Post by Vormir on Jul 3, 2015 19:31:35 GMT -5
I am always asked what car someone should buy, or what car to use in a race, and I tend to analyze every car extensively. Please note that these are all just my opinions, gleaned moslty from experience driving them and from reading about car performance on gta.wikia.com. Feel free to let me know what you think, especially if you disagree with me.
The purpose of these reviews is to give ou an idea of various cars' performance in races, to give you an idea of what to choose in a race or what to buy for yourself.
If you see a (*) before a car name, this is a car that I own or have extensively used, especially while fully upgraded, and therefore know the most about. If I'm going to be wrong about something, its going to be one of the cars I don't own
. I also underlined the name of each car to make them easier to find when browsing the post.
Utility:
The golf cart. The scooter looks tempting with its stats, but the golf cart beats it every time.
Vans:
Choose the clown van, always. Because duh, its a clown van.
Compacts:
Compacts are definitely the most fun class of cars to race with in the game, particularly around rapid-fire tight corners. Faster isn't necessarily the most fun. The compact class is also one of the few that are nice and balanced, where you can't really go wrong for the most part: any car you choose will give you a fair chance at winning, if you are good enough. (except maybe the Panto)
The *Blista and *Rhapsody are the best, but the others aren't that far behind, and can certainly compete with these two. The Blista is a front wheel drive hot hatch, and the Rhapsody is an old-timey Pacer/Gremlin thing that is rear wheel drive. The Blista is a smidge faster, but the Rhapsody is a bit more agile. Choose your favorite, you can't really go wrong.
I should note that the Panto, perhaps unless fully upgraded, is the slowest of all, and has trouble taking corners full tilt. When racing in a Panto, take it easy and don't pull the analog stick all the way to the side, else you run the risk of spinning out.
Sedans:
The *Warrener wins the Sedans class, hands down. It has by far the best handling of any car in the game, some of the best acceleration and speed for its class, and is one of the most fun to drive. It can also be upgraded with some cool customization options to make it look like a Swedish Folkrace rally car or a Japanese racecar. Other than the warrener, most sedans are roughly the same in performance, but avoid the Super Diamond as its poor handling makes it a poor choice in a race.
Coupes:
The coupes class is definitely the most balanced class, as almost every car can compete equally. The exception is the Cognoscenti Cabrio and the Windsor, which are luxury cars and can't handle nearly as well as the others. If you really need a best, the *Exemplar is the tiniest bit better than the others, but also the most expensive. The F620 and Sentinel are good choices as well, but its really hard to go wrong in the coupes class.
SUVs:
I used to think the *Granger was the best of the SUV's, but I think now that the Baller (the newer one, not the older one) is actually a bit better. The Granger is quick (for and SUV), excellent and ramming into things, and holds 6 people (2 hanging off the side) but its long wheelbase makes handling tricky. I've also been passed in my Granger by customized Ballers, so the Baller seems to be faster. If you are in a race and don't have a custom SUV, choose the Park Ranger, as its a souped-up Granger that can compete with modified SUVs (and you get a cool siren). Special note goes to the Dubsta (4x4), as its probably the best SUV in extreme off-road conditions.
Off Road:
The off-road category is definitely the most diverse, with a huge range of choices. The best in a race is hands down is the *Dune Buggy (not to be confused with the Bifta, which is actually a dune buggy, whereas the Dune Buggy is actually a sandrail and not a dune buggy at all), followed right behind by the Sanchez. The Dune Buggy can keep up with most sports cars on the road, is unbelievably lightweight, has a decently powered engine, and has a ton of grip from its rear tires. Be careful though, as its light as a feather front end and small narrow front wheels mean the smallest bump can send you spinning or rolling, but if you can focus on keeping the front tires stable you can win any off-road race with it easily. The Sandchez is crazy fast for a dirtbike and is very good off road, due to being, well, a dirtbike. Just beware, one crash and you can lose your lead fast.
