2010 Nissan GT-R ECU Updated in US - Launch Control Removed

Nissan GT-R

2009 models can be retrofitted as well

By Christopher Jackson
January 30, 2009 8:42 PM
Filed Under: Japanese, Nissan, Tuners

GTRblog reports that Nissan will be making programming changes to the 2010 GT-R's ECU that should result in better acceleration times when the Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) system is engaged. An additional change also allows the engine to rev past 2000rpm when the brakes are depressed and VDC is engaged, for less aggressive launches. The modifications to the VDC basically neuters the Launch Control system, but that's not what's causing the controversy.

Nissan's has told its dealers that the change will be made to 2010 GTRs, and also applied retroactively to any unsold 2009 models. Rumors that the change would be imposed upon buyers who have already bought their GTRs are not true, though Nissan will encourage owners of '09 GTRs to have them upgraded.

Source: gtrblog.com

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Tags: GT-R

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Comments

Airbag

January 30, 2009 9:52 PM

But a chocolate gearbox would make such a wonderful valentine's gift!

OctaneGT-R

January 30, 2009 10:28 PM

so is that good or bad but if nissan made the gearbox stronger 2 handle the launch control then there will be no problems

Iconic

January 30, 2009 11:29 PM

HAHA, disguising a weak tranny with faster acceleration... score for Porsche.

benz_man

January 31, 2009 1:07 AM

I wouldn't call it "weak". More like "mis-handled".

Iconic

January 31, 2009 2:14 AM

Hey I love the GT-R, but what's the point of having launch control if you can't use it over and over. This new "update" that they refer to is a software fix for defective hardware. I think Nissan is effing great, but they should stand by their Halo, and not make excuses for it.

benz_man

February 1, 2009 6:56 AM

Any transmission that can handle 400 ft-lbs under normal use is pretty strong. Anything will break if you abuse it. And "launch control", which is just a fancy term for dumping the clutch at high RPM, is abuse!

Sharpie

January 31, 2009 1:19 AM

You know...you rarely ever see this with Porsche. They tend to have it down pat before they release a car.

Ash

January 31, 2009 6:57 AM

What you are kidding aren't you...??

What about Porsche Boxter Owners who's engines Drive Shaft just 'snaps' in two at around 50K..

Yes, Porsche have that down pat too.

Xanavi23

January 31, 2009 2:50 AM

Im with Iconic, i love the GT-R but its better without LC as it is very rough on the car. In this instance, now all acceleration numbers will be real real world performance and also numbers attained by the skill of the driver, not a computer. That makes me like the GT-R.

At the same time, you can't ignore that the 997T doesn't have the same problem with LC being as rough on the car. So indeed, score for Stuttgart.

Aluraeo

January 31, 2009 3:45 AM

hmmm alot of ppl are making noises about the gtr box but hey how can you compare nissan to porsche when it comes to building supercars. Porsche clearly has more experience, while nissian only has one car of such horsepower output per period. At the end of the day a nissan's a nissan and a posche is a porsche but the gtr is.... and I know ppl will complain but lets face it. Its one hell of a porsche arse kicking nissan. We need cars like the GTR and companies like nissan who dare to innovate and try out new things. Porsche had a dual clutch eons ago and they only just released it. nissian never had one and for the gtr they dared to make one, hell they even made a new gear box layout design... All for the price of... half that of a P turbo. As a company then who has more guts? Who gives us the drivers value for money, put it this way at the end of the day at the track you dont see real drivers saying.... "you might have won man but.... mines a porsche/mercedes/Beeeemeerrrr HA!" So nissan, us who really appreciate cars for the car and not the frankly useless badge especially when it comes to real driving which these cars are bought for. Kudos to you.

Iconic

January 31, 2009 4:01 AM

It's not about who is faster or who has more experience. I think the issue here is, Nissan should stand by their product. If it breaks under warranty, fix it. Don't make me sign a release before I buy the car. This is the controversy.

Joe_Limon

January 31, 2009 7:06 AM

iconic, I think the trouble lies in the fact that this car wasn't engineered as a drag car. It was engineered as a track day car. It is perfectly engineered for track day use. Lighter weight components will always be weaker, but they will also lead to better performance around a track. I think it's a good thing nissan is dropping the launch control because it was more of an afterthought then an actual selling point to the car. Point being, if Nissan did beef everything up their already heavy car would have been a freaking tank.

hofmeyer

January 31, 2009 7:07 AM

if the product isn't production ready it should not be produced. apparently the trans didn't spend a lot of time in durability testing with launch control being used.

let just say that getting rid of launch control makes the trans last longer. how long you do really think the trans is going to last? the same horsepower is running through it with or without launch control.

