First Drive: 2014 Nissan GT-R

And as Carl Phillips, Senior Manager, Nismo and Performance Cars Marketing, Nissan North America noted in conversation at the Nissan 360 event, “About 50 percent of GT-Rs are used as daily drivers.” For these owners, competitive driving or maybe even lapping at the local track may not be part of their GT-R experience.

First Drive: 2014 Nissan GT-R. Click image to enlarge

What this means is that the GT-R also has to deliver on the everyday commute, or the weekend out-of-town. That doesn’t mean the GT-R’s going soft, but I sensed that the transmission no longer generates so many clanks and thunks as it goes about its business, and the overall operation of the car is not quite as visceral (dedicated race-car like) as it originally was.

Said Mr. Phillips, “We had a lot of people taking their cars to the dealer worried about the mechanical noises they experienced. There was nothing wrong; it’s just the way the GT-R worked. But over the years, we’ve addressed these things.”

But fear not, car enthusiasts, the GT-R is hardly diluted; in fact it’s more powerful, faster and grippier than ever, but it is also more refined. Tunable ride, stability and transmission settings already enable the driver to select a combination of modes from Race to Comfort, and maybe that fancy red interior (which looks very nice, I should reiterate) will add another level of appeal to this already hugely desirable – and comparatively affordable – supercar.

Although don’t you wish you’d grabbed one in 2009 when they debuted in Canada at $81,900?