When I race an off-road race with friends, we usually agree to ban the Dune Buggy and Sanchez because they are just too powerful, and we want to race in trucks. Not counting those two, the Injection is actually the fastest, and is great off-road, just beware that it can roll easily, but this is true of every truck really. The *Rebel is decent, but tends to roll and spin a bit more than the others, but you can make the rusty rebel look like a really cool rally truck. The *Rancher is pretty good all around, though a bit heavy. The tricked-out Mesa, though it looks cool, is unfortunately rather slow and very prone to roll-overs. The Dubsta 6x6 can be pretty quick, and climbs hills easily thanks to its 6 tires of powered grip, but those 6 tires also give it a very wide turning radius. The Bifta, though popular, is actually a terrible performer. It may be fast, but its one inch ground clearance, virtually nonexistent suspension, and short wheelbase means that every time one passes you in a race, it will inevitably spin out on the next corner. Never choose The Liberator in a race if you have a choice, because on some races the path goes through an area too narrow for it to go. Its also somewhat slow and tends to spin out. The *Sandking, last but certainly not least, is definitely the best at extreme off roading capability with its massive tires and crazy-lifted suspension, but is a bit on the slow side, so unless you are scaling a mountain or fording a river, its not the best choice.
Muscle
Muscle is definitely my favorite class, and it also features a huge variety and is very well balanced. Really, when it comes to muscle cars, choose a car to taste. As for performance, The best is probably the *Dominator, but only by a very, very small margin, because its a modern muscle car whereas most of the others are classics. It's also a great drifter, entering drifts easily and recovering from a failed drift with ease, making it a grear car to learn how to drift with. The best in a straight line, I believe, is the *Sabre Turbo, but its excess torque means its rear wheels spin so much that cornering is difficult (it also wins for best sounding car, with its sexy low V8 rumble). Special note goes to the *Pheonix, which is good but its rear wheels are slipperier than any other car in the game, making it hard to drive in a race but a ton of fun to drift around with. It also has a huge variety of customization options, to the point where every single one that I've seen has been unique and different. Don't overlook the *Vigero (not to be confused with the Virgo), which I think is the most agile of the muscle class. The *Virgo, which is new, is really more of a show car, having slightly worst speed than most other muscle cars and not very great handling. The *Blade is no faster than any other muscle car, and is heavy and steers like a brick, so it is not recommended. I really wish Rockstar would make the Blade faster, to make it actually feel like the drag car it looks like, and it wouldn't be imbalanced because of its poor handling. The *Buccaneer is pretty good all around. The *Gauntlet is good, but I don't care for it personally, as it's boring to drive and has no customization options. The *Ruiner is a fun car to do stunts with, but suffers from all of the problems of Pheonix to a lesser extent. It's not bad overall, though. The *Picador is a tiny bit slower than other muscle cars, but is the only one with four wheel drive, making it a good choice on a difficult off-road course. The *Rat-Loader can make a cool hot rod, but isn't that great mostly due to having by far the worst brakes in the game, even when fully upgraded with custom tires (which don't make a difference). The Slamvan is actually decently quick, but has so much torque the rear wheels spin too much when cornering, like the Sabre Turbo.
Sports Classics
Most sports classics are really show cars, but sometimes you find yourself in a race with them and want one that's fast. The best of this class is probably the new Stirling GT, but the Casco is probably up there as well, I'm not sure as I don't have much experience racing it. The next one down is the *Coquette Classic, which is fast but can be a bit "heavy" in the corners and tends to slide when you don't want it to. The *Z-Type is also realy fast, but its looooooong wheelbase makes corning tricky (fun though!).
Sports
Its actually rather hard to go wrong in the sports class, really. My preferred sports car is the *Coquette, which I think is the best in a straight line, but it can be very tricky to handle. It has a tendency for the back wheels to slide out, and when they do the car quickly spins out completely, so when driving I have to focus heavily on simply not sliding. If you can keep it under control however, its an excellent sports car. Most of the other sports cars you really can't go wrong with, the Banshee, the Comet, the 9F, and others are all excellent sports cars. Some others to note: The Elegy RH8 is actually not quite as fast as other sports cars, so isn't recommended, but it *is* free, so theres that. Just be warned that it cannot be sold at LS customs, so getting it out of your garage slots can be a hassle. The Jester, while popular, is actually not that great. Its fast, certainly, but its handling is the worst in its class, making it a poor choice for anything but a highway or drag race. I also can't stand the way it looks, myself. Be sure to check out the cool roof folding animation on the Carbonizzare.
