2021 Nissan GT-R Drag Races 2021 Toyota Supra for Quickest JDM Sport Car Belt

To be fair, that says less about Godzilla's performance and more about how preoccupied the Japanese brands have been all this time with producing a powerful competitor for Nissan's legendary model, i.e., not at all. Mazda appears to have given up on its RX range, Honda released the NSX, but it was nowhere near as exciting as the classic version in its time, and Toyota has only recently found its mojo back with the likes of the GR Yaris and the BMW co-developed Supra.

Out of all of them, it's probably the latter that has the biggest chance to put up a decent fight against the mighty GT-R, but even Toyota's coupe can't honestly hope for anything more than being a close runner-up in a head-to-head race. On paper, nothing apart from the weight puts it ahead of the Nissan.

There are two powertrains available for the new Supra, one using a two-liter four-cylinder turbo, and the other a three-liter straight-six turbo. Thankfully, the yellow car in this race is fitted with the latter otherwise, it would have been just as embarrassing for the Supra as it would have been for the race organizers.

Translated into raw power figures, it means the Toyota brings 335 hp (340 PS) to the fight, which is 230 hp less than what the GT-R's 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine produces. That's the kind of power gap you need something really special to overcome, and the weight difference just isn't that.

To make matters worse, the Supra also comes in rear-wheel-drive only, whereas the Nissan GT-R's AWD launch control is the stuff of legends. It's mostly what gave it the "supercar killer" nickname in the drag racing community, taking off the line with the kind of ferocity we've only ever seen in dual-motor EVs or very expensive hypercars.

Finally, there's the transmission, and it's once again a win for the GT-R. The 14-year-old Nissan (the last update came in 2016) shifts through only six gears using a dual-clutch gearbox, whereas the Supra has an eight-speed plain automatic. It's true that single-clutch transmissions have evolved considerably over the past decade, but they still can't match a dual-clutch when even the slightest fraction of a second matters.

All these considered, this contest seems pointless from the start with the Nissan GT-R guaranteed to mop the floor with the Supra before rinsing it too and giving it a polish. Yet that's not entirely the case. Whether it's the BMW involvement or simply the many years of progress that have passed since the GT-R's launch, the fact of the matter is the gap between these two is not even close to what the paper would suggest.

With both cars using their launch systems (the GT-R launches at 4,000 rpm while the Supra settles for 2,000 rpm, for obvious reasons), even on the uneven, unprepped surface of a small karting circuit, the GT-R takes the win convincingly, but not by a huge margin.

However, if only the Toyota uses its sportiest setting with the launch control engaged, something very interesting - if not even surprising - happens. Is it enough to crown a new king? No, not at all, but when you factor in the price difference as well, the Supra suddenly begins to appear as a very solid proposition. Watch how the many races unfolded in the clip below.