Some like McLaren put P-Zero tires for racing and last nothing where Porsche would put more all season tires. Buyers at this level can always afford new tires so they should race on same compound. I find your argument valid for cheaper cars.
Steve Hash - well you can never satisfy everyone, but right now they are modifying the cars to prop up the ones with inferior rubber (which among this crowd I can't imagine are any of them). Jeremy Lopes - I don't think Porsche puts all seasons on any of their performance cars. Even a Fiesta ST comes with summer rubber. And the Cup-2's that they used are just as soft as a Trofeo R.
Andres Luzunaris same for me. Was preparing a good healthy lunch, saw the video, grabbed a bag of chips and a beer and watched it 😂 RIP my healthy meal
Came out of 15 years of Porsche ownership, including a 991 GT3. Drove a Lotus Elise and sold the Porsche the next week. Bought an Exige 410 Best driving experience I've ever had. Every single part of the car is giving you feedback. There's also nowhere to hide if you make mistakes. Porsche cars cover up a lot of driver errors. The 410 is a keeper for me! Great review.
No one makes videos like these anymore...thank you EVO! Now that Chris Harris is no longer on RU-vid and a few other factors, the high level comparison videos have gone away.
It costs money to spend hours shooting multiple cars around a track. Sadly, RU-vid does not pay for quality, but for length/minutes watched so it's forcing anything that's not super low budget to find income elsewhere.
JerseyMikeP Greedy? no...see the comment right above yours for the more nuanced/mature explanation. Short version, YT prioritizes monetization for Vlogs shot with a cellphone camera these days. Renting a track, paying for film equipment/crew, safety personnel, and post production is quite expensive and not a good model for YT anymore.
Steve is terrible. Miles off the mark of the likes of Chris Harris and Jethro Bovingdon. Even guys like Henry Catchpole, or even Matt Watson from CarWow are better than him. There are a few presenters on RU-vid who as soon as I see they're doing the review, I switch off...Steve is one of them.
Yes and if the gear box was better he would not have missed those shifts... he said it in the video, the gear box was the thing that is holding the Lotus back.
@@BobbyDazzler888 a "gearbox" is a term for a transmission. Regardless if it is manual or automatic. I am very aware that the what the Lotus uses for its gearbox... The missed shifts were caused by the crappy gearbox, aka transmission.
Greg Mieg ... NO I did not misunderstand your comment... You inferred I was referring to the Lotus as having an automatic transmission... Otherwise you would not have said "he meant manual ya goose" in your last comment... Why would he question Lotus about the transmission? The transmission on the Lotus Exige Cup has known issues with it 3rd gear and some 4th gear failures, when used for track duty. They tend to be fairly fragile, and there are many reports showing multi rebuilds on vehicles used on the track for race series, with very low millage on them. Yes things are going to break when you use a vehicle on the track, the issue with the transmission on the Lotus is out of the "norm", when it comes to failure rate and ease of failure.
I never hear much about lotus but they make some of the best driving cars out there. They're light weight, just the right amount of power, and the come with 3 pedals and a stick. Sounds great to me
The most impressive car here is the Merc; It's the only one of these u can daily and it has 120hp less and 300kg more weight than the gt2 rs and only 1.4 secs behind is quite impressive to me; If it had the same power/weight as the Porsche I bet it'd beat it.
That turn-in on that Lotus at 6:03 says it all: if you want fun and a car that you are driving instead of car that is driving you, you should go for the Lotus. Just absolutely amazing! The difference in time the Exige was behind the others is only resulted by the manuel gearbox and the gear shifts.
The Lotus wasn't done justice in this video. The driver brake too early. Deep late braking is the key to fast lap times for a Lotus. This driver isn't either brave enough to push it or lacked the knowledge on how to properly drive a Lotus. The Lotus is the best bang for the buck.
@@zarbon700 - was thinking exactly the same thing - had a proper driver, like the Stig or someone else capable to get the best out of the Lotus, it would have been the fastest I think. Without a shadow of doubt at least second fastest. You could see and hear that he was not comfortable enough, or good enough for that manual transmission!
@@JeanClaudeJrLefebvreXL that's your choice which i respect but me personally love analog driving i love the Ariel atom for that especially where you'll have to really prove how good of a driver you are
KnowNoName if he knew what he was doing the Ford would’ve won hands down. It’s an actual race car modified for the road and has significantly more horsepower than the LeMans GT.