The *Kuruma is sort of in a class of its own. It's very fast, but I wouldn't actually recommend using it in a race as its tendency, or rather I should say, its *need* to slide around every corner means it corners slowly. What I mean by this is, the Kuruma is the best drifting car in the game. Its four wheel drive and rally racing origin makes it by far the fastest car to drift around corners, but drifting is always slower than not (Mythbusters proved it, and it's true in the game). Also, it actually struggles when cornering when *not* drifting, because of its tendency to roll over or slide (in a bad way), which can be avoided by drifting. To avoid its rolling over problem, lower its suspension as soon as you buy one, and if you use a stock one in a race always keep in mind it is going to roll over if you let it. This being said, drifting in a Kuruma is just absolutely *sublime*. The way it maintains high speed through a corner while giving you excellent control through the drift is just heaven. If you aren't drifting in a Kuruma, you are doing it wrong. Also, being a four wheel drive rally car, its excellent off-road, losing no speed at all on dirt, making it the fastest vehicle off-road in the game. The armored version, which is the one that I have, is a bit heavier, which I think might make it a bit slower, but the added weight actually helps you not roll over as easily and isn't a big deal. And, of course, the armor makes you virtually bulletproof (they can still slip a bullet in through the slits in the windows, especially from the front) which is completely overpowered in cooperative missions or heists and will protect you from bullets in PVP. Just remember you are still vulnerable to rockets however. Long story short: buy an armored Kuruma, and learn to drift with it.
Motorcycle
The *Akuma wins the motorcycle class, hands down. It has probably the best acceleration in the game, excellent handling, and great top speed. The Hakuchou has the highest top speed of all of the bikes, but by the time it reaches it an Akuma will be miles ahead. The Hakuchou, Bati 801 (the RR version is a tiny bit faster, according to the wiki), Double T, and Thrust are also fast, but the Akuma is faster.
Super
There are three tiers of supercar in the game. At the top tier we have the Zentorno and the Osiris. I did a test with a friend with an unmodified Zentorno vs. an unmodified Osiris in a drag race, and the Osiris pulled ahead of the Zentorno in the last half, but I have also heard that fully upgraded they are the opposite, so the verdict is still out on that. Honestly, I really, really hate the Zentorno. Don't get me wrong, it's *good*, it's the fastest car in the game (besides maybe the Osiris now), slightly edging out the other supercars in all around performance, and it does look really cool, but I hate it for two reasons. One, its TOO good. Sure, the other supercars can definitely compete with it, but being a step ahead of the others means that if you want the fastest, you have no choice. Two, its too damn popular. *Everybody* has one, and I hate that. Imagine, for a moment, that the Zentorno didn't exist. Then, you would see an interesting mix of supercars; some Entitys, some Adders, some Turismos, etc. Everybody would have their favorite, adding some individuality and personality to their cars. As it is now, you start up a super car race and all you ever see is Zentornos. At least now the Osiris is adding some variety, and there's a new supercar on the way that I hope can compete and some personality to the top tier.
In the second tier is the Adder, *Cheetah, Entity XF, and Turismo R. The Entity and the Turismo are both about the same as far as I can tell, and are both excellent supercars. The Cheetah, however, is my favorite, for looks and because it handles just a bit better than the others (though its almost unnoticeably slower). As I prefer races with more sharp corners, and I know how to drive properly and push a supercar to its limits, the Cheetah is a better fit for me. The downside to the Cheetah, however, is that its a lot lighter, making it more prone to getting screwed up by bumps and curbs and can be pushed around easier by other cars. The Adder, though popular, is actually not very good for a supercar. Sure, its has the highest top speed of any car in the game (being a Veyron and all), but its sup-par acceleration and handling mean that it can only use this to its advantage in a really, really long highway race with no traffic (which must be the most boring race ever made). The other supercars, the Bullet, Infernus, Vacca, and Voltic, sadly lack the top speed to compete with the other supercars.
Planes
When in a plane race with a choice of planes, choose the Vestra, as it has good handling and is a fast jet. The Mallard is notable for its very high agility, but in pretty much any air race the Vestra will overtake it. The *Duster, on the other hand, is the most fun plane to fly. Sure, its by far the slowest and has the worst handling, and takes the most room to land and take off with, but thats just what makes it the most fun!
In a jet race, the Besra is the fastest by an unnoticeable amount, followed by the Lazer, then the *Hydra which has slightly worse handling than the others.
Helicopters
If you have a choice in a helicopter race, always choose the Buzzard (unless its a GTA race, it wont have guns, or even wings). Its way faster and more agile than the other helicopters. The Frogger is also quite agile. The *Savage is sluggish and slow.
I wouldn't actually recommend buying the Savage, as it is so fragile it feels like it is made out of cardboard, and is too sluggish to dodge most homing rockets, making it very hard to use in PVP. It does excell in PVE however, with its ability to fire rockets with no need to reload. Two passengers can fire out of the side seats, but for some stupid reason the passenger in the front can't do anything at all.
