Some of the most intriguing stories from the automotive industry never reach the public, remaining hidden behind the walls of research and development centers. Now, nearly twenty years after interviewing the creators of the Nissan Skyline GT-R, the Japanese publication Best Car Web has disclosed previously untold details from the GT-R’s development that it claims were kept under wraps until now. The article highlights various fascinating developments that could have altered the GT-R’s legacy, such as the possibility of an R33 model headed for the U.S.
The interviews reference times before Nissan merged with Prince in 1966, but for brevity, we focus on the car that solidified the Skyline’s modern reputation: the R32. Nobuyuki Ito, who led the R32 GT-R’s development, recounted to the outlet that the vehicle almost didn’t come to fruition. Nissan had just faced its first loss following the merger in early 1986, coinciding with the proposal for the ambitious new R32 GT-R, reviving a nameplate that had been dormant since the 1973 “Kenmeri.” Interestingly, one of the key innovations originated from an unexpected source—horses.
“Cars depend on four wheels, so I believe they can learn from how animals move,” Nobuyuki shared. “I frequently visited the Baji Koen [Equestrian Park] to observe the running and movements of horses. That’s why I prioritized rear-wheel drive. A horse moves forward using its hind legs, so I thought cars should do the same.”
“One day, I realized that horses also effectively use their front legs in motion. This led me to conceive the idea of a four-wheel-drive system based on rear-wheel drive. This concept came about while developing the DR30 Skyline. The development was extensive, and we only implemented it in the eighth-generation R32 Skyline,” he added.
Horses also influenced the design of the R32’s anti-lock braking system and HICAS, Nissan’s rear-wheel steering system incorporated in all three generations of the 1990s GT-R. During development, it was referred to as GT-X. Although this name appeared in development documents, it seems it was never intended for production models. Another abandoned idea for the R32 GT-R was a performance-oriented automatic transmission, which Nissan soon recognized would complicate things unnecessarily.
“We believed that as high-performance cars evolved, inline automatic transmissions would become necessary, and therefore, we contemplated equipping the GT-R with one at the development phase,” Nobuyuki explained. “However, since developing such a system demands significant time and resources, we shifted our focus to manual transmissions and made minimal advancements on automatics. Our aim was to create an automatic transmission comparable to Porsche’s Tiptronic.”
As the R33 was unveiled, the GT-R made a notable appearance on the earlier version of Top Gear, triggering widespread excitement in Europe. The fascination with the car led to increased demand, prompting then-President Yoshikazu Hanawa to instruct the GT-R team, led by Kozo Watari, to explore the feasibility of exporting a model to North America. Unfortunately, the team concluded that this idea was not practical: the Skyline had been designed exclusively as a right-hand-drive vehicle, and adapting it for left-hand drive would compromise its integrity.
“If we shifted the steering wheel to the left, the GT-R’s twin turbos would cause the steering shaft to be positioned closer to the turbo at the rear, which would result in overheating issues,” Kozo explained. “There was also a proposal to implement a single turbo, but we abandoned it since it wouldn’t be true to the GT-R essence.”
Moving on to the early development phase of the R34, Nissan contemplated replacing the iconic 2.6-liter twin-turbo RB26DETT inline-six engine with a V6. Kozo remarked that a prototype was constructed, demonstrating exceptional handling capabilities, which led the team to seriously consider this configuration. However, it ultimately came too late in the development process for the R34.
“Although fitting the new V6 in the R34 was feasible for rear-wheel-drive models, integrating it into the GT-R’s 4WD framework would require significant development time. We simply couldn’t finalize it in time for the R34 GT-R,” Kozo stated. “We couldn’t envision the R34 Skyline without the GT-R, so we deliberated extensively. In the end, we resolved to refine the straight-six GT-R engine instead and reserved the V6 for the next generation.”
The next generation, which was known in the U.S. as the Infiniti G35, diverged from the GT-R legacy. However, there are still many untold tales from the history of the GT-R, including the forgotten R31 GT-R that was dismissed by critics. For those interested in more details, the original source of this information has provided a link to the complete translated story for passionate GT-R enthusiasts.
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