Nissan GT-R T-spec review: the Goldilocks Godzilla you can’t buy

Is that a-

Wake, butterfly-

Oh no.

it’s late, we’ve miles

Please stop reciting Japanese haiku.

to go together.

Photography: Toby Thyer

How can you go miles together when Nissan’s taken the R35 ‘to a field where it can run free’?

While production on the GT-R continues, it’s only to fulfil the current order bank. And because that order bank is full, technically yes, Godzilla is dead.

So I’m looking at a zombie?

Well, after 18 years on sale, you’d be forgiven for thinking so. But no, this is a special edition of one of the longest-running supercar badges in the business, built solely for the Japanese-market and wearing the fabled ‘T-spec’ badge.

It basically takes the most recent ‘regular’ GT-R (not the Nismo one), and fine tunes the Japanese powerhouse for a really very final hurrah.

How much hurrah are we talking?

It looks a bit sharper thanks to the 2023 front bumper upgrade and is a touch quieter because Nissan has been steadily focused on reducing the noise, vibration and harshness inside the cabin for better long-distance cruising. It's a goal Nissan's been chasing for the best part of a decade now. As far back as 2015, the GT-R's custodian - Tamura-san - told TopGear.com that he wanted to “make the GT-R more premier… not just fancy, but real premium. Quality”.

Speaking of, there are fabulous lightweight, bronze Rays wheels and a bespoke tune to the dampers to account for this slight decrease in unsprung weight. Then come huge carbon ceramic stoppers, some ‘T-spec’ badges, and a special plaque for the engine.

Ah yes, what about that engine?

It’s the familiar 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6, but in this final iteration has been treated to weight-balanced piston rings, connecting rods and crankshafts previously only available in the GT-R Nismo. Now, the Nismo's hand-built six-pot race-bred internals have been somewhat democratised.

Nissan claims the new balanced internals allow for “snappier revs and faster turbo spooling”. There’s no more power on offer here, but 562bhp is… probably quite enough.

So what’s it like?

This isn’t a night and day upgrade over the regular car, because after 18 years on sale Nissan has pretty much covered all the bases of its development. At heart, though, it remains a brutal point-to-point supercar, and a quite brilliant one. More so because we’re now entering the electric age and the easy, emotionless and instantaneous computerised power that brings with it.

I thought the GT-R was always criticised for being ‘emotionless’ and a ‘computer’?

Never. More than ever, the GT-R’s heavy-metal V6 feels like a proper throwback. Yes, it’s old, but like the late, great George Foreman, this thing can still bang. The shove when it finally wakes up is incredible and unrelenting, the engine note still a mix of fine-tuned heavy industry and turbo hiss, the 4WD still bravely directing angry Japanese horses from one corner to the next.

The T-spec’s incremental changes have made it a touch lighter on its feet and a smidgen keener, but overall this remains a car that can take everything you throw at it and ask for more. The steering feels heavy and linear – and quick – though the six-speed DCT gearbox perhaps betrays the car’s age. A bit slow, if we’re honest.

So what about the long-distance ride quality?

As we’ve noted before, you’ll long for a seventh gear if you’re grinding out Expressway miles, but it’s not uncomfortable. There’s a bit of trim rattle here and there, but on the whole this is a car you could daily… and then absolutely send it down Fuji Speedway on the weekend.

But I can’t, can I, because I can’t buy a new GT-R anymore.

Dying cricket-

Oh no.

how full of

Please stop.

life, his song.

So what’s the verdict?

Nissan went a bit ‘Pagani’ with the GT-R, keeping it alive well past regular motoring life cycles via mild updates, a bit of special edition reanimation and a bit of power. But now that it’s gone, we’ll miss it.

This one feels like a bit of a Goldilocks GT-R: where the Nismo is a prizefighter built solely for the track, this T-spec feels like a clever streetfighter. Sayonara, R35.