That's literally the point of this club!
You newer folk should have seen some of the races we had back in GT6, in such wacky vehicles as the Audi Auto Union type C, Honda Z Act, Toyota Aqua.. good times!
Peugeot VGT Quick Impressions
NC1 "NSX" Review Whilst I Try Very Hard Not to Puke
*sigh*
I'm a little overwhelmed. A little exhausted. A little exasperated, perhaps. There's so much to say, and I feel so much, too much. I don't really know where to start.
I won't spend much time going over the original NA1 and NA2 NSXes, as I think the fairy tale status of the originals is common knowledge in this industry and community. This means that its successor, the NC1 NSX, has a lot to live up to. So much so in fact, it's pretty much impossible for any machine to deliver on the unreasonable amount of hype that was placed on its double wishbone suspension at all four corners. Is it unfair? Of course. Especially because people tend to only remember and exaggerate the good bits of nostalgia, which I find nauseating.
That said, the NC1, expectations or not, is unbelievably horrible to drive.
I still have trouble wrapping my head around how bad it is. I've heard automotive journalists and celebrities rave about how good the car is, journalists I hold in very high regard and such as Matt Farah. James Martin. Harry Metcalfe, and Jay Leno. They all loved and praised the NC1 highly, almost to the same levels as one would praise the originals. But holy hell, something about it simply doesn't translate over into the game.
I can't... I wish you could see my face and hear my voice as I say this, but holy hell I can't even begin to tell you how or why it's so bad. I legit feel like puking when I think of the car's driving dynamics in the game. As with any road car in the game, it takes about twenty acres to stop. It weighs more than some SUVs. The suspension is almost luxury car levels of soft. The thing feels like it has The Leaning Tower of Pisa almost completely filled to the top with water stapled onto its roof, just so the water could slosh around in corners. Mid engined supercars are supposed to be svelte, evocative, intricate things of beauty, yet this thing looks like a hulking brick with a clown smile. Even its fictional derivative in GTA V is called the "Dinka Jester". And honestly, I think whoever designed and named the Jester was onto something; once you see that clown like smile plastered over its hulking face, there really is no unseeing it.
This car rolls so much, and feels like it has the centre of gravity set so high, I don't believe for a SECOND this thing can pass The Moose Test, a.k.a. a very dramatic slalom. Chicanes make this thing crumble and cry in a sad heap, as turning into a corner makes this thing lean so hard sideways, even a mild turn with banking on Blue Moon Bay's oval makes this thing break into a drift.
"Hey, racers! We know what you like! You like rotating your cars into turns, don't you? Here, have all the rotating in ZA WARUDO!"- someone at Acura, probably
That's just one turn. It gets exponentially worse with a chicane that requires sharp and sudden weight shifting laterally, as this car shows ZERO finesse or even interest in controlling its own body movement and weight shifting. This thing makes a MR2 blush with snap oversteer.
The front suspension doesn't even feel damped at all. Using full braking just dumps all the weight on the front of the car, leaving the rear tyres to reach for the sky, and break out into the aforementioned drift. This also means the car is near impossible to trail brake with, as the front tyres are always overloaded from the excessive mass and weight, and the rears are always a hair trigger from snapping out even under braking. It takes the precision of knitting with your toes and feet to trail brake this stupid thing.Chicanes! My one (of very many) weakness!
"Yo, petrol heads! Yeah, we know all your cool slang! You like weight shifting, don't you? Here, have ALL the weight shifting in ZA WARUDO!"- someone at Acura, probably.
On corner exits, again, the front end doesn't feel like it has ANY damping. Any slight touch of the accelerator to try to ease the front tyres into an apex, and weight just FLIES off the front, resulting in a turning radius increase that could make it orbit Earth as its second moon. And mind you, this understeer is well before you even put any power down. Oh, you'd think a car that understeers massively on corner exits will at least put power down well, wouldn't you? Wrong. This car's IC engine powering the rear wheels will often hit a point where it overpowers the front motors powering the front wheels, resulting in a car that's chronically understeering one moment, to completely facing the wrong direction the next. You're made to fear and account for both under and oversteer on corner exit. On long sweeping turns, you're often made to shift while turning, given this thing has a 9 speed with close ratios. Shifting while turning means the front wheels' motors never stop turning, yet the rear wheels' IC engine does have to take a pause. The re-engagement of the rear wheels to the IC engine is so rough and jerky, even THAT has a very real chance of breaking this fat, fragile, hopeless lump into a spin.
As easy as it would be for every photo in this review to be the car going way too fast sideways, sometimes buried in barriers, that'd be no challenge as a photographer.
