Forza Horizon 3: The car that would be the new Skyline Coupe

Last time, I drove the one-off, GT-R-powered, Skyline saloon called the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge Concept while moaning about how Nissan execs complaining to other people to stop including the R35 GT-R to the Skyline timeline in the same way that today's WRX is part of the Impreza bloodline even though two cars are now separate models. As true experts know, the "real" Skyline timeline started out as a midsize family saloon and continues all the way to the current Skyline known to many as the Infiniti Q50.



Continuing the Skyline's 60th anniversary celebration, I was in a middle of a quick thinking that the Q50 (which is a V37 Skyline to the Japanese market) did have a coupe version called the Q60. Since no production-spec Q60 on sight, because the Forza producers are too coward to feature it, I'm only stuck with this 2015 concept car as seen from the 2015 NAIAS but don't worry, it's almost as close to the real one.



While this is basically the concept version of the car that would be the V37 Skyline Coupe, it's been powered by its next-generation 3.0L V6 twin-turbo engine generating 400HP of power and same amount for torques. This kind of engine powers not just the production version Q60 but also the Q50 as well, although Nissan has no plans to offer the turbocharged V6 model to the Japanese model as of now. A turbocharged V6 engine with 400HP of power is what you called, in Infiniti terms, the 400 Red Sport, and it has some bits and bobs sourced from, you guessed it, the Nissan GT-R. No wonder they christened the engine code VR30DTT and it comes with two kinds of configurations with the lesser one produces 300HP of power. Need I say more?



A turbocharged V6 engine may sound like the future is happening now but when revving, this engine sounds like the it came from the RB era of Nissan sportscars. It maybe feels modern for a turbocharged six-cylinder petrol engine but it sounds very old school and that's a good thing. It's a shame that the Japanese will be missing out on this engine at this moment in time but no time to rest, let's drive it to the place "where Skylines belong". You get the point but let's do it in honor of the Skyline's 60th anniversary!





The job is over but the celebration continues. I may wish that Nissan should bring the new Skyline Coupe (now based on the Infiniti Q60) to the Japanese market along with the 400HP turbo V6 engine, which makes a nice addition to the four-door saloon model, but like all good historians, the story continues because there are still a handful of Skylines that needs to be driven in the Land Down Under while honoring the Skyline's 60th birthday with a little storytelling.

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!

Infiniti Q60

From concept to reality, the brand-new Infiniti Q60 marks a brand new turn for Nissan's luxury brand as it readies to "empower the drive" for luxury car buyers looking for a luxury sports coupe that will give the Germans a run for their money. Ready or not, the new Q60 will give the stern Japanese car enthusiasts a taste of what will their new Skyline Coupe will look like.

2017 Infiniti Q60

Although this is an all-new model and a two-door derivative of the Q50 saloon (which is sold in Japan as the Skyline), the Q60 name is not new to us because that was once used on the previous Nissan Skyline Coupe V36, once called the Infiniti G37 Coupe until the name change. Now that the Q60 is the two-door Q50, it features all of the stuff that you get from the Q50 saloon while delivering that sporty feeling that you get from most Germans.

The Q60's exterior design is almost similar to the concept car last year, making it an undeniable proof that the are some good cars trying to inspire its design from concept cars, not like Subaru that features a much exciting concept car at first but made it into production with such bland results.

2017 Infiniti Q60 interior

The interior looks very similar to the Q50; the dashboard, the two monitors, the a/c, everything, but the Q60 is themed to be a sportscar rather than a sports saloon and even though it's got two doors, it's still has room in the back as long as they can survive squeezing through the back. Also, it's boot space is big enough for stuff to go golfing. For a sportscar of such caliber, it's all business as usual for the new Q60 coupe.

2017 Infiniti Q60

For a two-door version of the Q50, the new Q60 still has that clever Direct Adaptive Steering which delivers precise handling and quickly communicates road surface feedback to the driver but this is a brand new update to this clever steering stuff. It can now steer quicker and smoother as before and when driving on unstable roads, it constantly, automatically, making subtle changes for better stability, while decreasing feedback and vibration through the steering wheel. It's got a dynamic digital suspension which can change how it drives at the push of the button or it can adapt through different behaviors while cornering or going through unstable road conditions. It feels somewhat robotic, if you know what I mean?

The Drive Mode Selector offers over 336 customizable driver settings that can tailor your driving style based on its steering, engine, and suspension inputs. It can be very complicated to fiddle it on your own but if you're not sure how to fiddle it, you can select between Standard, Snow, ECO, Sport, and Sport+. This is like changing the settings of your TV set by color, contrast, brightness, warmth, etc.

Under the hood, the Q60 offers a powerhouse cast of turbocharged engines and because these turbocharged engines are proven to be quite a charm for the Q60, they can be carried over to the Q50 as well. There's the 2.0L 4-cylinder turbocharged engine sourced from Mercedes-Benz and the brand new 3.0L V6 Twin Turbo engine featuring friction-reducing technologies, and new cooling and valve timing systems. In the high-end Red Sport 400 variant, that bumps up to 400HP of power while promising a 26MPG HWY fuel consumption. They;re all mated to a 7-speed automatic with Adaptive Shift Control.

2017 Infiniti Q60

The Q60, as a luxury car, offers a wide array of safety tech such as Forward Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, Haptic Feedback, Blind Spot Warning, and the brand new Around View Monitor with Moving Object Detection. This new update alerts the driver to moving objects detected within the display image, delivering a better perspective around the driver.

The starting price for the new Infiniti Q60 is $38,950 for the 2.0L model while the 3.0L model starts at $44,300. The Red Sport 400, the one with the 400HP 3.0L V6 turbo on it, is priced at $51,300. With that pricing, that puts it within reach of rivals such as the BMW 4-Series, Audi A5, Mercedes C-Class Coupe, and the Lexus RC.

What can I say about the Q60? Well, with the concept-turned-reality design inside and out, a wide selection of turbocharged engines with no-nonsense performance, and its dynamics that really cater the driver very well, this could be one of the best luxury sport coupes ever sold to the market today and I believe that Infiniti manage to get things right to deliver a sports coupe that delivers the right amount of performance to please the car enthusiasts everywhere. I am very desperate for one of these right now.

Available colors: Dynamic Sunstone Red, Midnight Black, Majestic White, Iridium Blue, Hagane Blue, Liquid Platinum, Graphite Shadow, Black Obsidian, and Pure White.

Photo: Infiniti