#1 - The Weapon Of Choice

Porsche Cayman S: This is it then, the every man’s supercar. The 911-lookalike is so talented in the real world that Porsche’s Marketing pricks did not fit a Limited Slip Differential to this car fearing that the underdog Cayman S would then be even quicker than the more expensive and more powerful 911 Carrera round the track. [But even without the LSD, a Cayman S equipped with 19 inch wheels, Ceramic Brakes, Porsche Adaptive Suspension Management system and Porsche Test Driver Walter Rohrl at the helm got around the Nürburgring Nordschleife track 4 seconds quicker than the 911 Carrera. Ha! Eat that, pricks!] While the 911 remains the Porsche for purists, it’s actually not a very friendly car to drive because of the engine sitting at the back. As the 911 was becoming more elitist everyday with motoring journalists always ending starry-eyed accounts of the 911’s track-day exploits with “Don’t try this if you’re not an expert driver”, Porsche decided to build a more powerful coupe version of the utterly brilliant Boxster S that could be driven hard safely even by us mere mortals. It was a simple recipe aiming for the best of both worlds – some of the 911’s iconic curves along with the structurally rigid hard roof and the Boxster’s precision-engineered chassis and mid-engine layout. Porsche engineers added a deliciously angry-sounding exhaust to the combination and voila! A Star was born.

Power Lap [+1 min 43 sec]: For a car which you can get when you’re still on Blacklist #10 or 11, the Cayman S is a revelation in terms of performance. Even without the ultimate upgrades, it is remarkably fast and the Formula 1 style mid-engine layout means it’s an inherently agile machine with extremely crisp and precise handling. It is not ridiculously light like the Carrera GT, so the power rarely feels overwhelming and you will always be in complete control however tricky the conditions may be. You always know when exactly you need to back off from and get back on the throttle to take corners with inch-perfection like Michael Schumacher and it will be because the car will be “talking” to you every second. It is not a detached sense of complacency bordering indifference as in the case of the BMW M3 GTR, and nor will it require frenzied feeding of steering inputs and gearchanges like the Carrera GT. Driving the Cayman S flat out will fill your insides with confidence and a sense of well-being which will make you fall hopelessly in love with this car and forgive the few flaws it has – such as relative lack of brute power and um, yeah, the fact that it is named after a type of crocodile no one’s ever heard of. It does not feel like a mere car, it feels like a soulmate who will always be there for you when you need help, someone who understands you, knows your strengths and weaknesses and stays with you right till the end.

And that’s what makes it #1. The Carrera GT is much faster and it scores higher on the handling section too. And there’s nothing that can quite match the GT’s incredible V10 noise. But unlike the Carrera GT, you get to buy the Cayman S with a lot of races still to be played and you’re still learning to drive fast. At that stage, for every race you win, you will only be making a few thousand in cash which means buying and upgrading a new car will almost always empty your bank account. This is where the Cayman S shines. This car will not only save your money but also make you truck-loads of it and it was my weapon of choice for almost all of the remaining races.

See? Like I said, it will literally take your hand and walk you right through the Blacklist. However, there might be a short period where you won’t yet be allowed to make the few last “ultimate” upgrades and you might struggle a bit with competitors driving much faster cars. Make it through, buy the ultimate upgrades and the so-called underdog Cayman S will spoil even the mighty Carrera GT’s party. From this point on, it will be just like the good old times – just you, the Cayman S, the road, the end.