Long ago in the early 19th century, an authoress named Mary Shelley wrote the story of Frankenstein. Most of us are familiar with it to some extent, but for those who aren't, this told the tale of a sort of scientist (Victor Frankenstein) who became obsessed with creating a humanoid by using a variety of spare parts. Something like that. It's been awhile since I saw the movie. Actually, I don't think I've seen Frankenstien since I was a kid, and I've never read the book, but I did some reading here online. From what I've gathered, the creator of Frankenstein seems to have been able to finish the job only through a bit of luck and skill. And the monster then came to life.

There was no research & development team, no computers, and no managment cycles or even a sizable staff needed to create Frankenstein. Despite these lacks, results were initially promising and successful; Frankenstein did come to life, a first in the evolution of Mankind!  Problem is, he was just that: a monster. People did not trust this monster, who looked pallid and ugly, and despite the fact that it seems Frankenstein was more of a gentle giant than a menace, he was eventually destroyed.   

So what happens when we do have years and years of R&D, computers, and a large staff of engineers configuring details to the minutest?  Racing experience, and a history of wins in certain series that was so rich, some of these monsters were actually banned from competition during certain eras?  What happens when we have got all these factors, and then have the choice to put together a vast array of "spare parts" to possibly make a monster of our own?

As you may have gathered, I am referring to the car of this latest review as a monster. First time I saw the R35-generation GT-R here in America, I did indeed think it was a monster. That is just what it looked like as it travelled along some road amongst ordinary soccer-mom minivans, beat up Tauruses, giant Suburbans, and a UPS delivery truck. The GT-R literally looks out of place; like some sort of vehicle that has escaped the set of a Batman movie. There is nothing else like it. The Audi R8 comes closest, perhaps, and both the Nissan GT-R and the Audi R8 share one thing in common: they look dangerous and are perhaps from another world. Alien ships on 4 wheels, these vehicles seem to be.

Nissan has been on a styling crusade these last 20 years to make several of their models more and more streamlined and efficient, but to me they've also become more and more generic. The original Z has personality, for instance, the latest Zs do not. The latest Zs look as if they've only taken one thing into consideration: aerodynamics. Little styling cues that the 240Z, 260Z, 280Z, and 280ZX proudly displayed (inset headlamps, seperated bumpers, bits of chrome, slotted rear-glass covers, etc.) have been axed over the years, all for the sake of better gas mileage and a little more speed. 

...This is opinion, so don't get all huffy if you disagree. The R35's bodywork (which also features a bulging, overstuffed appearance) however looks completely appropriate. Unlike the latest Zs, the R35 does have a lot of personality. It's a rather mean-looking personality (with its giant black grille semi-masked by a virtual open blanket of sheet metal), but it's still personality all the same. And despite its semi-blocky look, the R35 happens to carry a very low 0.270 drag coefficient. Previous GT-Rs (which also have a rather boxy demeanor) could not get this low. How did Nissan do it?      

The rear of the R35 has styling cues going back to the originals of the 1960s: round taillights, rather than giant, box-like lighting assembies as is so common nowadays. There is also a wing on the trunk, and all of this is consistent with what we're used to from Nissan. This car may not be called "Skyline" anymore, but it still is a Skyline at its heart.    

The real-life GT-R can be bought with two option packages here in America; I'm not sure what happens in Asia or Europe, and in the game we've got five different GT-Rs to choose from, not including racing models. There's the base '07 car, the '05 Proto (whch I assume is supposed to be a concept/prototype model shown at car shows), the '12 Black Edition (available as DLC only), the GT-R "Black Mask", and the '09 GT-R SPECV. I will drive each and every one of these given time, this I can promise.  

We did not get the GT-R until 2009 here in America, but (of course) we are lucky to get one at all, considering the first four generations of GT-Rs were not sold in the U.S. of A.  Anyways, there are 'Standard' or 'Premium' edition GT-Rs in real-life. The Standard one listed for $69,850 in 2009, and the Premium one was slightly more at $71,900. At 77,700 credits, the in-game car costs more than what we would pay in real-life, but perhaps it's because they've added some extra dealer costs in the game. :-) Desitination charges, luxury taxes, a year's supply of free gasoline, who knows... 

