The Great Car Showdown: Porsche 911 GT3 RS vs Nissan Nismo

As we stood in front of our two contenders, one thing was clear: both cars were built for speed and agility. The question on everyone's mind was which one would emerge victorious in this showdown? Our judges had decided to put the two cars through a series of tests to find out.

For their first test, the interior quality was at stake. Both cars received high marks for their rugged, track-focused design. However, when it came down to it, there could only be one clear winner. The Porsche 911 GT3 RS took the lead in this round, with its superior attention to detail and luxurious feel.

But that wasn't enough; our judges wanted to see how each car would handle on the road. They decided to take both cars out for a spin, starting with a quick reprise of the previous test - a lap around the track to get the tires warm. As they pulled away from the line, it was clear that the Nissan Nismo had some issues. The four-wheel drive system seemed to be causing problems, and the car's 220 kilogram weight disadvantage became apparent.

"Four wheel drive on track, what do you reckon?" asked our judge. "I reckon it will oversteer if provoked," replied Jason. "It fires a load of power to the rear in fact." The Nismo's advanced torque control system was designed to correct handling issues by moving power to the axle that needed it most. However, on this particular track, it seemed to be working against them.

Next up was the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. As our judge put it, "it's quick in there, it's got ground doesn't it." The car's weight advantage became apparent as they navigated the twists and turns of the circuit. However, this also made it more difficult to maneuver - a challenge that only a seasoned driver could overcome.

The real test came when our judges asked each car to take on a series of tight corners. The Porsche 911 GT3 RS was up first, and as soon as they hit the apex, it became clear that this was a car that meant business. "It's just balanced," said our judge, "it just feels nice and and balanced." However, when it came to braking, the Nismo took an early lead.

The Porsche 911 GT3 RS proved itself to be more agile in the corners, but its brakes were no match for the Nismo's carbon ceramic discs. As they accelerated out of each turn, it was clear that the Nismo had a significant advantage when it came to slowing down.

Finally, after several laps around the track, our judges gathered to compare their notes and tally up the scores. The Nissan Nismo had taken an early lead in terms of braking performance, but its four-wheel drive system had caused problems on the track. The Porsche 911 GT3 RS, on the other hand, had proven itself to be a more agile and responsive car - despite its heavier weight.

