2016 Nissan GT-R: Track Review

It was way past noon, way past our assigned slot to get behind the wheel of a shining red Nissan GTR. You could smell the impatience in the air as journalists from around the country queued up and waited with reluctant patience. I was one of them and the fact that there was only one car for the slated event, it was going to be a long wait. And it was made even longer as the brakes needed constant maintenance and the track was getting an ever increasing dosage of vitamin D which frequently caused the engine temperature to spike. One by one we waited for our turn for the three laps in the car. Every time the car came into the pits, the whole place smelt of burning rubber and rapidly depleting brake pads. Then, it was announced that instead of the three laps we would be getting only two due to the lack of time. 

Even with a lap per person reduced, I watched everyone go one by one and with every passing lap my heart sank deeper towards my stomach dreading the goodbye to come. Here is a car, which is a technological marvel made possible by years of relentless development and improvements. A car which has lived up to Nissan’s GT-R marquee since 2007 and still continues to be a headache to much more expensive and exclusive cars with bigger engines and equally massive price tags. I always knew that my tryst with one of my dream cars would be short. But the consolation of hearing that 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 on the redline for three rounds of the BIC and feeling the 550PS surge through the car would be enough to ease my anxiety of probably never owning one. But now that the laps had been cut even shorter, I probably had time for just a quick hello and not much more. 

The car pulled up right next to me, I couldn’t help but grin at the sight of it. Strapped in, wheel positioned, I was given the go ahead, I rolled out of the pit lane in second gear and as soon as we passed the pit wall I floored the throttle with all the strength in my right leg. I felt the power surging from the engine and hitting the diffs on the AWD system like a hammer and the car darted forward like a violent swing of a Muramasa blade. Head pushed into the headrest my senses blurred slightly for a split second but the car never felt out of control even for that fraction of a second. Coming up to C3, I brake hard shift down to second and take the corner as a higher speed than it is supposed to be taken. I expected understeer or a slight tryst with the grass patch but nothing happened. It just gripped and kept going as if nothing happened. The back straight was where I opened the tap completely letting the entire 632Nm go in a single stroke and I have to be honest I have driven quite a few cars on the BIC but have never felt such savage acceleration. And then at the end of the corner you think you won’t make it for you’re too fast going into the right hander but you do. It’s as if the car is making its own grip.

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The rear never feels out of shape and the slightest hint of steering wheel makes the nose just dart into the corners. The chief reason for this absurd amount of stability and mid-corner grip is the independent rear transaxle which essentially means that the gearbox is separated from the engine and placed in the rear to keep the rear planted and take weight off the front of the car which results in a car that is virtually idiot proof. The C8 and C9 chicanes were tackled with a simple flick of the wheel without letting off the gas pedal and even the in the parabola which is notorious for run offs, the GT-R stayed sharp to its line like a battle hardened Katana. But by the time the main straight loomed into view the instructor told me to take it easy as the temperature was spiking again.

The next lap was termed as a ‘cool down’ lap whilst I was hot with excitement. I wanted to scream down the main straight throw the car into C2 and brake for C3 only after the incline but I was made to take it in third gear, yes it has that much torque always available but it’s far less exciting than taking it in second or first with the engine screaming. The rest of the lap was pretty much the same story with me going as low as third, no engine braking, a sedate pace and an overtly cautious instructor who refused to budge from his cool down lap.

This was the very moment I was dreading, the GT-R showed me just what a beast it is and what a monster it can be. But our meeting was far too short for us to really know each other. In the end I could only say, it was nice to make your acquaintance.