A Honda Type R is the race against… itself

Frédéric Mercier

Tuesday, 20 February 2018 19:00

UPDATE
Tuesday, 20 February 2018 19:00

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When reality and fiction meet, it sometimes gives right for a show.

In association with the video game Forza Motorsport 7, Honda caused a duel between two Civic Type R quite the same. Only, one was real while the other, fictional, was “piloted” by a professional player.

While the pilot of IndyCar Graham Rahal was doing a lap of the circuit Road Atlantean Motorsport at the wheel of a real Civic Type R 2018, the “gamer” Peter Jeakins did the same, sitting comfortably in a room emménagée for the occasion. In a virtual world, Jeakins was driving exactly the same vehicle on the same circuit.

Who has managed to negotiate the course as quickly?

This is Graham Rahal and the “real” Civic, which have finally triumphed in this funny duel, and even if their opponent has dominated almost all the race. Hard to say if the experience was staged or not, but the end result suggests that it was excessively tight.

A Civic is not like the others

Variant, the most powerful in the history of the Civic, the Type R 2018 develops a total of 306 horsepower and a torque of 295 pounds-foot.

Read also: Our comprehensive road test of the Honda Civic Type R

Built from the new Civic hatch, the Type R stands out for its huge 20-inch wheels, rear spoiler cartoonish and the hatch of the air throne on his hood.

Well known to Europeans, this extreme version of the Civic is in a first commercialization in North America. It enters into direct competition with exceptional models like the Ford Focus RS, the Volkswagen Golf R or the Subaru WRX STI.