@@Tommy2shoe811 Just check fastestlaps website, theres not a single track where the GT is faster than the GT2RS, 2.5 seconds slower around Willow Spring, a seconds slower around VIR etc.
@@heamees4822 The Porsche GT2RS is not in the same class as the Ford GT.. The GT3RS is. The Ford GT is a whole 9.5 seconds faster around Willow Spring, and completely blows the Porsche GT3RS away in every other lap time as well. And let's not forget which car won Le Mans, and wins every time they compete. Racing isn't even Ford's primary focus like it is for Porsche and all the other supercar companies lol.. And yet they completely demolished Porsche, taking 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th. Porsche and their GT3s were all the way back at 8th and 10th. Take your loss with some class.
I am a massive fan of lightweight cars. But for me I think I'd go for an Alpine A110 which is around the same weight as the Lotus and half the price. But then again, the Alpine is more of a twisty backroad king, not a track weapon like the Lotus...
Gregory Thomas : well, that’s German Engineering. ( It was the German’s, after all, that put us on the moon. Thank God we got Von Braun before the Russians.)
@@erikhertzer8434 Hmm no, it was the 400,000 engineers, scientists, and technicians from more than 20,000 companies and universities, that put us on the moon.
A "decent" lap for the Lotus? haha shut up! you could not handle it! You missed changes and stopped early in the corners. Not decent, your handling ...
im not saying hes a terrible driver, but damn he pissed me off by blaming it all on the gearbox... as if a 1.1s split over one lap qualifies as "such a clear margin"
justaman I’m not sure about that! Everyone always thinks because some cars don’t have as much horsepower as others they are slower. That’s not the case. I understand that Lotus has known issues with their gearbox, but he said early in the video that it was amazing, then started making up excuses when he messed up. That Exige would have easily beaten any of those cars, they just needed a professional driver. Nearly all “issues” are cause by human error. “Simplify, then add lightness.” -Colin Chapman
@@victorsanchez7908 round anglesey it would be faster than the gt2 because the track is so small and nimble, the gt2 would demolish the lotus at somewhere like spa of course, but this video is not a fair comparison of those cars they simply need a better driver....
The Lotus wasn't done justice in this video. The driver brake too early. Deep late braking is the key to fast lap times for a Lotus. This driver isn't either brave enough to push it or lacked the knowledge on how to properly drive a Lotus. The Lotus is the best bang for the buck.
@@jryalls that other clearly didn't but I do. Steve was struggling with the car, he seemed very choppy with the controls as a whole and blaming the gearbox doesn't cover all the time that was lost in that hot lap. Granted he is a great pilot but I reckon he needed a few more laps in the lotus.
Nah they are super easy to drive - I own a 350 exige and the race traction control makes things relatively simple. If you turn everything off then like any car, you need to be a very good driver! I can match well driven GT3RS' round the likes of Goodwood etc. Mine was £60k theirs was £175k!
Da70Dude which basically implies that under side twist load, shifting was probably difficult. I do agree that a suicidal type entry speed driver could have pushed it more but that is true for all the cars equally. As a former GT3 owner and track person, who has had rides with top pro cup car drivers in order to learn, there is almost alway grip levels and speed way beyond what you think it physically possible - way beyond.
Paul o'neil - Completely agree - I also get training by pro drivers on my track days and when they set their lap benchmark to show you on the VBOX how you compare, they get things out of the car that make the mind boggle!
The Lotus could have gone faster than it did, I can't understand why you held the gear between turns 3, 4 &5, you'd have lost so much more "drive" that you could have had from a higher gear. I'll agree it'd never be the fastest, but I think this was enough to make the time it did a bit un-representative.
Low gear = high RPM... which means faster acceleration and stronger centrifugal force in the corners. You know nothing, if all you think it takes is a high gear to be fast.
