Beauty Contest
Beauty can make cars. Does it make these ones? Who knows...
GT by Citroen Race CarMazda Furai Concept '08
StatsStats
Power: 615bhpPower: 511bhp
Weight: 1200kgWeight: 675kg
Price: 5,600,000 Cr.Price: 1,500,000 Cr.
Prize: Yes (B-Spec Dream Car Championship)Prize: Yes (B-Spec NR-A Roadster Cup)
0-60: 3.288 seconds0-60: 3.361 seconds
0-100: 5.853 seconds0-100: 5.893 seconds
1/4 mile: 10.639 seconds1/4 mile: 10.586 seconds
1 mile: 25.851 seconds1 mile: 25.611 seconds
Max Speed: 203.2mphMax Speed: 190.2mph
Max G-Force: 1.04GMax G-Force: 0.95G
Drivetrain: --- (No, really. No one knows. 
)
Drivetrain: --- (No one knows this either
)
If you noticed right there, these two cars are incredibly hard to tell apart. Both are prizes. Both have very similar 0-60s Both have very similar 0-100s. Both have very similar 1/4 miles. Both even have the same drivetrain - a drivetrain which doesn't even exist in the real world!!!
But, they are in fact, completely different.
Let's start with the Citroen, among all its confusing title types.
Now, you should well know I already reviewed this GT prior to this, so if you read that, you should pretty well know by now what I think of this Citroen and PD tie-up made lethal. So I might as well reiterate much of what I said here.
And I shall start by saying again how this has the worst onboard view in the world. I will not kid - the thin window, combined with decal,
combined with head-up display,
combined with the ton of interior around it, make this the least usable on board view in the whole game. In fact, the only thing that could make it any worse was a lot of rain pelting down on it. A point I proved earlier in testing this thing.
If this thing actually existed in real life, Citroen would go bankrupt, for sure. They simply wouldn't be able to keep up with the piling costs of damage done to the GT Race Cars. In fact, for that matter, that could apply to the Road Car and Concept as well. Their views aren't much better. Although, as a matter of fact, Citroen might as well go bankrupt building it.
5,600,000 Cr.? That is an asking price higher than any non-Formula or classic (race) car in this entire game.
(Technically the Speed 8 has a higher base price but there's no telling how much you might actually get that for.) It's a good job you will win it from the B-Spec Dream Car Championship...but then the chance of getting the right colour is reduced considerably (for instance the one I won came in silver). Because, no joke, I would give up 5.6 million Cr. - and I did - for the red metallic this thing comes in and the effect it gives the car.
In terms of Premiums, this is probably the most Premium of them all. Partly because PD will have actually built the shape themselves, but mostly because the damn thing looks so good to start that Aston Martin would even consider giving a look to this thing. This thing can rival V12 Vantages and One-77s every day of the week, and Aventadors, and...anything. This thing looks gorgeous and a half.
There's nationalities I'd prefer more than French though. (Exception: Megane RS250.)
You have some great looking lights, great angles, great arches, great side sills, great aero parts, great roof, great back end
(hah), great exhausts and a great big bloody massive 🤬 wing. Dead on
masterpiece. And no, the Road Car does not follow this on.
And the Citroen ain't half bad to drive either. It might have 615bhp which goes to the '---'th part of the car that doesn't exist, but since it's decently weighed down with 1200kg, which is heavy for race cars admittedly, it isn't going to kill you exactly. And that's good. And unlike most other Citroens, I'm expecting it doesn't fall apart either.
And now, with the Citroen setting down a bloody hard marker to follow, it's now time for the Fury of Mazda to come through and see if it can show this French structure some restaurant manners of its own.
And here it is. This Furai. And I'm gonna start off where I finished with the Citroen. The drive.
With this Furai...it is
scary. 511bhp is not a considerable amount, and it only has 300lb-ft, which is even less considerable. But then it has an absolutely near impossible 675kg weight, which is the least considerable of them all. On first thoughts, this would be great. And it is - it will beat the Citroen in many regards, though the top speed is very limited. But I won't blame you if you cower in fear with this thing when you get to a slow corner.
If you saw my review of the W12 Nardo Concept, this has exactly the same problem: if you press the throttle an inch too sharply at the wrong point...you're gone. 511bhp is enough to launch 675kg into
space at times, and even with the low torque the bhp will still overwhelm this thing a little. And according to the drivetrain, there isn't anything like 4WD to save you with this because everything goes to the '---'th part of the car, like the GT. Apparently, it's almost completely useless as a drivetrain on this, although it works well on the Citroen. Maybe it's better the heavier your car is...is it MR???
