---
title: "It’s Friday, So Watch This Real-Life Gran Turismo Race"
description: "A Honda NSX, Mitsubishi Evo MR RS, two Nissan Zs, and a Porsche 911 GT3 duke it out at Tsukuba Circuit."
date: "2017-03-31"
modified: "2017-03-31"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/8841/its-friday-so-watch-this-real-life-gran-turismo-race"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "News"
  - "Video Games"
tags:
  - "GranTurismo"
  - "Japan"
  - "Race"
---

# It’s Friday, So Watch This Real-Life Gran Turismo Race

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/03/battle-1.png>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

If you've never had the pleasure of watching an episode of the long-running Japanese car show *Best Motoring,* you're missing out on what's basically Gran Turismo brought to life, [as *Road & Track* puts it.](<https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/news/a27539/japans-best-car-show-now-has-its-own-incredible-youtube-channel/>) Airing from 1987 to 2011, the formula was simple—take some of Japan's best racing drivers from various series, throw them in everything from nineties supercars to modern minivans, and let them loose on the countries most well-known circuits and mountain touge courses. Add in a video game-style presentation and another camera entirely focused on their fancy footwork, and you've got a recipe for a good time.

Their [whole YouTube channel](<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrmsruqPgCIs4PImiZs0t9w>) is worth losing your afternoon to, but the two videos uploaded today feature a 2007 battle at the famous Tsubuka Circuit between a Honda NSX, Mitsubishi Evo MR RS, two Nissan Zs (one of which was tuned by well known GT-R modders Mine's), and a Porsche 911 GT3 997—which, technically, makes it real-life *Forza* race, considering the licensing issues that have limited *Gran Turismo* players to RUF models. But the rest of the field....come on, that's straight out of our well-worn copy of *GT5*.

The first video introduces the players, showing key statistics and a shakedown lap for each, and the whole "Entry 1!" "Entry 2!" setup only adds to feeling that you should have a controller in your hand. The introductions continue into the second video, and the five lap race itself gets going around the 7:30 mark. Who comes out on top? Let's just say it shouldn't surprise the *Gran Turismo* veterans among us.

https://youtube.com/embed/7DQhHfieDbU

https://youtube.com/embed/WLQzT3u0cCo

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)