@@Nobody-dc8dp I agree for the most part, but he was banging against the limiter for an extended period. I also believe he could have grabbed another gear and gained some time. But the missed shifts are what caused the Lotus to not be in the 1:12s
He was quite rubbish. One of those typical journalists who think they are Adrian newey's long lost cousin. Going on and on about the ford gt's supposed lots of downforce with those puny wings with no endplates and a diffuser with a higher angle than its actual GTE version. For a 1400kg car,unless it can produce 500+kgs of downforce,it does fuckall for grip. Was quite annoying
Yea I can’t figure out how he possibly went slower in the Ford GT than the AMG it’s legitimately hard to do. Makes me think he had the GT set up in daily driver mode or something similar and not in track.
Soham sutcliffe is definitely one of the best, thorough, and most enthusiastic of the journalists. you have to keep in mind that this track is extremely technical & difficult, so those times could be completely different if he was given the time to lap each car a lot & truly get a feel for the circuit/car connection
I agree the driving wasn't on point but damn you guys really underestimate that AMG GTR, it is the fastest FR production car on the nurburgring. The drivetrain is amazing, gearbox is good, and yes it may have just 570hp but youre not even thinking about that engines displacement, it definitely has the most torque of the lot.
That lotus is absolutely beautiful, I’d chose that over the other cars all day long. I truly think you could’ve got a better time too, I feel like you could’ve accelerated sooner coming out of some corners and also breaking later coming into some corners.
@@TheSoundzUK Saw a woman driving an Evora a few years back. Sadly it was an automatic though. Also seen a matte purple Elise a few times which is supposedly owned by a woman.
Lotus have never gotten the trans figured out. That is why many owners put in different shifters. While a manual is traditional, they really need to have a DC option as they are significantly faster. I raced manual in SCCA and on street for years but my current car is a DC....amazingly efficient. Yeah, I get the satisfaction of a heel and toe downshift and all...but the DC does everything so much better.
@@JJ_ExMachina Whilst the gearbox is not brilliant it is not bad to the point of causing those errors. Those are on him and not really acceptable for hotlap comparisons. Needed a better driver (we miss you Chris).
Steve Sutcliffe is an accomplished driver, however I get the feeling that he and many test drivers are getting too used to automatic transmissions these days. He obviously knows how to drive a manual gearbox, however I don't feel he drove that Lotus well. I reckon he may be a little rusty wit the old manual. Also a little cramped in there for him!
@@JDSFLA he's a far superior driver that doesn't fuck up shifts and blame it on the transmission. Lotus has some of the best manual transmissions out there.
Ok, judging his heel toe downshifts, he didn't make a glaring mistake which would've costed him time. Nearly all exits seem to have been clean as well except for one on the 0:50 mark. So to conclude, his manual skills are very competent to not warrant as a sore point. I think its competitve enough against the other automatic rivals here.
@@powerfultoa7 He missed a few upshifts and was against the rev limiter a few times. Tough to get a perfect lap out of a car you don't drive regularly though, definitely better than I could do.
I'd like to see this race again with a better driver. So many times I had to watch this guy correct his steering due to too much throttle. Every time you have to correct you let go of the throttle. Watch him with the Ford gt. That car would have had a lot faster of a time if he had better throttle control.
Big Injun He’s an ex pro racer (though admittedly not exactly F1 standard) and has been a motoring journalist for years, he’s probably faster than 99% of the people watching this video. Also, pro racers correct slides all the time, it’s just a part of driving fast. I love how all the driving experts come out in the moments sections.
Michael Hodgkinson no you’re wrong! This guy in the comments section, and the very intelligent people who liked his comment, know way more about driving cars than a retired professional...
@@WATup169 The Ford is actually MUCH faster than the Mercedes and is quicker than the Porsche too. Just not at this circuit and with those tires. Take them to Spa and throw on some P-Zeroes and The GT will abandon those other cars.
@SG me? No I'm just looking at the lap times. A few of the shifts were sluggish and he missed one. That can add up to a second or at least close to it. There lotus should have placed at least 1 higher.. Maybe
@Biked I have a lotus, and I know why he could not get a perfect lap (mechanically wise) , have a look on the exige 380 lap on the nurb, same occurs ... they don't have so much time to shoot many laps and get a perfect one, I guess they had to pick that one, also to show that problem which truly exist .... Yes the lap could be better, but also yes the car behaves this way ..
Love the Ford GT. I think AMG has something special though. Looks, sound, speed and a splash of luxury. Seems like the perfect car for the street and track.
