2012 Nissan GTR Reintroduces Launch Control; Now Called “Start Function”
If you followed the introduction of the game-changing and seemingly forgotten Nissan GTR, you surely remember the various stories that circulated about the car’s launch control. Capable of catapulting the ridiculously heavy, ridiculously powerful car to stratospheric speeds at the absolute limits of Newton’s laws, the system worked flawlessly… for some owners. Apparently, for other owners, it led to blown up transmissions and halfshafts that were more halves than shafts. Subsequently, Nissan put out documentation requesting owners avoid putting the system into use to avoid costly repairs, and removed the feature from 2011 model-year vehicles.
But apparently they’ve remedied the system for 2012; as some eagle-eyed, GTR-obsessed folks at the North American GTR Owners Club found an interesting feature listed in the 2012 GTR’s owners manual: R-Mode Start Function. Apparently doing the exact same thing as the previous system, the new R-Mode Start Function does increase the engine’s revs to 4,000 rpm (higher than the previous system) before launch and limits successive launches to four before disabling the system to save the transmission’s twin clutch packs.
