curious just how much of a diff does a superior car make?
 

So I was at the track today, I'm a newbie BTW, and notice there are is a huge assortment of cars with major variations in power out there at the same time (my beginner group had plenty of vettes, a ferrari, GTR, 2 CTS-Vs, etc.) So it got me thinking, the GT-R is obviously superior to the Z in every way (except looks IMO), but would a newbie like me be significantly faster in one? Just how big of a difference does that superior power and handling make? Would a novice GTR driver be faster than an intermediate Z driver? Would a GTR driver with just a few track days of exp be faster than an intermediate or higher level Z driver? I am just curious because basically anytime see a GTR behind me, I'm already looking ahead tot he next passing zone to let him by. Any thoughts on this form guys who have maybe tracked both or at least 2 cars that ar eon 2 very different levels of performance?

I would think a novice GTR driver could beat a intermediate Z driver so long as they had the courage to press the gas pedal, the GTR does the rest.

Is it really that amazing on the turns that it would trump a sizable skill/experience difference?

I was sent to Spring Mountain on GM's dime as a promo for buying a Z06. While there, neither I, nor anyone else I saw, while driving a zr1 could keep up with an instructor in a stock camaro ss on ps2's. I remember when I was in a grand sport trying to keep up with the zr1 in front of me thinking "this isn't fair, no way I can hang with him!" and then I realized that he was still behind the instructors camaro. It was supremely humbling to know that in a 3300# 638 HP car that has set 'ring records, I could be manhandled by someone in a stock camaro. Total ego destruction. Everyone in the class had similar observations. My point here is, owning a Monet does not an artist make.

That's what I was thinking. Obviously, with similar skill levels, the GTR will blow out the Z, but I mean the laws of physics still apply even tot he GT-R so a big skill difference should make up the ability difference in the cars right?

Negative. The gtr will not see the lines, hit apexes, or balance on the brakes bleeding the minimal momentum necessary. It will only shift for you. That's it. It's like saying that all you need to be an artist is a self-sharpening pencil.

:iagree: the car is a driving tool. A professional in a stock 370z could probably catch a newb in a GTR (provided the Z had oil and brake cooling)

This sort of came up because my gf was asking me if I won the lotto if I would buy a GT-R and I said I'd probably have to get more exp in at the track in the Z first so that I don't embarrass myself by being slow in the GT-R. Then i realized that I pretty much assume any GT-R I see out there is going to be amazing and blow the doors off all lesser cars, but thought that can't be right... The mystique of the GT-R can psyche you out, but a beginner in a GT-R is still a beginner right?

:eek: I am an artist. I must have a self-sharpening pencil!!!
I do everything in Photoshop, but still, I must have one!

Wal-Mart has 'em.

I don't really need one, but I didn't know they existed, ha.

It's called a mechanical pencil. Click click. Just like shifting a gtr.

Skills is the essential ingredients of driving.

Remember when Michael Schumacher won the F1 title with Benetton?? He always qualify Top 5 and win races where his team mate was always stuck at the middle of the pack...

nuff said.

The idea of GT-R, with 4WD and lots of driving aids, is to make it easy to drive fast, but if you want to master the track, you need skills.

Driving Aids IS NOT Driving Skils. ;)

Haha, I was imaging something complicated and ridiculous. A mechanical pencil isn't really sharpening itself....

Its really hard to make up nearly 160hp and awd traction. I have a datalog between both caes. You will be amazed at how mucj faster the gtr is. You just need a semi competent driver