Sunday, July 14, 2013

Nissan GT-R And A Mini-Rant


The styling doesn't work for me.  While the overall shape and proportions are fine, the details are ill-proportioned and
busy (tail lights, quarter window, front fender line) and the front itself is downright ugly.  Nissan says that every detail
down to the shape of the side mirrors, needs to be as it is to maximize air flow to the rear wing.  (The front no doubt
needs to provide plenty of air for the intercooler.)  So I guess I could live with it--if I could afford one.  ;-)   Nobody
has complained about the interior, ergonomics, or instruments and controls.

Since I saw two GT-R's run HSAX at Autobahn Country Club, I've been looking for a video which conveys how awesome the car is at a track day.  As previously posted, it just tore the Corvettes up.
And the reason for that is that it does everything better: braking, transitions, acceleration.  As Randy Pobst says in the video, the GT-R makes an average weekend warrior look good.  It makes a really good driver look even better.  Pobst mentions how composed the GT-R is and how well it gets the power down in tight corners.  Tight corners are, of course, the signature feature of club circuits.  This Motor Trend video runs 21 minutes and is quite good on its comparative evaluations:


The mini-rant is this: there are far too many videos that show the GT-R drifting, throwing off massive clouds of tire smoke, with the driver gee-whizzing about how much power it has.  This is true of the legion of "comparison" videos too.  Same driving style, commentary, and video footage.  Even Tiff Needell gets into the act in an EVOTV video, drifting a Porsche Carrera S, for heaven's sake.  Needell has driven just about everything, everywhere, including FIA events and vintage race cars with vicious handling.  He can stay ahead of any street car.  But he descends into the same breathless, counter-steering commentary.  There is way too much of this stuff on YouTube for someone looking for straightforward evaluations and a true feel for what the cars would be like at a track day.

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