Anyways, this seems like a lot of money, and it's not due to just the fact that this car goes fast. Here's some of what a real-life driver gets to enjoy. These words are taken from www.nctd.com by the way...

The GT-R comes with every comfort and convenience a driver and passenger need, and most of what a driver and passenger could want. The sports car-like cabin is climate controlled. The navigation system responds to voice commands. Behind the navigation system's LCD lie 11 pages of data, graphs and virtual gauges that tell the tale on more of the car's dynamics than most drivers can, or want to, be bothered knowing. All this makes even the infernal red start/stop button that takes the place of a perfectly functional key tolerable. At least, most of the time.

Wow, there ya go. I recently reviewed an orginal Premium '68 Fiat 500, which hasn't even got a tachometer!  But it doesn't end there...

The 2009 Nissan GT-R comes in two trim levels. The standard GT-R ($69,850) doesn't lack for much: Dual-zone, automatic climate control, cruise control, power mirrors, windows and locks, eight-way adjustable driver's seat and four-way adjustable front passenger seat, AM/FM/XM/CD stereo with MP3 and WMA playback and six speakers, 30GB hard disk that supports voice recognition, seven-inch color-LCD, GPS-based navigation system with 9.3 GB for personalized audio tracks, dash-mounted Compact Flash card reader, Bluetooth phone system for hands-free operation. Run-flat summer compound Dunlop tires wrap around high-luster, smoke-gray, aluminum alloy wheels.

...and...

The GT-R Premium model ($71,900) adds heated front seats, a Bose audio system with 11 speakers, including two subwoofers stacked vertically in a panel separating the rear seats, and run-flat summer Bridgestones.

...but it doesn't end there....

Options include the Cold Weather Package (no charge) with all-season Dunlop tires on bright silver wheels and a 50/50 coolant mix. The Super Silver special paint ($3000) is hand-polished before receiving three clearcoats. An iPod converter ($360) and GT-R floor mats ($280) can be installed at port of entry or by the dealer. 

We get all this stuff at a bargain actually, considering all of this can be had in BMWs and others competing with the GT-R for a larger bill. The BMW M6 (which the GT-R is supposed to compete with directly) for instance cost just over $96,000 in 2006-7, the Audi R8 was more like $114,000. I'm not even going to compare the latest from Italy and England with the Nissan. I think we get the point.  

Driving this car as a Premium model in-game, we don't get to enjoy its auto climate control or its 8-way adjustable seats, but we do get some other goodies.

The dash itself is dazzling, as expected, and there are the standard (but useful) speedo and tach, gas gauge and temperature gauge. The speedometer is hard for me to read exactly, but easy to use peripherally. Once you know where the speedometer's needle will fall as you enter some fast/slow braking zones, it becomes possible to use this needle in our peripheral vision to slow the car on successive laps. It's very easy to see how many RPMs are being displayed, too. The tach is small, but I always know when the engine is redlining.

Gear-shifts are also displayed, which I find to be very useful. Sometimes I forget which gear I am in, you see. As I approached certain turns, it is helpful to wind up in 3rd rather than 2nd, if 3rd is the gear that I know happens to be the best choice. I actually wonder (seriously) if Nissan used Gran Turismo cars as inspiration. Videogame cars always have a way for us to actually see what gear we are in at-a-glance, I wonder if Nissan took this into consideration.

The car has a turbo-boost gauge, as well as a feature I did not expect: a g-force meter! This shows how many lateral gs the car is experiencing as we corner. Perfectly useless to most drivers, I suppose, but it's certainly cool to have, anyways. There are a couple other gauges and gizmos on the dash, and I wasn't sure what their purpose is, but then I found a site featuring info. 

Adjustability is central to the daily-driver nature of the Nissan GT-R, with a special "set-up switch" located in the center of the instrument panel. This switch enables the driver to adjust transmission shifts, shock absorbers and the Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC-R) in three settings – Normal, Comfort or R, the high-performance setting designed for the Nissan GT-R supercar application.

We cannot use any of this stuff in the game, but it's cool to know what it actually is. The GT-R's mirrors are useful as well, and the horn sounds like it means business. We don't get a soprano sax or a party tooter, here. :-)