I have a 430cup and i can see he fluffed quite a bit up driving the car. Shame i reckon it had a good second or more in it had it been driven better :-/
James Dean Definitely left some time out there. Didn't look on the limit at any point during the timed lap. If I worked at Lotus I'd have Gavan Kershaw drive over to Anglesey and post a video of his fastest lap asap. Would be fffast!
Anglesey track is a bit unfair for the ford GT , and i think you didnt really push the lotus to its limits , porsche at the top as usual .. great video mate
@@JOHNNYQUATTRO24 what GT have you been watching? Jeremy Clarkson's drive was way faster and pushed the GT to the level it should be driven. I've never seen a video other than this one where the GT was flat and slow around corner's. The GT is the pinnacle just like the rs2 and rs3. Who ever drove this video held way back on the lotus and the GT
Say what you want but the Lotus would be what I would have, people do not think about the consumables and maintenance involved with tracking cars of this caliper, the lotus with its toyota engine, "tiny" brakes, and "tiny" tires would be the most easy on the pockets and im assuming the most rewarding to actually drive fast. I was chatting it up with a gentleman at the ring who actually owns a GT2 RS he said the cost of each lap considering how much fuel, pads, tires and maintenance cost works out to around 600 euros a lap. I didnt check his math but you know it can't be cheap 🤷🏽♂️. Oh yeah and he said the car was just to fast,which if you have been on the ring then you know its about balance Side note: if any one is interested, In some good automotive content I'm a activeduty soldier stationed in Germany so I get to frequent the Nürburgring, drive some amazing roads, and drive some cool cars make sure to sub 👍🏽
@Brax_beezy probably per trackday, not per lap. My Evora 400 cost ~€440 per trackday in consumables; predominantly tyres, brake pads and fuel. Engine and transmission oil changes every few trackdays also contributes to that number.
And this is exactly why the 911's basic shape hasn't changed for decades...it's bubbly shape and short wheelbase coupled with a synergenic engine/tranny combo and brakes that feel like you just threw a yacht anchor out the window will always be something you never have to change. It's perfection on wheels.
This channel is better than motor trend or all those other car channels because this car channel actually post RU-vid videos. They're bloody good RU-vid videos too. I think they're the most beautifully shot car videos on RU-vid.
Great video! Honestly? The Lotus impressed me the most, given it's deficit on power and it's manual gearbox. All are great cars, but if I had to choose one, it would probably be the AMG GT-R. It just seems like it would be the best all-around car. The Ford GT is the best looking. The Porsche 911 GT2 RS is the most powerful. The Lotus Exige is the most tossable on z track. The AMG GT-R sounds the best.
Gt2 rs is not just the most powerful it is the best road legal track machine ever made. The ford gt looks horrible. But the lotus was surprising with the time and the sound.
It's great to see Evo back with a well shot video, but as you said yourself Steve, you prefer the GT3(RS) and that would have been a closer match to the others. Perhaps the Lotus deserved a bit more time in the car as it was a manual before the hot lap. I honestly believe there's more time to be extracted fairly easily, but I agree that could apply with the other cars too. Looking forward to the next one.
I think Sutcliffe has lost his bottle about the 30 second mark head steady state throttles the Lotus and the Ford but accelerates the Merc and the Porsche
Is it the weird that I genuinely want the Lotus Exige more than the others? Porsche looks boring, Ford GT sounds uninteresting, and the AMG GTR has a weird ass
Alexander, they make multiple runs with each car and post the fastest lap. I'm sure that was the best lap time he could get with the Lotus. They don't just run one lap and call it a day with each car.
I don't think they show you the video of the ultimate lap. It's probably an edit of footage from various laps, you can tell the sound doesn't sync properly at moments as well. I think they just make footage look good, but post the lap time of the actual fastest lap time they managed. They drive many, many laps to get the best out of cars.
Funny, I read this before watching and don't necessarily feel the same way after seeing the footage. But with the manual setting the perfect lap time certainly involves lots and lots of skill.
Clearly the winner is the slower car? It's completely objective - the fastest of the 4 cars tested on this track is the Porsche, it's just plain retarded to claim otherwise.
I am legit surprised at the lap times of the Merc and the Ford and how they placed and also how close the Lotus was to both of them. The Porsche is completely brilliant, as expected. Great job EVO, I appreciate your efforts!
