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Now, I just can’t let this newsbit pass since it’s about one of my favorite cars as of late - Godzilla with four wheels - the Nissan GT-R. And it’s getting some flak from Porsche with the German automaker claiming that Nissan cheated when they set the GT-R’s then-record-breaking lap time around the Nurburgring.

Porsche engineers have been running tests with the 911 around the ‘Ring and claim that they couldn’t get within 25 seconds of the GT-R’s 7:29 lap time. For them, that kind of time is impossible if it was a regular production car and that Nissan probably used a different set of tires.

Well, let’s get the facts straight. Porsche purchased a US-spec Nissan GT-R and raced them against the standard GT2 and a 911 Turbo. At the hands of Walter Rohrl one of their engineers, the Porsche cars beat the living hell out of the Japanese supercar.

Maybe, the GT-R is really just built for the Japanese. They set the lap time with ex-F1 Toshio Suzuki behind the wheel. Or maybe the GT-R just hates German drivers. But come on, in the hands of the Stig, the Porsche 911 Turbo clocked in 1.31.0 around the Top Gear test track and the GT-R clocked in at 1.19.7.

Then again, this just builds up the controversy whether Nissan was really tuning their test cars for better performance over the production ones.

A couple of my friends are really big toy collectors and one of them collects Transformers toys though not one of them are really car enthusiasts. Well, I do prefer the bigger machines, though I have to admit that collectibles still amuse me.

Just check this Tomy Nissan GT-R Transformer toy in 1:24 scale. I have to agree with some takes that this doesn’t look too impressive and awesome in robot form. Perhaps it’s the whole front jutting out like a massive hunk of chesticles. Hey, they managed to point the front end down with the Bumblebee toy. In car mode, they say that it also doesn’t look sleek and stylish as GT-R should due to some unpolished gaps and seams.

For those of you wondering why this thing looks a bit like Optimus Prime, it’s because Optimus Prime’s called Convoy in Japan. Pretty lame for him to be a GT-R though. He’ll always be that runaway semi to me. Probably explains the chesticles too.

Now this is the Nissan GT-R pumped up with steroids and inoculated with performance-enhancing nanobots for good measure. Damn. This is why tuners should rightfully play Dr. Frankenstein with cars. Sure some purists would frown upon what they do but tuning is all about squeezing out a car’s full potential.

And now even the automakers themselves are discouraging out-house tuning. Nissan just made some changes with their warranty cards stating that modifying the 2009 Nissan GT-R will void the car’s warranty. Perhaps this was done to appease the Japanese government’s drive to keep modded cars off streets.

But this latest tuned GT-R is the big kick in Nissan’s nuts. Enter the Power House Amuse Phantom GT-R - arguably the meanest and fastest GT-R out there. The tuning house successfully added 129 more horses and 138 lb-ft more torque from the 3.8L V6 twin-turbo. The grand total - 602 hp and 571 lb-ft of torque - figures that would put even proper thoroughbreds like Ferrari and Lambo to shame.

To achieve these numbers, they took out the GPS-based speed limiter and the ECM was retuned. The car sports a full titanium exhaust. The additional power enables the car to reach redline in a split second. And since you can’t add so much power, the suspension system is modified with stiffer springs and threaded sleeves. To shed some more weight, the car sports Recaro carbon-Kevlar racing seats.

This is Godzilla with psychosis.

Source: AutoWeek

WTF! Moments are usually reserved for those situations involving great cars and mishaps. No crashes and collisions in this one but I guess everyone will agree with me that this is a total travesty. Nissan has decided to bump the price of the Nissan GT-R by 10%.

One of the main appeals of the Nissan GT-R, aside from its performance, is the price. While it has been the “budget” supercar, it has enough punch in it to put most cars to shame. However, for those thinking that saving $69,850 would be enough for you to drive home one of these, you might have to bloat your GT-R shopping budget to $76,480 for the base car and $79,090 for the GT-R Premium with this price bump.

This is just too bad, since the original pricing had many ordinary folk dreaming realistically that they’d be able to own a more-than decent supercar without readily emptying out their 401k. Now, the 10% bump just made the GT-R pricier than a 505-hp Chevy Corvette C6 Z06 which retails at a base of $72,125.

Source: Inside Line

Nissan has undoubtedly found a winner with this the Nissan GT-R and they won’t find any problems milking the product as much as they can. The GT-R V-Spec’s still under wraps so they decided to give the GT-R some in-house tuning courtesy of NISMO.

Well too bad my sister isn’t around to translate the Japanese press release for me but Google Translate does a good enough job to get a few details here and there. Included in the Chassis package is the adjustable suspension courtesy of Bilstein Damp Tronic dampers. The Seat package includes Recaro Carbon Bucket seats and finally the Twin Exhaust Package features a titanium rear diffuser.