Boats
The fastest boat in the game is the Jetmax, followed by the *Speeder, followed by the Dinghy. If buying a boat, consider that the Speeder seats four while the Jetmax seats only 2.
The purpose of these reviews is to give ou an idea of various cars' performance in races, to give you an idea of what to choose in a race or what to buy for yourself.
If you see a (*) before a car name, this is a car that I own or have extensively used, especially while fully upgraded, and therefore know the most about. If I'm going to be wrong about something, its going to be one of the cars I don't own
. I also underlined the name of each car to make them easier to find when browsing the post.Utility:
The golf cart. The scooter looks tempting with its stats, but the golf cart beats it every time.
Vans:
Choose the clown van, always. Because duh, its a clown van.
Compacts:
Compacts are definitely the most fun class of cars to race with in the game, particularly around rapid-fire tight corners. Faster isn't necessarily the most fun. The compact class is also one of the few that are nice and balanced, where you can't really go wrong for the most part: any car you choose will give you a fair chance at winning, if you are good enough. (except maybe the Panto)
The *Blista and *Rhapsody are the best, but the others aren't that far behind, and can certainly compete with these two. The Blista is a front wheel drive hot hatch, and the Rhapsody is an old-timey Pacer/Gremlin thing that is rear wheel drive. The Blista is a smidge faster, but the Rhapsody is a bit more agile. Choose your favorite, you can't really go wrong.
I should note that the Panto, perhaps unless fully upgraded, is the slowest of all, and has trouble taking corners full tilt. When racing in a Panto, take it easy and don't pull the analog stick all the way to the side, else you run the risk of spinning out.
Sedans:
The *Warrener wins the Sedans class, hands down. It has by far the best handling of any car in the game, some of the best acceleration and speed for its class, and is one of the most fun to drive. It can also be upgraded with some cool customization options to make it look like a Swedish Folkrace rally car or a Japanese racecar. Other than the warrener, most sedans are roughly the same in performance, but avoid the Super Diamond as its poor handling makes it a poor choice in a race.
Coupes:
The coupes class is definitely the most balanced class, as almost every car can compete equally. The exception is the Cognoscenti Cabrio and the Windsor, which are luxury cars and can't handle nearly as well as the others. If you really need a best, the *Exemplar is the tiniest bit better than the others, but also the most expensive. The F620 and Sentinel are good choices as well, but its really hard to go wrong in the coupes class.
SUVs:
I used to think the *Granger was the best of the SUV's, but I think now that the Baller (the newer one, not the older one) is actually a bit better. The Granger is quick (for and SUV), excellent and ramming into things, and holds 6 people (2 hanging off the side) but its long wheelbase makes handling tricky. I've also been passed in my Granger by customized Ballers, so the Baller seems to be faster. If you are in a race and don't have a custom SUV, choose the Park Ranger, as its a souped-up Granger that can compete with modified SUVs (and you get a cool siren). Special note goes to the Dubsta (4x4), as its probably the best SUV in extreme off-road conditions.
Off Road:
The off-road category is definitely the most diverse, with a huge range of choices. The best in a race is hands down is the *Dune Buggy (not to be confused with the Bifta, which is actually a dune buggy, whereas the Dune Buggy is actually a sandrail and not a dune buggy at all), followed right behind by the Sanchez. The Dune Buggy can keep up with most sports cars on the road, is unbelievably lightweight, has a decently powered engine, and has a ton of grip from its rear tires. Be careful though, as its light as a feather front end and small narrow front wheels mean the smallest bump can send you spinning or rolling, but if you can focus on keeping the front tires stable you can win any off-road race with it easily. The Sandchez is crazy fast for a dirtbike and is very good off road, due to being, well, a dirtbike. Just beware, one crash and you can lose your lead fast.
When I race an off-road race with friends, we usually agree to ban the Dune Buggy and Sanchez because they are just too powerful, and we want to race in trucks. Not counting those two, the Injection is actually the fastest, and is great off-road, just beware that it can roll easily, but this is true of every truck really. The *Rebel is decent, but tends to roll and spin a bit more than the others, but you can make the rusty rebel look like a really cool rally truck. The *Rancher is pretty good all around, though a bit heavy. The tricked-out Mesa, though it looks cool, is unfortunately rather slow and very prone to roll-overs. The Dubsta 6x6 can be pretty quick, and climbs hills easily thanks to its 6 tires of powered grip, but those 6 tires also give it a very wide turning radius. The Bifta, though popular, is actually a terrible performer. It may be fast, but its one inch ground clearance, virtually nonexistent suspension, and short wheelbase means that every time one passes you in a race, it will inevitably spin out on the next corner. Never choose The Liberator in a race if you have a choice, because on some races the path goes through an area too narrow for it to go. Its also somewhat slow and tends to spin out. The *Sandking, last but certainly not least, is definitely the best at extreme off roading capability with its massive tires and crazy-lifted suspension, but is a bit on the slow side, so unless you are scaling a mountain or fording a river, its not the best choice.
