In a post last month we asked the question is Porsche the “Benchmark” for all Other Supercars? That particular post showcased a video of the GT-R facing off against a 997 Turbo and referenced a prior entry regarding a road test of the new Nissan GT-R vs. a Porsche 997 Turbo and the resulting debate about which car is better/faster.
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.
