Nissan 350Z GRAN TURISMO 4
Critics Have Claimed That The Playstation Driving Game Gran Turismo 4 Is Even Better Than The Real Thing. Not If he Real Thing Is A
Nissan 350Z, Claims Andy Enright
Ill admit it. Im a Gran Turismo addict. The slow burn of starting out with a basic hatchback and gradually souping it up, selling and trading up for ever quicker exotica is just irresistible to a petrolhead like me. Frustratingly difficult in its later stages, the game works on so many levels.
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Great music, jaw-dropping graphics and a fetish for arcane Japanese performance machinery has spawned a whole host of imitators. Now in its fourth iteration, the Gran Turismo franchise has given birth to a car, the special edition
Nissan 350Z Gran Turismo 4.
This should, in theory, be a marriage made in heaven, for the 350Z is the sort of car that most in this office would pawn their grandparents for, a modern sporting icon that is genuinely tough to fault. Although well have to rely on the game to find out how a 350Z feels around the final sweeper of Grand Canyon race track, it will be possible to drive this car on actual tracks like Germanys Nurburgring and see how your time in a real 350Z stacks up. Sounds like a plan. Fans of the latest version of this game will know that its public release has been put back from December 2003 to Christmas 2004 and is now scheduled for Spring 2005 but Nissan have a better record for punctuality, the 350Z GT4 making its debut at the Autosport International show in Birmingham on the 13th January.
Only 176 cars are offered for sale in the UK, priced at £29,500, so the competition to get behind the wheel is going to be hot. It would have been very easy to just add a new paint colour and a set of GT4 decals, mats and flaps, but this Nissan is a whole lot more focused than that. The bottom line is more power 20bhp more. Now rated at 300bhp courtesy of revised pistons and camshaft as well as electronic exhaust valve timing control.
Its even starting to sound like the game. In an ideal world, other GT4 features like Weight Reduction 1, super soft slick tyres, a brake balance controller and a Racing Intercooler would also be on the menu.
"In short order the 350Z has become a modern sporting icon"
Back in the land of reality, the 350Z GT4 features a new design of lacquered five-spoke 18-inch alloys which wont be offered on the standard Z car.
Audi dropped a clanger a few years back by introducing a special edition TT S-line and then, a couple of months later, infuriating those customers who paid a premium for the special edition car by introducing them on the standard TT. No danger of Nissan repeating that. Just try finding a standard 350Z painted in the Ultra Yellow that adorns 76 of the 176 car 350Z GT4 allocation.
This special paint uses a high-luminance chroma pearl pigment along with three layers of top coat for an outrageously lustrous finish. The remainder of the cars will be painted a rather more restrained Kuro Black. The interior is largely identical to that of the 350Z GT Pack with a pair of charcoal leather electrically adjustable and heated sports seats as well as a 240 watt BOSE stereo with six-disc in-dash changer. Unique to the 350Z GT4 is a numbered interior plaque while in the boot theres a gift box from Nissan that contains a Sony Playstation2 and Gran Turismo 4 game.
The fun neednt let up. Much of the demand for the 35Z has stemmed from three key factors styling, pricing and provenance. The lines, penned by Brit Ajay Panchal, have that taut, wheel-at-each-corner rightness that looks good from any angle. The chunky upright door handles, the slash of the tail lights and the muscular wheelarches catch the eye, but these styling features are just highlights in what is something of a neat feat of penmanship from the youthful Panchal.
And then theres the history that backs the car up. As well as the Z-car legend to lean upon, the 350Z draws sustenance from the Skyline, a Nissan line that has achieved what is close to automotive canonisation by its legions of devotees. Where as the Skyline legend was built upon 2.6-litres of turbocharged straight-six, the 350Z instead opts for a power pack that will delight automotive purists a sweet-revving normally-aspirated 3.
5-litre V6. Although it never approaches the almost sickening accelerative punch of a Skyline, the 350Zs engine nevertheless has the ability to punt that pretty profile up the road with considerable verve. In GT4 guise its that little bit sharper than standard and sounds a whole lot more raucous, answering early criticisms that the 350Z was actually a whole lot quicker than it felt. This was due to its broad spread of torque, impressive refinement and supple ride making indecent figures on the speedometer feel remarkably easy.
The GT4 now feels a whole lot racier and ruder. If customers want to go even further, a NISMO bodykit designed with Gran Turismo developers Polyphony digital can be added for £2,495 although it has to be said that this is a rather acquired taste. UK cars benefit from a few modifications especially for the domestic market such as a larger fuel tank and a bigger radiator, largely due to the fact that we drive further and faster than our transatlantic cousins. We also get Brembo brakes, xenon headlights and standard Electronic Stability Programme, presumably because our faster driving occasionally results in unintended off road excursions.
ESP does a great job at keeping the 350Z on the straight and narrow should you get a little overenthusiastic with the loud pedal, but should you really excel yourself, youll be reassured that there are not only twin, front and side airbags but curtain bags as well. Impressive stuff. Priced at £1,000 above the regular GT pack 350Z, the Gran Turismo 4 edition looks good value for money. The engine modifications alone are easily worth that premium and the paint, the alloys and the consumer electronics are just a very nice bonus.
Kazunori Yamauchi, Gran Turismos creator owns two 350Zs so perhaps the virtual one is nearly as good as the real thing? Sorry, not a chance.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Nissan 350Z Gran Turismo 4
PRICE: £29,500 on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 18
CO2 EMISSIONS: 273g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 150mph / 0-60mph 5.4s
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front, side and curtain airbags / ABS with EBD/ ESP / traction control
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Height, 4310/1815/1315mm
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