Car soars from video game legend to West Island reality

Sports car aficionados of all stripes put the pedal to the mettle last Wednesday evening, heading down to Pointe Claire's Spinelli Nissan dealership to witness the grand unveiling of the Japanese car manufacturer's GT-R, a 460 horsepower, V6-engine slick monster of a car.

"It's beautiful, but it's just a car," said the owner of the shiny Gun Metal-coloured vehicle that easily over 80 people had come to admire.

Keeping an eye out for the GT-R ever since he had first heard about it, Jack, who did not want his last name revealed, approached the Spinelli dealership in December 2007 and asked to be placed on a priority list of customers who want the car. At the time, the dealership did not even have confirmation it would be able to carry the car.

"It takes a very special qualification (to be allowed to carry the GT-R)," explained spokesperson Robert Lupien, who could be seen taking pictures of the still-veiled car before it was revealed at around 6:45 p.m.

The dealership's manager, Ronald Spinelli, said they had to work hard to convince Nissan Canada to be one of the four only sales points for the new model in Quebec. Sales volumes of similar sports cars, in this case Nissan's last new model, the Z, were carefully examined by the company's Canada head office to determine where there could be a market for the GT-R.

"Our volume of Z in the last three years was interesting enough for us to get this," Spinelli said.

About 13 of the vehicles, which carry a price tag of $81,900, have been pre-sold at the Pointe Claire dealer so far, but only six of those will be ready to deliver by the end of the year. "Most of the car is hand-built," said new car sales manager Joe Hayem, stating that is why it takes a relatively long time to have a new car ready.

The GT-R's past models, called Nissan Skyline GT-R, were first introduced in Japan from 1969 to 1974, and returned from 1999 to 2002. Under its more modern incarnation, the GT-R has only made it to North American shores in the video game racing series Grand Turismo, until now.