I think it’s safe to say that if you’re reading this, you’ve tried to recreate a number of your own real-life cars in games like Gran Turismo and Forza. We’ve all been there…we wonder how our own cars with similar setups would handle around some famous tracks like Laguna Seca or the famed Nurburgring.
The real-life car I keep coming back to in my virtual Forza garage is my old FC RX-7. It was a base model 1988 “SE” that was essentially the lightest trim of the year. I bought it when I was 17 back in 1997 during my senior year of high school and kept it until 2005. In that time, it underwent several stages of modification.
When it was sold, I had swapped in a street ported Turbo II motor with all of the typical supporting mods on a stock turbo such as a turboback exhaust, fuel pump, larger injectors and a GReddy front mount intercooler. The car was estimated to make around 280-300 wheel horsepower and it was pretty quick considering the relatively light weight. I had light solid bucket seats, a non-power steering rack and removed the air-conditioning to save additional weight so it should have been in the 2400-2500lb range.
Thankfully, these are ALL things I can recreate in Forza! I used the same mods, the same front spoiler and even similar wheels! I found an old alignment spec sheet and copied them right into the game too. Take a look at the real-life phots compared to the Forza “build.” I’ll work on getting a few good videos up as well…
Pedal to the Plastic 