The Honda NSX-R, it’s been one of my top ten favourite MR cars in GT5, and largely because of the tune. The setup has been refined time and again so that the end result is a car that strikes the balance of grip, agility, power, speed and fun like no other. And driving it again for this review just reminds me of all these things and reinforces it with a v-tec roar. Words cannot really describe how much I like this car. Yes, it may not have the most power in the world, yes, it can get a bit snatchy when you mess up, but non of these things really matter when the track is empty, the V6 is singing and you enter a corner. Any corner. There’s no fear of a spin, just a lot of laughs, a fair amount of smoke, a little bit of a scare, and a lot of power, and a lot of noise. Ok, I admit, under braking, the rear of the car will get lively and get twitchy if you push it, and the steering is a bit nervous sometimes. But these seem to be the only faults I could find, the ‘fishtailing‘ that JG was talking about didn’t really exist. Either that, or the TGTT is just too flat for that. But anyways, if it does get a bit too lively, just tread on the power more carefully when you drive it, it’s not too difficult a task to do, is it? And what was it Roj was saying about the Camaro RM being the fastest sports soft tune they had? This car, with a very happy and twitchy Onboy at the wheel/controller, did a lap of 1:11.903. To put into perspective of how fast that is, a TVR Tuscan RM on the same tires lapped this track just a second faster. And that has front and rear downforce, more power, much lighter etc.
So, with it being so fun, so fast and so refined, I was already thinking ‘Was I drunk when I asked JG to try to rival this car?‘ the moment he responded to the request. But he’s done the tune, and now all that’s left, is to see how it stacks up against RKM’s signature car (well, that’s the tune that I think we all like the most, so that’ll be the signature car, correct me if I’m wrong though). And it…well, it’s consistently slower in my hands, there’s some understeer even if I do what I’m not suppose to do and kick the arse of the car out, it’ll just slide while pushing off the track. Couple that to the still very sensitive steering and awkward brakes, and it’s not too hard to see why it can’t beat the RKM NSX. Well, that’s until you get on to lap 3-4. In those laps, you’ll start to learn how to drive it properly. You’ll get to know how late you can brake, how much power the tires can take, and the end result is that, regardless how hard you try, there’ll still be a very oversteery, very pesky NSX-R with the RKM setup running ahead of you. But that’s not to say this can’t beat it, on lap 9, it finally got pass with a lap of 1:11.593. Sadly, I spent the next 2 laps chasing after the new ghost and spent those two laps running off the road because I pushed too hard. It’s…um…I don’t know…I think I’ve run out of things to say at this point, because although JG and Roj said that they wanted an unbiased tester to do the review, I don’t think I’m the best for that job. I love the NSX as it is with the RKM tune, so it would be natural for me to pick at the flaws in JG’s. But the fact of the matter is, I can’t find anything that would be a potential disaster on the track. Yes, it understeers more, but I always find that it’s never been that much of a problem if you back off just a bit, and then booting it. If you did that, the oversteer will be back, but it’s a different emotion being communicated through the steering when it does slide. It’s not fun and exuberant, more anger and hate. It’s too serious, especially when I’ve taken to painting my NSX in an AMG matte gray, it looks and behaves too grown up for this 13 year old boy’s liking.
Put it this way, if I had to drive an NSX for the Grand Valley 300km race and I could pick a tune to run the car on, my mind, my logic would choose JG’s tune. It forces you to concentrate on keeping the tail in check and I think would be faster in the long run. But my heart (you can tell I’m running out of vocab to use, can’t you), my emotions would say run with the RKM tune, be slightly slower, burn the tires out a little quicker, but I’ll have more fun pulling ridiculous drifts coming out of the slower hairpins and covering the tunnels with smoke. JG’s tune can do that as well, but it can’t do it as effortlessly, with as much ease and style as RKM’s can. And it’s that little bit more fun in the RKM NSX that makes it more special, more of an all rounder. JG did a good job tuning this NSX. It’s no easy feat matching a car that has had 3 years development by someone who is arguably one of the best tuners on GTP, let alone be faster than it. But personally, I think where this car falls down on, is fun. It’s fun, just not as fun as Roj’s.
Final thoughts? Well, if you want to go fast in long distances, take JG’s tune. It’s a very easy one to use and will run rings around…well, just about anything. But if you’re willing to sacrifice some speed for some fun, then go for RKM’s. It can pull slides so big and fill the track with such a thick layer of smoke that chances are, the track you’re racing on will be smeared in tire marks. Me? I’d take…um…oh dammit…um……I’d have the RKM one…more fun…but then I know I’ll look a fool when someone uses JG’s tune and beats me so um…oh screw it, I need more cash, especially for two NSX-Rs.
Laptime: (tested on TGTT)
1:11.903 (RKM)
1:11.593 (JG)
Edit: Just noticed, this review is my 300th post
YAY!!!!
Yes I'm an odd one. 
