R36 Nissan GT-R Mixes Digital Grand Touring Goodness With Clean Sports DNA

That was more than half a century ago, when the ‘Godzilla’ nickname (penned two decades later, in 1989) was nothing more than a dream monster to bring kids into cinemas, and not the worldwide pop culture icon of today. Alas, that does not mean the Skyline GT-R was left without affectionate name-calling.

Instead, the original Skyline GT-R (1969-1972), codes PGC and KPGC10 for the sedan and coupe, respectively – were nicknamed ‘Hakosuka’ due to its boxy styling. The shorter-lived KPGC110 second iteration (1973 only) got baptized as the ‘Kenmeri’ Skyline, all thanks to a popular commercial of the time. Then, from the third generation onward, the ‘Rs’ were finally unleashed, with the iconic R32 (1989 - 1994), famed R33 (1995-1998), and ultra-legendary R34 iteration of Fast and Furious glory.

Naturally, no one can deny the growing cult following of the Skyline GT-R series, and Nissan itself took full advantage of the hype. A Japanese automaker that does not move nearly as fast as its rivals, Honda and Toyota, for example, Nissan decided to make the GT-R a standalone model with the advent of the R35 high-performance sports car/grand tourer back in December of 2007.

The production also started slow, in 2009, and even in 2022, there is no replacement in sight. Instead, there are rumors of a fresh version for the 2023 or 2024 model year that is set to arrive alongside the 2024 Nissan Z Nismo. But perhaps people have grown sick of Nissan updating or piggybacking on the continued sales success of the R35 with a massive family of different variations of the same theme.

And that is especially valid across the imaginative realm of virtual automotive artists, which are playing with everything they can – from iconic R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R revivals for MY2024 to dark and menacing off-road transformations of the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato variety. Plus, there is never a shortage of next-generation R36 ideas, of course.

Such is also the case with the virtual artist better known as hycade on social media, who can easily be seen as a massive contemporary sports car fan, so a fresh GT-R was only CGI-logical, frankly. Thus, after digitally fiddling with Americana stuff like the informal 2024 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 or the Audi RS 8 sedan and Avant Euro unicorns, now it’s time for something JDM, again.

The imagined R36 Nissan GT-R is dressed subtly in light gray or dark blue and has the same general allure as the R35 predecessor. Alas, the virtual successor does come with a sleeker overall appearance thanks to modified front and rear lights, plus it already seems prepared for the flagship Nismo treatment, if you want our two cents on the matter.

Update: New beauty shots of the hypothetical 'R36' were dropped just before we changed our clocks to 2023, along with a massively cool hint - the author is currently working on the Nismo version for this digital next-generation project!