Face off: R35 GT-R vs 997 Turbo
January 15, 2008 by George Skentzos
Its the race we have all been waiting for, the incredible new Nissan GT-R pitted against its benchmark, the Porsche 911 Turbo at the Tsukuba Circuit in Japan.
Print it: 
Related Articles:
2009 Range Rover Sport face lift spied
Car makers seem to have made an annual pilgrimage to the winter testing zone in northern Scandinavia, this time with
2009 BMW 3-Series face lift
Only a few short days after revealing the new 7-Series, BMW has also unveiled its face lifted 3-Series sedan and
Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet
Given that the Porsche costs almost half of the Ferrari and Lambo which sit above it, you have to give
Porsche Boxster face-lift
The majority of car manufacturers bring out face lifts and complete overhauls of their model range within a 3-5 year
BMW M3 Sedan facelifted already
In what is quite possibly the quickest turnover of any car in history, BMW has released the first official images
Comments
26 Responses to “Face off: R35 GT-R vs 997 Turbo”Speak Your Mind
Tell us what you're thinking...and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Is it just me or does the Porsche bork the corner after the straight on purpose. He was on the outside and would have had a nice switchback move, but in he slows and tucks in behind… wtf?
Put em on a real track whicn really tests out the cars and drivers. Nurbergring is the one
I am guessing the drivers are not full time pros which is essential for a real contest between these two speed devils.
Awesome. Need more! :D
Ill have to wait for gran turismo 5 to judge for myself, regardless its pretty clear the GTR at least matches the Turbo. Id have to question that ‘Mines’ sticker on the fender though..does that mean thats a modified GTR?
Reckon the Nissans quicker pulling away all the time. That’ll p1ss Top Gears Hamster and Porche off.
Is it me or does the Porche look a bit dated agasinst GT
It looked like the 911 was biased more towards rwd than awd, it just wanted to keep snapping its tail. But yeah that mine’s sticker is a bit worrying. A fair test would of had the drivers swapping cars.
As much as i love the GTR, im sure that this test was to stroke the egos of the Japs. Put someone like Walter Rohl in the Porsche, and it will be a totally different story. They guy driving the Porsche is a goose. If hanging the tail out, and overshooting apexes, was the fastest way around the track, F1 would become a drift contest. Still, at half the price, to hang with, and even overtake a 997 down the straight is quite an achievement.
dunno bout the Porsche looking dated.
Im a GTR fan through and through.. but Porsche is sexier still.
But GTR is sexy enough and practical.
Great Video.. need more.
ME SAY THAT YOU HAVNT GOT A RACE UNTILL YOU GET DESCENT DRIVERS THEN SWITCH CARS AFTER A FEW LAPS TO COMPARE…….
That’s not a standard GTR!! If you look closely at the top of the front guards towards the end of the video you can see the MINE’S sticker! The car has mostly suspension and exhaust upgrades…
As much as many of us like the result of this video, I agree that it should be done with 2 verifiably stock cars and professional drivers.
That means it’s a job for Top Gear’s tame racing driver. I just hope that they test it in comparable weather conditions to when they ran the 911 Turbo.
Looks a little staged to me but who knows really, I guess we will have to wait for a test in Australia as that is where it matters. But one thing I do know and that is the GTR is Fugly typical of Japanese cars. I mean seriously its been awhile since they have dewsigned anything desirable in the looks department
I’m a GT-R fan but obviously the Mine’s sticker looks suss. The white colour of the car is also classic Mine’s. Like others here can’t wait for the Top Gear ep.
As far as these guys being biased / the video being a setup and so on, this looked like a Best Motoring video. Anyone who has watched one where they compare Japanese domestic cars (JDMs) to the Europeans (or cars from other regions) would know that what they say when wrapping up the contest is usually quite impartial. On more than one occasion they say something like “the JDMs still have some way to go to match the Europeans” on one or more aspects.
The GTR is owned by MINES, although it is still completely stock. This was originally part of their R&D.
Godspeed: So you are basically saying that Best Motoring treat JDM cars just like Top Gear treat British cars? With a bit of leniency towards their foibles.
I just managed to look at the video. Let me tell you that those are real professional, judging by how the GTR driver overtook the 911. If you don’t know someone being a pro racer, doesn’t mean that he isn’t.
I think the GT-R won because of the ‘line’ it takes in the final corner before the long stretch. That line heavily favours AWD cars that have greater exit speed and slightly understeers during the entry, while the 911 took the normal corner approach. One thing I’m not sure is whether the 911 turbo was a RWD or AWD…hmmm
all 911 turbo’s are awd!
Yeah Im sure those drivers are either professionals.. or semi-professionals.. not common road drivers… some rules will prevent media coverage of such events if not driven by professionals… that or this video was “unofficial”.
Yes all 911 Turbos were all wheel drive since the 993 in 1995 (964 -> 993 –> 996 –> 997)
Supercujo: Just from the few BMI vids that I have, I found they aren’t actually that biased towards the JDMs. For e.g. in their tests of the then new 996 Turbo vs JDM rivals, and E46 M3 v rivals, they’re very complimentary towards the Europeans. For the 911 Turbo one of the blokes is quite a Porsche fan and actually gets the car hoisted, explains the parts in detail, etc.
Ivan; you’ve probably got a point though the GT-R did take a good line thru the second last corner (before the long straight – not pit straight). You’ve probably driven Tsukuba quite a few times I reckon?
Lol Godspeed, I only play the Tsukuba circuit in GT4 with my PS2…hahaha. I never been to Japan mate, but I wanna go there one day =)
Well, if the 911 turbo is AWD, then most of the power is transfered to the rear wheel i guess, seeing how easy it oversteers when the driver apply too much throttle at the corner exit. I wonder how come K. Tsuchiya wasn’t the one driving the Porsche =)
He kept saying “Haiyai”…which means ‘fast’ at the end. lol
I agree that they should swap drivers, but I think the video is not the complete one…so we wouldn’t know if they already swapped before this round.
while i do agree the 911 turbo is a bit twitchier to drive, i also think that the porsche’s tyres are tired. therefore not providing enough traction. the gtr seems to be more manageable on the limit. or maybe that coz its tyres are fresh and grippy type.
need a rematch. Gan san in the porsche. drift king in the gtr. if the gtr wins then we can be more confident of the result.
The 911 turbo is a Tiptronic model, which cannot be expected to compete with the GTR for outright performance around a track. As a result, it is much slower. End of argument.
The GTR is not available with a conventional ’stick shift’ manual, only a computer controlled manual with an ‘auto’ style console selector, and buttons on the steering wheel if you wish to change gears yourself.
It would be interesting to see a manual 911T vs a GTR, no doubt in the future someone will do it, but as far as this particualr test is concerned, the cars’ specification was as ‘equal’ as possible.
+1 for racing again after swapping drivers.
Did anyone notice, but the porsche was a left hand drive, driven by a so called “professional” who normally drives RHD in Japan. No wonder he was all over the place..