Why the Nissan GT-R Earned the Godzilla Name

Twin turbos, all-wheel drive, and a mission to hunt supercars at half the price. The R35 GT-R's character, by the numbers.

The R35 Nissan GT-R was conceived as a halo car under Nissan’s revival plan — a standalone successor to the Skyline GT-R with a specific, almost provocative brief: match Porsche, Lamborghini, and Ferrari performance at a more attainable price^[1]. It stayed in production from 2007 to 2025, with roughly 48,000 built over 18 years^[1]. Few performance cars have held one shape, and one mission, for so long.

The hardware

The formula is distinctive. A twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre VR38DETT V6 sits front-mid in the chassis, driving all four wheels through a 6-speed dual-clutch transmission and the ATTESA E-TS Pro all-wheel-drive system^[1]. The body is a 2-door 2+2 coupe^[1] — a genuine grand tourer footprint wrapped around supercar hardware. Output climbed steadily, from 473 hp at launch to 570 hp in later cars^[1]; the record lists a late-range spread of 562–592 hp with 633 N⋅m (467 lb-ft) of torque^[1].

Godzilla

The nickname predates the car. “Godzilla” was first applied to the Skyline GT-R by Australia’s Wheels magazine in 1989^[1], and the R35 inherited it^[1] — fitting for a machine whose reputation was built on devouring more expensive metal. The name captures what the GT-R is: not delicate, not romantic, but relentlessly, mechanically effective.

The sharp end

The track-focused Nismo variant, offered from 2014, pushed the formula to its edge: 600 PS, carbon-ceramic brakes, added downforce, and a Nürburgring lap of 7:08.679^[1]. Alongside it, the run produced the SpecV, the Egoist, and the GT-R50^[1] — proof that a car pitched on value could also sustain genuine exotica at the top of its range.

That is the R35’s character in full: one uncompromising idea, refined for nearly two decades. The complete specification and variant history live on the Nissan GT-R database page, and current examples are in our live GT-R listings.