Muscle
Muscle is definitely my favorite class, and it also features a huge variety and is very well balanced. Really, when it comes to muscle cars, choose a car to taste. As for performance, The best is probably the *Dominator, but only by a very, very small margin, because its a modern muscle car whereas most of the others are classics. It's also a great drifter, entering drifts easily and recovering from a failed drift with ease, making it a grear car to learn how to drift with. The best in a straight line, I believe, is the *Sabre Turbo, but its excess torque means its rear wheels spin so much that cornering is difficult (it also wins for best sounding car, with its sexy low V8 rumble). Special note goes to the *Pheonix, which is good but its rear wheels are slipperier than any other car in the game, making it hard to drive in a race but a ton of fun to drift around with. It also has a huge variety of customization options, to the point where every single one that I've seen has been unique and different. Don't overlook the *Vigero (not to be confused with the Virgo), which I think is the most agile of the muscle class. The *Virgo, which is new, is really more of a show car, having slightly worst speed than most other muscle cars and not very great handling. The *Blade is no faster than any other muscle car, and is heavy and steers like a brick, so it is not recommended. I really wish Rockstar would make the Blade faster, to make it actually feel like the drag car it looks like, and it wouldn't be imbalanced because of its poor handling. The *Buccaneer is pretty good all around. The *Gauntlet is good, but I don't care for it personally, as it's boring to drive and has no customization options. The *Ruiner is a fun car to do stunts with, but suffers from all of the problems of Pheonix to a lesser extent. It's not bad overall, though. The *Picador is a tiny bit slower than other muscle cars, but is the only one with four wheel drive, making it a good choice on a difficult off-road course. The *Rat-Loader can make a cool hot rod, but isn't that great mostly due to having by far the worst brakes in the game, even when fully upgraded with custom tires (which don't make a difference). The Slamvan is actually decently quick, but has so much torque the rear wheels spin too much when cornering, like the Sabre Turbo.
Sports Classics
Most sports classics are really show cars, but sometimes you find yourself in a race with them and want one that's fast. The best of this class is probably the new Stirling GT, but the Casco is probably up there as well, I'm not sure as I don't have much experience racing it. The next one down is the *Coquette Classic, which is fast but can be a bit "heavy" in the corners and tends to slide when you don't want it to. The *Z-Type is also realy fast, but its looooooong wheelbase makes corning tricky (fun though!).
Sports
Its actually rather hard to go wrong in the sports class, really. My preferred sports car is the *Coquette, which I think is the best in a straight line, but it can be very tricky to handle. It has a tendency for the back wheels to slide out, and when they do the car quickly spins out completely, so when driving I have to focus heavily on simply not sliding. If you can keep it under control however, its an excellent sports car. Most of the other sports cars you really can't go wrong with, the Banshee, the Comet, the 9F, and others are all excellent sports cars. Some others to note: The Elegy RH8 is actually not quite as fast as other sports cars, so isn't recommended, but it *is* free, so theres that. Just be warned that it cannot be sold at LS customs, so getting it out of your garage slots can be a hassle. The Jester, while popular, is actually not that great. Its fast, certainly, but its handling is the worst in its class, making it a poor choice for anything but a highway or drag race. I also can't stand the way it looks, myself. Be sure to check out the cool roof folding animation on the Carbonizzare.
