The Nissan GT-R is a legend in the making, and hardly a week goes by without the twin-turbo beast doing something amazing. Equally legendary for gaming enthusiasts is the Gran Turismo series, which is the best-selling Playstation game of all time, and the mother of all digital racing competitions. GT creator Kazunori Yamauchi, not surprisingly a hard-core car enthusiast, got behind the wheel of the Nissan GT-R and hit 193 mph just for kicks.
Hit the jump for video of Yamauchi racing around a wet Nurburgring in the GT-R. The legendary game creator held his own on the daunting track in very bad conditions, and the GT-R looks and sounds devilish as it pounds through the 'Ring's challenging bends. During his ten laps of the 'Ring, Yamauchi hit .6 on the G-meter when the GT-R forcefully kicked out on him, which rightfully scared the daylights out of him. Yamauchi also said that driving the GT-R was less like driving a thoroughbred and more like sitting astride a lion. While we don't think Yamauchi has ever driven a lion, but we get the point. He also said that playing Gran Turismo helped him keep a good racing line on the 'Ring, which prompted this blogger to immediately get GT5 Prologue (true story).
[Source: YouTube]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Robert @ Apr 30th 2008 7:05PM
Its like superman the car
Nick @ Apr 30th 2008 7:19PM
"He also said that playing Gran Turismo helped him keep a good racing line on the 'Ring, which prompted this blogger to immediately get GT5 Prologue (true story)."
You realize that the Ring isn't in Prologue, right?
Beastage @ Apr 30th 2008 7:43PM
~50usd less ... he does :)
Nick @ Apr 30th 2008 8:13PM
He secretly played Forza Motorsport 2
Red @ Apr 30th 2008 8:15PM
I'm pretty sure he's comfortable with the R35 regardless of whatever track he's on. He came within a second or so of the times the engineers recorded on Nissan's track. Up until that point he had not actually driven the car. That's impressive.
The 'Ring will more than likely make it into GT5, which obviously isn't out yet. I read an article that one of the designers took an entire month's supply of Red Bull and measured the 'Ring with a tape measure. Suffice it to say, he's more than likely already run the virtual R35 on the virtual 'Ring.
Wombert @ Apr 30th 2008 8:02PM
193 on a four-lane stretch of the Autobahn. That's just insane. All it needs is a grandma stuck between two trucks pulling into the passing lane, and the guy is history.
Shardm @ Apr 30th 2008 8:20PM
Um, which article are you reading?
spdracerut @ Apr 30th 2008 8:24PM
Except for people actually know how to drive in Germany; slow in the right, pass on the left. I've driven on the Autobahn and when I came back to LA, I just about wanted to shoot myself driving on ANY highway around here because of all the idiot left lane cruisers.
I'd say the 'average' traffic flow right around 80-85 mph on the autobahn, and then the left lane is just a free for all. As long as you only use the left lane for passing and cruise in the right, no problems at all, even with cars doing 180+ mph.
pmiddle5 @ Apr 30th 2008 8:25PM
A)___ huh?
B)___People are trained much better in Germany for driving; in the sense of actually being trained
A)___I'm sure he wouldnt be doing that in traffic even though I dont think this was even said to be on public roads (Nordschleife has a heck of a long straight ya heard?)
Wombert @ Apr 30th 2008 9:01PM
The 193mph the article is referring to weren't done on the Nordschleife. He hit 310kph (193mph) on the Autobahn on his way to the ring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i5xHcKgMmY
Now, I am German, and I enjoy driving fast, and I regularly go over 200kph, and have often enough hit 250 and more. Still, doing that with just two lanes is way too dangerous. You think people are trained to only pass on the left? Think again. People are stupid, even here in Germany. And they also pull into the passing lane without looking in their mirrors. I've had a whole bunch of moments in my life where only fractions of a second or inches of distance separated myself and the moron that tried to kill me from the crash that smashes both of us to smithereens. If you ever had a grandma in her old, rusty Opel Whatever pulling into the passing lane to overtake a truck at 90kph while you were flying in a mere 100 meters behind, doing 250, you'd understand what I'm saying.
There's plenty of six- and eight-lane stretches with low traffic where you can do this kind of stuff and then post videos of it on the Autobahn. That part there has two lanes in each direction, a bumpy surface and corners he can't anticipate if he hasn't ever driven there before.
sheikhness @ Apr 30th 2008 9:18PM
Stupid people in Germany... nah... you gotta be kidding
Smeagle @ Apr 30th 2008 9:33PM
It's all relative. There's stupid people everywhere it's just that they are more sparsely distributed in Germany.
MasterCKO @ Apr 30th 2008 10:25PM
"He also said that playing Gran Turismo helped him keep a good racing line on the 'Ring, which prompted this blogger to immediately get GT5 Prologue (true story)."
Funniest closing line ever.
Gandhi @ Apr 30th 2008 11:09PM
You know, I forwarded link to this very video in high definition downloadable version - TWO weeks ago.
Good to see you guys finally got around to it. *sigh*. Two bad you provide a crappy YouTube link.
Get the real good stuff here:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28568.html
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/32630.html
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/32660.html
paul34 @ May 1st 2008 1:16AM
Wow, great quality - thanks!
Chris @ May 1st 2008 1:12AM
I have that jacket in red, but it looks so much more kickass in black...
Woo @ May 1st 2008 8:12AM
I just hope Yamauchi doesn't kill himself before GT5 gets released!