Pro driver Randy Pobst hot laps the 2017 Nissan GT-R Nismo around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for Motor Trend's 2017 Best Driver's Car.
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (engine revving)
00:02 - Godzilla enters its eighth year following the same road
00:14 it's been on since the beginning.
00:16 Slow, but steady and continual improvement.
00:19 For 2017, the Nismo still produces 600 horsepower.
00:25 Certain parts of the body kit have been given
00:29 the once over, like the grill, which now sucks in more air,
00:32 and the front splitter, which produces even more
00:34 track-hugging downforce.
00:36 The biggest obvious changes are to the interior,
00:39 while the biggest hidden changes are to the body in white,
00:41 which is now much stiffer.
00:43 As a result, the spring, shocks, and sway bars
00:45 all had to be retuned to deal with
00:47 the Nismo's increased rigidity.
00:50 Let's see what Randy makes of it.
00:51 (engines revving)
00:57 (radio chatter)
00:59 - It's quick, sure is quick out of the slow corners
01:26 with that all-wheel drive.
01:27 Didn't quite get the braking I wanted in one,
01:31 and over-managed.
01:31 Try to get that better next lap.
01:34 I want more brakes.
01:53 (engines revving)
01:56 Pedals low already, damn.
02:08 (engines revving)
02:36 Nissan GT-R Nismo.
02:39 This is the most powerful and the best handling
02:42 of the Nissan GT-Rs.
02:43 It's perhaps just the race mode,
02:46 but the throttle's not linear,
02:48 and it was a real issue on the racetrack today.
02:51 All-wheel drive or not, it suddenly makes the car run wide,
02:56 and it's difficult to control that.
02:59 And the thing is, part throttle is giving me full power.
03:03 And because the rest, I push further
03:05 and nothing more happens, it's already there.
03:07 As wonderful as this car is, it won't stop.
03:10 It's not on the same level of braking
03:13 as other cars in its category.
03:16 The GT-R has been around a long time.
03:18 It has gotten better and better and better,
03:19 and the Nismo is the best version.
03:22 I love it, it's my favorite, but it needs those two issues.
03:26 Give me a linear throttle and better brakes, please.
03:32 This is the quickest GT-R we've ever run around
03:35 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca,
03:37 beating the 2014 Nismo by half a second.
03:41 Still, Godzilla winds up in 11th place.
03:44 Two reasons why.
03:45 The first being that when the Mototrin editors
03:48 drove the car on Highway 198, the steering was broken.
03:52 Apparently, GT-Rs have incredibly complicated
03:55 steering mechanisms, and ours went kaplooey.
03:58 Nissan claimed they had never seen
04:00 this particular problem before.
04:02 What can I say, we drive hard.
04:04 The second problem with the GT-R is that
04:07 this year's competition was such a bumper crop
04:10 of great sports and supercars
04:12 that there are 10 we just liked better.
04:14 (car engine revving)
04:29 (dramatic music)