Nissan GT-R buyers treated to Nürburgring drive
October 22, 2008 by George Skentzos
As if buying a new GT-R wasn’t reward enough, Nissan has held a drive day for its customers at the Nürburgring to give them just a taste of what’s to come.
Under the supervision of instructors from Silverstone International, more than 1,300 future GT-R owners came to grips with the super saloon car for the first time.
The event was held as part of the final stages of a Pan-European driving programme to introduce the Nissan GT-R to customers before delivery.
As well as showcasing the sheer performance of the iconic supercar, it also served to teach future owners important advanced driving techniques before jumping behind the wheel of their own cars.
“This is not your average car and this is not your average driving experience. Nissan has set its sights high with this breakthrough customer focused launch; in partnership with Silverstone those ambitions are being delivered in spades.”
Nissan plans to host similar events during 2009, including the opportunity to take a full race licence test.
For those without a GT-R on order, you may find comfort in the fact that these lucky individuals still have to wait until at least April 2009 before their own cars arrive – which is sure to result in some rather intense withdrawal symptoms.
The current waiting list for a new GT-R in the UK stands at more than 18 months.
Print it: 
The Nissan GT-R is one of my favorite cars… This car combines strenght, elegance, and many more positive skills. It´s more than a trend, it is a must have.
I hope in the future Nissan will develope more automobiles like the GT-R -But not only for a few exclusive customers (”The current waiting list for a new GT-R in the UK stands at more than 18 months.”)
Regarding the first post, GTR might be a must have, but surely it doesn’t combine elegance?
Looks more like a hotted up 350Z, and that’s not a look people with elegance aspire to have.
As for strength, we shall see. I heard there have already been a few cases of gearbox failures due to VDC being turned off and launch control being used often. Apparently warranty will not cover this expensive problem.
Hotted up 350Z? What angle are you looking at??
^^ I’d say the front probably. The headlights and the profile of the front are very similar, although the grill is quite different. Sounds pretty awesome having a sponsered track day, I’m just wondering how many people had a bad day and ran their brand new GTRs into a wall.
The cynic in me says Nissan are surreptitiously throwing as many gtrs at the ring all at once in a vain attempt someone will fluke a trump and beat the viper srt lap time. Hehe.
Went to filming of Top Gear last night, it was for episode 8 (last of the season). On the lap times wall sheet a Porsche 911 GT2 did a lap time in the 1 minute 6 second are, the GTR was 1 minute 9 second. Found this interesting with all the reviews of GTR vs Porsche.
Audi R8 did a 1 minute 11 seconds in the rain, so that woudl have to be in the same range as the GTR in the dry you would think?
Dan, if my sources are correct, the GTR still had the limiter on when going around the track. So the top speed would have been limited to 180km/h on some parts of the track.
I think that’s what I heard in UK TG. Not sure for the Aus one.
It looks like a great car but i wonder what resale values will be on these cars?
I’m scared in a couple of years time from now, you will see P platers driving these japanese missiles
in aussie top gear the speed limiter was on, that’s why there is an asterix next to it.
I sure as hell hope they have a poor resale value – I will own this car at one stage in my life.
The GT-R had a limiter for both its AU and UK power laps. Strangely though Nissan haven’t explicitly mentioned whether its GPS speed limiter works here in Australia – though I doubt it would have recognised Camden airport as a race track anyway.
Re the Porsche v GTR stuff – I think Porsche recently said somewhere that when Nissan published the figures which shows quicker than the 911, it was tested with slicks (not road tyres)… Could be hot air – not sure – but thats what Porsche said a couple of weeks back.
On another issue – I love the GTR, however, like the W427 – I have trouble with the dollar value of both these beats given what you can also buy with that sort of cash..
I also wonder what resale will be like??