Nissan GT-R

“The power from the GT-R’s engine is phenomenal. The GT-R’s handling is in a league by itself. Simply put, the GT-R is the most potent automobile to ever come from Japan.”
- Road & Track Magazine

With the GT-R, Nissan’s engineers aspired to craft a distinctive supercar that personified Japanese design and culture; a uniquely confident creation that did not look toward Europe or America for inspiration. They envisioned a singularly exotic machine of uncompromising performance that would exemplify Japan’s momentous automotive achievements. They succeeded.

Excepting the über-exotics from Ferrari and Bugatti, the GT-R will warp to 60 mph faster than any other series production car in existence. It is also one of the world’s fastest cars around the Nordschleife ("Northern Loop") of Germany’s famed Nürburgring. And while the GT-R can not be described as beautiful – resembling one of the robots from the Japanese anime metaseries Gundam – its daring design and audaciously aggressive demeanor are undeniably appealing.

Introduced at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2007, the GT-R owes its heritage to Nissan’s iconic high-performance Skyline GT-R produced between 1969 and 1974, and again between 1989 and 2002.  Today’s GT-R packs a ferocious twin-turbo V-6 whose 480 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque-gone-mad is directed to terra firma though a highly advanced all-wheel drive system. Mash the accelerator and Godzilla will leap into hyper-drive with the help of a sophisticated launch control system, short gearing and massive amounts of uninterrupted torque courtesy of the dual-clutch automated manual transmission. The result is a rampage of rush and a riot of excitement.

Inside the GT-R, things are considerably more sedate. It seats 4 in reasonable comfort, offers a conventional trunk, good visibility and a conventional sedan-like driving position. This million-microchip masterpiece also includes a multifunction display – designed by Sony’s Polyphony Digital, creators of the Gran Turismo series of racing video games – with 11 selectable information screens.