2017 Nissan GT-R Nismo Hot Lap! - 2017 Best Driver's Car Contender - video Dailymotion

MotorTrend

Pro driver Randy Pobst hot laps the 2017 Nissan GT-R Nismo around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for Motor Trend's 2017 Best Driver's Car.

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00:00 (engine revving)

00:02 - Godzilla enters its eighth year following the same road

00:14 it's been on since the beginning.

00:16 Slow, but steady and continual improvement.

00:19 For 2017, the Nismo still produces 600 horsepower.

00:25 Certain parts of the body kit have been given

00:29 the once over, like the grill, which now sucks in more air,

00:32 and the front splitter, which produces even more

00:34 track-hugging downforce.

00:36 The biggest obvious changes are to the interior,

00:39 while the biggest hidden changes are to the body in white,

00:41 which is now much stiffer.

00:43 As a result, the spring, shocks, and sway bars

00:45 all had to be retuned to deal with

00:47 the Nismo's increased rigidity.

00:50 Let's see what Randy makes of it.

00:51 (engines revving)

00:57 (radio chatter)

00:59 - It's quick, sure is quick out of the slow corners

01:26 with that all-wheel drive.

01:27 Didn't quite get the braking I wanted in one,

01:31 and over-managed.

01:31 Try to get that better next lap.

01:34 I want more brakes.

01:53 (engines revving)

01:56 Pedals low already, damn.

02:08 (engines revving)

02:36 Nissan GT-R Nismo.

02:39 This is the most powerful and the best handling

02:42 of the Nissan GT-Rs.

02:43 It's perhaps just the race mode,

02:46 but the throttle's not linear,

02:48 and it was a real issue on the racetrack today.

02:51 All-wheel drive or not, it suddenly makes the car run wide,

02:56 and it's difficult to control that.

02:59 And the thing is, part throttle is giving me full power.

03:03 And because the rest, I push further

03:05 and nothing more happens, it's already there.

03:07 As wonderful as this car is, it won't stop.

03:10 It's not on the same level of braking

03:13 as other cars in its category.

03:16 The GT-R has been around a long time.

03:18 It has gotten better and better and better,

03:19 and the Nismo is the best version.

03:22 I love it, it's my favorite, but it needs those two issues.

03:26 Give me a linear throttle and better brakes, please.

03:32 This is the quickest GT-R we've ever run around

03:35 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca,

03:37 beating the 2014 Nismo by half a second.

03:41 Still, Godzilla winds up in 11th place.

03:44 Two reasons why.

03:45 The first being that when the Mototrin editors

03:48 drove the car on Highway 198, the steering was broken.

03:52 Apparently, GT-Rs have incredibly complicated

03:55 steering mechanisms, and ours went kaplooey.

03:58 Nissan claimed they had never seen

04:00 this particular problem before.

04:02 What can I say, we drive hard.

04:04 The second problem with the GT-R is that

04:07 this year's competition was such a bumper crop

04:10 of great sports and supercars

04:12 that there are 10 we just liked better.

04:14 (car engine revving)

04:29 (dramatic music)

2017 Nissan GT-R Nismo Hot Lap! - 2017 Best Driver's Car Contender

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