 24 more hp, 69 more ft-lbs of torque, and weighs 250 kg (551 lbs) more. Can its extra power give it the edge over the Mazda at Mid-Field Raceway? The short answer is...No.




Astonishingly, both the Nissan and the Mazda manage an identical top speed of 134 mph at the end of the front straightaway.

The Nissan is slightly more stable and has great initial turn-in to the corners, but the Mazda is just that much better. And it should be, considering the Nissan had been in the wild for about 2 years by the time the FD was released. The outdated FC was simply no match for the Z32.

Looking at the MSRP's, a 1992 RX-7 went for about $30,000 and a 1992 300ZX Turbo was about $7,000 more. Was the Nissan worth the extra cash? In my opinion, not really. It all depends on how you feel about rotary vs. V6, pop-up headlights vs. fixed headlights, and Mazda vs. Nissan in general. As the owner of a first-generation MX-5, I have to side with Mazda here.
 
In all the GT driving I've done, I've never experienced the RX-7 being beaten by the 300ZX. I also think the Mazda looks better than the bloated look of the Nissan. The lighter weight of the rotary also lends itself to a sportier feel from behind the wheel. It's for these reasons I would take the RX-7 over the Z anyday of the week.
When I get the chance, I'll take them both for a thorough test on the Nordschleife but I know before I've started the Mazda will comprehensively win that argument.
 
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