Ash

January 31, 2009 7:11 AM

How does this new 'Edit' button work?, my post above went in OK, went to edit, would not work, so I removed the entire post and you get a blank post with "Edited by user on January 31st,2009 at 7:07 AM?

What Tha?

kimbo

January 31, 2009 11:02 AM

Nothing's wrong with the car, every problem with GT-R is created by owners. Launch Control is very stressful to every drivetrain component, on the e46 M3 CSL you had to wait like 15-20 minutes before repeating LC again. Problem is - Nissan should install a control that show if your car is ready to repeat LC, second thing: drivers that know nothing about mechanics and do LC every start & stop are simply idiots, they treat cars like electronics and computers - they think that they can push restart button if something is wrong and then the fun starts all over again.

hofmeyer - the problem is that accelerating with as much traction as possible is very stressful to the components of drivetrain and pushing them to the max of their durability & realiability, gearbox especially, comparing LC even to driving a car around track doesn't make sense.

tootall

January 31, 2009 4:24 PM

I could not say it better myself Kimbo. Consecutive jaring of max torque upon takeoff on any transmission is very stressful.

gsavior

January 31, 2009 11:43 AM

funny, VW GTi dsg can do lots of launches ...

122

January 31, 2009 12:44 PM

It also copes with less power..

benz_man

January 31, 2009 8:12 PM

Considerably less power...

Aluraeo

January 31, 2009 2:38 PM

Yes I do agree that a manufacturer should stand by their product but all in all the problems are due to extreme testing and full power launches are very stressful as mentioned by Kimbo. At the end of the day any car which does full power launches would break. Hell even the F430's transmission is easily fried, don't see anyone complaining though. Also, this problem about the fried drive train, I've read the thread and I still feel we don't have the full story about what happened or at least a substantiated story. Many manufacturers have this problem with 4wd vehicles which have high grip; take the evo X for example it can't launch properly off the line as mitsubishi build in a rein-in mechanism to prevent gear box damage with their sst system. At the end of the day we do not have admantium, if we did, life would be much easier to engineers.

radmeister

February 1, 2009 10:24 AM

Hmmm, interesting i haven't heard of bugatti having problems with their transmissions, and it has 2x the power, and a 50% faster 0-60....Nissan has never been known for their transmissions. The fact is they didnt build a transmission strong enough for the car. The transmission in the GTR can't be compared to the F430, if you have ever seen an F430 tranny you would know what i'm talking about, i'm by no means a hulk hogan and i can easily pick it up. Also Ferrari doesn't say Oh you drove the car too hard, forget your warranty. Mechanical failure is mechanical failure, i should not be able to make the car break itself. Sure if i take a GTR offroading and hit the transmission on a boulder it's my fault, but it's nissans responsibility to sell me a car that if hammer it at every light it wont explode. Thats bullshit, it's like me buying an LCD tv that says it can be left on for 10hrs straight with no probs, but then you make me sign a paper saying that if i leave it on for 10hrs straight it voids the warranty. Then it can't really be left on for 10hrs straight. I expect a product to deliver what you promise, and to do it day in and day out, not some BS oh yeah it can do 0-60 in 3.5 ONCE and it VOIDS your warranty. It's like someone asking you if you can build a Helicopter and you say "hell yeah, i can build you the best and fanciest helicopter in the world....out of legos"

kimbo

February 1, 2009 2:09 PM

to build a Veyron costs about 3 millions Euros,so comparing it to the GT-R is apples to oranges... Radmeister, if you believe that you can use your car however you want, just try some LC and high-revving rides during 'running in' and maybe then you would see that you have to have some mechanics knowledge if you want to use your car properly. Nissan didn't do anything wrong with GT-R apart from not putting a light control that show if your GT-R is ready to repeat LC, all the problems comes from users, I mentioned that some comments before.

"Mechanical failure is mechanical failure, i should not be able to make the car break itself." Total BS, there are mechanical issues that comes from not making a car properly, and mechanical issues comming because of not using a product properly, GT-R's tranny is the second one.

And if you don't like GT-R and signing a paper about warranty, just don't buy this car, that's all.