The final scores were as follows: 1-0 to the Nissan Nismo in terms of braking performance, but 2-1 overall. As it turned out, that one crucial point was all it took for the Porsche 911 GT3 RS to take the win. Our judges were unanimous in their praise for both cars - but only one could be crowned the champion.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello and welcome to fifth gear now normally i like to have a leisurely breakfast think about the day ahead make some plans but not this morning i couldn't wait to get out the front door i kept having these thoughts about 600 brake horsepower 196 miles an hour letters like gtr rs well i know what i'm on about well pull out just a bit wider go on a bit wider there you go this is the latest porsche 911 gt3 rs a stripped-out ultimate performance version of the world's most celebrated and enduring sports car it costs 141 000 pounds and this is the nissan gt-r nismo the standard gtr is bonkers enough but adding the word nismo sticks another firecracker up its exhaust and sticks another 70 grand on the price bringing it in line with the porsche it also has the same power to weight ratio and the legendary nissan skyline heritage to draw upon so on paper it looks a close competitor but is it really good enough to steal the porsche's crown german precision and pedigree versus japanese innovation and uh playstation suddenly i can't drive both so former f1 driver karen chandurk has manfully offered to help which one do you want mate do i get a choice no i'm in the nissan off we'll be performing three tests to discover which of these cars is the most accomplished all-rounder first a drag race between them the gt3 and gtr have got over 1100 horsepower but that's no use if you can't put the power down on the track so ultimately this is a test of traction and acceleration now i've got a 3.8 liter v6 twin turbo which kicks out 600 horsepower it's front engine but of course i've got four wheel drive so if i can't win this one then i'm doing something wrong i've actually got a slightly bigger motor than jason's got in the gtr this one's a four liter but i've actually got 80 horsepower less than him however i am 220 kilos lighter than the nissan and that should help me get off the line what's going to be tricky though is we've got damp welsh conditions which means his four-wheel drive is just going to give him that edge for the initial launch in the right conditions the porsche can get to 62 in just 3.2 seconds using its launch control computer to perfectly balance power and traction so how does that compare to the nissan well fact is we just don't know now interesting enough there are no official mortar 62 times for this because they don't like to publish them or they don't want to publish them likewise they don't tell you this launch control in this car but i know there is because i spoke to someone so i was going to get everything configured now my launch control is super easy he's going to be here a while by the time he dials in his settings i press pdk sport put my foot on the brake right foot to the floor on the throttle and just launch it german efficiency that should be it eventually i declared myself ready let the games begin that four-wheel drive was held bigger but now look at me go look at me go yeah yeah yeah wow the four wheel drive gave him the launch but then once i got out of first gear the porsche just shot off it was amazing that lightweight however it seems my celebrations were a bit premature because over in nissan land there had been an operator error i better have mr gear i thought it was in automatic mod but i was in the manual i'm not sure why i defaulted to french at that point but anyway i'd messed up by missing a gear fortunately for me it was best of three here we go flags up good gear change then good off the line he's launched uptime much better and we blasted it with my gear sorted the mighty gtr had got its power down and i was back in the game third and deciding run let's see what the porsche can do on this one nailed it well a round one to you yeah do you know what i've got to drive hard for the rest of the day because i think i think that's going to be tough to beat now i'd like to say that challenge one a drag race was a close four battle but it wasn't thanks mainly to his four-wheel drive system the nismo was the bismo and blew the porsche into the weeds but in test two the porsche has a chance to equalize because we're about to head out onto the road crazy amounts of power are gonna be of no use in this test it's all about comfort and cup holders these cars might be track focused but come on you've shelled out over 140 grand you'd want to drive them on the road as well so now we want to find out how civilized they are as everyday companions first the nissan so this is the nismo version which is obviously the performance arm of nissan it's been around now for 34 years with your research yeah i'm a geek i'm a geek but you know it's nearly twice as much money as the standard gtr are you getting twice as much stuff apart from a nismo badge okay it's got upgraded suspension it hasn't got carbon brakes and don't expect loads more power just 30 horsepower as it happens and although there's loads of carbon fiber that only saves 27 kilos in fact the top speed is identical at 196 miles an hour where else does the 70k come from you know 150 grand for a car it's got to be super special and this just isn't but like all of that console and stuff doesn't look like it's 150 grand what the car isn't and there's worse news for the nismo because early versions of the gtr which was launched in 2008 look almost identical and can now be yours a little more than 30 grand and you know what the seats are comfortable they are yeah you're not moving around and stuff but it's just a stiff suspension isn't it this is as comfy as it will be i'm in comfort mode my my bum's already hurting you've got a couple of seats in the back which you don't have in the porsche i suppose so that's definitely a bonus yeah you got cup holders and bits and pieces so it's got they've gone for a bit of practicality yeah and then we've got all this gtr nonsense all these g meters what do we want that for what what do we know that you are doing a 0.15 g of deceleration for the bridge there and the relevance and that is i don't know to be honest this seems like a lot of unnecessary information