This car was so awful we actually started on Sports Medium tyres, up from the car's default Sport Hards. As the races piled on, we moved onto Sports Softs, and were even contemplating going onto Racing Hards. THAT'S how god awful this thing is. That said, at least this car's problems can mostly be solved by blind grip. The car's aghast behaviour can be, to an appreciable degree, masked by blind grip for as long as the tyres last (and they won't, given this car's near 1.8 tons kerb mass). That is not to say however, that the NC1 is good, or even an acceptable drive on softer tyres. There is still no precision. There is still no control over the car's body movements. You're just given a bigger envelope before the car bites your head off all the same. The tyres can at least wring some grip from all the unreasonable weight put on them when the car leans, instead of simply giving up instantly and exploding into a puff of smoke.
Despite being technically an AWD car, you cannot drive this like an AWD car. As the front wheels are powered only by puny 1.3kW⋅h motors, most of the car's shove comes from its 3.5L V6 engine that drives only the rear wheels. This means that, at launch, it will smoke tyres with the best of American muscle, and on corner exits, it still doesn't put down any power at all, thanks in tandem with its cotton candy suspension setup. The batteries and hybrid system is essentially hundreds of kilos of dead weight on the track. The SH-AWD system is supposed to overdrive the outside wheels and slow the inside wheels during cornering, yet as multiple different people in COTW can attest to, this thing just slides into corners instead of rotating into them in a controlled and discreet fashion. The "SH" in SH-AWD seems to stand for "Savagely Horrendous" instead of "Super Handling".
I hopped into a 2017 R35 GT-R for the race at Dragon Trail this week,as I was rapidly getting angry driving the NC1as it's very closely comparable on paper with the NC1; power for the NC1 and R35 is 578PS and 572PS respectively, and mass, 1,780kg (3,924lbs) and 1,770kg (3,902lbs). Yeah, I said it. Burn me at the stake for being a heretic if need be, but we truly live in a world where an NSX is comparable in mass to a GT-R, and I don't want to live on this planet anymore. It seemed too perfect a comparison to pass up, however, as both the NSX and GT-R were Japanese bubble economy darlings back in the day, and both were fierce competitors both on the streets and in the racetrack.
The race at Dragon Trail was a very enlightening one for me personally, as I was in close, sparring proximity with COTW's resident Stig, Vic, for... oh, about half the race, which gave me a perfect perspective to assess the strengths and weaknesses of both cars, relative to each other. I came second, but that's because that's my first race in a GT-R, and Vic has had a few races to get used to and know the NSX (not that he needs very long to get acclimatised to any car, but just let me have my excuses in peace, okay?!).
Racing driver excuses aside, the GT-R visibly loses out on the tighter, technical sections of the track. Most egregious of this difference in cornering speed was in the complex that houses the Chicane of Death, as Vic easily pulls a gap of about 3 tenths over my GT-R each lap there, in spite of how much I whined and complained about the NSX's handling, given that the base GT-R is a rather floaty brick in its own right. In the straights, I think my GT-R might have had a very slight advantage, with my eyes glued on the deltas during the race, though this is easily offset most of the time by the NSX's better corner exit speeds. The launch between these two hulking giants is a dead heat: withlaunchtraction control, both cars maintain their gaps and positions from a standing start. And while beating an R35 in the corners is akin to saying you outran a drunk turtle, going toe-to-toe with the GT-R in its own game is a seriously astounding feat.
(Where's our SSRX Infield Layout, PD?!)
Given the NSX's far superior cornering speeds and comparable acceleration to the GT-R, you might be wondering how in the blazes I've managed to bother Vic in the NSX for as long as I've been able to. The answer comes back to the god awful handling of the NSX. I started second last in that race, and I don't know if I made a single, legitimate overtake the whole race; the NSXes around me all just fell off and died like butterflies. Even Vic wasn't immune to a few visible, but not race ending screw ups, which kept me in stalking range for longer than I perhaps should've. Long story short, the NSX is a faster car than the GT-R in theory, but in practice, the much more predictible, easier to drive, no surprises, never worrying GT-R I daresay is just as fast as the NSX. I know, speaking for myself personally, that I set better hot lap times in the GT-R than I do in the NSX.