I would be curious how the 720 would fare in this group ----------- this is a fabulous video AND we get to see the man, Steve Sutcliff, a treat for all.
Excellent vid Steve and all at evo as usual. Thanks for taking the time to give us a decent run down of these fantastic cars over 20 minutes - it's greatly appreciated.
They've gone through phases of being good but not quite the astonishing machines they could be. The current generation really has brought it all together and is in a class of its own. I've spent quite a bit of time in the GT3 RS and its just a phenomenal machine in every way.
Note To Self: don't drive a Bugatti Chiron on an LA freeway and expect excitement. What is crazy is that the 911 body style has been around for 50 years, with that Volkswagen Beetle design, and nobody, has copied that.
Problem with this video is the GT2 and Ford GT can’t be bought, even if you have the money. The other two are readily available mass production cars. That makes the GT-R the winner in my books...
Probably the best EVO video since the Metcalfe era. Thank You ..after I dropped my subscription I lost interest in EVO, but Steve Sutcliffe is a balanced car journo, so well worth the watch. Only pity is -- as always with these comparisons -- that the car most lenient on driver skill is exhalted beyond its station. //The GT2 is the outright king no matter who the driver, or their proficiency at adapting to the inherent Spirit of different cars. The GT is designed to DANCE on circuit like a single-seater (no excuses allowed, even if in touring car gloves). The GTR is a very fine hot rod, but would be easily dealt with by the Cup 430 if only given to a racer with adrenals wide-open and a little more urgency in shifting (especially on Anglesey -- come on!!). What a surprise it is! It's mades me consider buying one.
Need a batter driver to get the most out of the GT performance. I feel they they drove that car to get the predetermined result they wanted, not what it was capable of.
I think it would be interesting if the manufacturers would be invited to send one of their test drivers for such a comparison. Nothing against Steve, he is a great journalist and a very serious track driver, but some cars are just a handful to operate. In the AMG, I felt he was driving it rather close to its potential.
When I get depressed or stressed, or lonely, I kindly remind myself that somewhere in this world right now at this very moment, someone is building a Porsche. Someone is engineering a Porsche. Someone is buying a Porsche. And at that pleasant thought, my stress, loneliness and depression melt away. #ThereIsNoSubstitute
Awesome video,thank you. For a 1 car garage the amg-gt must take some beating .judging by the time it did on a small twisty track,now lob a fortnights luggage for 2 into it and enjoy the ride and noise all the way to Monaco and back.
Should of had someone that was comfortable driving all four cars to the max or at least someone that knew how to drive a manual better. The Lotus would of had a lap time closer to the Porsche had he been able to change gears properly and gotten on the throttle sooner, oh and what happened during the lap time of the Lotus between 0:30 sec - 0:36 sec (min 9:25 ish) because he's off the throttle a lot sooner than he should of been. I don't know but to me the Lotus and the Ford were driven at around 70-75% potential whilst the Merc and Porsche were closer to their or his full potential. (+_+)
Csirkefoga It's horses for courses as we say in England. Each car has a course that suits it best, or doesn't suit it at all, as is the case here with the Ford. Put all these cars on a track like the Nurburgring where power is even more important and you'll see a colossal difference between the laptimes of all these cars and the Lotus (which will probably be around a minute slower than the others).
The Ford GT is special in the way it's made - it's not 'just' a 911 or Elise made faster - but it is really hard to justify if it doesn't return the on-track performance. I mean the Porsche is quicker in a straight line, quicker on most circuits, cheaper, sounds better, is more fun to drive on a regular road, is comfier, roomier and more economical. If you add these things up, it is just really hard to say what the Ford GT is actually good for, because for any actual use the Porsche is preferrable. And if you just wanna look at the Ford GT you don't have to buy it ...
What a joke! The AMG GTR is quicker than Lostus Exige Cup the Ford GT c' mon. He even said the Lotus brakes much later than the AMG GTR and see how at 9:24 he drove the Lotus. Not pushing it at all and breaking sooner than anything else. What a waste of time .
This was amazing, perfect editing, and I really appreciate that there is no music for the track time, it makes it much more visceral to watch. The camera angles were fantastic and really gave a good insight as to how fast these cars were going and how calm or shaky they were while driving, very immersive. I've liked and subscribed, please keep setting such a good example of good shit for the performance car community