"Oh great, another has-been RR rally car that's blue", I thought to myself when I saw that whichever genie Alex P has no doubt fervently rubbed was so pleased with him that it granted his wish for the R8 to be chosen for Car of the Week. After the horrific nightmare that is the
Alpine A110, I would sooner drop an LS engine into my RX-7 than to ever have to drive another ancient Gacha machine of death. We know RR cars are terrible. We know rally cars are an irrelevant joke in this game, and that the rally experience in Gran Turismo Sport is seemingly — and hopefully,
the nadir of the series. I then wondered how I'd make a one sentence review calling the R8 Gordini a Beater entertaining, and then mentally prepared myself for a whole afternoon of spins, crashes, and mayhem with 28 year old Vic gleefully drifting his way to victory with a 55 year lead over the rest of us.
So traumatic was my experience with the last RR rally car that I had blocked it out mentally, hence my surprise when I found out that I already had an R8 Gordini in my game, that wasn't a gift car. A visit to my therapist later, I was made to remember the fact that I
had in fact already driven the R8 Gordini, and if it was even remotely as bad as the Alpine, then there was no way I could completely block it out mentally. In fact, I was surprised to find out that it was RR to begin with, because I wouldn't guess its cartoonishly foolish layout just by looking at its conventional 4 door sedan body style. I certainly didn't guess it either when I last drove it in Week 105, because not only was it
not a disastrous mess, upon closer inspection this week, it is
sublime.
The R8 Gordini is downright delightful in how it handles. It's calm, composed, predictable, agile, lightweight, well balanced, and what little sliding the rear end undergoes only helps the nose rotate into the corner with just a slight hint of a drift. Needless to say, being an RR car, you can certainly...
encourage it to have some fun if you so desire. The car was so small and easy to place, that even the narrow, winding mountain roads of Bathurst felt like a wide open racetrack in the R8 Gordini, and Vic, Nismo, and Rick even went three wide there at one point! And all this is on Sport Hard tyres, down from the Sport Mediums the car originally comes with. The engine is similarly sprightly, being a NA unit that makes a nice carbureted noise that packs just the right amount of poke for the size and mass of the car, proportional to how much you wring it out. At just 80,000 Cr, it is even cheap, considering its grandiose history and the sheer amount of fun that will find you the moment you get into the car and turn the key. And because it's styling is best described as "
(looking) like it was designed by a 5 year old that was given a crayon and told to draw a car", it fits the definition of a sleeper like a tailor made sheep clothing to hide a flame spitting wolf underneath. And guess what?
When If Gran Turismo 7 comes, it will become even better, simply because it will finally be able to share its glory with other cars on the track with a similar PP rating to bring it out of obscurity.
In fact, I don't think I'm even doing the car justice with words. It somehow feels more than the sum of its parts. It has a certain magic to it that I can't describe. I think all of us who raced it on Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning felt it as well. I think that the mark of a truly amazing sports car is that it somehow encourages closely fought, nail biter races, bridging skill gaps and helping us all become better racers all while having the time of our lives we won't soon forget.
It's small, it's light, it's rear wheel drive, it handles miraculously, it makes all the right noises, it has a small, rev happy,
flame spitting NA engine that begs to be revved, mated to a 5 speed stick, it's cheap, looks deceptively tame, and boasts a rich heritage. It even seats four! It is everything we petrolheads claim we want in a car, and it somehow still feels more than the sum of its parts. I said it during race day, but it needs to be repeated here on record: This car is an early contender for my vote of 2021 Car of the Year. Thank you so much
@Alex p. for bringing this gem of a car up, and
@Draggon for selecting it, because I never would've bat an eye at this otherwise. Hell, I wish I could daily this thing: that's how much I love this thing and want one.
