With a Ferrari 458 Speciale, a McLaren 650S and a pre-facelift Nissan GT-R at their disposal, the journos from Autocar proved that a couple of runs down the drag strip will solve most disputes.
On paper, the most powerful of the three is the McLaren’s 650S, with its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 producing 650 PS (641 HP) and 678 Nm (500 lb-ft) of torque. Power is channeled to the rear axle through a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, resulting in a 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time of 3.0 seconds and a top speed of 333 km/h (207 mph).
Ferrari’s 458 Speciale is capable of similar performance, taking 3 seconds from a standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) and accelerating up to 325 km/h (202 mph). The rear-wheel drive supercar uses a 4.5-liter naturally aspirated V8 engine, updated to 605 PS (597 HP) and 540 Nm (398 pound-feet) of torque over the 458 Italia, on which it is based.
The pre-facelift version of the Nissan GT-R is the least powerful of the batch. A six-speed dual-clutch transmission sends 545 PS (537 HP) from the 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 to the all-wheel drive system, allowing it to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in the 3-second zone and all the way up to 310 km/h (193 mph).
Having seen what each is capable of, in theory, this would be a good time to place your bets.