Updating a legendary car is the sharpest of double-edged swords for an engineer. Expectations from fans are off the charts, and any flaw or deviation from the mythos will be judged mercilessly. For what amounts to an exciting engineering project at an objective level, the acceptance and success of a car such as the Nissan GT-R can often hinge on forces entirely beyond the designer's control. Even the less dramatic mid-cycle refresh can make or break a car whose legend has outgrown its actual performance. The GT-R is one of those cars, and it's been stung by its own reputation before.
Last year, as you may recall, I joined a convoy consisting of a GT-R, a Porsche 911 Turbo, and a Mercedes-Benz AMG GT S up the easternmost edge of California. The GT-R did not win that comparison test. In fact, it placed last. Although it had the speed to contend with the Germans and the price to kneecap them, we were disappointed with how the car drove. In attempting to civilize the car, Nissan dulled the edge noticeably while not providing enough of an improvement in comfort to convince us it was a worthy trade. In particular, we lamented the loss of the GT-R's signature corner exit explosiveness. It just didn't accelerate leaving a corner with the ferocity it used to. It used to be that you could just stand on the throttle as you straightened the steering wheel, and the GT-R's computers and all-wheel drive would fling you down the road without so much as a tire chirp. The car I drove last year, not so much.
See, back in 2013, Nissan decided to build more than one GT-R. The standard car would become more of a grand tourer, and performance models, ultimately expressed by the NISMO edition, would retain the raw, brutal performance we enthusiasts loved about the GT-R. Although the NISMO is great, the standard car missed the mark, giving up too much capability for too little comfort.
Traveling to Belgium to drive the refreshed 2017 car, I had only one question on my mind: Did Nissan fix it? On and around the Spa-Francorchamps race circuit, I found my answer: Maybe.
Disappointed? So was I. Unfortunately, it poured rain during half the road driving and most of the track laps. When it wasn't raining, the road was damp if not soaked, so it simply wasn't safe to drive the GT-R hard enough to be certain everything was back to how it ought to be. That will have to wait another month or two until we can get our hands on one here in the States. The good news, though, is that the car has given me good cause to believe it's back, and I hope a proper dry test will prove it.
Although the rain forced me to gingerly feed in power at corner exit rather than nail it, the updated car's power delivery felt more immediate and linear than the old one's. The old GT-R just felt like a fast car, but this one has the quickness to send a little chill down your spine like it used to do. It's not as raw and violent as the no-compromise 2009 GT-R, but you can feel that Mr. Hyde personality hiding behind the Dr. Jekyll facade once more.
Several subtle but important modifications help achieve the change. The first is to the engine, which picks up an additional 20 horsepower and 4 lb-ft of torque thanks to an improved ignition system borrowed from the NISMO edition, putting it at 565 hp and 467 lb-ft. More than that, the new individual cylinder ignition-timing control spreads the torque increase out over most of the rev range and flattens it out to boot. As a result, the power delivery feels a little more linear, as it's delivering more power earlier in the rev range before the turbos are at full steam.
Next, there are the structural and aerodynamic enhancements. The windshield frame and trunk area have been reinforced to reduce chassis flex under hard cornering, and the hood has been reinforced to prevent it from deforming at high speeds. The stiffer hood and improvements to the side sills, C-pillars, front splitter, and rear diffuser improve airflow around the car. The drag coefficient hasn't changed—the improvements were offset by enlarging the front grille openings to improve cooling—but the car feels noticeably more stable at high speeds. This is best observed in the steering, which requires many fewer corrections at high speed.
Speaking of steering, that's gotten better, too. Updated active dampers, hardened suspension mounting points, and improved Dunlop tires help the car corner more smoothly and shrug off bumps more easily. The steering itself is a convincing double agent, calmer and less chatty than ever when cruising but surprisingly talkative at race speeds. It remains far from the best-feeling steering out there, but at least it has something to say. It's most expressive when the car is undergoing a mild understeer, which it occasionally did under power, though it's difficult to say if that behavior would reoccur in dry conditions. Similarly, going too hard on the power too early at corner exit would provoke a small but sharp oversteer; again, it's difficult to say whether it was a function of the cold, wet pavement and high-performance summer tires or an inherent behavior of the car.
If you do provoke such bad behavior, in the wet or in the dry, the stability control has your back. It's one of the better systems I've experienced, intervening only enough to straighten the car out. It doesn't pull power or clamp down on one wheel but rather moves the power around and nips at the brakes just enough to stop the oversteer and put the power to the ground. Given the conditions, turning it off to judge the car's baseline setup was imprudent at best and outright dangerous at worst. Even so, around Spa, the GT-R was impressively fast and capable with exceptional grip despite the water.
On the occasion it was necessary to slow down, the big Brembo brakes delivered. Stopping power was strong and consistent lap after lap, and the pedal offered excellent feedback. It occasionally squirmed at the rear end under hard braking, but as with the handling, it's difficult to say how much of a role the rain played.
An all-new steering wheel also improves the actual act of steering the car. Mercifully, Nissan has finally moved the paddle shifters from the steering column to the wheel itself, allowing you to keep your hands on the wheel and still grab an upshift as you exit a corner. The rest of the wheel benefits from a comfortably thick rim and better controls.
Unfortunately, the new paddle shifters aren't perfect. Commands for shifts are met with a slight lag before anything happens, and inputs are lost when trying to downshift quickly through several gears when braking for a corner. It's at best distracting and at worst frustrating if you're trying to set a lap time.
The rest of the transmission, though, is actually improved. New software has smoothed out shifting during normal driving and reduced clutch chatter. It'll still clunk a little going into first or second at low speeds and still chatters a bit when starting from a stop, but it's nothing like it used to be.
Back in the cabin, there's more than the steering wheel to be happy about. The front seats, although they look overstuffed, are more comfortable but still hold you well on a racetrack. I'd prefer the bolsters reach a little farther around my body for lapping, but they get the job done. Not as much can be said for the new infotainment system atop the dash. The software is more intuitive and the screen larger, but the system has a roughly second-long lag after every input. Doesn't matter if you're touching the screen, pushing a button, or using the new controller by the shifter. It's always there. That and the general appearance of the new system are over par for a six-figure car.
Otherwise, the updated interior is a nice place to be. It's quieter thanks to acoustic glass, additional sound deadening, and an active noise cancellation system. That last one also enhances certain frequencies through the speakers to make the engine and exhaust sound better inside the car. That and the new titanium exhaust system give the GT-R less of a world's-fastest-hairdryer sound and something more akin to a lion roaring through a muffler. On the whole, it's a better sound, if not any more melodic. The new exhaust system also features an electronic valve that opens for more noise and better flow under hard acceleration. Using the hidden switch by your left knee, you can also quiet the exhaust before you start the car so as not to piss off your neighbors quite as much.
Your neighbors, if they're car people, will be happy to know that Nissan has indeed improved the GT-R. Not only that, but it also appears to have corrected course and finally found the proper balance of comfort and performance that eluded last year's car. Although I can't definitively say it drives just like the car we named Car of the Year in 2009, it gives every indication that's the case. I hope I'm right.
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