Edited by user on February 1, 2009 at 2:11 PM

radmeister

February 2, 2009 12:00 AM

Ok then by your logic it would be fine for Chevrolet to say that their ZR-1 has 800hp and advertise it having 800hp, and then you get to the dealership, and they tell you, oh it has 800hp if you put in jet fuel, but sign this paper turning down your warranty if you do it. Lets face reality, they just offered you some overboost function to give you retarded ammounts of extra power for take off to blind the public with supercar like 0-60 times, but realistically you attempt that 5x and if you are one of the few lucky who's transmission didnt explode you now suffer from heavy transmission slips, and you can kiss goodbye to even 0-60 in 4sec. Hell you know what im sure if they release a 2010 GT-R with a stronger transmission and the customer pays for the extra cost more people would buy it than this newly crippled version. All i know, is a porsche may say 0-60 in 3.7 sec not 3.5 but it can do 3.7 day in day out, and after 10 years still 3.7 seconds.

Aluraeo

February 1, 2009 11:04 AM

its all and easy to say this but how much does a bugatti cost... with money you can almost make any mechnical problem disappear. I don't want to get anal about legality and all, but hey, if a person tells you something before you buy a product that states a limitation and you still buy it anyhow, who is to blame? your comparisms are so skewed i might as well counter with "hey the challenger space shuttle was supposed to work wasn't it, but it still blew up and that cost millions and was promised to deliver the results". God bless their souls by the way. In no way did nissan say " here's a GTR it has a launch control you can use day in day out and we promise it won't break". But to be fair they did inform you that " it voids your warrenty if you use it" so yeah... when there are clauses you don't like so be it. any one who builds anything should be free to be clear about any limitations should the product be sold... erm except death though i must add.

turkiq

February 1, 2009 11:28 AM

What a wonderful company.. I like it.

GRAVE

February 1, 2009 12:50 PM

yeah the gearbox is not that strong, but if you take the GTR to tuner company they'll modify the gear box, like hennessey when i spoke to them about the 600 hp GTR they told me we made an upgrade to the gear box also.

NISMO

February 1, 2009 4:01 PM

This is a shame...I agree with those of you that have said it's sad that Nissan won't stand by their product advertist the s**t out of this feature then tell ppl not to use it. On the other hand, however if you require the use of a launch control feature, you probable have no business launching a car in the first place. Seems like Nissan is the provider of sports cars to those that do not belong in the driver's seat of them...Same could be said for the rev-match feature on the manual Z...Just give the car a proper tranny with a 3rd pedal, and let us launch our own damn cars.

Airbag

February 1, 2009 6:38 PM

When the tech wears off, who is going to want one of these heavy lumps anyways?

A ten year old 997 is going to be a great buy down the line, I just can't see this R35 GT-R attaining the cult status of the Skyline GT-Rs.

brocky

February 1, 2009 8:48 PM

'Removing the launch control to improve acceleration' is the biggest b.s. I've heard. Not blaming worldcarfans.com. Nissan needs to man up. If Nissan claims this car to be a supercar, they need to build it with a quality of a supercar. And service.

kimbo

February 2, 2009 4:36 PM

Quality of a supercar? What do you mean by that? Maybe you mean Ferrari Enzo which you have to service for 5.000 pounds every few thousansds kilometers? Or maybe some early lambo diablos which broke down even when you were looking at them too hard? Maybe Lambos'E-gear and Ferrari's F1 gearboxes which break down at least few times when you own the car, because they do not work well in a traffic and driving around the city?

There is no such a thing as quality in a supercar, building one is about pushing the envelope, you combine as much power and performance as possible with best materials and designs you can get. It is working at the limit of what's possible and that means it is very common that something is not going to work properly.

Edited by user on February 2, 2009 at 4:37 PM

benz_man

February 3, 2009 5:10 AM

Now that you can launch at a higher RPM with VDC on it probably will be faster... However, the computer will be there to limit tq when the tires have stopped spinning and all the engines tq is being funneled into the 1st gear sprocket and clutch pack.

gsavior

February 3, 2009 12:24 PM

I already lost repect for nissan when this GTR came out.

They don't stand by their flagship car, and also have so much advertisement lies. I will never buy a nissan ever. Good job nissan, your success has caused a few hundred people to never buy your brand again.

Who knows if the synchro rev match will blow up too :D.

GTR should of just came with manual transmission...at least then i can just slip the clutch....and burn the clutch instead of blowing the whole thing up.

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