and a bit of a gimmick it does pull doesn't it you know that changes it to drive it's impressive but i'm not sure i mean it's a bit kind of in your face boy racer arguably i am but that's not what i want to project it's got grunt though it's definitely got some waft so the nissan's reasonably practical but the interior and exterior simply don't cut it for 150 000 pound car time for the porsche and my first impressions i do feel a bit exposed in green out in the open roads a little bit yeah it's me we're definitely announcing our arrival area i mean the green seat belt is just one step too far thankfully the gt3 comes in eight other colors so what about the ride quality i mean the gtr was quite stiff and it's not not a comfortable ride it's probably the understatement of the year it's not much different is it it's not a massive deal no it's not a massive difference no i mean inside the cabin noisier it's noisier but much more road rumble yeah i do like how the cup holders are hidden away though there's somewhere in there so they've got porsche i like that i do like these little doors yeah they're they're really cute did you know what the little chinks of stitching i mean you know a lot of this is all extras we've got what paint two and a half grand and these painted air vents around their extra white dials are extra carbon brakes nearly seven grand that's a lot of money for the carbon brakes actually in fact rgd3 had eighteen thousand pounds worth of extras on it whereas the nissan had none nevertheless i was definitely warming to the porsche's on-road charms i mean we're ticking along here we're doing you know 50 miles an hour it's 2000 rpm it's shifted up into seventh gear and i feel like i could just try this every day like the seats comfy you know on on the little cambers and and sort of undulations it's really follows the road in fact the ride quality of the porsche is about the same as the nissan however they are miles apart when it comes to second-hand prices if you take a ten-year-old version of this the 997 version of the ggtrs they're selling for more now than they cost back in the day you'd have to spend 110 grand to buy one which is amazing they all hold their value i don't care that one go up you're not going to get that with a nissa no do you know what a bit of car envy was creeping in by now you know later when we get to driving i've got obviously got to drive the nest out there you're gonna okay can i no no you just stay in your little four-wheel drive right now you know just for research i think no like no so at the end of our second test which car is better for everyday road driving so in terms of ride quality nothing in it both are quite harsh aren't they yeah i mean they're both built for the track and just just not really for bumpy roads but i think in terms of interiors this one's a clear winner isn't it just the quality i thought of the dash and all those bits and pieces inside just to step up for the same money feels special so that's one all one more test to go so now we're gonna frighten each other to death by taking these cars out for some full-blooded hot laps and with the scores at one all the winner of this test takes the overall victory we'll start with the nismo but before we fire up the stopwatch a quick reiki lap is called she's a bit sniffy isn't she so jp we're getting these tyres nice and warm um there's four wheel drive on track what do you reckon well i reckon it will oversteer if provoked because i think it fires a load of power to the rear in fact we've got some sort of torque split torque split reacts in milliseconds to correct handling issues by moving power to the axle that needs it most there's a lot of talk through the reel isn't it can you see the split yeah i can you keep an eye on the road will you it's interesting because it's all controlled electronically it's not something that we can adjust to talk about like you haven't got a button on the steering wheel for example or just that it's just happening it's just a brain doing its thing tell you what though it's quick in there it's got ground doesn't it we've got these chicanes here and being an extra 220 kilos that's going to be a little bit tricky isn't it to maneuver it as well as porsche you're looking like you have to concentrate quite hard you know you can feel it's got steel brakes on yeah that's going to be a disadvantage isn't it to the porsche should we see how quick it is yeah last couple of oh i corners tweet i probably left a little bit on the table there 45 27. all right so how does the porsche compare well i think our in-car reactions give you a pretty good idea that sounds absolutely amazing oh it's just balanced it's just it's just like gently do you know what hey jeffy i mean it's just a nice car it just feels nice and and balanced it does what you want to do you can flick the steering wheel over the curb you flick the wheel there oh man i must say though i felt like the the gtr accelerated better than your case in maybe not that surprising given the porsche's only got 470 newton meters of torque compared to a massive 652 for the nissan but this one just with the brakes you can brake so deep and the front just gets hooked up come on let's have a little go and see all right let's go that's probably good isn't it it's good on the brakes isn't it those carbon ceramics are just and on the curb look you can just hustle it over the change of direction the electronics still kick in a little bit though over the curves i love that i'll it's change proper race car this thing see what even though it's stiff it's got some compliance in there i feel like i can i'm so controlled in it it's not on edge it doesn't feel like it's gonna bite me so jason in that you did a 45.27 but you're refusing to tell me what i've done in this only because it's nice to reveal it come on then the time in this is an impressive 43.39 oh wow that's nearly two seconds two seconds but do you know what are you surprised no there's two things one is it's got carbon ceramic brakes on this one which is a slightly unfair comparison but it's 220 kilos lighter which is a big mass and it's just more agile isn't it in the corners i mean it's epic i love that car love it i'd have to say out of all the you know cars have driven road track day cars that's got to be one of the best engineered ones i've ever driven it does everything i wanted it to do