With the Internet bursting with ugly tales of GT-R launch control abuse, broken transaxles and void warranties, a nasty rumor began; that the 2010 Nissan GT-R won't have launch control.
Could it be? Really?
So we asked and asked and asked. We asked three Nissan employees: one from the public relations department, one from engineering and one high-ranking executive. The first two confirmed its removal was being considered seriously, but the decision had not yet been made. Then the high-ranking executive confirmed the bad news.
"It's gone," he said when asked if launch control would return in 2010. "We just don't want to deal with the warranty nightmare anymore. It'll make the 2009 GT-R really special. It'll be the only R35 with launch control." -- Kelly Toepke, News Editor
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So how fast is it w/o using launch control?
Wow! Great investigative journalism, Kelly! :o)
HA!
wow thats good for the long term one with the launch control that isnt voiding the warranty
sux for gtr fanboys bragging about its acceleration though
Even without launch control, this high power AWD monster will still smoke most of the competition.
I'll bet Nissan was like...
Enough is enough, we have to get rid of the launch control in order to save our faces from the weak tranny!!
they really need to make this car with a 6 speed manual option, especially know since they dropped the launch control and a GT-R without a clutch is just plain boring
"It'll make the 2009 GT-R really special. It'll be the only R35 with launch control."
That's my favorite line. Talk about (bad) PR spin!
This is a blow to the image of this vehicle...what a shame.
It was either this, or (do the right thing and) honor the warranty for the 'feature' that was included as part of the car, also maybe requiring better engineering to handle the extra stresses..
I find it idiotic to include the feature and then deny coverage when somebody uses it in the first place.
HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Nice.
Introduce Launch Control, let the test mags post some unbelievable times with it, and then drop it after they've milked all of the good press from it and even some bad.
I wonder how SLOW it will be now. :)
Well if you got it flaunt it. Just dont expect Nissan to pay for it
We already saw wild variations in reported 0-60 times, imagine now.
Perhaps the V Spec will have launch control of some kind?
Seems like losing LC is not a significant issue. The owner of a stock 09 GT-R has justed produced a 1/4 mile time lower than Nissan's claim of 11.7 WITHOUT using Launch Control.
His offical time: 11.691 seconds.
What makes the time even more staggering is how he achieved it. All chassis settings were left to their default, Normal, setting and the gearbox was left in Automatic! Just nail the gas when you're ready to go! Full warranty compliance.
Turns out the best approach is to let the car handle everything and don't power brake. Initial attempts at power braking without LC, with manual shift, produced +12.1 quarter mile times. After discovering the right technique, the car consistently produced sub 11.8 quarter mile times, no fuss.
I guess its okay if they lose Launch Control, I mean, In the test Video on the GTR, Using Launch Control, the whole car just went crazy. It kills the car... I dun mind the loss.
Launch control has a small effect on the ring time, or any track time.
On a track, the car is only launched once. +0.5 seconds to the track time. Whoop big change.
Now the GT-R will have inconsistent manual launch times, just like the rest of the super cars.
New quarter mile record for a stock GT-R without Launch Control: 11.67 seconds
Posted at MIR.
Several 11.7s posted afterward.
Who thinks that Nissan is priming the 4.4 liter v8 for the 2011 gtr? Or even the surprise us with the 2010 vspec with the v8, and selling price around the after market zr1 level? Launch control will not be needed with the v8 version ...