Lightning Lap 2017: Nissan GT-R Track Edition

Lap Time: 2:53.2
Class: LL4
Base Price: $129,685
As-Tested Price: $129,685
Power and Weight: 565 hp • 3925 lb • 6.9 lb/hp
Tires: Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT 600 DSST CTT, F: 255/40ZRF-20 (97Y) R: 285/35ZRF-20 (100Y)

The aging champion that we first met way back in 2007 got yet another series of tweaks for 2017—this is starting to be like a Joan Rivers riff on facelifts—in order to remain relevant. The suspension on this, the middle-priced Track Edition, has been softened a bit, and the interior got a redesign and a larger touchscreen, plus some finer materials. The GT-R Premium is still cheaper at $111,685, while the 600-hp NISMO calls for $176,685. Nissan hasn’t said that it will replace the GT-R, nor has it given any indication that it will finally put this thoroughbred to pasture. In the meantime, it managed to pull this year’s fifth-fastest time, 2:53.2, though it did so while finishing at the bottom of the “really fast” class of cars.

This 565-hp version of the GT-R is incredibly quick for its size and 3925-pound heft, the car breaking 150 mph on the front straight and pulling 1.08 g’s in Turn 1, even as it sucked down a full tank of fuel every 12 laps. It piled into the uphill esses at 128.1 mph and lost only 14.1 mph in the climb through that electrifying section, saying much about the driver’s confidence. Still, the clunks and rattles from its dual-clutch transmission, the whirring of pumps, and the slightly digital way the electronics go about managing the torque to the four wheels—all the GT-R eccentricities we forgave years ago because the car was so fast and the technology so new—now seem rather antiquated as the march of progress infuses electronic controls with more subtlety. Compared with an Acura NSX, another all-wheel-drive car powered by a twin-turbo V-6, which is a few seconds quicker around VIR, the GT-R feels like a relic, a war weapon created for a battle fought long ago.