Osnabrueck

Two seconds to be exact! It's one thing that any car nets such a positive result against the 997 TT - it's another thing entirely that said car sells for about US $50k less.

I saw the GT-R at the LA auto show and it's truely impressive in person. Yes, it's still obtuse looking, but it's presence and visceral impact are unmistakable. Nissan has a huge winner on their hands - it's like Audi to their R8. With press like this one can only guess that they'll be selling for over sticker for some time... unless the Real Estate bubble bites super-hard in '08.

vedjo01

I know what you mean..I hope to see it in person next year at ZG Auto Show(I hope it will be presented to public then ).It must a beast to look at .

marcei

Go away with this fugly ricer

BMW Power

I am extremely happy for Nissan to see that the the GTR is actually living up to its predecessor. Cant wait to see some video reviews. The strange thing is, I still cant picture this car actually dishing out all the performance that everyone is talking about. I guess its properly understated. A wolf in sheeps clothing.

NarutoRamen

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Give credit where credit is due and GT-R has earned all my respect. Good job Nissan.

lambornima

I doubt that the GTR will live up to the Press hype Nissan has made. their numbers for the car are very optimistic for a car that weighs as much as a 599 and has the power of an F430.

my logic is telling me the 997TT will walk away with the title of the "faster car". the GTR might win in meaningless slalom tests, but around the track and in the straight line, Im predicting that its 300 extra lbs and inferior torque will be its downfall.

as for the styling of the GTR, I LOVE the rear, but I HATE the front.

Osnabrueck

Oh you wouldn't think that if you saw it in person! It's totally a wolf in wolf's clothing.

Read the article lambornima. The GTR definitely lives up to the hype.

Guibo

I think what Lambornima is saying is that we should wait for performance tests using production (or, preferably, privately owned) GT-R's. The claimed 7:38 time on the partially wet Nurburgring sounds almost too good to be true. That's only 10 seconds off the pace of Walter Rohrl's best lap in the Carrera GT in the dry. (It's not unheard of for Nissan to overhype GT-R's...) The acceleration figures are also hard to fathom considering the car's power/wt ratio. However, with those tires and possibly very short gearing, I think it's possible. Many sources indicate Lotus Engineering fine-tuned the suspension (and evo mag says Lotus helped with acheiving the - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER), so combined with the lengthy 'Ring development time, I suppose a very low 'Ring laptime is possible. Whether that is closer to 7:3x or 7:5x remains to be seen.
On the basis of these initial driving impressions, which have little to do with possible power discrepancies, Nissan seems to have squarely met or indeed exceeded the level of the 997 Turbo. That is no small feat at all.

Osnabrueck

I had a discussion with my well-knowledged coworker about this, and he just about blew a gasket over this GT-R vs 997 TT issue. To paraphrase, it's apples and oranges. It's like comparing a wine from a well-regarded chatau with a pedigree of crafting the finest drink with Miller financing a premium wine venture. Add to that - the Porsche is a rear-engined car with rich characteristics that you just can't compare to an accomplished and accesable sports car like the GT-R.

I see his point. Tests like these are typically invented in cooperation with the manufacturer to generate buzz. You publish the test - we'll provide the cars. A more proper apples-to-apples comparison wouldn't be against the 997, but the Corvette Z06. We're talking two front-engined performance vehicles within virtually the same price bracket.

In any case, it's clear that the GT-R will accomplish it's mission: Make Nissan look good.

dr Dunkel

I think you are spot on, even if I love Skylines I think there may be a lot behind all the speculations that previous "tests" were made with not so standard cars.

Since Sport Auto already made a 7:50 run (there was one key turn that was damp in this run) we know that it is fast so I think it is safe to say that the new GTR will perform very well in the Supertest.