There aren’t many cars recently that have surprised and impressed people more than the Ford Mustang GTD. It’s essentially a road-legal version of the Mustang GT3 race car, and it’s got performance that allows it to go toe-to-toe with many of the world’s best sports cars . The GTD pushes 815 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque from its 5.2-liter supercharged Predator V8, can do 0-60 between 3-3.5 seconds, and has a claimed top speed of 202 mph. It also set an incredible Nürburgring lap time of 6:52.072 earlier this year, which makes it faster than many prestigious supercars, and even some low-volume track-only specials.
While the Mustang GTD’s performance is very impressive, there are actually some cars that can beat it. Two of those cars come from the Land of the Rising Sun. One of them is the most recent car to wear a classic supercar nameplate. The other is a tuner-favorite and an icon with decades of motorsports heritage. Both of them are very different, but they’ve both managed to beat the performance of Ford’s most extreme production car to date.
0-60 mph times were used to determine whether each car can outrun the 2025 Ford Mustang GTD. The manufacturer’s claimed figures are used, unless otherwise stated.
In the supercar world, the second-generation Acura NSX often gets overlooked. There are many who even consider it to be one of the most underrated supercars around. Conversely, there are some who think that it was a badly executed idea. One thing you can’t argue about, though, is how fast it is.
This version of the NSX was a hybrid, powered by a 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6 running alongside 3 electric motors. Two of those motors powered the front wheels, while one powered the rear. This produced a total power output of 573 hp and 476 lb-ft of torque, and gave the NSX all-wheel drive with intelligent torque vectoring capabilities. It also had a 9-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission (the first 9-speed DCT to be fitted in a production car!), with the first gear specifically being designed for fast launches.
The result of all of this was a car with incredible performance for when it was launched in 2016. Honda claimed it could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds, and that it had an electronically limited top speed of 191 mph. Car & Driver managed close to this in its independent testing, getting a 0-60 time of 3.1 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 11.2 seconds at 126 mph. That makes it significantly faster to 60 mph than how fast people estimate the Ford Mustang GTD to be, although its top speed is lower compared to the Mustang GTD’s.
The performance of the original Acura NSX wasn’t even the peak of how fast this platform could be. To mark its final year of production in 2022, it was given a big upgrade in the form of the NSX Type S. This new version of the car had a power boost up to 602 hp and 492 lb-ft of torque. This was thanks to some upgrades to the internal combustion engine, including new, more powerful turbos from the NSX GT3 Evo race car. The transmission was also reprogrammed, making shifting and launches faster. This makes it 0.2 seconds faster to 60 mph and 0.2 seconds faster in the 1/4 mile than the standard version.
As if to further drive the point home, Honda pulled off an impressive stunt with the NSX Type S. Driven by Ricky Taylor, it managed to lap the Long Beach Street Circuit in 1:32:784. This broke the record for the fastest production car around that circuit, beating the previous record of 1:35:663. This was set by legendary sports car racer Peter Cunnigham, who managed it in a standard NSX from 2019.
The second-generation Acura NSX is a very cool and very fast car. But, it’s one that still has a bit of an unloved reputation. This Japanese supercar, however, is absolutely beloved by enthusiasts. The regular R35 Nissan GT-R was speedy enough, thanks to its 3.6-liter twin-turbocharged V6 (producing anywhere from 473 hp in the earliest cars to 562 hp in the very last ones) and sophisticated all-wheel drive system.
However, Nissan decided that just wasn’t fast enough, and turned up the heat by borrowing parts from the GT3-spec race car. The result of that was the GT-R Nismo. The Nismo had an output of 592 hp and 481 lb-ft of torque thanks to using the GT3 car’s turbochargers, an upgraded fuel pump, and Nismo changing the ignition timing. It’s also lighter than the standard GT-R, and features a Nismo-spec suspension system and additional aerodynamic parts.
The result of all those upgrades is a 0-60 time of 2.9 seconds (as tested by MotorTrend), and a top speed of 196 mph. That top speed doesn’t even seem to be the ceiling of the GT-R Nismo, either. Some people have managed to get theirs to hit over 200 mph with some modifications, making it a proper contender to the Mustang GTD in top speed as well as acceleration.
