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[The Baron]

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<<<<NISSAN’S new-generation GT-R might still

be offi cially more than a year away from hitting

Australian shores, but after becoming one of

just 75 lucky testers to attend the global launch

in Japan this week, GoAuto can unequivocally

say it will be worth the wait.

Aimed squarely at the upper echelons of

the automotive globe’s fi nest performance

coupes like Porsche’s benchmark-setting 911

Turbo, but expected to cost less than half the

price at about $150,000, the new GT-R follows

a hallowed tradition best remembered for the

giant-killing racer dubbed Godzilla.

The last (Skyline) GT-R was sold here in

2003 in R34 guise and, outside Japan, was also

only made offi cially available in the UK. All

that changes with the redesigned R35 GT-R,

which was announced as a global model from

the outset by Nissan-Renault chief Carlos

Ghosn when he fi rst presented the GT-R Proto

concept at the 2001 Tokyo motor show.

More than six years later, Nissan has

released a worthy successor that stays true to

the original’s turbocharged/all-wheel drive

formula, yet, in outright performance terms at

least, is competitive with the fi nest supercars

from Germany and Italy.

At the heart of the four-seater two-door GT-R

lies an all-new 3.8-litre DOHC V6 brandishing a

pair of conventional turbochargers that provide

up to a modest 0.75 bar (or just over 10psi) of

boost. According to offi cial fi gures, the highly

oversquare VR38DETT-codenamed TTV6

matches the 911T for peak power, with 353kW

on tap from a similarly relaxed 6400rpm. It falls

32Nm short in terms of maximum torque, which

is quoted at 588Nm from a slightly peakier

3200rpm, but is maintained for a usefully wide

2000rpm rev-range to 5200rpm.

On the road, the result is nothing short of

scintillating. No, despite a 200cc displacement

advantage, the Nissan engine doesn’t match

the off-idle response of the fl agship Porsche

engine, which employs NASA-type variablegeometry

turbo technology and is regarded as

the world’s most fl exible six-cylinder engine.

Meaningful power delivery doesn’t arrive until

about 2000rpm, which is barely noticeable until

full-throttle inputs in taller gears are demanded

from it, but from there it’s only a short gap before

full turbo boost is on hand, from about 2800rpm.

Beyond 3000rpm the force-fed V6 really gets

angry, delivering a seamless and surprisingly

linear wave of satisfyingly mad, seat-compressing

torque, accompanied by a smooth, refi ned engine

note that reeks of single-minded effi ciency both

inside and outside the cabin.

The GT-R doesn’t exhibit the spine-tinglingly

menacing exhaust note of the higher-tech

German fl at six, but offers a unique, attentiongrabbing

bark that signals its formidable intent

just as convincingly.

Where the GT-R engine really shines is in

the mid-range, where there’s a neck-straining

wall of acceleration available in any gear,

from any speed. Plant your right clog and

there’s virtually no lag before a ferocious

surge of violent acceleration explodes into life,

spinning the tacho needle clockwise as fast as

windscreen wipers in a tropical downpour.

Nissan claims 911T-beating 0-100km/h

acceleration of 3.6 seconds and a 300km/h

top speed, and an impromptu performance test

at the launch by fellow Australian journalists

revealed that by employing the BMW M3-

style launch control function, the GT-R is

easily capable of sub-four-second 0-100km/h

passes, which fi rmly stamps it as one of the

world’s quickest road vehicles.

Thus, the new GT-R should be comfortably

capable of eye-wateringly quick 11-second

quarter-mile sprints.

Never mind the standard 20-inch alloys with

massive 255/40-section front and 285/35 rear

rubber, or the signifi cantly longer (2780mm)

wheelbase and wider (1590/1600mm front/rear)

wheel tracks that give it a bigger footprint than

Porche’s fi nest conveyance.

And never mind the specially-developed,

electro-magnetic clutch-operated AWD system

that comprises a weight-distributing rear

transaxle and sends a maximum of 50 per cent

of torque to the front wheels only when the

rear-end loses grip. The GT-R V6 makes power

oversteer there for the taking.

On the tight, twisting and technical 4.1km

Sendai Highland Raceway, which played a

central role in the GT-R’s development and

provided our fi rst taste of Japan’s most signifi cant

supercar since Honda’s ground-breaking NSX

in 1989, the GT-R felt untouchable.