Also, as aforementioned, the Furai is not exactly amazing in a straight line. Judging by the stats I got from the engine, it's almost exactly the same as what you could get from an RX-7 LM - the numbers were literally almost the same - but judging by the engine sound it is in fact completely different. However, rotary engines always have the problem of bad torque and that's bad for the top speed, much as you would have seen with the RE Amemiya RX-7 in the All Tuners Tested tests. Here you won't do more than 190 - but you are hitting the limiter, which makes one wonder if Mazda are being too strict with this thing. The low weight helps off the line, certainly, but stick to the twisties with this thing. Didn't necessarily stop it being 2 seconds faster than the Citroen on Sarthe...
However, now the Furai will make up for a lot of that. This is mainly down to the way this thing is gotten.
You can buy a Furai for 1,500,000 Cr., which for its performance is certainly good enough. And honestly, you won't need to worry about colour this time - the Furai is almost perfect in any of the Gran Turismo xxxxx colours it comes in, not to mention that grey and red winged one you can find. However, there is an even easier way to get your Furai. The prize event. The B-Spec NR-A Roadster Cup. You can do this rather early on, and if you relatively tune up your Eunos/Miata/MX-5, or in the case of the Cars in General forum "just buy an NA", you can win it with enough strict abuse towards your Mr. B-Speccy. The prize, which you can get at Level 6 in either of your careers, is this Furai. In whatever colour it chooses, which doesn't matter.
I got mine in GT Red Metallic, which is really one of the better ones. This one I bought is Champagne Gold. Makes you wonder why you just can't paint one of these... And having something of this speed, at Level 6, is taking the piss.
This thing, with tuning, will win the Gran Turismo All Stars. It has already been seen as one of the best ways to secure a win in Like the Wind, and I personally won the B-Spec Indy 500 in one (it was a great race. You should know more of it). This thing, without question, comes in as a nominee for absolute most useful car in all of GT Mode. Although, to be fair,
I already had the Stealth Models and Chrome Lines when I got the Furai and I got my Furai a decent bit after I did Like the Wind in my 787B.
And...well...what of the looks? Well, really, they're very much excellent. Yes, Standard quality limits your ability to get in
real close (without using some of the tricks I use, which I never bothered with on the Furai 'cause they didn't really seem to work), but really, all over, you still can't mistake this thing. It really is a...unique experience of a car in terms of looks.
At the front, you have the lights, blue like veins, and wriggling around like them too. Then you have that lovely, 5-star body of it: simply letting air slide all around it, with intakes to provide relief. You have the black roof, and at the back you have the basic, proto-style wing, and behind that the superb brake lights: the arteries of the car. See, this thing's got blood in it!
And it would. This is meant to be a follow-up to the great 787B, and while it won't perform just as well, it still knows what's in it. This is technically the closest you will ever get to an LMP2 car in this game, minus the insanely low weight, until PD put in Nissan's Signatech LMP2 car. You know it's coming. It is.
And now then, here we are, finished with these two gorgeous wonders. The French, a brilliantly powerful machine with hugely aggressive looks to give you a big smash in the face. And the Japanese, a super-lightweight, super-speed, super-sleek wonder with calm looks, designed to blow you away with the detail and loving care its makers put into it.
So...which one is better? ...Very, very tough.
Based on drive alone, I'd rather have the Citroen. With the Furai, you have to be so much more careful with where you put your points, because if you don't, you're in for a wild ride. The Citroen just stays put though. However, the Furai is nowhere near defeated - as a car, it is unbelievably useful, unbelievably good looking, unbelievably speedy. The Citroen is more pricey, more picky and compared to the Furai, as a car, it seems much more aggressive in its ways. Really, it's nearly impossible to choose between the two. The Furai has the style, the Citroen has the power. Which one you choose is largely up to you...and it's why I'm keeping both.
Final Score (Furai): 17/20
Already done score for Citroen, check that in the review there.
Pictures and writing by C-ZETA
); this is going up against like 350Zs and WRXs ... and that's on Sports: Soft tires, too!
Transverse engine for starters, with awesome sound. Yes it might just be two V8s stuck together, which could be fake, but still, the numbers say enough
)
Unfortunately, regulations this year mean the Garaiya is being removed from Super GT, which is sad. It was always a top contender there, with 3rd in '05, 2nd in '08 (the year of this car) and 2nd again in '10. I'll miss it.
