What's better: analogue or digital? Naturally aspirated V8 or twin-turbo tech? Manual transmission or paddle-shift DSG?
These are important questions. Questions about the very soul of fast cars. And in June's issue of TopGear magazine - in all good newsagents today - Tom Ford and I attempt to provide definitive answers... by whanging the Vauxhall VXR8 and Nissan GT-R across the Peak District and then arguing like a pair of schoolchildren.
This was the thinking: these are two cars that represent polar opposite takes on the performance car formula: the GT-R has been praised and criticised in equal measure for its reliance on technology, while the VXR8 has faced the same kind of love/hate bipolarity for its basic brute-force-and-ignorance approach.
Tom Ford - who isn't here to defend himself, so I shall unfairly paraphrase him - believes the GT-R to be superior. The Nissan, he points out, is far quicker, more powerful and packs enough technology to embarrass a NASA space mission. Anyone who clings to old-school V8 muscle cars in the face of such scientific supremacy, he argues, might as well revert to sending messages by telegram and whittling their own furniture.
Because I possess a soul, I know Tom Ford to be wrong. Mathematically better - faster, more powerful, grippier - isn't the same as emotionally better. The VXR8 will be slower along any road than the GT-R, but you'll have more fun getting there. Not everything is better done by technology: a £10 Casio digital watch can record your lap time to the nearest thousandth of a second while letting you know what time the stock markets open in Shanghai, but most of us still wear analogue watches.
And so, through a succession of extended metaphors and hilarious insults, it goes on. Now here's what we need you to do. First, go and grab yourself a copy of the mag, and digest the feature in all its high-resolution, tyre-smoking glory. Next, come back here and weigh into the debate: what do you want from your performance cars - digital perfection or analogue thrills?
And, if you want to continue the argument on Twitter, we're @samphilip and @tomwookieford. If we're near the internet, we'll do our best to bicker with you.
Analogue vs digital?
Nissan GT-R and Vauxhall’s VXR8 fight it out in the new issue of TopGear magazine, on sale now
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What do you think?
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conan_murder commented on this article
at 10:48 am on 18 May 2011
Hmmm I don't hate digital high-tech thing. But I don't like Nissan GT-R. VXR8 is a better car for me then.
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TopGearwaran commented on this article
at 11:37 am on 18 May 2011
VXR8 is much more fun..and cheaper...and i think looks better as well
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TopGearwaran commented on this article
at 11:37 am on 18 May 2011
VXR8 is much more fun..and cheaper...and i think looks better as well
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IronicalBalls commented on this article
at 11:39 am on 18 May 2011
The people who went and made the VXR8 just got American V8 and slapped it into a chassis. Anyone can build that, including Americans. While Nissan beat Porsche in their face, on their own track (for years in a row) while Porsche only response was to say GTR uses Bridgestone slicks. Even if that's true, nothing is stopping Porsche from using Bridgestones. The GTR is passion if you look at what in to making it the the supercar that humbles other supercars. If you disagree your either a lazy American who doesn't know what F1 trickle down is or a bitter Porsche engineer who wakes up seeing Nissan at the top of the board.
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Sladha10 commented on this article
at 11:43 am on 18 May 2011
The Nissan Skyline GT-R is an astonishing technological achievement, for this sort of price u cannot get anything better! It able to match up the levels of Hypercars in well know test track around the world. People say that the skyline doesn't have a soul? thats really not true, this car is very responsive, its able to take corners with speeds unimaginable, its able to go 0-60 in less than 3 secs, its amazing if you think about how fuel efficient and how practical it is to drive. This is one exciting car to drive, The R35 is all about a dream, it provides an average income individual to experience a car that would have be unimaginable few years ago, the VXR8 is no way in comparison to what the Skyline offers.
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