Nissan GTR

No – I haven’t any seat time for my self, but I did get to talk with an HPDE instructor that spent a weekend with a student that brought one to CMP. His reaction was that it was an amazing car. It was very powerful, but not in the neck wrenching style of a ZR1 Corvette.

Yes, it had to be released from the factory speed limitor prior to going on track and that allowed it to reach phenominal speeds at CMP. The owner was in the novice class an blew by everything else on the track. Unfortunately this is not a car that you should use to learn proper driving technique. It just has so much computerised assistance that you can make constant mistakes and still bow past every other car on the track.

The instructor described it as a car that you could drive as if the brake and accelerator were simply switches. Just slam on the brakes and turn and the computer sorts it out. Jam on the accelerator and the computer sorts it out. It doesn’t let you over power through a corner no matter how hard you press down. Unfortunately this allowed the student to drive off line and not develop a smooth driving style.

With so much automation the experienced instructors clucked dissaprovingly at the car, but they had to admit that in the hands of an experienced professional this car would lap far faster than an ordinary super car.

Here is an episode of Top Gear with the GTR:

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jimsgarage

Categories: Cars

3 responses to “Nissan GTR”

Tim

October 20, 2008 at 1:14 pm

Funny you should mention, in your other post, about the ‘black box’ this car has. It’s already come into contention with a guy who broke his tranny and Nissan won’t pay for it because he disabled the traction/stability system too many times & used the included launch control feature to…launch his car.

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/10/13/carsumer-advocacy-nissan-refuses-to-replace-gt-r-owners-busted/

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Chris

October 27, 2008 at 2:46 pm

Unbelievable Car….Put it on the Top Gear List just under the Ferreri Enzo…..WOW.

Chris

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Noel

November 3, 2008 at 8:13 am

Too much automation is not a good thing. What’s the point of a car that can go faster if the driver is always over his head or never has to learn to actually drive? The GTR may be fast but it sure doesn’t sound like a “driver’s car.” More like a car for someone who’s been weaned on PlayStation and Wii and thinks real driving is a live action video game. In fact, why even bother to give it a steering wheel? A few thumb buttons is all it needs. Unfortunately, this kind of gadgetry is probably a harbinger of what many new cars will be like in another decade. Just dial back the power, add seats and you have a 90% automated Altima.

This is NOT progress. Already there are thousands of drivers who have no idea of how to threshold brake in a car without ABS, how to left-foot brake to make a FWD car oversteer, and who think the car is supposed to automatically prevent or correct a skid. Never mind the millions who can’t drive a manual transmission.

I’m no Luddite, but I think that aside for being technology for its own sake, this is a huge step in the wrong direction. Would the GTR be fun to drive. Sure. But I’m not convinced it’s really driving.

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