[J-San]

Originally Posted by st-anger Originally Posted by SamuraiGti The chief editor of Best Motoring (a famous japanese video show about cars), Motoharu Kurosawa, best known as "Gan-San", a 65-years old ex-pilot and racing legend in Japan, has recently bought a Carrera GT. In a recent Best Motoring International issue, he drove the Carrera GT for the first time, in Suzuka circuit, and he seemed somewhat disappointed. He said things like: "The car feels a bit heavy" "The tires aren't responsive to weight transfer" "The dampers on the car are too soft, not stiff enough for performance driving" "Because the suspension is soft, the front feels heavy at corner entry" "There is a lot of weight transfer" "I wish the front turned into corners better, the tires need to be more performance oriented" "The car doesn't feel like it really has 612 horsepower under the hood" "Comparing to the high cornering capabilities of the NSX-R [his car before he got the Carrera GT], you can definitely feel the heavy weight of this car" "It feels heavier than the catalogue 1300 kg" "I can tell you for sure that the overall performance is excellent, but my first impression is that the car is very conservative" Since you've already driven the CGT by yourself too, I would like you to comment the affirmations of Mr. Kurosawa. ...i was waiting for someone asking these questions since i´ve seen the vid - and i´ve seen it many many many times as i´ve studied it after he droped the lines u listed above... i don´t know that much about BM and i can only speak about the Porsche comparisons as i´ve only seen them and the one thing - and many here agreed with that opinion - i noticed is a very very strong patriotism on japanese cars like NSX or Skyline - can´t remember exactely but there´re some comparisons where japanese cars are actually faster than other one´s comming from europe and many times i found it hard to believe - but well.... it didn´t really bother me untill i saw the GT test drive with this Gan-San guy - to be honest i don´t know nothing about his motorsport background or how good he really is behind the wheel - to drive a modern car ( even when it has 500+hp ) fast around a F1-style race track for the camera is nothing special for me personally as most of the BM drivers are showcar drivers - again, maybe they can do better but looking at the vids, seeing accl. points, braking points, different lines and the concentration they´re driving with - well, in the end i think it´s more about entertainment than to really look inside the performance, better said lap times - but that´s just my personal opinion although i have to add that i´m not the "worst" driver myself and i think i can judge that kinda good if someone really knows what he´s doing behind the wheel... so all the points of criticism are wiped off with three digit numbers: 7:32 and this is just the HvS time and we already know that WR can do a 7:2xmin... a car that is capable to clock such a time on the most demanding track, the Nürburgring Nordschleife, can´t be that bad, because when u have a car as described by Gan-San u´ll end up dead trying to clock such times... this time is only a number and many many of u who haven´t been at NS themselves will think that this is nothing really special - clocking such times with a 600+ hp car - but regardeless how good the driver is - for times below 7:30 u simply need a PERFECT car and the GT is a perfect car... "the car feels a bit heavy" - don´t know any situation where i thought that the GT felt heavy, more the other way round handling is very much comparable with a GT3 Cup car... "The tires aren't responsive to weight transfer" the N0 designated Michelin´s with the two rubber type compound are providing an amazing grip level and are IMHO the best tires besides the new N1 from the 997... can´t really follow him with that comment... "The dampers on the car are too soft, not stiff enough for performance driving" ...well........i think i have absolutely NO words for this one - he´s probably the first person complaining about the GT´s suspension beeing too soft and this after waaaaaay more than 100.000km of testing on the NS - and he´s complaining that it´s too soft on his F1 track......sorry.... :roll: the suspension is useable for daily driving but definitely NOT a softie - besides there´s a race setup available at the EZW but not for sale right now... with this suspension the lap time at NS will decrease by quite some seconds but setup wouldn´t be driveable for everyone - and this has been one of the main intentions of the testing team, a supercar with supercar handling but also drivable for every day... "Because the suspension is soft, the front feels heavy at corner entry" "There is a lot of weight transfer" "I wish the front turned into corners better, the tires need to be more performance oriented" ...again i don´t know if he´s speaking about a Carrera GT or a VW Phaeton.... "The car doesn't feel like it really has 612 horsepower under the hood" "Comparing to the high cornering capabilities of the NSX-R [his car before he got the Carrera GT], you can definitely feel the heavy weight of this car" ....does it...??? hope he knows that the accl is on the right... naaa, seriously - without any question - this 5.7ltr V10 is definitely the BEST engine i´ve ever driven - i could fill books on it - and i have driven lot´s of 500+hp cars in my life - i mean hey...it was designed to win LeMans and i think Porsches always did "quite well" there... funny that he´s comparing the GT with a NSX-R - what a pitty that he can´t add a REAL supercar comming from "his" region... AGAIN, this is NOT NOT NOT about blaming japaneese engineering, i´m among the first to honor them and especially asian car engineers are among the best worldwide due to their mentality to aspire the best, but a NSX - regardeless if -R or -RS or -RRSS (whatever), can´t be compared with a car like the GT - i tend to say that this is maybe a bit too populistic... "I can tell you for sure that the overall performance is excellent, but my first impression is that the car is very conservative" ...in the end i´m glad that he added this comment as well - i´m quite sure that i have clocked way more km´s than he did with the GT when he said that - the GT is 101% a car that needs getting used to, especially the PCCC and the "problem" is only the driving off, after that it´s just perfect and i´m sure he´ll realize that as well after some hundreds of km´s.... last thing i want to add here is that IMHO ppl shouldn´t "believe" that much into such TV presentations and especially the times driven there - maybe it´s nice to watch them drift around the track with their exotic cars and it´s surly nice and interesting too watch these cars that many of us won´t ever see for real but for me this is more show(business) than real concentration on true performance and lap times like e.g. "Sport Auto" does...

I saw that video too and I was going to ask the same. About Mr. Kurosawa, I know he is one of the best pilots that ever appeared on Japan, he was champion in both GT cars, Formula 3000 and even bikes. He was also a test driver for Michelin. He is a long time fan of Porsche, he even clocked a 8:10 min lap in a Porsche 964 turbo some years ago.

About his oppinion on the CGT, it's a bit surprising, but perhaps we should see his oppinion as the oppinion of someone used to racing cars more than road cars. I'm sure he won't trash for no reason a car himself has bought. Remember that the car he drove was a press car and probably wasn't in great condition (mostly tires and dampers), and that can explain much.

In what concerns to the comparison to the NSX-R (lakatu, an NSX-R is very different from a standard NSX, a standard NSX is too soft for the track and doesn't handle that good), it's understandable and I really believe his NSX-R is more agile and corners faster than the CGT, for one reason: his NSX-R uses the optional semi-slick "S tires" that make a HUGE difference on the track.