Off the track, the comparison doesn't look to favour the NC1 at all; it costs twice and change that of the GT-R, at 200,000dollarsCredits. For costing twice the GT-R, it certainly isn't twice the anything of the GT-R, be it in terms of practicality, lap times, or just fun behind the wheel. If I were given 200,000 dollars, I'dbuy a NA2 NSX-Rbuy a base GT-R and use the change to tune it up to levels beyond what the NC1 can even dream of. Here's the thing: the R35 chassis is what, THIRTEEN YEARS OLD this year. It is a car renowned for its heavy tuning potential, with several well established tuning powerhouses in the aftermarket to cater for a wide market of owners. The NC1 simply can't compete on that front. And it comes across as nothing but ludicrous to me when you tell me that you spend all these years R&Ding a new sports car, with all these hybrid, AWD, cutting edge, game changing wizardry. You tell me it has three motors, a 3.5L V6, nine speeds, and the end result is something that's barely faster than a (then) ten year old granddad GT-R, with its "traditional" IC 3.8L V6 being its only power source, and "only" 6 speeds to work with. I'm sorry, but that's just bullcrap to me.
The NC1 does have some redeeming factors. I imagine it'd be easy and pleasant to drive in the city, with the IC engine only kicking in at speed, which in theory should provide for a very quiet and smooth ride. The outward vision from the driver's seat is superb. I'd even go as far as to say outward visibility is comparable to that of the original NSX, which is no mean feat given today's extra stringent rollover and crash test standards.
Because the suspension setup in this car is so soft, I find that it actually handles bumps and road imperfections really well. The standout example of this is at Red Bull Ring, where the apexes have these "Sausages of Death" to discourage corner cutting. Having no real choice but to fly right over these Sausages sometimes due to my lack of ability to control the car, the Sausages hardly registered through the car; you certainly feel them, but it never threw the car off its course or upset whatever balance it might have relatively speaking. The NC1 also has very short overhangs, which means it clears these Sausages even under full cornering loads.
Turn 1:
Last Turn:
Yes, okay, it does look like it's scraping a little on T1.
Lastly, it might, MIGHT, be a good drift car, seeing as it's already KANSEI DORIFUTOing (inertia drifting) into every corner even without you meaning to, anyway. With nine gears and 3 motors to supplement the engine, the car is never out of breath in any situation to keep smoking the rear tyres.
In spite of how blatantly and almost unapologetically awful the NC1 is, I actually think it's not beyond saving. I actually really love the fictional Gr. 4 and Gr. 3 NC1s in this game. I love the way they sound, I love their balance, and, yes, I even love the way they drive. With the Gr. 4 cars being especially close to the road cars they're based on, it really makes me wonder what a NC1 Type R would look, and drive, like.
If the race cars don't do certain things, neither should the road car. Take away the useless batteries that don't make the car go any faster. Stiffen it to hell and back. Bathe it in Championship White and put a red Honda badge on it or ten. Glue on carbon bits like front splitters, rear wings and diffusers, and make it rear wheel drive. I think that would satiate a lot of people if done right.
Unfortunately, a "Type R" isn't really to boost slow sales; it's usually born because of good sales. Besides, unless it's standing toe-to-toe with a 911 GT2 RS, I don't know who would pay in excess of 200,000 USD for a stripped out racing car.
Overall, as-is, the NC1 a horrible car. Take this one liner conclusion to the review if you don't want to hear an old man whine and moan for an hour with no pictures to keep you entertained for the longer conclusion.
The Rant with No Photos:
Over the course of this review, I've abstained from drawing comparisons to, or even mentioning the original NSXes. That's because I feel that no car can possibly deliver on the unrealistic, legendary and fairy tale like hype and expectations the original cars have set for the NC1. Moreover, the NC1 is such a different beast, a radically different concept from the originals, and hence why I didn't want to mention the originals too much. But, in the few days I've taken to write this review, I've also come to realise that I'm only making excuses for the car. OF COURSE it can be compared to the originals. It HAS to be. They have the same name. The NC1 is reusing the classics' colours in bid to move more units out the showroom. Promotional videos and press releases all try to rub the original in your face to make you feel like this car is just like the original, but it's just so ghastly awful it has no business being compared to any sports car, let alone one with a name as bulletproof as the original NSXes.
When you call a car an "NSX", you call to it certain expectations, certain requirements, that the NC1 blatantly ignores. While the original NSXes feel to me like the engineers wanted to push the envelope of driver engagement while offering the purest of driving experiences, the NC1 felt to me like a group of men in suits wanting to wave their... *ahem* egos, to the world. And if Acura were to let us believe that they worked closely with Honda engineers in Japan to create the NSX, then I can only be led to believe that Honda as a whole has lost the plot entirely. Honda back in the 90s were known for their absolutely stellar sports cars, flawless both in behind the wheel experiences and reliability. Cars that hardly anyone can say a bad thing about, like the S2000, the Integra Type R, even the Beat, and, of course, the NA NSXes. They were the "enthusiast's company", I would even go as far to say. But right now, seeing this... thing, the NC1, I can only conclude that they have lost that drive, that touch, that passion, entirely.
