If by "the real deal" you mean a Seven, then yes. Caterham is the only company** allowed to call the car a Seven. The lawsuit with Westfield settled that.
There are several Caterhams, Westfields and Birkins in the area and all are very fast and handle great. The westy has a swoopy fiberglass body and the Birkin is taller at the cowl. These changes (again in my opinion) make the car look wrong. All this is hard to describe, if you saw them in person you would conclude I am right
No one has accused me of being a "gang green" fan because of the colors of my car. There is a story why Lotus sold this color combination, but that is for another post.
** Prior to selling the rights to the Seven to Caterham, Chapman sold the rights
in South Africa to Birkin. Last I looked, Birkin can call thier car a Seven in SA and is involved in some other litigation regarding the name.