Autoblog

click above image for a great gallery from the 2007 NISMO Festival

While top billing at the recent annual NISMO festival went to next year's Super GT500 GT-R, the surprise appearance made by the GT-R prototype that set the 7:38 lap time at the Nurburgring earlier this year got the most attention.

First Nissan had the masked maverick run a slalom course, flat out, down Fuji Speedway's mile-long main straight, demonstrating the preternatural abilities of the latest ATTESSA-ETS system. It then ran a quick 1/4-mile drag race against a 2007 Super Taikyu Class 1 350Z race car, which it didn't just win, it won by several car lengths. Unfortunately, the run wasn't timed and neither were the following laps, where the GT-R out-classed the endurance racer in every section of the circuit.

Follow the jump for more.

The first round of reviews hit the 'Net yesterday in what was apparently a Euro-only embargo on driving impressions of the Nissan GT-R. The jurors from AutoExpress, Car and the Telegraph all came away from the drive with one resounding statement: this thing is fast! Adding that the brakes are the most impressive of any production car currently on sale. Lofty praise, no doubt.

While Car could barely contain its enthusiasm, AutoExpress and the Telegraph seemed to provide a more honest critique of the GT-R as a whole. AE's Oliver Marriage and Car's Gavin Green had some diverging viewpoints on how the GT-R handles low-speed cruising, but both recommend that jaunts around town are best when the seven-speed gearbox is left in "D." AutoExpress' scribe and the Telegraph's Andrew English were less than impressed with the ride quality of Nissan's new supercar, despite the dampers being set to "comfort" mode, with English saying that "even a Porsche 911 GT3 rides better."

A few other choice quotes include Green saying that the GT-R is "quick enough to make a Porsche 911 Turbo feel unexciting," continuing, "Quite simply, the new GT-R is the world's most multi-faceted supercar... An M3 beater? Easily. M5? Think higher. This car is faster, more high-tech, sharper, more capable."

We absolutely, positively can't wait to get behind the wheel.