The basis of the Nissan GT-R's prodigious and manic performance is its new V6 engine. It's fitted with massive twin turbochargers, enough to pulverise almost all road-going rivals.

Like Godzilla — the 1989 Skyline R32 turbo that dominated racetracks — it will almost certainly become the next mouth-watering instant-classic.

What's more, and somewhat puzzling, it weighs in at a corpulent 1730kg, which is some 100kg heavier than the powerful R8 V10. But that and even the highveld altitudes did little to quell its explosive nature...

Pull-off was diabolical, as the car dug into the tar like an charging bull, a monster let loose. Its 4.2-second time-blast to 100km/h was quicker than our previously quickest ever time of the fabulously fast Audi RS-6 V10 (at 4.3 seconds).

But I was in for another surprise... how about the 1/4 mile time of just 12.3 seconds? Added to that, it did the standing kilometre in 22 seconds with a 249km/h exit speed.

Okay, I did line-lock the GT-R, but using the same procedure for the Audi RS-6's respective 12.4, 22.2 and 246km/h results too.

Road holding is competition-like with one of the most responsive steering feels I've come across in a road-going car. Simply put, it's razor sharp. No doubt those wishbones at the front and independent multilink rear suspension layouts, both with the upper arms and upper links in aluminium, assist massively in offering such characteristics.

The GT-R transmission is a device of brilliant efficiency, adding F1-like gear-changes with an angst-inducing, netherworld exhaust sound.

At 20-litres per 100km during the run, fuel consumption wasn't that bad either, not that it would be of much interest to buyers of cars of this calibre.

Hiroshi Hasegawa, Nissan's chief product designer, pigeon-holed the GT-R as "very mechanical, almost like an animated robot."

And he's spot on!

List price: R1 197 500

The Nissan GT-R is pretty high up on the wishlist of many a petrolhead... What do you make of it? Leave a comment below!

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