Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here. This week marks the beginning of a new series here on Webridestv, Foreign Fridays! Every Friday I’ll be bringing you the scoop on something interesting going on in the foreign auto world. This week we’ll be talking about something that has been a long time in coming. This car has been hyped for months and months, going through cycles first of hysteria, then denial, then aloof indifference. However the time has come for us to face facts and come to some startling conclusions about what we view to be mainstays of the sports car world. I am of course, talking about the Nissan GT-R. Hit the jump to find out what the American version is doing to change auto enthusiasts minds around the world!

First of all, an apology. I said many months ago that I would refrain from jumping on the bandwagon and continuing to spread the hype and hysteria surrounding one of the most controversial cars ever produced. By and large, I stayed true to that promise, even refusing to talk about it on our San Diego Auto Adventure. However after reading the articles, viewing the dyno and track summary charts, and reading the comments of test drivers, I have to concede that I am impressed. Thoroughly impressed. It seems the time has come to finally accept that this car really can walk the walk AND talk the talk.

Lets start with the raw numbers. The Nissan GT-R is not your typical super sports car. For one thing, its surprisingly heavy. Weighing in at just shy of 2 tons (its listed curb weight is 3836lbs), it seems to defy the laws of physics as it zips around the track. The motor is powerful, packing 480 horses into a 3.8L V6 twin turbo; but it’s by no means the biggest engine out there, case in point: the Corvette Z06. But wait! According to Motor Trend’s June article on the GT-R, the 480 horses isn’t an accurate assessment of the GT-R’s real power. According to their dyno pulls and track calculations, Nissan is underselling its prodigy by almost 15 percent, with an actual 507 maximum HP! This puts the GT-R on an even keel with the Z06 (at 505 HP with a naturally aspirated 7L V8) and the Porsche 911 ( about 500 HP with a turbo 3.8L flat 6). Its common knowledge that the engineers at Nissan were aiming to dethrone the 911, but the Z06 frequently comes into the picture because of the huge price gap between the GT-R and the Porsche.

That being said, its easy to see why this is a three way clusterfark for the “best sports car” title. The Porsche 911 has long been considered the benchmark in luxury, performance, and classy efficiency, while the Z06 is the American brute that offers a cheaper competitor. Powerful, but unrefined. However the Nissan seems to muscle in and offer the best of both worlds at a price that even a die hard Vette owner would be hard pressed to rationalize away during a comparison. (72k base price for the Z06 Vette vs. 70k for the base GT-R) What it comes down to then, is which is the best?

There’s no easy answer, but according to both the Motor Trend article and this Road and Track comparison, the clear winner is the GT-R. Lets break it down: In a straight line, clean road, quarter mile run, the Z06 handily beats both the Porsche and the Nissan, whipping through the speed trap at 124mph. Powerful… but unrefined. The Nissan utterly destroys the Corvette when it comes to 0-60 acceleration, and stays ahead until about 110 mph. Its acceleration numbers are almost godlike, hitting 60 mph in only 3.2 seconds. Among production cars, only the Bugatti Veyron and Ferrari Enzo beat the GT-R to 60. There are plenty of reasons for this, but I won’t go into details here, they’re all in the Motor Trend article. Leaving both the Porsche and the Z06 in the dust in terms of acceleration, lets move on to speed.

In a straight line, the Z06 wins in the quarter mile by a hefty margin. But take this trio to the track or out on the freeway’s, and it’s a totally different story.

According to the Road and Track article, the GT-R beat both the Z06 and the 911 by about 5 seconds on the no. 13 configuration at Buttonwillow, with critics hailing the GT-R’s twin clutch and AWD. They praised its ability to speed through the turns and consistently come out on top against the 911 and Z06. What does it all mean? That although each car has its own specific strengths and weaknesses, and in special cases each could beat the other at any given test, the overall winner, and overall best car is the Nissan GT-R. Nissan has effectively unseated both the Z06 Corvette and the Porsche 911 as the top super sports car available. Congratulations Nissan- what a car.

Now the question is… will it hold up to Webridetv’s shoot out?! That’s right webriders- we will be the FIRST to pit a GT-R against the only conceivable competitor left that hasn’t been defeated: the Ford GT. Will Ford uphold the honor of America and defeat the GT-R, or will it go down to the juggernaut from the land of the rising sun? Make sure to go down into the forums to call your pick, and to discuss the the car that some magazines have dubbed “Godzilla”. This is Dr. VW- signing off.