2017 Nissan GT-R Premium – First Drive Review w/ Video + 77 Photos



Let me invite you behind the scenes for a moment.  Reviewing the photos that come back from my Nikon is an exercise in Deletion.  Usually every third photo will be wonky.  Either out of focus, framed wrong or perhaps with just one LED lit.  Taking 100 photos then leaves us with about 60.

Not so with this Nissan GT-R.   We’re finding focus and beauty in almost every frame!

A lot like the drive, in fact.  This car in a downpour outside Road America racetrack in Wisconsin was 40 minutes in heaven.  The roads were slick, wound through the woods and covered in loose gravel.  AKA supercar hell.

But guess what car was explosive on throttle, rarely lost traction whatsoever and did it all with almost-psychotic composure.

GT-R.

Except for two minutes to learn how to swap between manual and full Auto in the GT-R, this performance masterpiece of a drive is documented in HD.  Skip to the back of the video to see twisty roads on much too much throttle for conditions.

The new GT-R cabin is refined with additional NVH materials, yet more welds for rigidity and a flawless double-clutch gearbox.  What thumps before is now a distant snick of brilliance. Every gear, every time.

The GT-R on boost — in hard rain, mind you — was absolutely unbelievable.  How to describe.  It is like the engine goes into WHOOOSHHHHH mode before you’ve even finished inhaling.  One last inhale before bracing yourself.  GT-R jumps the line with its savage reflexes and obscene thrust.  What a car!

As we wrap the video below, there is even some prose about “one man and one car.”  Spur of the moment.  Lovefest.

Inspired by this legendary GT-R.

2017 Nissan GT-R Premium