Either way, the SVT Cobra R was never wat it was all hyped up to be in real life.
Ford was really trying to prove what SVT was capable of and to tell the truth. They kind of made a flop-on-your-face attempt. The Cobra R was slated to be some track tuned american super-car. But the Mustang chassis, which has not been redesigned since 1979 will never be able to become a total track machine, its just too poorly designed.
Any C5 Vette and especially a Z06 can put an SVT Cobra R in its place. Ford was giving people the impression that it was going to be a Viper killer and be on par with European supercars i.e. 911 Turbo and 360 Modena in performance.
The SVT Mustang Cobra R has no radio, air conditioning, sound deadening or anything that doesnt help you go faster. But the Mustang chassis was too lacking to support this. With a base weight of 3,550lbs and the hinderance of a 22 year old chassis, its no surprise that most people found it hard to get a 0-60 any faster than 4.9 seconds. And its handling apperently leaves much to be desired, and thats also true in the game.
The MSRP of the Cobra R was around $35,000 USD, but since they only made 500 in an attempt to gain exclusivity points, the Ford dealers ended up selling them for well over $50,000 USD.