Reviewers in real life that I hold in very high regard all find the car to be underrated and brilliant, yet I found it so ghastly awful. It made me doubt myself, or the game's authenticity. "You know, maybe this game's physics is broken", I think. "That'd explain why last week's Peugeot VGT was so awful, as was the LaFerrari", I reason. "Maybe this car is just one of those cars you need to see in person to love", I'd continue. Yes, I wanted to like this car so much, I was making excuses for it post drive.
One person I've left out of that list of reviewers I hold in high regard is Tsuchiya Keiichi. And that's because he didn't like the NC1 either.
When Tsuchiya-san was driving the car and finding faults with it, I felt so, so happy, like a massive weight was lifted off my shoulders. I don't know how to describe to you that euphoric moment when you get confirmation that you're not insane, when previously, all the signs in the world and everyone you know were telling you that you are. I think the biggest difference is, of course, the roads Best Motoring were twisty mountain roads no sane person should be running a car on. While not the biggest difference, what I think the most important difference in the Best Motoring review was that those are bona fide, racing car drivers, trying their darndest to set a quick lap for review and comparison purposes. And that I think is the sort of driving that brings out the worst in a NC1. Maybe it's a brilliant car for street driving. Maybe it's a brilliant car even when driven briskly. But at the limit? By highly charged people trying to prove a point? That's the only kind of driving anyone would do in a racing game, and that's exactly the kind of driving that makes a NC1 crumble into shambles. And that's why the NC1 is, to me, more a luxury GT car than a sports car, and hence why it should never have been called a "NSX" to begin with.
Tsuchiya-san is also a very happy owner of a NA2 NSX-R. He's visibly proud and beaming whenever he mentions his old- er, I mean... more cultured NSX. After setting a sector time, he kept pushing on and on after, simply because the car was so fun to drive at the limit, he couldn't help himself.
That, in my opinion, is what makes a sports car a sports car. It's not about the power; petrolheads can entertain themselves for as long as a tank of fuel will last them in a Mazda Roadster if it comes to that. It's about that feeling of trust, that feeling of you and only you being in control of the car, nothing and no one else. It's as much about the cornering ability as it is the sound, the sensation through the steering wheel and chassis, or even how a shift knob feels. These little things that can't be quantified is exactly what the NA NSXes did so, so well, which is precisely why I believe the entire committee that was in charge of the NC1 just aren't sports car drivers, nor did they even attempt to seek any input from racing drivers. And I don't believe the NC1 was meant for track use, either. They shove all this old nostalgia NSX crap onto us, but I don't for a second believe any of them have driven the NA NSXes on the limit.
If nothing else, I want you to take a look at Tsuchiya-san throughout the whole video. Listen to him talk about and rave about his NSX-R. Can you make a sports car as inspiring as that? Can you make someone feel the things Tsuchiya-san is feeling? Can you change lives like that? Can you inspire anyone like that? That, THAT is why the NA NSXes are legendary, because everyone who drives one walks away impressed and inspired, wanting more. Gordon Murray drove one to work every day designing the McLaren F1. Someone known affectionately as the "Drift King" dailies one. Can the NC1 have this sort of impact on anyone? Was Acura building this car more for a brand image thing, or because they wanted to make the best damn sports car the world has ever seen? I highly suspect the former.
If this is the future of motoring, consider me having turned in my keys. Call me a stick in the mud. Call me a socially irresponsible ingrate. Call me a dirty old man if you must; just don't call me a fan of the NC1. The original NSXes are the sort of cars that get people of all ages into cars, and the NC1 is exactly the sort to turn those people away from it. The NC1 takes a name people instinctively associate with good experiences and good memories, and then takes a huge, steaming, unapologetic diarrhea dump all over those experiences, memories, and expectations. While I've avoided comparisons to the classic NA NSXes over the course of this review, I've also avoided calling the NC1 a "NSX", simply because, to me, it isn't an NSX. It's insulting and infuriating to me that the NC1 is called that. It is a very different machine born in a very different world to very different parents with very different goals and methods to achieve those goals. This is clearly not a sports car. This is a luxury car with some hint of eco sensibility in it at best. It'd come under less criticism if it were literally called anything else. As it is, presented to me as a super sports car, the NC1 is so bad, it's offensive. It's like telling someone their dead wife has come back to life, only to shove a completely different woman onto him with the same name. It's disrespectful, disgusting, and a farce. Like the sort of reviewer who uses other reviews to make a point.
