well I have an Evo VIII now, its an incredible car. with a stock turbine I can still beat porsche carrera c2, z06, grand am, sti, v8 s4, and keeps up with a 360 modena until 140 mph. The stock turbine if tuned correctly with supporting mods has little turbo lag. The top end of the evo8 lacks because of its 5th gear and lower gearing as some of you have mentioned. Evo8 has awesome performance for the price. BUT consider this: evo8 maxed out on stock turbo is a fast car but you have to deal with replacing parts as they break down, tickets - fix it and traffic, constant maintenance - rebuilding coilovers, tires, brakes, oil, fluids, etc., putting race gas $4.99 IF YOU can find a place with 100 octane, no warranty, replacing the clutch before 10K miles, and generally not being very comfortable when you are driving it. Having a good 350WHP relatively reliably on an evo will cost you $5-6K. Its cost effective and loads of fun, but the nsx just turns heads.
The evo is a superior vehicle at its price - the brakes are superb, the turbo makes for enjoyable driving, and the awd and handling makes it awesome to drive through the twisties. This is the car you take out just to DRIVE because it is so much damn fun to drive it. I remember I would just drive it on a sunny day just to experience the fun factor. The evo8 I would highly recommend but its not for everyone! Its a fun performance oriented driver's car. The NSX on the other hand is refined, older, and looks a ton better. They really are in different classes as one is more exotic, rwd, mid NA v6 engine, and older. The other is a race car, awd, front turbocharged inline 4 cylinder, and a new car with new rally breed technology. I would sort of compare rally (EVO8) to f1 (NSX).