Electric Cars in CSR2: Are EVs Really the Fastest?

Every so often you'll read that the fastest cars in CSR2 are “overwhelmingly electric”. It sounds right. Electric hypercars dominate real-world acceleration tables, and CSR2 has plenty of them: the Rimac Nevera, the Pininfarina Battista, the Lotus Evija and more.

So we checked. We went through our CSR2 world records sheet, picked out every fully electric car, and ranked them against everything else. The claim turns out to be wrong at the very top, but there's a real story underneath it. As a group, electric cars are far stronger than the average CSR2 car, and in Tier 4 they lead.

Which CSR2 electric cars we counted

We only counted fully battery-electric cars, and picked them by hand from the sheet. That gave us 35 records across three tiers:

• Tier 5 (25 records): Rimac Nevera (three versions), McMurtry Spéirling, Lamborghini Terzo Millennio, Porsche Mission R, Aspark Owl, Pininfarina Battista (several versions), Ford Mustang Mach-E 1400, Lotus Evija, Porsche Taycan (several versions), Audi RS e-tron GT and Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack.
• Tier 4 (8 records): Hyundai IONIQ 6 N, IONIQ 5 N, IONIQ 5 N NPX1 and Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition.
• Tier 3 (2 records): the electric Mercedes-Benz CLA 350 4MATIC with EQ Technology.

We left out hybrids and hydrogen cars, such as the Mercedes-AMG F1 W11, the Audi R18 e-tron quattro and the Hyundai N Vision 74, and a couple of cars we couldn't confirm were battery-electric. If you count them in, the picture barely changes.

Tier 5: strong, but not on top

Electric car	Record	Tier 5 rank
Rimac Nevera R	6.598	11
McMurtry Spéirling Goodwood Edition	6.624	15
Rimac Nevera	6.653	27
Rimac Nevera Time Attack	6.653	28
Lamborghini Terzo Millennio	6.748	67
Porsche Mission R Concept	6.764	77
Aspark Owl	6.787	92
Pininfarina Battista	6.790	97
Ford Mustang Mach-E 1400	6.825	120
Lotus Evija	6.828	123

From our sheet at the time of writing, out of 890 timed Tier 5 cars.

The fastest electric car in CSR2 is the Rimac Nevera R, 11th in Tier 5. That's excellent, but it isn't the top ten. The ten fastest Tier 5 records belong to petrol cars, a movie car and a truck: the Back to the Future Time Machine, Honda's Hoonigan Indy Truck, the Apollo S and others. Only two EVs make the top 20, and four make the top 50. The classic hypercar brands don't do any better, as our CSR2 hypercars analysis shows.

So no, the fastest CSR2 cars are not overwhelmingly electric. Our ranking of the fastest car from every brand shows who actually sits at the top.

But as a group, EVs are far above average

The more interesting number is the typical one. The median electric car in Tier 5 ranks 123rd. The median car in Tier 5 overall ranks around 446th. Ten of the 25 Tier 5 EV records are in the top 100.

Put simply, if you pick an electric car at random in Tier 5, you're very likely to end up with something in the faster part of the tier. Pick any car at random and you'll land in the middle. EVs don't own the very top, but they're one of the most reliable ways to get a quick car.

Not every EV is quick

The exceptions are the electric saloons and grand tourers. The Porsche Taycan Turbo GT ranks 325th, a respectable result. The Taycan Turbo S versions and the Audi RS e-tron GT sit between about 545th and 598th, close to the middle of the tier. The Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack, at 626th, is the slowest Tier 5 EV on the sheet. In CSR2, as in the real world, a heavy four-door EV isn't a hypercar, however quick it is off the line.

How record holders tune and drive EVs

Electric cars don't just rank differently. Their records are set differently too. Comparing the 25 Tier 5 EV records with every other Tier 5 record:

	Electric cars	Everything else
Final drive of 2.00	84%	50%
Tyre setting 0/100	88%	74%
Nitro setting 188/4.0	4%	42%
Typical time found over the dyno	0.035s	0.104s

Two things stand out. First, EV records almost all share the same final drive and tyre setting, but almost none use the nitro setting most other cars do, so a “standard” Tier 5 tune needs its nitro changed for an EV. Second, record holders find much less time over the dyno in electric cars, about a third of what they find in other cars. Many electric cars have few gear changes, which leaves less room for a driver to gain time with clean shifts, though we can't see the game's internals to confirm that. Either way, with an EV, your race times should sit close to your dyno time. Our best tune and launch and shifting analyses explain both patterns for the rest of the game.

Tier 4: where EVs lead

Electric car	Record	Tier 4 rank
Hyundai IONIQ 6 N (purple star)	9.445	2
Hyundai IONIQ 5 N (purple star)	9.490	5
Hyundai IONIQ 6 N (gold star)	9.493	6
Hyundai IONIQ 5 N (gold star)	9.541	9
Hyundai IONIQ 5 N NPX1	9.592	12
Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition	10.329	121

Tier 4 is the one place the “EVs are fastest” idea is close to true. Hyundai's electric N cars hold six of the top 20 records, including second and fifth. The typical Tier 4 EV ranks 11th of 232, against a tier median of around 117th. Only the Ford Mustang Dark Horse, with its gearbox held at Stage 5, stops an IONIQ from holding the top spot.

If you race Tier 4, an IONIQ 6 N or 5 N is one of the best builds you can make, and our best cars by tier breakdown shows where they sit among all the contenders.

Tier 3: one electric contender

The electric Mercedes-Benz CLA appears twice in Tier 3, ranked 19th and 23rd of 81 in its two versions. Both records note the motor was held at Stage 4. It's a reminder that, electric or not, the fastest build isn't always the fullest one.

Should your garage go electric?

• For the very top of Tier 5: the Rimac Nevera R and McMurtry Spéirling can compete, but petrol and race cars still own the top ten.
• For a reliably quick Tier 5 car: electric is a very safe bet. Most of the electric hypercars sit inside the top 125.
• For Tier 4: go Hyundai. The IONIQ 6 N and 5 N are among the best cars in the tier.
• Avoid assuming every EV is fast. The Taycan Turbo S and e-tron GT are mid-table in Tier 5.

Electric cars follow the same purple vs gold pattern as everything else, so if you're choosing between versions, our purple star vs gold star data applies. All the cars above are in our car collection, deliverable stock or fully maxed.

Electric, but not unbeatable

No electric car makes the Tier 5 top ten; the fastest, the Rimac Nevera R, is 11th. But the typical Tier 5 EV ranks 123rd of 890, far above the average car, and in Tier 4 Hyundai's IONIQ N models hold six of the top 20. Electric is one of the most dependable ways to build a fast CSR2 garage. It just isn't the whole top of the leaderboard.