In other news, I am basically a younger, English speaking Tsuchiya Keiichi. Someone pls hire me to do car things.
NC1 "NSX" Review Whilst I Try Very Hard Not to Puke
*sigh*
I'm a little overwhelmed. A little exhausted. A little exasperated, perhaps. There's so much to say, and I feel so much, too much. I don't really know where to start.
I won't spend much time going over the original NA1 and NA2 NSXes, as I think the fairy tale status of the originals is common knowledge in this industry and community. This means that its successor, the NC1 NSX, has a lot to live up to. So much so in fact, it's pretty much impossible for any machine to deliver on the unreasonable amount of hype that was placed on its double wishbone suspension at all four corners. Is it unfair? Of course. Especially because people tend to only remember and exaggerate the good bits of nostalgia, which I find nauseating.
That said, the NC1, expectations or not, is unbelievably horrible to drive.
I still have trouble wrapping my head around how bad it is. I've heard automotive journalists and celebrities rave about how good the car is, journalists I hold in very high regard and such as Matt Farah. James Martin. Harry Metcalfe, and Jay Leno. They all loved and praised the NC1 highly, almost to the same levels as one would praise the originals. But holy hell, something about it simply doesn't translate over into the game.
I can't... I wish you could see my face and hear my voice as I say this, but holy hell I can't even begin to tell you how or why it's so bad. I legit feel like puking when I think of the car's driving dynamics in the game. As with any road car in the game, it takes about twenty acres to stop. It weighs more than some SUVs. The suspension is almost luxury car levels of soft. The thing feels like it has The Leaning Tower of Pisa almost completely filled to the top with water stapled onto its roof, just so the water could slosh around in corners. Mid engined supercars are supposed to be svelte, evocative, intricate things of beauty, yet this thing looks like a hulking brick with a clown smile. Even its fictional derivative in GTA V is called the "Dinka Jester". And honestly, I think whoever designed and named the Jester was onto something; once you see that clown like smile plastered over its hulking face, there really is no unseeing it.
This car rolls so much, and feels like it has the centre of gravity set so high, I don't believe for a SECOND this thing can pass The Moose Test, a.k.a. a very dramatic slalom. Chicanes make this thing crumble and cry in a sad heap, as turning into a corner makes this thing lean so hard sideways, even a mild turn with banking on Blue Moon Bay's oval makes this thing break into a drift.
"Hey, racers! We know what you like! You like rotating your cars into turns, don't you? Here, have all the rotating in ZA WARUDO!"- someone at Acura, probably
That's just one turn. It gets exponentially worse with a chicane that requires sharp and sudden weight shifting laterally, as this car shows ZERO finesse or even interest in controlling its own body movement and weight shifting. This thing makes a MR2 blush with snap oversteer.
The front suspension doesn't even feel damped at all. Using full braking just dumps all the weight on the front of the car, leaving the rear tyres to reach for the sky, and break out into the aforementioned drift. This also means the car is near impossible to trail brake with, as the front tyres are always overloaded from the excessive mass and weight, and the rears are always a hair trigger from snapping out even under braking. It takes the precision of knitting with your toes and feet to trail brake this stupid thing.Chicanes! My one (of very many) weakness!
"Yo, petrol heads! Yeah, we know all your cool slang! You like weight shifting, don't you? Here, have ALL the weight shifting in ZA WARUDO!"- someone at Acura, probably.
On corner exits, again, the front end doesn't feel like it has ANY damping. Any slight touch of the accelerator to try to ease the front tyres into an apex, and weight just FLIES off the front, resulting in a turning radius increase that could make it orbit Earth as its second moon. And mind you, this understeer is well before you even put any power down. Oh, you'd think a car that understeers massively on corner exits will at least put power down well, wouldn't you? Wrong. This car's IC engine powering the rear wheels will often hit a point where it overpowers the front motors powering the front wheels, resulting in a car that's chronically understeering one moment, to completely facing the wrong direction the next. You're made to fear and account for both under and oversteer on corner exit. On long sweeping turns, you're often made to shift while turning, given this thing has a 9 speed with close ratios. Shifting while turning means the front wheels' motors never stop turning, yet the rear wheels' IC engine does have to take a pause. The re-engagement of the rear wheels to the IC engine is so rough and jerky, even THAT has a very real chance of breaking this fat, fragile, hopeless lump into a spin.
As easy as it would be for every photo in this review to be the car going way too fast sideways, sometimes buried in barriers, that'd be no challenge as a photographer.
