Son of Godzilla unmasked

Nissan's eagerly anticipated all-new GT-R wasn't scheduled to be unveiled until next week's Tokyo motor show, but images of the car have been leaked prematurely.

The pics you see here have begun circulating on a few websites overseas and they reveal the next-gen all-wheel-drive stormer in full production trim.

Clearly evident from the pics is that the aggressive proportions and sharp-edged design language of the concept has made the transition to production reality.

The derriere and flanks of the showroom GT-R are largely as per the concept, but the headlight cluster isn't as radical as that of the design study. Viewed from the front, there's more than a hint of the 350Z about it.

The official pics come in the wake of a number of prototype sightings over the past 18 months. Disguised mules have been spied circulating the Nurburgring on numerous occasions and a taped-up hack even made a cameo appearance at the hallowed Goodwood Festival of Speed a couple of months ago.

Nissan will undoubtedly come clean with all the technical nitty gritty at the Tokyo show, but what we know for now is that it's powered by a twin-turbo 3.8-litre V6 with in excess of 350kW and 580Nm.

As per its predecessors, it transmits power to the tarmac via all four wheels, but new for the fourth generation car is a dual-clutch six-speed automated manual gearbox.

The Volkswagen Group got the ball rolling as far as dual-clutch gearboxes go, but rival carmakers are rapidly jumping on the bandwagon, and BMW and Porsche are soon to reveal their interpretations on the theme.

Getting back to the GT-R, overseas sources suggest it will accelerate from standstill to 100km/h in just over 3.5sec, and top speed is reported to be just under 310km/h.

Clearly, it's going to make life difficult for the likes of the Porsche 911 Turbo and BMW M6. We can hardly wait...

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