but you know we can't be unfair fair on this no this is a great car fabulous engine loads of talk forward drive system but in this company there's only one clear winner gt3 rs youhello and welcome to fifth gear now normally i like to have a leisurely breakfast think about the day ahead make some plans but not this morning i couldn't wait to get out the front door i kept having these thoughts about 600 brake horsepower 196 miles an hour letters like gtr rs well i know what i'm on about well pull out just a bit wider go on a bit wider there you go this is the latest porsche 911 gt3 rs a stripped-out ultimate performance version of the world's most celebrated and enduring sports car it costs 141 000 pounds and this is the nissan gt-r nismo the standard gtr is bonkers enough but adding the word nismo sticks another firecracker up its exhaust and sticks another 70 grand on the price bringing it in line with the porsche it also has the same power to weight ratio and the legendary nissan skyline heritage to draw upon so on paper it looks a close competitor but is it really good enough to steal the porsche's crown german precision and pedigree versus japanese innovation and uh playstation suddenly i can't drive both so former f1 driver karen chandurk has manfully offered to help which one do you want mate do i get a choice no i'm in the nissan off we'll be performing three tests to discover which of these cars is the most accomplished all-rounder first a drag race between them the gt3 and gtr have got over 1100 horsepower but that's no use if you can't put the power down on the track so ultimately this is a test of traction and acceleration now i've got a 3.8 liter v6 twin turbo which kicks out 600 horsepower it's front engine but of course i've got four wheel drive so if i can't win this one then i'm doing something wrong i've actually got a slightly bigger motor than jason's got in the gtr this one's a four liter but i've actually got 80 horsepower less than him however i am 220 kilos lighter than the nissan and that should help me get off the line what's going to be tricky though is we've got damp welsh conditions which means his four-wheel drive is just going to give him that edge for the initial launch in the right conditions the porsche can get to 62 in just 3.2 seconds using its launch control computer to perfectly balance power and traction so how does that compare to the nissan well fact is we just don't know now interesting enough there are no official mortar 62 times for this because they don't like to publish them or they don't want to publish them likewise they don't tell you this launch control in this car but i know there is because i spoke to someone so i was going to get everything configured now my launch control is super easy he's going to be here a while by the time he dials in his settings i press pdk sport put my foot on the brake right foot to the floor on the throttle and just launch it german efficiency that should be it eventually i declared myself ready let the games begin that four-wheel drive was held bigger but now look at me go look at me go yeah yeah yeah wow the four wheel drive gave him the launch but then once i got out of first gear the porsche just shot off it was amazing that lightweight however it seems my celebrations were a bit premature because over in nissan land there had been an operator error i better have mr gear i thought it was in automatic mod but i was in the manual i'm not sure why i defaulted to french at that point but anyway i'd messed up by missing a gear fortunately for me it was best of three here we go flags up good gear change then good off the line he's launched uptime much better and we blasted it with my gear sorted the mighty gtr had got its power down and i was back in the game third and deciding run let's see what the porsche can do on this one nailed it well a round one to you yeah do you know what i've got to drive hard for the rest of the day because i think i think that's going to be tough to beat now i'd like to say that challenge one a drag race was a close four battle but it wasn't thanks mainly to his four-wheel drive system the nismo was the bismo and blew the porsche into the weeds but in test two the porsche has a chance to equalize because we're about to head out onto the road crazy amounts of power are gonna be of no use in this test it's all about comfort and cup holders these cars might be track focused but come on you've shelled out over 140 grand you'd want to drive them on the road as well so now we want to find out how civilized they are as everyday companions first the nissan so this is the nismo version which is obviously the performance arm of nissan it's been around now for 34 years with your research yeah i'm a geek i'm a geek but you know it's nearly twice as much money as the standard gtr are you getting twice as much stuff apart from a nismo badge okay it's got upgraded suspension it hasn't got carbon brakes and don't expect loads more power just 30 horsepower as it happens and although there's loads of carbon fiber that only saves 27 kilos in fact the top speed is identical at 196 miles an hour where else does the 70k come from you know 150 grand for a car it's got to be super special and this just isn't but like all of that console and stuff doesn't look like it's 150 grand what the car isn't and there's worse news for the nismo because early versions of the gtr which was launched in 2008 look almost identical and can now be yours a little more than 30 grand and you know what the seats are comfortable they are yeah you're not moving around and stuff but it's just a stiff suspension isn't it this is as comfy as it will be i'm in comfort mode my my bum's already hurting you've got a couple of seats in the back which you don't have in the porsche i suppose so that's definitely a bonus yeah you got cup holders and bits and pieces so it's got they've gone for a bit of practicality yeah and then we've got all this gtr nonsense all these g meters what do we want that for what what do we know that you are doing a 0.15 g of deceleration for the bridge there and the relevance and that is i don't know to be honest this seems like a lot of unnecessary information and a bit of a gimmick it does pull doesn't it you know that changes it to drive it's impressive but i'm not sure i mean it's a bit kind of in your face boy racer arguably i am but