Sitting fl at, stable and fully composed in

all of the mountainous circuit’s double and

even triple-apex turns, the GT-R carried

outrageously quick corner speeds with the

confi dence-inspiring agility and precision of a

highly developed super-coupe.

Naturally, the GT-R cannot defy gravity and

understeer sets in during over-ambitious corner

entry speeds, but so neutral is its chassis and

so muscular its performance that predictable

oversteer is the overriding GT-R experience.

BMW’s M5 and M3 pioneered the ability

to select a traction/stability control mode

that allows a satisfying degree of sideways

attitude under acceleration before electronic

intervention takes over, but in “Race” mode

the GT-R delivers an even more generous yawrate

allowance before throwing out its safety

anchors, making it almost idiot-proof.

Of course, the VDC can also be fully

switched off. As evidenced by a track session

with Nissan’s own test drivers, the GT-R is both

powerful and poised enough to be “backed”

controllably into corners under brakes and

“steered” on the throttle via ludicrously

crossed-up slide angles.

But with such crisp steering turn-in

and agile, progressive mid-corner chassis

adjustability, not to mention the stupendously

powerful yet progressive stopping power of

six-piston Brembo front brake callipers and an

extremely high VDC intervention threshold,

there’s hardly any need to disable it.

So the GT-R backs up its undeniable road

presence with handling and performance that

matches its far more expensive peers – despite

a 200kg-odd weight disadvantage over the 911

Turbo at 1740kg. But it’s not perfect.

As the lumpy road drive revealed, the GTR’s

surprising level of handling adjustability at

the track comes at the expense of a hard ride.

Though the electronically adjustable damping

system takes some of the sharp edges off highfrequency

road irregularities in “Comfort” mode

and on the whole ride quality is not exactly what

you’d describe as harsh, we think the GT-R will

be almost unbearable as a day-to-day driver on

poorly surfaced Australian roads. English testers

also expressed concern at its overly fi rm set-up

and Nissan has made it clear it intends to fi netune

the GT-R constantly over its model life.

But, given the company’s pride in its

claim the GT-R is up to fi ve seconds quicker

at Sendai than the 911 Turbo (which it says

pitches and rolls more than the GT-R), whether

that’s enough to convince them to soften off

the Bilstein-supplied shock absorbers before

the car reaches Australia remains to be seen.

We suspect much of the GT-R’s ride quality

issues are inherent in its exclusive use of run-fl at

tyre technology, which is also responsible for the

alarmingly high level of road/tyre rumble inside.

Despite being precise and super-responsive,

the GT-R’s steering also lacks the feedback

of the 911’s highly communicative tiller,

even in all-wheel drive Turbo guise. On the

mountainous northern Japan road loop its

action and weighting wasn’t nearly as light as

it felt on the track, but overall we prefer both

less power assistance and more feedback.

Purists will also lament the lack of a full

manual transmission option, as the GT-R

will come exclusively with a double-clutch

automated manual gearbox that dispenses with

a clutch pedal and is operated only by shift

paddles that are unfortunately mounted on the

steering column – not the wheel itself. Like

Ferrari and Maserati, Nissan says this avoids

confusion over which paddle shifts up and

which shifts down on twisting roads, but when

it requires you to take hands off the wheel to

shift gears with steering lock applied, it can

hardly be a better method.

The rear-mounted Borg Warner-developed

transmission may also be as smooth, refi ned

and even quicker-shifting than a conventional

auto once on the move, but it requires just as

much fi nesse as Volkswagen’s similar DSG

gearbox to get off the line smoothly and, if

anything, sounds clunkier in stop-start traffi c,

where it never failed to jarr loudly as it changed

down into second gear.

The inescapable fact, however, is that

the twin-turbo engine is a masterpiece of

automotive engineering and, because it is

mated exclusively to a foolproof clutch pedalless

transmission, easily lives up to Nissan’s

claim that the GT-R is a supercar for everybody,

everywhere in all conditions.

The fact it has enough blistering performance

to overwhelm even the exclusive rear-biased

AWD system is negated by an equally high-tech

stability control system that offers an incredible

level of driving rewards in total safety.>>>>>