Although the Proto has no installed cockpit yet, the designers assure us it'll be as focused as the exterior. Function will take precedence over ornamentation, driver focus and light weight over luxury. The previous-generation GT-R had a remarkable driver-info system that included downloadable traces of powertrain parameters and g-readings versus time. Such track-friendly features will reappear.
Keeping the faith with the GT-R's motorsport history is a lot more than a question of external design and interior toys. In Japan, the GT-R has a fanatical following of drivers who revel in the punishing hard-core ride and harshness. Buy a GT-R in Japan, and you're buying into a legend.
Can Nissan afford that same pitch in America? If it does, it'll be confounding upscale Nissan or Infiniti buyers with their expectations of an automatic transmission and a softened freeway ride. Will the GT-R's teeth lose their edge? Or will Nissan keep its nerve and rely on this machine's truly awesome charisma to carve its own place among the supercar pantheon? These pictures show the designers have done right by the GT-R. Let's hope the engineers are allowed to do the same.
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