This car was so awful we actually started on Sports Medium tyres, up from the car's default Sport Hards. As the races piled on, we moved onto Sports Softs, and were even contemplating going onto Racing Hards. THAT'S how god awful this thing is. That said, at least this car's problems can mostly be solved by blind grip. The car's aghast behaviour can be, to an appreciable degree, masked by blind grip for as long as the tyres last (and they won't, given this car's near 1.8 tons kerb mass). That is not to say however, that the NC1 is good, or even an acceptable drive on softer tyres. There is still no precision. There is still no control over the car's body movements. You're just given a bigger envelope before the car bites your head off all the same. The tyres can at least wring some grip from all the unreasonable weight put on them when the car leans, instead of simply giving up instantly and exploding into a puff of smoke.
Despite being technically an AWD car, you cannot drive this like an AWD car. As the front wheels are powered only by puny 1.3kW⋅h motors, most of the car's shove comes from its 3.5L V6 engine that drives only the rear wheels. This means that, at launch, it will smoke tyres with the best of American muscle, and on corner exits, it still doesn't put down any power at all, thanks in tandem with its cotton candy suspension setup. The batteries and hybrid system is essentially hundreds of kilos of dead weight on the track. The SH-AWD system is supposed to overdrive the outside wheels and slow the inside wheels during cornering, yet as multiple different people in COTW can attest to, this thing just slides into corners instead of rotating into them in a controlled and discreet fashion. The "SH" in SH-AWD seems to stand for "Savagely Horrendous" instead of "Super Handling".
I hopped into a 2017 R35 GT-R for the race at Dragon Trail this week,as I was rapidly getting angry driving the NC1as it's very closely comparable on paper with the NC1; power for the NC1 and R35 is 578PS and 572PS respectively, and mass, 1,780kg (3,924lbs) and 1,770kg (3,902lbs). Yeah, I said it. Burn me at the stake for being a heretic if need be, but we truly live in a world where an NSX is comparable in mass to a GT-R, and I don't want to live on this planet anymore. It seemed too perfect a comparison to pass up, however, as both the NSX and GT-R were Japanese bubble economy darlings back in the day, and both were fierce competitors both on the streets and in the racetrack.
The race at Dragon Trail was a very enlightening one for me personally, as I was in close, sparring proximity with COTW's resident Stig, Vic, for... oh, about half the race, which gave me a perfect perspective to assess the strengths and weaknesses of both cars, relative to each other. I came second, but that's because that's my first race in a GT-R, and Vic has had a few races to get used to and know the NSX (not that he needs very long to get acclimatised to any car, but just let me have my excuses in peace, okay?!).
Racing driver excuses aside, the GT-R visibly loses out on the tighter, technical sections of the track. Most egregious of this difference in cornering speed was in the complex that houses the Chicane of Death, as Vic easily pulls a gap of about 3 tenths over my GT-R each lap there, in spite of how much I whined and complained about the NSX's handling, given that the base GT-R is a rather floaty brick in its own right. In the straights, I think my GT-R might have had a very slight advantage, with my eyes glued on the deltas during the race, though this is easily offset most of the time by the NSX's better corner exit speeds. The launch between these two hulking giants is a dead heat: withlaunchtraction control, both cars maintain their gaps and positions from a standing start. And while beating an R35 in the corners is akin to saying you outran a drunk turtle, going toe-to-toe with the GT-R in its own game is a seriously astounding feat.
(Where's our SSRX Infield Layout, PD?!)
Given the NSX's far superior cornering speeds and comparable acceleration to the GT-R, you might be wondering how in the blazes I've managed to bother Vic in the NSX for as long as I've been able to. The answer comes back to the god awful handling of the NSX. I started second last in that race, and I don't know if I made a single, legitimate overtake the whole race; the NSXes around me all just fell off and died like butterflies. Even Vic wasn't immune to a few visible, but not race ending screw ups, which kept me in stalking range for longer than I perhaps should've. Long story short, the NSX is a faster car than the GT-R in theory, but in practice, the much more predictible, easier to drive, no surprises, never worrying GT-R I daresay is just as fast as the NSX. I know, speaking for myself personally, that I set better hot lap times in the GT-R than I do in the NSX.