The *Kuruma is sort of in a class of its own. It's very fast, but I wouldn't actually recommend using it in a race as its tendency, or rather I should say, its *need* to slide around every corner means it corners slowly. What I mean by this is, the Kuruma is the best drifting car in the game. Its four wheel drive and rally racing origin makes it by far the fastest car to drift around corners, but drifting is always slower than not (Mythbusters proved it, and it's true in the game). Also, it actually struggles when cornering when *not* drifting, because of its tendency to roll over or slide (in a bad way), which can be avoided by drifting. To avoid its rolling over problem, lower its suspension as soon as you buy one, and if you use a stock one in a race always keep in mind it is going to roll over if you let it. This being said, drifting in a Kuruma is just absolutely *sublime*. The way it maintains high speed through a corner while giving you excellent control through the drift is just heaven. If you aren't drifting in a Kuruma, you are doing it wrong. Also, being a four wheel drive rally car, its excellent off-road, losing no speed at all on dirt, making it the fastest vehicle off-road in the game. The armored version, which is the one that I have, is a bit heavier, which I think might make it a bit slower, but the added weight actually helps you not roll over as easily and isn't a big deal. And, of course, the armor makes you virtually bulletproof (they can still slip a bullet in through the slits in the windows, especially from the front) which is completely overpowered in cooperative missions or heists and will protect you from bullets in PVP. Just remember you are still vulnerable to rockets however. Long story short: buy an armored Kuruma, and learn to drift with it.
Motorcycle
The *Akuma wins the motorcycle class, hands down. It has probably the best acceleration in the game, excellent handling, and great top speed. The Hakuchou has the highest top speed of all of the bikes, but by the time it reaches it an Akuma will be miles ahead. The Hakuchou, Bati 801 (the RR version is a tiny bit faster, according to the wiki), Double T, and Thrust are also fast, but the Akuma is faster.
Super
There are three tiers of supercar in the game. At the top tier we have the Zentorno and the Osiris. I did a test with a friend with an unmodified Zentorno vs. an unmodified Osiris in a drag race, and the Osiris pulled ahead of the Zentorno in the last half, but I have also heard that fully upgraded they are the opposite, so the verdict is still out on that. Honestly, I really, really hate the Zentorno. Don't get me wrong, it's *good*, it's the fastest car in the game (besides maybe the Osiris now), slightly edging out the other supercars in all around performance, and it does look really cool, but I hate it for two reasons. One, its TOO good. Sure, the other supercars can definitely compete with it, but being a step ahead of the others means that if you want the fastest, you have no choice. Two, its too damn popular. *Everybody* has one, and I hate that. Imagine, for a moment, that the Zentorno didn't exist. Then, you would see an interesting mix of supercars; some Entitys, some Adders, some Turismos, etc. Everybody would have their favorite, adding some individuality and personality to their cars. As it is now, you start up a super car race and all you ever see is Zentornos. At least now the Osiris is adding some variety, and there's a new supercar on the way that I hope can compete and some personality to the top tier.
In the second tier is the Adder, *Cheetah, Entity XF, and Turismo R. The Entity and the Turismo are both about the same as far as I can tell, and are both excellent supercars. The Cheetah, however, is my favorite, for looks and because it handles just a bit better than the others (though its almost unnoticeably slower). As I prefer races with more sharp corners, and I know how to drive properly and push a supercar to its limits, the Cheetah is a better fit for me. The downside to the Cheetah, however, is that its a lot lighter, making it more prone to getting screwed up by bumps and curbs and can be pushed around easier by other cars. The Adder, though popular, is actually not very good for a supercar. Sure, its has the highest top speed of any car in the game (being a Veyron and all), but its sup-par acceleration and handling mean that it can only use this to its advantage in a really, really long highway race with no traffic (which must be the most boring race ever made). The other supercars, the Bullet, Infernus, Vacca, and Voltic, sadly lack the top speed to compete with the other supercars.
Planes
When in a plane race with a choice of planes, choose the Vestra, as it has good handling and is a fast jet. The Mallard is notable for its very high agility, but in pretty much any air race the Vestra will overtake it. The *Duster, on the other hand, is the most fun plane to fly. Sure, its by far the slowest and has the worst handling, and takes the most room to land and take off with, but thats just what makes it the most fun!
In a jet race, the Besra is the fastest by an unnoticeable amount, followed by the Lazer, then the *Hydra which has slightly worse handling than the others.
Helicopters
If you have a choice in a helicopter race, always choose the Buzzard (unless its a GTA race, it wont have guns, or even wings). Its way faster and more agile than the other helicopters. The Frogger is also quite agile. The *Savage is sluggish and slow.
I wouldn't actually recommend buying the Savage, as it is so fragile it feels like it is made out of cardboard, and is too sluggish to dodge most homing rockets, making it very hard to use in PVP. It does excell in PVE however, with its ability to fire rockets with no need to reload. Two passengers can fire out of the side seats, but for some stupid reason the passenger in the front can't do anything at all.
Boats
The fastest boat in the game is the Jetmax, followed by the *Speeder, followed by the Dinghy. If buying a boat, consider that the Speeder seats four while the Jetmax seats only 2.