The advantages of these cars over the Ford Mustang GTD don’t just stop at the performance. Both of them are also much cheaper to buy on the used market than buying a new Mustang GTD. The Mustang GTD’s MSRP in the US is reported as being around $325,000. Meanwhile, you can get a standard second-generation NSX for a fraction of that at around $135,490. The NSX Type S is more expensive at around $234,279, but that’s still significantly cheaper than the Mustang.
When it comes to the Nissan GT-R Nismo, an early one will set you back around $164,227. Later models that have some performance improvements will cost you around $223,308. Again, that’s a lot less than what you’d pay for a Mustang GTD, and you’re getting a car that can actually beat it in a straight sprint!
The second-generation Acura NSX and the Nissan GT-R Nismo are just two of the cars that can outrun the Ford Mustang GTD. Several other production cars from recent times have managed to beat the Mustang GTD to 60. These cars are almost entirely from European brands with a lot of prestige behind them. But, there is one outlier that’s as American as they come!
The Ferrari SF90 Stradale was a first for the Prancing Horse. While it wasn’t Ferrari’s first hybrid car, it was the first to be a full plug-in hybrid. It has a 4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 that works alongside 3 electric motors, producing a combined output of 986 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. That’s enough to take the SF90 Stradale from 0-60 in 2.5 seconds and a top speed of 211 mph, according to Ferrari’s claims. Car & Driver managed an even faster 0-60 time in its independent tests, completing the sprint in just 2 seconds! This actually set a record for the fastest 0-60 time for a production vehicle in Car & Driver’s tests, until it was beaten by the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT and the Lucid Air Sapphire.
The Porsche 911 Turbo S has been a staple of the sports car and supercar markets for a while. That’s no different with the 992-generation version. Its 3.7-liter twin-turbocharged flat-6 has an output of 641 hp and 590 lb-ft from the factory, allowing it to get from 0-60 in 2.6 seconds and onto a top speed of 205 mph. While that might not sound as impressive as some of the other cars we’re going to mention here, the 911 Turbo S is a car that can be tuned quite a lot. Brabus made a lot of headlines by making a version of the 992 Turbo S that bumped the power up to 900 hp, and some people have managed to get theirs up to 1,000 hp or higher.
The 992 911 Turbo S’s Mustang GTD-beating performance isn’t the end of how far Porsche is trying to push that platform, though. It’s currently developing a new version of the 911 GT2 RS, and it looks set to be a proper rival to the Ford Mustang GTD in every way. That could include going for a crazy Nürburgring lap time, as it’s been spotted testing on that very circuit.
The Lamborghini Revuelto is possibly the most advanced production car to have the raging bull badge so far. It keeps the traditional snarling 6.5-liter Lamborghini V12, but pulls it into the 2020s by pairing it up with 3 electric motors. This generates a total output of 1,001 hp and 783 lb-ft of torque, taking it from 0-60 in 2.2 seconds (according to Car & Driver) and onto a top speed of 217 mph. That makes it one of the most powerful cars mentioned here, as well as one of the fastest.
The second Lamborghini on this list, the Huracan Performante, is a supercar that’s become world-renowned for what it can do. Powered by a 5.2-liter V10, it has an output of 631 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque. That gives it a 0-60 time of 2.2 seconds (according to Car & Driver), and a theoretical top speed of 200 mph. These cars can also be heavily tuned, boosting those numbers up to incredible levels. A fairly common modification is to turbocharge the engine, and one of the most heavily modified examples given this treatment has been able to produce almost 2000 hp.
The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is the only all-American car here. It’s also the only other all-American car that can really challenge the Ford Mustang GTD. Its 5.5-liter flat-plane V8 produces 1,064 hp and 828 lb-ft of torque, taking it from 0-60 in as little as 2.3 seconds with the ZTK performance package installed. It also has a claimed top speed of 233 mph, easily outrunning the Ford Mustang GTD. The ZR1’s performance figures are actually so crazy for a Corvette that some have argued it could have proper supercar status.
Sources: Acura, Car & Driver, Chevrolet, classic.com, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Motor Trend, Nissan, Porsche
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