What Nissan GT-R is ?
What’s going on with the legendary GT-R today? In a nutshell, he slowly leaves. The sports car from Nissan has already left Europe, and just the other day, orders were stopped in the company’s home market. The very assembly of new copies is in question, the demand for which is still high. At the same time, the head office remains silent regarding the immediate prospects.
However, it is not worth saying that the current “Geter” will not have a worthy replacement. The Internet is full of rumors of varying degrees of credibility, and if you put together most of the available information, you get something like the announcement of a new car. So, what have you heard about the next generation Nissan GT-R, how cool can the coupe be and how different will it be from the current model? Let’s talk!
Foundation
Needless to say, the GT-R is a real gem for Nissan. The best engineering minds of the brand have been engaged in its cutting (read, improvement and tuning) for years, and the current version of the car managed to take several steps forward relative to the very first “Geter” without the Skyline prefix, which went into series in 2007. The current model is more powerful, faster, smarter, lighter and brighter. Units and assemblies from small to large are reconfigured, modernized and “pumped”. And of course, systematic improvement was carried out not with the aim of correcting the coupe’s congenital sores, but because the base had huge potential.
In 2017, outgoing Nissan designer Shiro Nakamura talked about at least a seven-year planning horizon for future improvements, after which it might be worth moving on to a generational change. “When we can’t improve the car, then we’ll take care of its replacement.” In essence, this is what happens.
As for the current GT-R, its exodus from Europe and Australia is a real wake-up call: the 570-horsepower car did not fit into the allowable emission limits (316 g / km CO2 is a lot), and in addition it was too loud. And expensive. It turns out that the limit has been found?
In November last year, in an interview with Autocar, Nissan Motor boss Makoto Uchida admitted that the development of a new generation sports car is already underway, and in addition, the novelty with the R36 index will receive some new, more advanced platform. The representative of the company did not disclose the details, so it is rather difficult to understand what exactly should have been transformed in the Nissan “trolley”. From a short comment, it was clear that the engineers did not intend to change the positioning of the GT-R as a universal (including track) “fighter” and the fastest sports car of its kind. And the need to switch to pure electric traction was not visible.
However, judging by other insider reports, the new generation Geter will be built on the same platform that the Japanese have been perfecting for decades. In 2021, Best Car Web predicted that the chassis changes would be more evolutionary, and the refinement process would include another recalibration of nodes and the possible use of new components. The scheme, according to the publication, will not undergo important changes: the leading rear a
a gearbox assigned to it, two universal joints (one transmits thrust from the engine to the drive axle, and the second partially returns it to the front axle) and a V6 engine under the hood. And for those who doubt that all this will remain on the new car without significant changes, we recall that the fresh Nissan Z technically repeats its predecessor 370Z. The machines have a common platform and units, only the novelty turned out to be more modern and “smarter”.
Engine
But back to the GT-R. One of the important shortcomings of the current sports car has become a powerful, but too toxic engine that emits too much nasty stuff into the atmosphere. A typical way out of a situation where both recoil figures and the status of a modern law-abiding car are important is to use a hybrid scheme in which electric motors assist the gasoline engine. Rumors that Nissan’s sports flagship will inevitably mutate into a hybrid have been going on since the mid-2010s, and insider reports are fueled by controversial statements from company representatives. What are phrases like “the new model will be fundamentally different”!
However, judging by the latest data, the Geter is not destined for a hybrid fate: the new car will receive the same VR38DETT engine with a 3.8-liter block and a pair of turbines. Of course, the unit settings will be new, and the output of the basic version can be increased to 600 horsepower – that is, to the level of the current “charged” Nismo modification. Engineers will certainly solve the issue of exhaust cleanliness (how exactly is still a question), and in addition, according to the Best Car Web portal, they will reduce the noise level. The latter, apparently, will be solved by installing a control system, thanks to which the novelty will fit into the new acoustic requirements of Japan.
Design and salon
With the exception of a handful of comments and speculation, there is currently no reliable information about how the heir to the modern GT-R will turn out in terms of design and equipment. At the same time, if we take into account the already presented Nissan Z and study its interior, you can try to understand what will get to the “big brother” from the already implemented one. For example, 12.3 inch dashboard,
eight-inch media complex and sports seats. The driver-oriented cockpit, which has become one of the “business cards” of the model, will most likely be rethought, and since foreign publications have repeatedly noted that the upcoming GT-R will demonstrate novelty, it is likely that semantic design threads can be extended to the conceptual GT-R50 coupe created by in partnership with Ital design. But it is not exactly.
Now about the exterior: it is not even on the teasers. Everything that designers and draftsmen around the world try to imagine is mostly based on fantasy and visual references to other models of the brand: there are no running prototypes either on test tracks or in the form of road “mules” covered in camouflage. From what is more or less known, one can single out the “serious changes” in appearance that sources say, as well as the approximate time of the appearance (or announcement) of the novelty: 2023.
To summarize: the GT-R R36 could be a development of an existing model, without revolutionary design changes, but with a new body and a different interior architecture. The appearance will become brighter and bolder, the inner world will become richer and more modern, and on-board electronics and entertainment systems will take an important step forward towards the driver and passenger. And all this will happen relatively soon, if we do not take into account the current crisis conditions.
