Emil Rensing is back with some important information!

I know that I said we’d be talking about running the GT3 in the 2007 La Carrera Panamericana, but something has come up.

Last weekend I traded cars with Adam Bruce, one of the founders of Streetfire.  We needed his GT-R to race against a rented Corvette that we put a nitrous setup in, but more on that later in the December 18th episode of Garage 419.

I’ve been driving his GT-R all weekend and it’s amazing.  The steering rack is somewhat reminiscent of the Scuderia.  The transmission feels like a Superleggera.  The power is on-par with the Z06.  The cabin is roomy like the RS6 — of course with no back seat.  The styling is unlike anything else on the road.

In short, I’m really impressed with the car.  It drives phenomenally well, is very comfortable for a performance car, has some pretty cool gadgets, and enough power to keep the jerk who lives down the street in the Mustang away from me.

I’m not gonna talk about driving impressions.  It’s all been said.  I’m not gonna do an analysis.  It’s all been done.  I’m not gonna tell you why it’s the best parts of a bunch of different great cars.  It’s already been done.

What I am gonna do is bitch.

It seems like the popular thing to do about the GT-R.  Everyone’s got their gripes, but mine are the most bitchy.  So, here we go.

Bitch 1: The Paddles Are Too Small.  That’s right, too small.  I’m in favor of the column-mounted paddles like on the Gallardo and the Scuderia, but these paddles are WAY too short.  You can’t reach them easily while turning.  I can see why that’s useful for novice, idiot drivers, but I want to be able to smack those gears sideways.  Of course, this brings up the obvious conclusion that the GT-R transmission, while VERY good, is not that great.  It’s enjoyable to drive and probably shifts faster than I can with a 3-pedal setup, but it’s not nearly as fast as the F430, nowhere near as fast as the Scuderia, not nearly as smooth as the Porsche PDK, but it’s better than good enough.  Even when they pull Launch Control from the 2010 cars.

Bitch 2: The Interior Is Odd. Fit and finish is good.  The “Function” screen designed by Polyphony is sweet.  But there’s something not quite right about the interior.  The leather is soft and a great quality.  But it’s butted next to very cheap plastic and rubber.  The knobs and controls are all plastic.  No carbon fiber or aluminum?  The driver’s seat has power adjustments… but no memory.  What?  The memory switch too heavy?  There are 6 knobs.  6.  2 on the radio.  3 on the climate control  1 for the screen.  What the hell is that?  Why are there so many?  Can’t we do the same thing with maybe 3?  Or 1.  My Audi has 2 knobs.  1 is the volume.  The other is everything else.  Then there’s the “R” buttons.  Why are there 3?  Why can’t there be a comfort and sport button?  Way too many buttons.  And knobs.  It’s really, really stupid.

Bitch 3 The UI Integration. When I’m rolling down the road like a Gangsta behind the wheel of my GT-R, I don’t want the volume display to cover up more of the driver’s screen than it should.  That’s right, the Nissan designed interface follows different rules than the Polyphony designed interface.  Here’s a picture of the bottom of the gauges getting cut off while adjusting the volume.  How the hell am I supposed to know which gauge is the engine oil temperature when I’m trying to blast my Coolio tracks?!? I might get confused and slow down when I mistake the coolant temperature for the engine oil temperature.  Just unacceptable — what a piece of crap!

That being said, Bernie at Universal City Nissan tells me that the GT-R is still fetching a premium over MSRP.  A quick search of Craigslist via Search All Craigs will let you pull up almost a dozen GT-Rs available for MSRP…  Not sure if Bernie is smoking crack or just living in some sort of crumbling fantasy, but the Gun Metal on Black GT-R that’s for sale at MSRP in Illinois looks very, very tempting and would be a welcome addition to my stable, even though it’s clearly a car with an inferior transmission, too many knobs, and poor interface integration design that goes blindingly fast.