I guess you can say its does in a straight line. Just a reminder that the RX7 had a Turbo. The RX8 doesn't have any of that, it pure Rotary Powered and is at the "most" a 1/2 of a sec slower than the RX7. But believe me when I say this, the RX8 offers a lot more than the RX7 did. As far a seating, comfort, quality of interior, trunk space and etc. That why I picked it over all of the other sports cars such as the 350Z, S2000, G35 Coupe, STi, Evo and so on. Many of them may have been a little faster in the straight line but none made up for other aspects of the car for the price.
And if you ask any professional driver which car he/she would use for an Track day, they would pick the RX8 without any doubt. I have plenty of video's of other owners in a stock RX8 keeping up with a Mustang GT, GTO, Camero SS, Audi RS4,Corvette C6 and more on the Track.