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New nose. New wheels. When these changes become official next year there is the promise of more power from the 3.8l V6 too…
Japan’s best all-wheel drive supercar is set for a mild upgrade running into next year.
Launched to critical acclaim (and the chagrin of Porsche) back in 2008 Nissan’s GT-R has been the foil to most PlayStation gamers’ real world driving fantasies.
It is nearly four years into its model cycle though.
Unsurprisingly Nissan has prepared some styling (and aerodynamic) upgrades for the GT-R.
Due next year, the GT-R facelift will add a new front fascia with LED illumination strips.
Purists may dislike the contamination of the GT-R’s intimidating proportions with LEDs, yet it is a safety requirement. Most contemporary supercars feature (or are set to introduce) LEDs.
Some of these illumination diodes are integrated smartly to the overall design (Audi’s R8, for example) whilst others, such as the GT-R’s, look like they were glued onto the bumper as an afterthought…
Good news is that the new fascia and bumper combination manages to reduce R35’s drag coefficient from 0.272 to 0.268.
Balancing the revised front surfacing and airflow management properties of the GT-R is a new aft diffuser, loading an additional 10% of downforce onto the rear wheels for improved high-speed tracking stability.
R-series Nissan fans are sure to notice the GT-R’s new wheel design too.
The forged alloys are still made by Rays, yet gain a couple of spokes (ten blades as opposed to the current car’s seven) and trim 3kg of mass per wheel to tally a total saving of 12kg.
Although details are still sketchy, a slight surge in power is expected to be part of the suite of GT-R upgrades for next year. We live in hope.
Launched to critical acclaim (and the chagrin of Porsche) back in 2008 Nissan’s GT-R has been the foil to most PlayStation gamers’ real world driving fantasies.
It is nearly four years into its model cycle though.
Unsurprisingly Nissan has prepared some styling (and aerodynamic) upgrades for the GT-R.
Due next year, the GT-R facelift will add a new front fascia with LED illumination strips.
Purists may dislike the contamination of the GT-R’s intimidating proportions with LEDs, yet it is a safety requirement. Most contemporary supercars feature (or are set to introduce) LEDs.
Some of these illumination diodes are integrated smartly to the overall design (Audi’s R8, for example) whilst others, such as the GT-R’s, look like they were glued onto the bumper as an afterthought…
Good news is that the new fascia and bumper combination manages to reduce R35’s drag coefficient from 0.272 to 0.268.
Balancing the revised front surfacing and airflow management properties of the GT-R is a new aft diffuser, loading an additional 10% of downforce onto the rear wheels for improved high-speed tracking stability.
R-series Nissan fans are sure to notice the GT-R’s new wheel design too.
The forged alloys are still made by Rays, yet gain a couple of spokes (ten blades as opposed to the current car’s seven) and trim 3kg of mass per wheel to tally a total saving of 12kg.
Although details are still sketchy, a slight surge in power is expected to be part of the suite of GT-R upgrades for next year. We live in hope.
