For as long as a lot of us can even remember, the Nissan Skyline has been the cream of the crop among Japanese performance cars and indeed one of the world's most desirable machines. At the end of the last decade, the new GT-R made its way to a very hungry North American market, and ever since has been grabbing the world's attention by offering a super high-tech package that is both cheaper and quicker than many of the established European and American names. The GT-R has often been called "Godzilla", and after a few looks and listens it is easy to see why. A commanding presence, world-conquering performance and thoroughly Japanese character have always made this one monster of a car.
As can be expected, the 2014 GT-R is not exactly a revolutionary change from the previous model year. Power from the 3.8 liter twin-turbo V-6 stays the same at 545, and it's the same story with torque at 463 lb/ft. The gearbox stays mostly unchanged as well, but there have been improvements in the torque curve and most significantly in the suspension to make it stiffer, more stable through cornering, and quieter. But while the changes are relatively minor, Nissan has introduced for 2014 an all-new package for the GT-R called the Track Edition. The world has already seen the hardcore Black Edition of Nissan's flagship coupe, but the Track package seems set to take things to the next level.
Production will be limited to 150 US-market cars, so this is already an exclusive car, but not quite as exclusive as one might think. Other than subtle tweaks like carbon fiber air inlets on the front spoiler to help braking, exclusive blue-trimmed front seats and the absence of seats in the back, there's not much to distinguish the Track Edition from the much cheaper Black or even the standard GT-R. Like the Black, it gets a carbon fiber rear spoiler and 20-inch lightweight wheels paired with those neat nitrogen-filled Dunlop tires, but really the only big difference is taking out the rear seats.
This car's capabilities are, predictably, insane. The heavy (3,880 lbs) car will still scoot to sixty in 2.7 sconds and do the quarter mile in around 11 seconds. The suspension, meanwhile, has been further tweaked at the Nurburgring to bring this already excellent handling car even closer to racing car levels of performance.
At almost $117,000, the Track Edition is $9,000 more than the closely related Black. It seems pretty steep for changes that aren't all that significant, but when you consider the McLarens, Ferraris and Porsches that this car runs with and what those companies charge for their own high-performance packages, not to mention the exclusivity of this particular package, the 2014 GT-R Track still seems like a bargain.
