No one climbs out of a GT-R and complains about its lack of pace. With 570 horsepower and 637 Nm of torque from its twin-turbo 3.8-liter V6, it’ll revoke your driver’s license in less than three seconds. If you’re brave enough or there’s enough stretch of tarmac, it’ll hit a terminal velocity of 315 km/h. Beyond the figures, there’s something edgy about how it delivers all that performance. Nissan engineers weren’t concerned about making this thing more civilized during its production run; they were concerned simply to make it faster. There’s noticeable lag as it wakes up, but then tries to decapitate you once the needle hits 3,500 rpm.

The 6-speed DCT is a gear or two short of modern gearboxes, so you’ll find yourself wanting lower revs on the highway, but at least it keeps the turbos on boost. Overall, it’s smooth, but mind you, it’ll also “snatch and jar,” if you’re half-assed with your throttle input. It’s also thirsty and with a diet that’s purely 100 octane, it’ll pull a fast one on your gas allowance.

The extremely high level of performance is already enough to cement the GT-R’s legendary status, but even better is how approachable and friendly it still is during the daily commute. It’s still not the most refined automobile as persistent whining from the turbos and dual clutch will cause your ears to ring after a two-hour commute, but all things considered its hospitable even when crawling on EDSA.

The steering, still old-fashioned hydraulic assist, is quick and intuitive for something that’s so bulky. With its trick all-wheel drive system called ATTESA E-TS or Advanced Total Traction Engineering System for All-Terrain, gives it an almost unsatiable amount of grip. Power is automatically shuffled about as the GT-R’s various computers that analyze things like slip and yaw, but the experience is still surprisingly analogue. Treat it with respect, and offers an interactive performance car experience. Get it wrong and it’ll Patrick Bateman the hell out of you. The trick adaptive dampers also allow for good amount of wheel movement and ride compliance (for a supercar). The chassis can still be fussy over sharper edges, but at least it’s not feeding every single imperfection straight into the cabin.

The GT-R also happens to have a driver-focused cabin and all the key stuff has been nailed right: supportive seats, big and legible gauges, and tactile switchgear. The dashboard and seats are also finished in semi-aniline leather, while carbon fiber trim gives a lift in perceived quality. That said, in more ways than one, it does feel and show its age. For example, the speedo read out is of a dot-matrix style. Then, the 8-inch infotainment screen will show every performance parameter possible, but it doesn’t have any form of smartphone mirroring. It does have a CD player, Bluetooth, or a 2015-ira iPod input to crank out tunes via its 11-speaker Bose sound system.

Looking for any form of ADAS? Sorry, you won’t find anything of the sort here. Apart from the standards like airbags, ABS, and stability control, the list isn’t as long in this department. You parking sensors fore and aft, a rear camera, tire pressure sensors, and that’s it.

The Nissan GT-R remains special because it’s the sort of car that demands to be driven in a certain way. While others may have taken inspiration from it, nothing else is remotely like it. Even if it’s no longer such a steal, it still represents Nissan’s finest hour and one they’ve unashamedly tapped into in hawking everything from the Almera to the Leaf. After nearly 20 years, it’s now showing its age. But with Nissan toying with the idea to make its replacement electric, this is perhaps the best time to enjoy this deliberately raw GT-R while we still can.