When the Nissan GT-R went all-wheel drive for the R32 generation, it cemented its place in the history books as a proper world-beating sports car, and that philosophy has more or less remained true with each successive generation. That being said, how do those generations compare to each other? To find out, Carwow drag raced every GT-R since the R32 in their latest video.
The first three GT-Rs (R32, R33 and R34) all put out “276” horsepower (280 PS / 206 kW) from slightly tweaked versions of the same RB26DETT 2.6L twin-turbo inline-six engine. That number is in quotes because while it is the official figure Nissan released for the cars, it was famously suspected to be underrated to satisfy a national gentlemen’s agreement that limited power of vehicles in the name of safety.
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The R32 is thought to actually make around 300 hp (304 PS / 224 kW), the R33 320 hp (324 PS / 239 kW), and the R34 340 hp (345 PS / 254 kW). The R35, on the other hand, which is a NISMO model, makes 600 hp (608 PS / 447 kW) from its 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6. All four cars are all-wheel drive, but each generation is heavier than the one that came before it.
Unsurprisingly, thanks to its advantages in power, launch control, and transmission speed, the R35 immediately takes off and leaves the rest of the bunch for dust. From that point on, it’s a tight battle between the R32, R33, and R34. It was a close finish, with all three crossing the line within a car’s length of each other, but it was ultimately the R33 that took the victory, followed by the R32, then the R34. Repeating the drag race to even out any launch errors, the finishing result was the R35 in first again by a wide margin, followed by the R34, R33, and R32. In two roll races from 2nd and 3rd gear, the finishing result was the same.