Forza Horizon 3: Which one is real?

2017 marks 60 years of Nissan Skyline and it's also 10 years of the R35 GT-R and while JDM fanatics are honoring the Skyline's 60th birthday this year, some Nissan experts are annoyed that most car enthusiasts are always putting the R35 GT-R in the history of Nissan Skyline rather than the V35 Skyline, which was known to some as the Infiniti G35, the V36 Skyline known by some as the new Infiniti G37, and the latest V37 Skyline known as the Q50 in saloon and Q60 in coupe. So, have you ever seen the Nissan Skyline timeline that has the R35 GT-R on it that annoys most Nissan execs?





To find out why, I'm driving this one-off Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge, which is basically a V37 Skyline with bits and bobs from the Nissan R35 GT-R on it. So, you might be thinking why the folks from Nissan want people to stop calling the R35 GT-R a Skyline and instead focus on the "real" history of the Nissan Skyline? Well, some people don't understand Japanese cars to the fullest or that's because to them, the Skyline is the epitome of the JDM car empire and when the GT-R emerged at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, most folks still call it a Skyline in the same way today's WRX STi is still called an Impreza by car enthusiasts, not Subaru.

Both the Skyline and Impreza started out in life as normal everyday cars so it's understandable that some people still call these latest hi-po JDM cars the names that no longer bear from its predecessors. Anyway, when the folks from Nissan's Infiniti brand developed this one-off Skyline, they believed that this kind of trend will stop. Although this one-off never saw the light of day, it's proof that they made a car that can break many barriers for the Skyline nameplate and show world what the Skyline is capable of rather than being Nissan's 3-Series killer.



Nissan noticed people calling the R35 GT-R a Skyline rather than focusing on modern-day Nissan Skylines and used it as motivation to build this one-off powered by a 560HP VR38DETT engine sourced from the R35 GT-R while mated to a 7-speed DCT as well as Intelligent AWD and the Skyline's trademark Direct Adaptive Steering. With the Eau Rouge, Nissan wanted to change people's perception of the Skyline name by all means necessary.





Weird. What I have here is a battle between the car that is meant to be called the Skyline and the other that doesn't really bear the Skyline name from its predecessors and the venue for this place is, you guessed it, the Skyline View Circuit segment of the Surfers' Paradise. Get it? This is like a matchup between Yo-Kai Watch's Walkappa and Faux Kappa, with a tasty twist on it. With the V37 Skyline modified to have R35 GT-R bits on it and the "real" GT-R in place, let's find out which one is real.



And now the results...

2014 Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge (560HP/442ft-lb/3,836lb/57%/3,800cc/A 798) - 1:14.741
2017 Nissan GT-R (565HP/467ft-lb/3,933lb/54%/3,799cc/S1 861) - 1:10.070

So, despite everything I've witnessed between these two, it's a clear reminded that the GT-R did separated from the Skyline range in the same way what happened between Subaru's Impreza and WRX STi. It's proof that these guys know how to separate the men from the boys and because this R35 GT-R is quicker than the Skyline with the same engine from it, it's a point that will have Nissan execs want people stop putting the R35 GT-R in the Nissan Skyline timeline. A point that they will have it mentioned during the Skyline's 60th anniversary celebration.

There, it's easier to said than done but there's one Skyline I want to show you later on but for now, this will serve as a motivation that for 60 years of Nissan Skyline, the trend of putting the R35 GT-R on the Skyline history has to stop and understand the real history of the Nissan Skyline; from the Prince Skyline saloon of 1957, all the way to the Infiniti Q50 saloon that was called the Nissan Skyline V37.

Happy 60th birthday, Skyline!