10 interesting facts about the Nissan GT-R

The current Nissan GT-R comes with a lot of legacy, thanks to its history. The car was built as a supercar-killer at the price of a sports car. An extremely tuner-friendly car, it is loved by enthusiasts all over the world. The latest version of the GT-R has just been launched in India, at the price of Rs 1.99 crore. Here are 10 interesting facts about the GT-R.

Prince history

The GT-R was originally known as the Skyline GT-R in its previous generations. The Skyline nameplate came to life way back in 1957, but not under the Nissan name, but under a company called Prince. This company was later taken over by Nissan. It was then that they introduced a 4-door sedan under the Nissan nameplate called the Skyline. Come 1969, the company plonked in a 6 cylinder engine into this 4-door sedan and called it the Skyline GT-R. And thus emerged the GT-R tag.

Porsche 911 Turbo as benchmark

Beating the German rival Porsche has always been on top of the list for Nissan. When the all-new GT-R (R-35) was being developed before its launch in 2007, the main aim was to make sure it was better than the 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo, one of the best sports cars of that time. Nissan put in a lot of effort in all respects in order to beat the 911 Turbo’s Nurburgring time. It was only after they were convinced that the GT-R could do better than the 911 Turbo did Nissan launch then new GT-R.

Engine production

The engine is the most important part of the GT-R. The 3.8 liter V6 engine on the GT-R is the most powerful engine that Nissan has ever put in a road going car. Back then, it produced 473 Bhp and 588 Nm but now produces 565 Bhp and 637 Nm. Due to this reason, only 13 master engineers in the entire world are allowed to assemble the GT-Rs engine. Unlike other vehicles, this one is put together by hand. These craftmen are called Takumi. Also, each GT-R has a gearbox that is custom-made to match the engine. To make sure that there is no contamination, the engine is produced in a hermetically sealed lab. Also, the GT-R has the world’s first rear mounted dual clutch transmission that enables fast shift time as well as even weight distribution.

Passionate team

To create such a passionate product, the team involved needs to be highly passionate as well. The chief engineer behind the GT-R product has several years of racing experience, having led a few of them. Even Mr. Hiroshi Tamura, the Chief product specialist at Nismo, a person who played an integral part in the development of the GT-R is a huge enthusiast. In an interview with Jalopnik, he mentions that he owns a 1989 GT-R which, for obvious reasons isn’t stock and is churing out close to 600 Bhp. This passion for building his own car also transpired into the R34 and R35 GT-Rs.

Gran Turismo relation

The 2007 GT-R was unveiled in Gran Turismo-5 video game in concept form and also came in a lot of the trailer videos back in 2007. The game, made by Polyphony, was available to PS3 users. Not only that, Nissan also gave the gaming company the task to come up with the graphics for the GT-Rs multi function display and the central screen. The instrument display that you see on the GT-R which provides a lot of information to the driver has been designed by the the people at Polyphony, something that has never been done before. Not only that, when the new GT-R made its global debut at the Tokyo Motorshow, the same was unveiled in the Gran Turismo-5 game as well. Nissan has had a tie up with the gaming company ever since and has even come up with the GT Academy where in a person who’s really good at driving on the console is given an oppurtunity to become a racing driver.

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