Off the track, the comparison doesn't look to favour the NC1 at all; it costs twice and change that of the GT-R, at 200,000dollarsCredits. For costing twice the GT-R, it certainly isn't twice the anything of the GT-R, be it in terms of practicality, lap times, or just fun behind the wheel. If I were given 200,000 dollars, I'dbuy a NA2 NSX-Rbuy a base GT-R and use the change to tune it up to levels beyond what the NC1 can even dream of. Here's the thing: the R35 chassis is what, THIRTEEN YEARS OLD this year. It is a car renowned for its heavy tuning potential, with several well established tuning powerhouses in the aftermarket to cater for a wide market of owners. The NC1 simply can't compete on that front. And it comes across as nothing but ludicrous to me when you tell me that you spend all these years R&Ding a new sports car, with all these hybrid, AWD, cutting edge, game changing wizardry. You tell me it has three motors, a 3.5L V6, nine speeds, and the end result is something that's barely faster than a (then) ten year old granddad GT-R, with its "traditional" IC 3.8L V6 being its only power source, and "only" 6 speeds to work with. I'm sorry, but that's just bullcrap to me.
The NC1 does have some redeeming factors. I imagine it'd be easy and pleasant to drive in the city, with the IC engine only kicking in at speed, which in theory should provide for a very quiet and smooth ride. The outward vision from the driver's seat is superb. I'd even go as far as to say outward visibility is comparable to that of the original NSX, which is no mean feat given today's extra stringent rollover and crash test standards.
Because the suspension setup in this car is so soft, I find that it actually handles bumps and road imperfections really well. The standout example of this is at Red Bull Ring, where the apexes have these "Sausages of Death" to discourage corner cutting. Having no real choice but to fly right over these Sausages sometimes due to my lack of ability to control the car, the Sausages hardly registered through the car; you certainly feel them, but it never threw the car off its course or upset whatever balance it might have relatively speaking. The NC1 also has very short overhangs, which means it clears these Sausages even under full cornering loads.
Turn 1:
Last Turn:
Yes, okay, it does look like it's scraping a little on T1.
Lastly, it might, MIGHT, be a good drift car, seeing as it's already KANSEI DORIFUTOing (inertia drifting) into every corner even without you meaning to, anyway. With nine gears and 3 motors to supplement the engine, the car is never out of breath in any situation to keep smoking the rear tyres.
In spite of how blatantly and almost unapologetically awful the NC1 is, I actually think it's not beyond saving. I actually really love the fictional Gr. 4 and Gr. 3 NC1s in this game. I love the way they sound, I love their balance, and, yes, I even love the way they drive. With the Gr. 4 cars being especially close to the road cars they're based on, it really makes me wonder what a NC1 Type R would look, and drive, like.
If the race cars don't do certain things, neither should the road car. Take away the useless batteries that don't make the car go any faster. Stiffen it to hell and back. Bathe it in Championship White and put a red Honda badge on it or ten. Glue on carbon bits like front splitters, rear wings and diffusers, and make it rear wheel drive. I think that would satiate a lot of people if done right.
Unfortunately, a "Type R" isn't really to boost slow sales; it's usually born because of good sales. Besides, unless it's standing toe-to-toe with a 911 GT2 RS, I don't know who would pay in excess of 200,000 USD for a stripped out racing car.
Overall, as-is, the NC1 a horrible car. Take this one liner conclusion to the review if you don't want to hear an old man whine and moan for an hour with no pictures to keep you entertained for the longer conclusion.
The Rant with No Photos:
Over the course of this review, I've abstained from drawing comparisons to, or even mentioning the original NSXes. That's because I feel that no car can possibly deliver on the unrealistic, legendary and fairy tale like hype and expectations the original cars have set for the NC1. Moreover, the NC1 is such a different beast, a radically different concept from the originals, and hence why I didn't want to mention the originals too much. But, in the few days I've taken to write this review, I've also come to realise that I'm only making excuses for the car. OF COURSE it can be compared to the originals. It HAS to be. They have the same name. The NC1 is reusing the classics' colours in bid to move more units out the showroom. Promotional videos and press releases all try to rub the original in your face to make you feel like this car is just like the original, but it's just so ghastly awful it has no business being compared to any sports car, let alone one with a name as bulletproof as the original NSXes.
When you call a car an "NSX", you call to it certain expectations, certain requirements, that the NC1 blatantly ignores. While the original NSXes feel to me like the engineers wanted to push the envelope of driver engagement while offering the purest of driving experiences, the NC1 felt to me like a group of men in suits wanting to wave their... *ahem* egos, to the world. And if Acura were to let us believe that they worked closely with Honda engineers in Japan to create the NSX, then I can only be led to believe that Honda as a whole has lost the plot entirely. Honda back in the 90s were known for their absolutely stellar sports cars, flawless both in behind the wheel experiences and reliability. Cars that hardly anyone can say a bad thing about, like the S2000, the Integra Type R, even the Beat, and, of course, the NA NSXes. They were the "enthusiast's company", I would even go as far to say. But right now, seeing this... thing, the NC1, I can only conclude that they have lost that drive, that touch, that passion, entirely.