Availing of the whole package costs around US$ 50,254 and comes with a 3-year/60,000km warranty. The price is absolutely crazy though as the whole car in itself costs around $69,850. Does this mean that the darned car is only as valuable as these seats, suspensions, and exhaust?

Source: Nissan

This is news is devastating and the phenomenal GT-R might have just been one of those two-good-to-be-true stories. All the reviews and raves about the GT-R convinced me that Nissan made something really awesome. And then came the speculations as to whether the GT-R packs just a bit more punch than what Nissan is actually claiming.

But now comes the bad news. Car and Driver magazine now explores the possibility of Nissan lending reviewers cars that just pack a lot more punch and use the engine-being-handbuilt-that’s-why-no-two-engines-are-alike excuse to explain these differences. Here’s what they found testing a number of GT-Rs.

We soon tested two more GT-Rs, and supporting our suspicions, they were considerably slower. GT-R No. 2 was 0.6 second behind the No. 1 through the quarter, and GT-R numero tres was a disturbing 1.1 seconds slower. Again, we didn’t have enough time to dyno-test those cars, but it seemed clear that the first GT-R was likely a one-of-a-kind rocket.

Reading such news would make any fan boy feel like he got heck of a clenched fist in the gut. Is Nissan really fudging the numbers? Have they really beefed up the reception by lending beefier GT-Rs to testers? Well, this really doesn’t concern me as a consumer as getting one for myself will just be a distant dream (unless I win the lottery tomorrow) but it does blow a big hole in Nissan’s credibility.

Source: CARandDriver

Nissan might want to be a bit more definite on how they’ll be working on the cars in their development pipeline. It was interesting seeing their push to catch up on green technologies with their hybrids and EVs but I think they might want to reconsider how they make announcements regarding their more exciting technologies.

Last time we heard, the souped-up GT-R V-Spec was announced to be delayed but now, they’re saying that the V-Spec will indeed debut in the Paris Motor Show this October. But that was after some rumors stating that they will be launching the “Evolution” (what a unique name for a Japanese performance vehicle) before the V-Spec.

Still, the latest buzz has it that the V-Spec might not be called the “V-Spec” but will get the “Evolution” badge instead. Now this kind of confusing news can drive many a rabid GT-R fan mad.

Performance-wise, this “improved” GT-R will get 100 hp more (and with actual horsepower ratings varying), we could just wonder how much punch this car will pack. That combined with a slimmer body (a 200-lb drop) might just make the GT-R better.

Source: Nissan

Those who are still trying to uncover The Stig’s true identity should give it a rest. There’s a great degree of magic surrounding that and every Top Gear fan should just take whatever which way Jeremy or Hammond introduces The Stig as the truth. Blame grown-ups for destroying our faith in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. But come on, let’s be responsible for keeping the Stig mystery alive.

And here’s probably one of the rare times (if not the only time) communicates to the public at large with his review of the Nissan GT-R. And here’s an excerpt from his take:

……………………………………….. ……………………………………….. ……………………………………….. ………………………..

Now, whether this is some alien language, Morse code, or Stig-lish, remains to be known. This not being ones and zeroes might hint that Stig is not a machine. We know that the Stig refuses to speak even one word out loud even when the police nabbed his ass. Though I still wonder how it teaches stars to go around the test track in the reasonably priced car.

Source: Top Gear

Okay, okay. Before GT-R fans puke on the spot with the idea, take solace in the fact that this is just a relatively well-done Photoshop image (by Trung’d - Trung Nguyen Design) of the GT-R with its top cut off.

Unlike babes in the beach, some cars don’t just get much more appealing when their tops are taken off. I mean the GT-R as it is wouldn’t compare to an Aston. And again, case in point, the DB9 Volante cabrio didn’t look as good as the hardtop.

I wouldn’t get it why, after achieving a masterpiece, Nissan would do this at all. The GT-R is a performance demon. Making it into a soft top would mess with the weight and the structural integrity of the car affecting everything. But what if Nissan suddenly gets the idea and have the ball rolling on this one… Oh my.

Via: Autojunk

If in last Sunday’s Top Gear episode, the Nissan GT-R damn (near?) broke Jeremy Clarkson’s head, TG’s print counterpart were gracious enough to return the GT-R the favor - by crashing one. And we thought only our friends in Asia were gracious enough to share with us some pictures of their wrecked brand-spanking new GT-Rs.

This here’s the same GT-R that the The Stig took around their test track and since the whole TG organization shares resources, the Magazine team took it out to the Isle of Man. Unfortunately for them, an Audi R8 failed to stop in time to avoid rear-ending the black GT-R.

The GT-R’s rear looks like it was plowed real good. Too bad no pictures of the R8. R8 plus a GT-R. Whanging either car is a mortal sin. So the guy responsible should at least be cast to hellfire or something. I wonder from whose paycheck that would come out of.

Source: GT-R UK Forums