Honda Castrol MUGEN NSX '00

The Honda Castrol MUGEN NSX '00 is a race car produced by Honda. It first appeared in Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec and is featured in the subsequent mainline games except Gran Turismo Sport. In Gran Turismo 7, it was included as part of Update 1.48, renamed as the Honda NSX GT500 '00.
It appears to be the #16 driven by Ryo Michigami, Osamu Nakako, and Hidetoshi Mitsusada, with Michigami winning the GT500 Drivers' Championship of the 2000 JGTC season. It was Honda's first GT500 title, and the first GT500 title to be won without winning a single race. Nakako retired from racing midway through the season and was replaced by Mitsusada for the final three races, hence the reason that Michigami was the sole recipient of the Drivers' Championship.
==In-game description==
=== Car Index (GT7) ===
"A decorated car that won the year 2000 GT series championship."
During the 2000 season of the Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), the three big automakers Honda, Toyota and Nissan were engaged in a fierce battle for GT500 prominence. The Honda (Acura) NSX engineers made major changes to its race car that year, placing an idler gear between the output shaft and transmission. They also used thinner and more compact gears of Formula cars. As a result, the exhaust pipes that once ran under the engine were moved around the sides, allowing the powerplant to be lowered for improved center-of-gravity. 
Five teams raced the revived NSX in 2000. Among them were the Castrol Mugen NSX and Takata Dome NSX, which assumed the role of advanced-development "worksWritten as "work" cars" for the NSX camp. The car with the overwhelming speed was the Takata Dome NSX, and it took two wins right away. Because the JGTC used a weight-handicap system to even out the competition, the Takata Dome NSX's handicaps were too much to overcome to take the championship. In its shadow emerged the Castrol Mugen NSX that progressed through the season with consistently good finishes. The driver were Ryo Michigami and Sebastian Philippe, with Philippe being replaced by Hidetoshi Mitsusada halfway through the season. The Castrol Mugen NSX handled the weight handicaps incurred from its 1st place finishes and went on to take the series championship.
===Legend Cars (GT7)===
The Castrol MUGEN NSX was one of the standouts in the competitive 2000 JGTC season. It became the first Honda NSX to win a high-level Japanese GT championship. In the top GT500 class of the Japanese GT Car Championship (JGTC), there was a real dogfight between the factory teams of Honda, Nissan, and Toyota, who were always trying to one-up each other. Since 1997, Honda had been competing with its NSX GT race car. But tuning regulations in the JGTC restricted the development of the NSX GT. This led to less than satisfactory results on the track, but Honda's race department refused to give up. Through tuning of the car's aerodynamics and improvements to weight balance, the NSX steadily improved year after year. All of that perseverance came to fruition in the 2000 season when the Castrol MUGEN NSX took home the series championship. Today, the original NSX has become a consummate collector car, an icon of Japanese automobiles. And this car represents the model's legacy as a timeless, persistent race machine.
==Acquisition==
==Trivia==
*Being a 2000 model year car, it is currently the most modern car that is sold in GT7's Legend Car Dealership. Before it was added, the record was held simultaneously by the Nissan GT-R GT500 '99 and the Toyota GT-One (TS020) '99.
*Despite being a Gr.3 car, the light covers cannot be changed in GT7's Livery Editor as is normal for cars in that class. Instead, GT Auto provides the option to change the lightbulb.
*It was the first GT500 car to be added to GT7 via post-launch content updates, and it became the third GT500 car to be included in Gr.3.
*If the default livery is removed, the default livery pattern will be retained until a custom paint color is applied. This behavior is also applied with the Nissan GT-R GT500 '99, the Nissan Skyline Super Silhouette Group 5 '84, the McLaren MP4/4 '88, the Volkswagen ID. R '19, the Ford GT Race Car '18, and the Gran Turismo F3500-A.
==Pictures==
Honda Castrol MUGEN NSX Vehicle Banner.png|The vehicle banner as it appears in Gran Turismo 4.
Gran Turismo® 7 20240530160601.jpg|The interior view in Gran Turismo 7.
==See also==
*Other 2000-spec NSX GT500 models from previous games:
**Honda ARTA NSX '00
**Honda RAYBRIG NSX '00
==Notes==
Category:GT3 Cars
Category:GT4 Cars
Category:GTPSP Cars
Category:GT5 Cars
Category:GT6 Cars
Category:GT7 Cars
Category:GT7 DLC Cars
Category:JGTC
Category:Honda Race Cars
Category:2000s race cars
Category:Coupes
Category:Super GT championship winners
Category:Naturally Aspirated Cars
Category:Unpaintable cars
Category:Level 17 Cars
Category:GT3 Prize Cars
Category:Cars available in GT3 arcade mode
Category:Legend Cars
Category:Gr.3