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Oh, and the same adjustable dampers too, more of that later on™
What is all the hype about?
Remember the R32 GT-R? (or Godzilla, as the Australians like to put it) While they have been around just before the turn of the 70s, it was the year 1990, just when some of you were born, that the original Godzilla shocked the Japanese market with the original 2.6-litre twin turbocharged "RB26DETT" iron-block workhorse.
Because of the now broken "gentlemen's agreement" between Japanese manufacturers not to produce anything above 280hp, these cars came with a cunningly simple solution in the form of a yellow tab along the boost restrictor lines. Pull this, and almost 320hp was immediately available on tap - the true potential of a factory-stock RB26.
Never before had so many technologically advanced innovations been packed into a performance car - ATTESSA-ETS (torque split differentials), Super-HICAS (all wheel steering), and so on in that fashion. What do they even mean? Never you mind, because all that translated to really, was race win after race win for Nissan in the Japan GT championships - the original motive of conception for the Skyline GT-R concept.
Since then, the GT-R legend has spoken for itself, and everything cumulated with Nissan's 500hp R34 GT-R Z-tune - the last of the GT-Rs tuned by NISMO in 2005.
Not a new Skyline then, for nearly ten years since the last R34 rolled off the production line in 2003. In the mean time, the motoring industry worldwide was alit with rumour and frenzy. Nissan GT-Rs shrouded in black were almost everywhere - from the roads of Los Angeles and Laguna Seca to the Nürburgring's Nordeschleife in Germany.
Iconic was the word of the Skyline's day, and inevitable was the fact that a wildly modified Skyline R33 GT-R took the introduction of the movie "2 Fast 2 Furious", where actor Paul Walker raced through the streets of Miami in it and ironically, crashed later on. Paul went on to buy his own Skyline soon after, and needless to say, he modified it.
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Driving Impressions
Courtesy of a few online sources, we learnt of the GT-R's launch control. Activating it takes a little while - both transmission and damping must be pushed up to the most aggressive, "R" setting and the VDC be defeated by holding the switch down for 2-3 seconds. Then, hold the brake down with your left foot and floor the throttle with your right, and when you see the tachometer hit about 4,500rpm, you know what to do™
Releasing the brake pedal at those engine speeds engages the clutch in first and produces one of the most violent, G-force inducing accelerations man has ever known sitting in a four seater production vehicle. There aren't many cars that do this, and to date we can only name one or two - the Porsche 911 Turbo, the benchmark for the GT-R, and on the other end of the spectrum, a wildly modified, 600hp Mitsubishi Evo, given that the driver has the facility to launch it properly.
While we didn't measure acceleration times with the launch control on, a standard "pedal-to-the-metal" traffic light start yields around 4.2 seconds with under a quarter-full tank of petrol and the air-conditioning turned off (no passengers). While the 15-inch rotors aren't as large as the gargantuan 20-inch wheels shod with Bridgestone Potenza RE070s, the six-pot Brembos clamp down hard to bring the 1,740kg monster to a grinding halt in just 32 metres - only 1 foot shy of the Porsche's 911 Turbo's carbon-ceramic brakes.
You can't drive a Skyline GT-R and not think about turning the wheel, of course, and nothing will prepare you for the car's extreme cornering speeds and startling composure on the limits of grip. You don't so much as nudge the sharp and responsive steering to the left or right, into the apex of a turn at any speed that you dare, and the car complies with no fuss whatsoever.
The way it's chassis reacts through the bumps, and the way the car's suspension copes through sudden road gaps - you get the idea that (as so many people have said before) you really are driving something very, very special.
This Nissan goes exactly where you want it to go, and it does everything you want it to do. Perhaps one of the easiest of cars to control despite it's power and mystique, rear wheel slides are extremely predictable, and you never, ever feel like the rear wheels are going to overtake the front even when presented with the unholy trinity - speed, wet uneven ground and hard, off-cambered corners.
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Supercar for the masses?
Yes and no. For an average of $280,000, this effectively puts the GT-R in the price range of the entry level BMW M series cars (Z4M coupe) and the Porsche Boxster, of which aren't half as fast and brutal in terms of performance.
We don't need to tell you that this car is indeed world-class and relatively cheap, and we also do not even need to start on how the GT-R will be seen as the antichrist to Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini (save for the LP640) owners who will perhaps be left for dead during track days, should you decide to take your new Nissan for a spin then.
Also, for it's price, will we expect to see more "Skylines" on the road?
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Our Nissan GT-R was provided courtesy of Auto Sportique, which by the way, is the only one in Singapore shrouded in red as of this date!
