Ferrari vs Porsche in CSR2: 180 Records Compared

Ferrari or Porsche is one of the oldest arguments in motoring, and CSR2 players have it too. Both brands have huge garages in the game, both have cars near the top of Tier 5, and both have fans who'll tell you the other one is overrated.

So we settled it with data. Our CSR2 world records sheet has 85 Ferrari records and 95 Porsche records, 180 in total. We compared them tier by tier: the best car, how many make the top of each tier, and how good the typical car is. The answer depends on where you race.

Ferrari vs Porsche in CSR2: the scorecard

	Ferrari	Porsche
Total records	85	95
Tier 5 records	74	77
Best Tier 5 car	849 Testarossa, 17th	963, 16th
Tier 5 cars in the top 50	2	3
Tier 5 cars in the top 100	5	7
Typical Tier 5 car (median rank)	512th	563rd
Best Tier 4 car	Purosangue, 61st	911 ‘277’ Urban Outlaw, 56th
Best Tier 3 car	California, 55th	718 Cayman GT4, 22nd
Best Tier 2 car	250 GTO (E.C. Level 50), 2nd	718 Boxster S, 5th

From our sheet at the time of writing. Ranks are out of 890 cars in Tier 5, 232 in Tier 4, 81 in Tier 3 and 32 in Tier 2.

Tier 5: a dead heat at the top

The best Porsche, the 963, holds a 6.624 record. The best Ferrari, the 849 Testarossa, holds 6.631. Seven thousandths of a second, 16th and 17th in the tier. On the question of whose best car is faster, the records call it a draw.

Top Ferraris	Rank	Top Porsches	Rank
849 Testarossa	17	963	16
288 GTO	47	SVRSR ‘Hoonipigasus’	40
F40 Competizione	56	Bisimoto 935 K3V	49
Daytona SP3	86	962 C	57
F430 Scuderia	91	Mission R Concept	77
SF90 XX Stradale	155	911 GT3 R rennsport	82
SF90 XX Spider	156	917K	100

Look one level down and Porsche pulls ahead at the sharp end: it has seven cars in the top 100 against Ferrari's five, and its second to seventh-best cars all outrank Ferrari's equivalents. A lot of that comes from racing machinery. The 963, 962 C, 917K and GT3 R are all race cars, and race cars do well in CSR2.

Across the whole tier, though, Ferrari's typical car is better. The median Ferrari ranks 512th; the median Porsche 563rd. In other words, Porsche has the stronger elite but a longer tail of slower cars. If you pick a Tier 5 Ferrari at random, you're likely to do a bit better than with a random Porsche.

Race cars vs track specials

Both brands have proper racing machinery in the game, and this is where the gap between them is widest.

Porsche's race cars are some of the best cars it has: the 963 (16th), the 962 C (57th), the 911 GT3 R rennsport (82nd), the 917K (100th) and the 911 GT3 R (992) at 130th. Nearly every pure Porsche race car sits in the top 130 of the tier.

Ferrari's track specials do much less well. The F40 Competizione is excellent at 56th, but the FXX Evoluzione ranks 295th, the 599XX Evo 392nd, and the FXX K and FXX K EVO sit between about 479th and 575th. Those are some of the most exotic cars Ferrari ever made, and in CSR2 they're mid-table. Ferrari's speed comes mostly from its road cars, led by the 849 Testarossa.

Where each brand runs out of pace

The slowest Tier 5 Ferraris are the 599 GTO, at around 9.5 seconds, and the 488 Spider at 9.620, 886th of 890. Porsche's slowest are the 911 R and the Carrera GT, both at Elite Customs Level 0. That's a telling difference. The Porsches at the bottom aren't bad cars; they're cars on their lowest Elite Customs level. The same Carrera GT at Level 50 is almost 1.5 seconds faster, as we found in our Elite Customs analysis.

Tiers 3 and 4: Porsche

Below Tier 5, Porsche is the stronger brand.

• Tier 4: Porsche has 12 records to Ferrari's 7, and five Porsches make the top 100 against two Ferraris. Porsche's best is the 911 ‘277’ Urban Outlaw at 56th, with the Panamera Turbo S Sport Turismo at 75th. Ferrari's best is an SUV, the Purosangue, at 61st.
• Tier 3: it isn't close. All five Porsche records are in the top 50, led by the 718 Cayman GT4 at 22nd. Ferrari has only the California, at 55th and 57th in its two versions.

If you're building a garage for the middle tiers, Porsche gives you more choice and more speed. The Cayman GT4 family in particular is one of the best-value builds in Tier 3.

Tier 2: Ferrari

Ferrari takes Tier 2, and it's a big win. The 250 GTO at Elite Customs Level 50 holds the second-fastest record in the whole tier, 8.315, and even at Level 0 it ranks seventh. Porsche's only Tier 2 record is the 718 Boxster S at fifth, set with a stock engine and a Stage 5 gearbox: a brilliant result, but a single car.

Purple or gold?

Both brands follow the game-wide pattern from our purple vs gold star study. Of 21 Ferraris recorded in both versions, purple is faster on 19, typically by 0.05 seconds; of 19 Porsches, purple wins 18, typically by about the same. Each brand also has a big exception. The Ferrari SF90 Stradale has the largest purple advantage of any car on the sheet at 0.268 seconds, while the 488 Pista goes the other way, its gold record 0.129 seconds quicker.

Tuning habits

In Tier 5, Porsche records are more uniform: 61% use a final drive of 2.00, against 46% of Ferraris. Ferraris are more likely to use the common nitro setting (42% against 29%). Fewer Ferraris use the usual 0/100 tyre setting, 55% against 60% of Porsches. In practice, that means a copied “standard” tune is a slightly safer bet on a Porsche, and a Ferrari is more likely to need its own. Our CSR2 best tune analysis covers the standard setup.

Which should you pick?

• Chasing the top of Tier 5: it's a coin toss between the 963 and the 849 Testarossa. Porsche has more cars in the top 100 if you want a second or third choice.
• A dependable Tier 5 garage: Ferrari. Its typical car ranks higher.
• Tiers 3 and 4: Porsche, clearly. Start with the Cayman GT4 in Tier 3.
• Tier 2: Ferrari's 250 GTO, built to a high Elite Customs level.

Both brands have their own pages in our Ferrari and Porsche collections, and every car can be delivered stock or fully maxed. Lamborghini fans can see how the third big name stacks up in our ranking of the best Lamborghini in CSR2, and the rest of Germany gets the same treatment in BMW vs Mercedes vs Audi.

So who wins?

At the very top, nobody: the 963 and the 849 Testarossa are seven thousandths apart. Porsche has the deeper elite and dominates Tiers 3 and 4. Ferrari has the better typical Tier 5 car and wins Tier 2 with the 250 GTO. Pick the brand that's strongest in the tier you actually race.