Reviewers in real life that I hold in very high regard all find the car to be underrated and brilliant, yet I found it so ghastly awful. It made me doubt myself, or the game's authenticity. "You know, maybe this game's physics is broken", I think. "That'd explain why last week's Peugeot VGT was so awful, as was the LaFerrari", I reason. "Maybe this car is just one of those cars you need to see in person to love", I'd continue. Yes, I wanted to like this car so much, I was making excuses for it post drive.
One person I've left out of that list of reviewers I hold in high regard is Tsuchiya Keiichi. And that's because he didn't like the NC1 either.
When Tsuchiya-san was driving the car and finding faults with it, I felt so, so happy, like a massive weight was lifted off my shoulders. I don't know how to describe to you that euphoric moment when you get confirmation that you're not insane, when previously, all the signs in the world and everyone you know were telling you that you are. I think the biggest difference is, of course, the roads Best Motoring were twisty mountain roads no sane person should be running a car on. While not the biggest difference, what I think the most important difference in the Best Motoring review was that those are bona fide, racing car drivers, trying their darndest to set a quick lap for review and comparison purposes. And that I think is the sort of driving that brings out the worst in a NC1. Maybe it's a brilliant car for street driving. Maybe it's a brilliant car even when driven briskly. But at the limit? By highly charged people trying to prove a point? That's the only kind of driving anyone would do in a racing game, and that's exactly the kind of driving that makes a NC1 crumble into shambles. And that's why the NC1 is, to me, more a luxury GT car than a sports car, and hence why it should never have been called a "NSX" to begin with.
Tsuchiya-san is also a very happy owner of a NA2 NSX-R. He's visibly proud and beaming whenever he mentions his old- er, I mean... more cultured NSX. After setting a sector time, he kept pushing on and on after, simply because the car was so fun to drive at the limit, he couldn't help himself.
That, in my opinion, is what makes a sports car a sports car. It's not about the power; petrolheads can entertain themselves for as long as a tank of fuel will last them in a Mazda Roadster if it comes to that. It's about that feeling of trust, that feeling of you and only you being in control of the car, nothing and no one else. It's as much about the cornering ability as it is the sound, the sensation through the steering wheel and chassis, or even how a shift knob feels. These little things that can't be quantified is exactly what the NA NSXes did so, so well, which is precisely why I believe the entire committee that was in charge of the NC1 just aren't sports car drivers, nor did they even attempt to seek any input from racing drivers. And I don't believe the NC1 was meant for track use, either. They shove all this old nostalgia NSX crap onto us, but I don't for a second believe any of them have driven the NA NSXes on the limit.
If nothing else, I want you to take a look at Tsuchiya-san throughout the whole video. Listen to him talk about and rave about his NSX-R. Can you make a sports car as inspiring as that? Can you make someone feel the things Tsuchiya-san is feeling? Can you change lives like that? Can you inspire anyone like that? That, THAT is why the NA NSXes are legendary, because everyone who drives one walks away impressed and inspired, wanting more. Gordon Murray drove one to work every day designing the McLaren F1. Someone known affectionately as the "Drift King" dailies one. Can the NC1 have this sort of impact on anyone? Was Acura building this car more for a brand image thing, or because they wanted to make the best damn sports car the world has ever seen? I highly suspect the former.
If this is the future of motoring, consider me having turned in my keys. Call me a stick in the mud. Call me a socially irresponsible ingrate. Call me a dirty old man if you must; just don't call me a fan of the NC1. The original NSXes are the sort of cars that get people of all ages into cars, and the NC1 is exactly the sort to turn those people away from it. The NC1 takes a name people instinctively associate with good experiences and good memories, and then takes a huge, steaming, unapologetic diarrhea dump all over those experiences, memories, and expectations. While I've avoided comparisons to the classic NA NSXes over the course of this review, I've also avoided calling the NC1 a "NSX", simply because, to me, it isn't an NSX. It's insulting and infuriating to me that the NC1 is called that. It is a very different machine born in a very different world to very different parents with very different goals and methods to achieve those goals. This is clearly not a sports car. This is a luxury car with some hint of eco sensibility in it at best. It'd come under less criticism if it were literally called anything else. As it is, presented to me as a super sports car, the NC1 is so bad, it's offensive. It's like telling someone their dead wife has come back to life, only to shove a completely different woman onto him with the same name. It's disrespectful, disgusting, and a farce. Like the sort of reviewer who uses other reviews to make a point.
In other news, I am basically a younger, English speaking Tsuchiya Keiichi. Someone pls hire me to do car things.
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