Nissan Skyline R34

"The monster from Japan" is surely one of the best export products of the Japanese motor industry. The R32 version was created and designed to dominate the Japanese Touring Car Championship and Australian Touring Car Championship. The highly understated engine of the civil version of the car was a sandbox for the unlimited imagination of car tuners all over the world. It was not a matter of "if" but "when" we were going to experience the "Godzilla" on the ROR roads. And it surely is a monster.

The R34 version of the Skyline, created by Akoss, can not be mistaken for any other car. The characteristic shape of the body was recreated using submesh techniques, which gave very good results, considering the amount of vertexes used to construct the car. The Nissan looks very slick on big alloy rims with wide sporty tires, which are the first things you see when you enter the car. The wheels are visible from inside, and that gives a big advantage of knowing what angle the front wheels are at.

The car has lots of power so white clouds of smoke will definitely float around the track long after the car vanishes from sight. Even though the Nissan has both axles driven it is not an easy task to keep the car under control, especially on a narrow twisty road we use here as a testing track. The driver has to concentrate all the time and be very gentle with the throttle. Oversteer "on demand" is expected on almost any gear on the corners' exit.

The handling of the car is quite good, however not perfect. The Skyline is not a neutral car. It struggles which a lot of understeer in entries to the corners only to snap the grip and go totally sideways on exits. The car is very hard to control on the edge. Much braking before the turn and gentleness with throttle mid-corner are necessary. The suspension is quite low but not too stiff. Each and every bump on the road is easily noticeable however it is not as disturbing as it was in Slammed S10. The front suspension is quite well set - the wheels seem settled on the ground all the time. The rear suspension, on the other hand, is acceptable in slow corners, but not very suitable in faster ones. Every time the car requires lots of lateral grip, the rear end of the car jumps up and down throwing the car off balance. The effect is easily recognisable during high speed drifting. As the car loves (or is incapable not) to leave the turns a bit sideways, it is quite a common effect unfortunately.

The car does not forgive hitting any obstacles, since it has quite stiff shocks. Any contact with the barriers will definitely cost lots of time. The car jumps up losing all the grip and remaining in control of the car is only a matter of luck. Since the car's rear suspension is not perfect the car feels a lot better on the flat sections of the track. Drivers have to be very careful on bumpy turns 3, 10 and 14.

As far as modifications are concerned faster steering is very helpful to tame this Japanese beast. Changing the hydros from 0.25 to 0.35 or even 0.45 is recommended for quick and consistent lap times. Moreover, increasing the amount of "spokes" in wheels makes the car react a little smoother. Both modifications are included in 2.1 version of Skyline by K.CMODS.

My quickest laptime is 1'33.37. Perfect laptime is the fastest laptime so far on this blog breaking the 1.30 border.

Checkpoint Time

1 12.186

2 21.501

3 17.822

4 11.046

5 26.913

Total 1'29.468

Big thansk to Sam Farrelly for spell-checking.