Aesthetically, the Nissan GT-R is neither a modernized nor a resurrection of the earliest Z cars, way back when they wore the Datsun badge. This car has none of the natural beauty of those cars, which looked like they'd gone directly to the showroom from whimsical sketches on a dinner napkin. What it does have is a sense of polished purpose, of function dictated by the need to slip through the air with minimal disturbance blended with a form shaped to let the eye flow over its lines and curves just as easily. Sort of a svelte Bauhausian ethic. All is not perfect, however, as here and there a styling cue hints of other, seriously lower level sporty and sports cars in a way that subconsciously jars the senses.

The grille design evokes the new . It's almost cause to wonder whether the stylists for the two cars studied under the same professors at design school. The GT-R's grille design, however, does multi-duty. Besides channeling air to the intercooler, radiators, and climate control system's heat exchanger coils, the design enhances front downforce. The lower grille opening houses two, jet intake-like, side-mount scoops that cool the massive vented and drilled front brake discs and their full-floating, six-piston Brembo calipers. A polished, black, understated but effective chin spoiler extends beneath the front bumper like a lower lip. High-relief, lift-countering indents wrap around the lower corners of the front fenders. Pentagonal headlight housings fill the top of the fenders. Two functional NACA vents straddle the hood's power bulge.

The front fenders give the GT-R a broad-shouldered presence leading to a narrower, kind of pinched waist body section; think less dramatic . Narrow extractor vents that vacuum lift-inducing airflow from under the front end fit into a tall slot between the fenders' trailing edge and the side body panel. An awkward GT-R badge tries to imply motion by swooping back from the top of the vent but only serves to mar the sleek flanks. Fully recessed door handles pivot out a finger grip when the dimpled rear portion is pressed; immediately aft of that is an angled, rectangular button that unlocks the door, provided the RFID fitted key fob is within range.

Frameless door windows and fixed rear quarter windows taper sharply toward the rear, denying much-needed headroom for entering and exiting the car. One bystander said he thought at his first sight of the side windows and top, what Nissan calls an aero blade canopy roofline. The rear quarter panel balloons outward from the narrower mid-section just enough to cover the rear tires. The barest of a concentric blister highlights the perfectly circular front and rear wheelwells. The front end's polished black lower lip picks up after the front wheelwell and runs the length of the side body panels to the rear wheelwells, with the visual effect of masking just how close the Nissan GT-R sits to the road. Balancing the view through the seven-spoke wheels of the bright red front Brembo calipers are bright red, full-floating, four-piston rear Brembo calipers that clamp down on vented and drilled rear brake discs.

The mildly rounded but mostly vertical rear fascia holds symmetrical pairs of smaller and larger taillights and a sharply recessed license plate surround. The Nissan logo on the liftgate and a GT-R badge fit the car better than the GT-R swoop on the front quarter panel, although all four are unnecessary adornments. A slim rear wing, rounded in a droop at the ends to match the rear quarter panels' tumble, rides the trailing edge of the trunk lid. More of that polished black lower panel loops around the back end, hosting matched sets of dual exhaust tips and a fully integrated, carbonfiber rear diffuser. From this viewpoint, the one most drivers will see of the Nissan GT-R, it's difficult to believe the rear track is a mere 0.4 inches wider than the front track.