Carsales.com.au's Review On The R35 Gtr In Japan.

[sh@un]

the problem here is weight

as Ferni said, you can't go too far either side of optimal for the damping and have a system that works well

(ie- 'jacking' down or po-go'ing). the engineers have obviously chosen springs that have a huge rate to control the fat body, so that basicaly determines the ride characteristics. the shockies only job is to 'damp' the motion of the springs

[scathing]

also - I hope to god Nissan Australia does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to suspension settings on account of MOTOR/Wheels magazine and the UK guys whining about comfort

When the 350Z was released, the exact same complaints were made about its ride. So they revised the suspension for the European models, with help from Nissan UK. Guess what happened? Those suspension revisions ended up in later model 350Zs internationally, and everyone concluded the car drove better on the road since it was absorbing bumps. On road loops the Euro-spec setup was quicker and more confidence inspiring, and made the car more enjoyable to drive.

As always, the Japanese can't seem to tune suspension. They always assume "stiffer = better" when its not the case, especially not for a street car driven by ordinary people. A car with progressive handling is always quicker than something super sensitive unless you're a good driver (which most people are not).

Considering the car in question is not the V-Spec or N1, I hope they do something about the suspension if its as bad as they say. If someone complains about a track-focused car being too harsh on the road but great on the track, I'd agree that they're nuts, but if you intend on living the GT-R as a "daily drivable supercar" then I'd rather it absorb bumps and maintain constant tyre contact with the road.

[skyline_man]

As always, the Japanese can't seem to tune suspension. They always assume "stiffer = better" when its not the case, especially not for a street car driven by ordinary people. A car with progressive handling is always quicker than something super sensitive unless you're a good driver (which most people are not).

I thought the GTR used Bilstein suspension and was tuned by the guys at Bilstein?

Anyway, there is no way the GTR with its weight can lap the Nurg in 7:38 with softer suspension. Nissan engineers knew that and they had to compromise the softer suspension in order to get the lap time they were after.

[scathing]

From what I've heard, the Nurburgring isn't exactly a modern F1 circuit in terms of smoothness. Running an ultra-stiff suspension there would probably throw you off the road unless you had balls of steel.

And yes, I do realise the current production car record for the track is owned by the , which is ultra stiff and looks like its getting airborne in places, but it also weighs about a third the weight of the GT-R.

I would hope that Nissan tuned the car to be as quick as it can be in the places where the vast majority of its customers are going to be driving it, not quick on one circuit. And, if the car really is that harsh, what's to say that if they hadn't softened it out on such an old, bumpy, circuit that they could have squeezed a better laptime with more compliant suspension that maintained better road-to-tyre contact....but they chose to harden it so it would also run a reasonable laptime on modern circuits like Fuji Raceway?

[pixel8r]

I think you'll find that the differences between japanese-tuned suspension and australian-tuned suspension has more to do with the roads in each place than the engineers.

I love the term "built for australian roads" - in other words, have the suspension as soft as you can possibly make it so as not to spill your drink every 5m when you hit a pothole or some piece of badly cracked bitumen. Our roads (at least here in SA) are bumpy and extremely crap. On a good quality flat road, my stagea is more comfortable than just about every other car i've been in. It kind of just glides along, no seasickness etc.

But give it your average adelaide road and the suspension is less than perfect

As far as the article is concerned. Most of the aussie car reviewers are so brainwashed into aussie cars its no wonder it only scored 3.5/5.0. They were probably just confused because they couldn't work out what model of holden it was...

[skyline_man]

Correct me if im wrong, but the Aussie guy that test drove the GTR was from MOTOR magazine?

As i can recall, guys at MOTOR magazine have always been biased towards the GTR's - they don't like GTR's. There was one time, they tested the R34 with other cars and complained that it's handling around the track was more annoying than revolutional. Thats because they didn't know that a GTR is meant to be driven hard to bring out the best in it. They were driving it around the track like pussies.

However, WHEELS magazine have always loved GTR's. They were the ones that gave it the nickname 'Godzilla'. Anyway, i remembered an article where they tested an R34 N1 against a Monaro GTS or somethin and they said that the GTR was "the best car they've ever driven - no kidding".

[hrd-hr30]

Man these guys dont know how to drive pfft 4.0 wait till people own this car and get familiar with it easy mid 3s and mid to low 11s...

umm, with launch control and DSG what does the driver actually have to do to but hold the right pedal down???

[ras1983]

umm, with launch control and DSG what does the driver actually have to do to but hold the right pedal down???

They were testing in slightly damp conditions. Hence there could be a couple of tenths that can be cut from the 0-100kmh time and the 0-400m (also mentioning they hit the 180kmh limiter before they reached the end of the 400m and they still managed a 12.1).

[hrd-hr30]

a) GT-R has launch control and b) it works! Using it to good effect on the complex's deserted dragstrip, in the failing light at the end of the Sendai session, MOTOR's David Morley punched out an even 4.0sec for the 0-100km/h sprint and 12.1sec for the standing 400m.

While in 'normal' conditions the 4.0sec will be hard to trim...

nothing about it being damp when they did it. If it was damp I doubt they'd say it would be hard to beat in normal conditions. so my point about knowing how to drive, or getting familiar with the car helping accelleration times significantly still stands.

[ras1983]

nothing about it being damp when they did it. If it was damp I doubt they'd say it would be hard to beat in normal conditions. so my point about knowing how to drive, or getting familiar with the car helping accelleration times significantly still stands.

It seems you're right. did they mention what revs the launch control takes off? is it a clutch frying redline launch?