The first time I thought I had driven too fast into a corner in Nissan's new GT-R, I realized this was not just another high-powered sports car. Instead of plowing toward the outside of the turn, or spitting out its tail, the 2009 GT-R simply hunkered down, gripped harder and saved me from embarrassment with a minimum of drama. Before driving the GT-R at the remote but challenging Reno Fenway race track in Nevada, I'd heard the talk about this car -- it's quicker than a Corvette Z06 and Porsche 911 Turbo and can beat exotic supercars many times its price. But talk is cheap and I remained skeptical.
En route to the track, the GT-R showed it could be a relatively docile beast. Even though it has a very serious 480 horsepower from a twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V-6, the GT-R drives much like a normal car around town. The dual clutch, six-speed transmission shifts fairly smoothly in automatic mode or pops up and down gears lightening fast with a flick of the steering-wheel-mounted paddles. And there's very little engine noise to disturb the peace, even when I blip the throttle to redline.