2001 Nissan Skyline GT-R “Gran Turismo 4” Pilot: LUWerner Team: Playstation Gran Turismo Race: Gran Turismo 4 AUTOart - 60279 (diecast)
Published 06/30/18
Another thing that I enjoy quite a lot are video games. Ever since I got an Atari 2600 in the early 80’s. With age and the advent of gray hairs I can’t say I like every game nowadays, only some very specific ones. But the ones I like I have a very enjoyable time playing. And now that my older son is 11 I have a partner in crime – to the despair of his mother. Therefor, there’s no sign that things will get slower in that front. And being a gearhead I always liked racing games. I think the first one was Enduro on the Atari (a cartridge game – I bet many don’t even know what that means). But being honest, Enduro sucked – I thought so even back then.
What really got me into racing games was Playstation 2’s GT4. That game had it all: fantastic graphics, hardcore racing, cool cars, everything. It even had an endurance mode. You left the console on during the night so the computer controlled your avatar to finish the 24 Hours of Le Mans. While you comfortably slept in bed beside your wife. Yep, that cool.
This Skyline GT-R (R34) is one of the cars that you can pilot on PS2’s GT4 game. On the previous GT3 version of the game the car was also present, but as a pace car, so it wasn’t available to be driven. Poliphony Digital, the publisher of the GT franchise, got so many requests about that GT-R that for the following version of the game it was made available to players, though it wasn’t exactly easy to get. The only way to get it was to score gold on all of the so-called License A tests, which was a total pain-in-the-neck (not to say elsewhere). VERY frustrating. I had to play GT4 for countless hours and with time I was finally able to get the License A and score the car.
I had it in 1:18 (still have, in fact) and now got it in 1:43, both from AUTOart. The brand used the same formula on both scales – took a street version of the R34 and enhanced it with go-fast war paint just like the car in the game, but did a superb job on it.
Since AUTOart used a regular R34, let’s talk about the R34. Nissan used the famous RB26DETT engine, an inline-6 with 2568 cm³ , 24 valves, DOHC valve train and two turbo chargers. It’s capable of producing 280 hp. That allows a maximum speed of 251 km/h and a 0 to 100 km/h of just 5.2 seconds. However, those are the figures for a stock engine, of when the R34 comes out of the assembly line. Being a race car, the numbers would probably be very different, since it isn’t impossible to extract 500 hp (!) out of the RB26DETT. In 143rd it looks smashing, with posable wheels and all. I’m really glad I was able to score one for the W-143 Garage.
BTW, I upgraded from the PS2 to a PS3 around 2008 or 09. A few years later, in 2015, the PS3 died on me. With that I went the Microsoft route and got the XBox One. S0 nowadays my go-to racing game is the Forza series – currently Forza 7. In fact, the “inspiration” for a few cars I showed here on W-143 came from me racing them in Forza 7. So a bit of advice: stay away from Forza 7 (or the upcoming Forza Horizon 4, for that matter). They’re bad games that make you spend money.
