Few cars in recent memory have set imaginations ablaze more than the 2009 Nissan GT-R. For months (years?) leading up to its release in Japan in October and in the US this month, enthusiasts bought into the hype machine the automotive media has generated around the prized super-whip. Boasting all-wheel drive and a twin turbo 3.8L V6 that makes a purported 480 horses and 430 lb-ft of torque, the GT-R nameplate - and a left hand drive heading towards U.S. shores (for the first time), for crying out loud - can you blame anyone for getting all goofy?

It is practically in the nature of every red-blooded enthusiast to personalize (and you can almost go "all in" that there will be modded GT-Rs at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon), though, make their car uniquely theirs, and we are not above the phenomenon. If we had the 80 or so grand it would take to own a GT-R, we would probably leave it stock only for a few months, after which we'd tear up the warranty and break out the turn wrenches.

In lieu of actually getting one of the supercars and tweaking it ourselves (which frankly would probably end in a very expensive statement from our credit card company), we did the next best thing - we enlisted the services of a professional auto designer to virtually restyle one on our behalf.

Using a deft combination of state of the art illustration software and artistic skills (that have designed major concepts you have seen before), our designer worked with to answer the question, "what would we do with OUR Nissan GT-R". The result of our, er...his hard work is here for your enjoyment (see the links for download of desktop versions).

It's only a mild facelift, sure, but the alternate aesthetic is just a start, Phase 1 (yes, more to come) if you will, and part of our effort to stay one step ahead of the game. Car-plasty seemed the simplest and quickest way to get an answer in what is probably serious water-cooler talk already - what the first aftermarket-modified GT-R might look like.

A picture may say a thousand words, but we didn't want to let our designer off the hook so easily. So, we asked him to provide us with an "idiot's guide" to UrbanRacer's Phase 1 Mild Mod GT-R. It follows below.

See what you like? Let us know where we went right and wrong, and keep your eyes peeled for Phase 2. Send Editor-in-Chief Bob Hernandez (Replace [at] with @) a line about what you think and we might send you a nice, sexy poster version of the UrbanRacer GT-R for your trouble.

Phase 1 Mild Mod GT-R To start, we wanted to get away from the blocky front-end design and emphasize the horizontal motion expressed by the car's design. For a lower and wider feel, we: 1. Painted the black "mustache" on the car's nose to match the body color 2. Introduced secondary openings on each side - so visually, the car appears wider the lower you get; the openings also adds some flexibility to cold-air intake placement 3. Cover the surface areas of headlamps which run horizontally, reducing meaningless vertical motion and at the same time adding aggressiveness 4. Filled the center opening with a huge heat exchanger, such as an intercooler, oil cooler, etc. 5. Applied a carbon-fiber lip spoiler with subtle integrated canards around the sides 6. Increased the size of the NACA ducts in the hood For added impact from an already pretty aggressive rear end, we: 1. Extended the lower bumper closer to the ground, and added some serious diffuser action with a wrap-around effect visible from the straight rear view 2. Replaced the rear spoiler to one that is wider and more simple 3. Introduced exit ducting for rear tire and brake cooling In addition, we incorporated lower side air ducts for heat from the front brakes to escape more easily.

GT-R Media Videos 07 LA Auto Show GT-R Press Conference 07 LA Auto Show GT-R Walkthrough Gallery 1280 x 1024 Wallpaper