Bottom line, the GT-R with the revised software will be quicker with the VDC on, but not as quick as it was before with the VDC turned off. Only a trip to the track will reveal exactly how performance will be affected.
This is what we wrote a couple of weeks ago in our investigative piece Nissan Reprograms the GT-R. This reporting was based on interviews with many members of the GT-R team at Nissan's headquarters in Nashville, TN. It was also wrong. Turns out the GT-R gets quicker with the VDC on and off.
How do we know?
Well, we had our long-term GT-R reprogrammed and then we took it to the track. Here are the results:
VDC on
0-30 mph-----1.6 sec.
0-45 mph-----2.5 sec.
0-60 mph-----3.6 sec. (3.4 sec. with one foot of rollout like on a dragstrip)
0-75 mph-----5.1 sec.
1/4 Mile-------11.7 sec. @ 118.5 mph
VDC off
0-30 mph-----1.6 sec.
0-45 mph-----2.5 sec.
0-60 mph-----3.6 sec. (3.3 sec. with one foot of rollout like on a dragstrip)
0-75 mph-----5.0 sec.
1/4 Mile-------11.6 sec. @ 118.9 mph
Test Driver Comments: "Best run with VDC off...but only by a few hundredths. Made a significant effort to warm tires to run w/ vdc off. Result is very little wheelspin. Technique is essentially the same w/vdc on or off: wood brake, wood throttle, achieve 3k rpm and lift brake. All runs in "A" Wheelspin will kill time (bog) w/vdc on."
That means the car is now quicker with the VDC on then it was with it off. We've tested our GT-R several times. The most recent was for a comparison test with the new Corvette ZR1 back in October. That day it ran these numbers with the VDC off:
0-30 mph-----1.6 sec.
0-45 mph-----2.6 sec.
0-60 mph-----3.8 sec. (3.5 sec. with one foot of rollout like on a dragstrip)
0-75 mph-----5.3 sec.
1/4 Mile-------11.8 sec. @ 118.6 mph
We also once tested our car with the VDC on for kicks. It was much slower than it is now:
0-30 mph-----2.3 sec.
0-45 mph-----3.2 sec.
0-60 mph-----4.3 sec. (4.0 sec. with one foot of rollout like on a dragstrip)
0-75 mph-----5.8 sec.
1/4 Mile-------12.3 sec. @ 118.5 mph
And so the answer is clear. If you have a GT-R, get it reprogrammed. It's free speed.
Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief @ 16,595 miles
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