Godzilla in Tokyo - Veni, vidi, vici

> See the gallery

If ever a car has stolen a show, Nissan's GT-R did that at Tokyo today. As far as cult cars go, GT-R is already the king, its absence since production of the last Skyline bearing that badge ended mourned much like a death in the family by fans the world over, it's a brand that has few peers.

Now GT-R has been resurrected as a stand-alone model ? the new jewel in Nissan's crown ? and its unveiling in Tokyo brought pandemonium as journos from around the world fought for a piece of the action. It was nigh impossible to even get near the beast.

The surge around it failed to ebb all afternoon as Godzilla, as its clone loves to call it, simply paled the rest into insignificance, the throng mesmerised by Nissan's new king.

One of the world's fastest vehicles, it set a production car lap record at the famous Nurburgring in Germany with a time of 7m38s, and can accelerate from 0-100km/h in a claimed 3.6 seconds.

But it's also a showcase for Nissan's engineering abilities. So features include an advanced full-time four-wheel drive system that improves traction and cornering power. This four-wheel drive system uses an independent transaxle 4WD (a world first) for greater agility, continuously adjusting torque front-to-rear (and vice versa) as needed.

Power is courtesy of a 3.8-litre twin turbo V6 engine, mating high output (353 kW), a wide torque spread (maximum torque 588 Nm), fuel economy and low emissions. New technology includes plasma coating bores to improve cooling efficiency and boost both power and economy.

The lightweight body, which uses a new package (Nissan's "Premium Midship"), features diecast aluminium, carbon fibre and advanced steel and has a class-leading aerodynamic Cd of 0.27 ? specially unusual on a supercar that offers high downforce front and rear.

There's a new dual-clutch six-speed paddle shift transmission that offers fast gear shifts and the facility to drive in full automatic mode, while Brembo drilled ventilated disc brakes and Brembo opposed monoblock calipers provide the needed stopping power.

But despite all this technology, dampers, gear shift and VDC-R are all manually adjustable, by simple switches on the dashboard that features a multi-functional instrument display designed by the people who did the graphics of the Sony PlayStation 'Gran Turismo' game. So it's unsurprising ? especially considering the GT-R's performance pedigree ? that they designed a G-force meter in the instrument display, showing both lateral (acceleration and braking) and transverse (cornering) forces.

A small touch maybe, but all part of creating "the 'multi-performance supercar for the 21st century".

"The challenge is to build a car that is stable and quiet at that speed, a car that is comfortable and easy to drive at that speed, a car that has excellent straight-line stability at over 300 km/h, a car that can handle snow and ice and rain at high speed, a car that is also environmentally sound and has very high safety standards. It is my belief that no car mixes these abilities like the new Nissan GT-R.' said Kazutoshi Mizuno, chief vehicle engineer and chief product specialist for the Nissan GT-R.

"It inherits the DNA of past great GT-Rs and packs it with the very latest and best technology," he continued.

"Our objective was to create a flagship model to promote our technology but also to develop a new type of supercar. Supercars have traditionally been aimed at drivers with advanced skills. But our new 'multi-performance supercar' can be driven fast and skillfully by just about anybody in just about any road condition."

While that performance still needs to be proven to the public, it's clear from the response the GT-R launch generated that they're already in awe of Nissan's Godzilla.