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The Hindu : The flying machineThe new Nissan GT-R is powerful, fast and everything a sports car should beMy heart beat fast, there werebutterflies in my stomach and I was trying to breathe with difficulty, I whisked around the Sendai Highland Raceway in Japan seated in the new Nissan GT-R. The reason for my heightened state was the fact that the car Iwas in has 473bhp. 200bhp is fast, 300 needs your undivided involvement and every 50bhp after that is a big, big step up. Green light on the pit lane exit? Time to place the beautifully-made accelerator pedal into the carpet.The GT-R flies off the blocks and reels in the short straight — whaaam! It’s at the end of the straight even before my brain can catch up, and I pedal back a bit for the next few corners. Still, even when using only 80 per cent throttle, the GT-R is tearing towards the next corner, the rate of acceleration continuously flying up and up, never peaking, as the dual-clutch gearbox pre-selects the next gear and shifts up with zero let-up. It slams you back in the seat and pins you there, as you ride the stream of never-ending jet engine-like thrust! This sledgehammer performance is concentrated to the upper reaches of the power-band; the performance of the GT-R after 4000rpm is so strong, your gritty grin is part fear, part thrill. There is no way I’m using maximum available power.The twin-turbo 3.8-litre motor that powers the GT-R has been tuned to spin hard and fast and as a result, the car has brilliant straight-line stability, can get from 0-100kph in just 3.5 seconds and can go as fast as 312kph. In addition, the fact that it has a lightning-quick, DSG-style gearbox is also part of the reason for the fantastic pace this car has. Given the massive power this car possesses, it is a good thing…More