1) RUF CTR Yellowbird
Looks beautiful, sounds great, really aggressive to drive. You really feel like you've opened the gates to hell when you step on it in this car, and your opponents agree as you blast past them. Too bad this car isn't really competitive against most drivers. With sports hards you can maybe keep up in the corners if you really summon your spiritanimal give it 105% concentration but there's no way to make an overtaking move until you get to a straight. It's pretty easy to defend with this car though, as it has so much pace on the straight even if someone gets alongside at corner exit, you only need 2-3 seconds of straight to leave them behind again.
Overall it might not be the fastest (I think a 500pp NSX will beat it even at stock 530pp), but certainly the most fun to drive.
Ps. With turbo upgrade and more than 550pp the car becomes even better. It feels like you've started an earthquake when you step on it even on a relatively straight road. Really stimulating to drive.
2) RUF BTR
It's like a Yellowbird-lite. A bit easier to drive, a bit slower on the straight and a bit less aggressive sounding, but still beautiful (maybe even better looking than the bird, hard to say). Same thing applies, you can maybe keep up with others in the corners but overtaking is difficult. Doesn't have quite as much pace on the straight so it doesn't have such a clear one-sided advantage as the bird, but it's such a fun car to drive I still pick it sometimes in 500pp rooms, unless the drivers are top-class.
3) Honda NSX Type-R '02
Not quite as beautiful as it's earlier versions but my god this car is great to drive. With default suspension, default LSD etc, only removable power upgrades to take it to 500pp it's loose but still really fast. The limit of grip is at a high level, and at the limit there's slight, controllable oversteer. In most corners I have the wheel straight or at a ~10 degree countersteer. Just the way I like it. 👍
4) Lamborghini Miura Bertone Prototype
First of all, this is maybe the most beautiful car in the world, let alone in GT5. Second comes the performance, which is unbelievable. The way this thing accelerates compared to other cars is unmatched, but unlike the Yellowbird this doesn't come with a hindrance in the corners. In stock form the car has quite a lot of understeer and it's hard to put the power down because technically it doesn't have an LSD (the default differential values are 0/0/0), but after adding a custom LSD with default settings I was immediately hitting NSX times on the Nordschleife, and the handling feels quite similar aswell. With this car's unbelievable straight line acceleration it's possible to overtake in places you've never overtaken before. I love it. 👍
5) Lancia Stratos
The most fun car to drive at 400pp, and gets even better when you tune it to about 450-480pp. I tried it even at 500pp but it was a bit too loco for that level
(and also you have to add a turbo or aero to get it that high and I disapprove of both especially in this car, which is meant to be an agile and responsive beast). Has fantastic straight line speed (people slipstream past me on the final straight on Nürb, but I pass them again even without slipstreaming, that's how fast it is) and is manageable in the corners, really responsive handling. Also with racing exhaust, the sound... the SOUND! It's the only car which is actually loud enough to cover up all the transmission whine, all you hear is angry Ferrari V6 ready to jump out of the engine bay and give everyone in the near vicinity a swift kick to the face.
The roadcar with racing exhaust sounds exactly like the rally version, which you can hear here:
Also it looks gorgeous.
(Ps. stay tuned for Stratos Overtakes part 2
)