There was lots of heated debate on the more popular Porsche sites (such as Rennlist) and general car sites like Autoblog. Of course there were arguments on both sides with lots of good points.
Well, last week I received an email, and then a comment from a reader, who understood Japanese. I’ve posted his comment below. (I’ve edited a little for readability. You can see the original comment here):
R33 said in February 1st, 2008 at 11:55 pm
I WILL TRY TO HELP HERE.They are not putting demerits on the 911 turbo.
They are saying at the start of the video the tires on the 911 are well used and even so, with the old tires in, it put up a very good time.
Because of the used tires the pilot had to take unusual lines. Because of the condition of the tires there was considerable over and under-steer.
Even so as you can see in the middle straight both cars are very similar.
What Tsuchiya said, is that the GTR was, in comparison with the 911 price, a very good bargain. Throughout the entire video he repeatedly prized the 911 turbo as a benchmark for affordable super performance.
Don’t try to get too protective with a beloved trademark though. It only makes the brand become lazy.
Thanks to Nissan for putting a new benchmark for supercars. This will certainly make the next generation 911 a much better ¨and maybe affordable¨ car which will make aficionados like you and me much happier.
It’s widely thought and accepted that these Japanese tuner challenges are staged to favor their countries brands; it’s interesting to get some sort of translation that shows it is not 100% biased (or if it is, they at least admit to it).
What I find even more intriguing about the host’s comments is the fact that he is saying what a good bargain the GT-R is, in comparison with the 911 price. Original rumors about pricing had the GT-R as expensive, if not more expensive than the 911 Turbo? However, pricing was announced today (see this post at Autoblog) that disputes that. MSRP looks like it will be around $70k before destination and handling charges and, of course, any additional dealer mark-up given anticipated demand.
I don’t know if this will help put to rest all the debate regarding if the event was staged or not, but it’s great to get the translation (I’m assuming it is accurate). If anyone else who reads my blog can understand Japanese, I would love to know if you verify the translation.
As always, I can’t think of any other car that gives you true “Supercar” performance in the form of a daily driver such as the 911. Can you? Let me know.
View Comments (3)
Well my friend the 997 is a real super car and everybody know it well but let say the truth here, isn’t that good what they did I mean NISSAN did such a great job in the new R35 they created a real monster and it is pain in the aaz for some European and American cars.
Lets clap our hands for NISSAN gentlemen.
Hi it's me again.
I live in japan.
Im not a japanese expert but i can do my part when is nescessary, im realy happy if i could come with some help.
I got the complete video with the race performed by the new gtr against a 997 gt3 ,997 turbo tiptronic(the same of the video you posted),nsx r,and a gallardo superleggera in tsukuba racing circuit.
After 5 laps using street tires on a winter day ,the result of the test race amused me. The winner on the race was not any porsche or nissan or honda, but the lambo!
Tsukuba is a pretty "chunky"circuit and ist not cutted for powerfull machines. So the lambo winning was a surprise for me and even for the pilots who conducted the test. The pilots who drove the porsches lamented the fact that the circuit didnt fit the cars they drove and the gtr pilot commented that the car is indeed good, but heavy.
I have to say though, they are all a little harsch about the gtr in the final statements of the video. And, again Tsuchiya said that by the price comparison the gtr is a perfect choice but not yet to be called a supercar.
Looks pretty obvious that the japanese motorpress would like to push their judgement for their own produced brands on most of the videos they launch for their own market. (top gear is a easy example of that european way). But, when the case in view is a statement maded by a factory (in this case nissan's desire to build a car capable to go toe to toe with the best in the world) they can be very critical.
So, dont worry maybe my translation for you is not perfect but im not liyng to you.
For me...the best choice would be a gt3. But, since i cant afford one i drive a skyline.
Thank you.
R33,
Thanks so much for the extra information. This page still gets a lot of interest, so any extra information is always helpful.
Thanks again!
993C4S