Nissan GT-R Is Back!

Car enthusiasts may have already known about the Nissan Skyline GT-R but its popularity really took off after starring in Sony's Gran Turismo driving game in the late 1990s.

With all-around excellent performance and all-wheel drive, it really was a Japanese muscle car. Many American sports car enthusiasts have lusted over the Skyline and wished it would come to the States. The wish has finally came true with the debut of the all-new GT-R in Tokyo.

Based on the crush of journalists that packed into the Nissan stand, it's not just America that's excited about the new GT-R.

But before the GT-R was driven on stage by Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn, a video was shown on the big screen for 7:38.54. This is how long it took to show footage of the new GT-R completing one lap of the famed Nürburgring circuit in Germany. This is slightly faster than the Porsche Carrera GT, placing the it squarely into supercar territory.

And the specs and stats further reinforce the new GT-R's supercar status. Under the long hood is a 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine that was specially developed for the GT-R. With 480 horses on tap, this sleek sports car can reach 62 mph in just 3.6 seconds on its way to a top speed approaching 200 mph.

Teamed with the potent powerplant is a new paddle-shift twin-clutch 6-speed transmission. Similar to Audi's DSG, there is a separate clutch for gears 1,3,5 and 2,4,6, making shifts extremely quick.

Of course, all that power is no good if the car can't handle it. We haven't had a chance to take a test drive yet, but on paper, it appears the GT-R can handle its power just fine.

Power is sent to the pavement via what Nissan calls the "most advanced four-wheel drive system on a road car ever used." That's quite a claim, but the ATTESA E-TS system does constantly vary the torque from rear to front based on various sensors reporting speed, lateral and transverse acceleration, steering angles, tire slip and yaw rate. An additional sensor measures the difference between the target yaw rate calculated from the steering angle, the actual yaw rate detected by the yaw-rate sensor and G sensor.

The all-wheel-drive system also incorporates Nissan's Vehicle Dynamic Control to further stabilize the car's operation. And with any supercar, braking is almost as important as acceleration. Capable of stopping from 62 mph in just 121 feet (37 meters), the GT-R is shod with huge front and rear Brembo brakes with ventilated discs and six-piston calipers in front, four piston calipers in the rear.

Three different suspension settings are available: R (high performance), Sports (the normal setting) and Comfort (for city driving to absorb road bumps).

As the car was driven onto the stage, the lineage from the GT-R Proto shown on the same stand two years ago was quite obvious. Looking unlike anything else on the road, the GT-R has both sharp edges and smooth curves with a wide stance and large fender flares. With a Cd of just 0.27, the GT-R is one of the most aerodynamic cars on the road.

On sale in Japan shortly, the GT-R comes to America next June, and the rest of the world shortly after that. Pricing outside of Japan has not yet been announced, but based on the price in Yen, the GT-R could likely be priced below $80,000. Not bad for a supercar.