Conclusion

It’s hard to separate emotion from tests like this. I think most of us would agree, given carte blanche, we’d have a Carrera GT in our garage, for whether on race track, runway or public road, its reach puts it beyond even the most potent ‘everyday’ supercar.

But that’s not the whole story. Far from it, in fact. For though the Evo trails against the stopwatch in both timed elements of this test, if you fancy the occasional trackday, the Evo will deliver plenty of pace and more innocent, smile-inducing fun. Better resolved than the Turbo and harmlessly entertaining where the Carrera GT is a high-stakes, brain-sapping challenge, it enhances your ability rather than highlighting your shortcomings.

Perhaps more impressively, the Evo also comes within half a second of matching the Carrera GT to 60mph. And, while half a second is a lifetime at this level, subjectively the difference between hitting 60mph in a gut-spinning 4.3sec and 3.8sec is minuscule.

On the road, all three take you to highs few other cars can match. The Mitsubishi is searingly quick, again aided by its familiar feel and lack of intimidatory character. However, you know it’s working very hard to deliver this level of performance, something highlighted when driving in company with the more abundantly torquey Turbo and lightweight, zero-inertia Carrera. You can be glued to them one minute, but get caught off-boost and you’re left ruthlessly for dead. Fiercely exciting and uniquely able, when confronted with cars of this calibre, the Evo is revealed as something of a one-dimensional experience.

The family feud between 911 Turbo and Carrera GT is hard fought. Cut to ribbons at Bedford, the Turbo manages to rock the GT on its heels at Bruntingthorpe, both with its tremendous off-the-line ability and its rippling in-gear response, before finally yielding when the pace becomes largely academic. On the road, it also holds its own, with dizzying, sustained pace and effortless overtaking punch. There’s no denying it, when unleashed the 911 Turbo is monstrously rapid.

Clearly, the ‘everyday supercar’ accolade is well deserved, but it’s this very usability that ultimately counts against it as an experience. Drive the same stretch of road in the Turbo and the Carrera GT and you emerge from both awed and slightly flushed by their speed. The difference is that while you’re content to babble about the Turbo’s knee-knocking acceleration, you soon run out of other things to say. The Carrera GT leaves you with a head full of detailed memories. You want to tell people about the steering feel, rave about the brakes, eulogise about the extraordinary engine and educate anyone who’ll listen about just how satisfying it is to slice that gorgeous birch-topped gearlever through the gate. If you love cars, driving the GT on roads like these is a defining moment.

Figures are one thing, but it’s feel that makes the difference. And that’s why, though we should all be thankful for cars like the Mitsubishi Evo for giving us fleeting moments of supercar performance, and the Turbo for effortlessly delivering genuine A-list pace, we should never stop dreaming about cars like the Carrera GT.

One day…