that's not what i want to project it's got grunt though it's definitely got some waft so the nissan's reasonably practical but the interior and exterior simply don't cut it for 150 000 pound car time for the porsche and my first impressions i do feel a bit exposed in green out in the open roads a little bit yeah it's me we're definitely announcing our arrival area i mean the green seat belt is just one step too far thankfully the gt3 comes in eight other colors so what about the ride quality i mean the gtr was quite stiff and it's not not a comfortable ride it's probably the understatement of the year it's not much different is it it's not a massive deal no it's not a massive difference no i mean inside the cabin noisier it's noisier but much more road rumble yeah i do like how the cup holders are hidden away though there's somewhere in there so they've got porsche i like that i do like these little doors yeah they're they're really cute did you know what the little chinks of stitching i mean you know a lot of this is all extras we've got what paint two and a half grand and these painted air vents around their extra white dials are extra carbon brakes nearly seven grand that's a lot of money for the carbon brakes actually in fact rgd3 had eighteen thousand pounds worth of extras on it whereas the nissan had none nevertheless i was definitely warming to the porsche's on-road charms i mean we're ticking along here we're doing you know 50 miles an hour it's 2000 rpm it's shifted up into seventh gear and i feel like i could just try this every day like the seats comfy you know on on the little cambers and and sort of undulations it's really follows the road in fact the ride quality of the porsche is about the same as the nissan however they are miles apart when it comes to second-hand prices if you take a ten-year-old version of this the 997 version of the ggtrs they're selling for more now than they cost back in the day you'd have to spend 110 grand to buy one which is amazing they all hold their value i don't care that one go up you're not going to get that with a nissa no do you know what a bit of car envy was creeping in by now you know later when we get to driving i've got obviously got to drive the nest out there you're gonna okay can i no no you just stay in your little four-wheel drive right now you know just for research i think no like no so at the end of our second test which car is better for everyday road driving so in terms of ride quality nothing in it both are quite harsh aren't they yeah i mean they're both built for the track and just just not really for bumpy roads but i think in terms of interiors this one's a clear winner isn't it just the quality i thought of the dash and all those bits and pieces inside just to step up for the same money feels special so that's one all one more test to go so now we're gonna frighten each other to death by taking these cars out for some full-blooded hot laps and with the scores at one all the winner of this test takes the overall victory we'll start with the nismo but before we fire up the stopwatch a quick reiki lap is called she's a bit sniffy isn't she so jp we're getting these tyres nice and warm um there's four wheel drive on track what do you reckon well i reckon it will oversteer if provoked because i think it fires a load of power to the rear in fact we've got some sort of torque split torque split reacts in milliseconds to correct handling issues by moving power to the axle that needs it most there's a lot of talk through the reel isn't it can you see the split yeah i can you keep an eye on the road will you it's interesting because it's all controlled electronically it's not something that we can adjust to talk about like you haven't got a button on the steering wheel for example or just that it's just happening it's just a brain doing its thing tell you what though it's quick in there it's got ground doesn't it we've got these chicanes here and being an extra 220 kilos that's going to be a little bit tricky isn't it to maneuver it as well as porsche you're looking like you have to concentrate quite hard you know you can feel it's got steel brakes on yeah that's going to be a disadvantage isn't it to the porsche should we see how quick it is yeah last couple of oh i corners tweet i probably left a little bit on the table there 45 27. all right so how does the porsche compare well i think our in-car reactions give you a pretty good idea that sounds absolutely amazing oh it's just balanced it's just it's just like gently do you know what hey jeffy i mean it's just a nice car it just feels nice and and balanced it does what you want to do you can flick the steering wheel over the curb you flick the wheel there oh man i must say though i felt like the the gtr accelerated better than your case in maybe not that surprising given the porsche's only got 470 newton meters of torque compared to a massive 652 for the nissan but this one just with the brakes you can brake so deep and the front just gets hooked up come on let's have a little go and see all right let's go that's probably good isn't it it's good on the brakes isn't it those carbon ceramics are just and on the curb look you can just hustle it over the change of direction the electronics still kick in a little bit though over the curves i love that i'll it's change proper race car this thing see what even though it's stiff it's got some compliance in there i feel like i can i'm so controlled in it it's not on edge it doesn't feel like it's gonna bite me so jason in that you did a 45.27 but you're refusing to tell me what i've done in this only because it's nice to reveal it come on then the time in this is an impressive 43.39 oh wow that's nearly two seconds two seconds but do you know what are you surprised no there's two things one is it's got carbon ceramic brakes on this one which is a slightly unfair comparison but it's 220 kilos lighter which is a big mass and it's just more agile isn't it in the corners i mean it's epic i love that car love it i'd have to say out of all the you know cars have driven road track day cars that's got to be one of the best engineered ones i've ever driven it does everything i wanted it to do but you know we can't be unfair fair on this no this is a great car fabulous engine loads of talk forward drive system but in this company there's only one clear winner gt3 rs you\n"