GT-R road test

[SteveTheTech]

Like many of you out there I fancy myself as a Nissan fan over most other cars, especially when it comes to refined performance. In doing my part I have religiously reading all material on the subject of the US market GT-R since the time of the animated sketches. There was the great debate on whether or not this would be true to the lineage, yadda yadda. Some time has passed since those days, there is now a trophy case full of international awards and many changed minds all over the world.

Recently I had the opportunity to take spend some time with a pre-broken in 2010 GT-R. From the time the car powers up for the first time I had to stop and think about the care that was put into this feast for the senses even before I put the seatbelt on. The dual wet clutch feels slightly similar to the M6 but after a short time there were noticeable differences, mainly in shift timing and smoothness. The M6 lets you know the GTR lets you focus on driving, even in race mode.

Acceleration on this is down right amazing. I had it in auto mode and simply stepped on the gas and away we went. Somewhere between half and full throttle the shift point was perfectly selected before I had the opportunity to look down. Of the cars that I have driven around the same area this is the one car I can actually say I fit in. There is a connection and almost familiarity with the VQ and my right foot. This car is a true sensory overload, there were many time I found myself literally giggling at just how fast this thing feels. The seat of my pants dyno now has a new baseline.

I know the practicality of this car does not outweigh the fun in my personal life but this car quickly jumped several places on my personal list.

[audtatious]

Unfortunately I have not had a chance to take one out. I was working with the Infiniti folks on doing a test drive of the red media GT-R out at the Nashville super speedway in '08 but they ended up giving people rides and ran out of time

[SteveTheTech]

This would be on my bucket list.

The experience of being able to "get into" a car like this (to a level that cannot be safely/legally attained on streets) would be worth my golf budget.