Vijay Pattni looks at the hottest sportscar of the moment and one of the greatest cars in the world – the giant-slaying Nissan GT-R.

The GT-R legend began over 40 years ago in the high heat of the FIA GT series – but the supercar’s roots came from a humble beginning – the Nissan Skyline family saloon.

The original Skyline debuted in 1957 and was made by the Prince Motor Company – which merged with Nissan in 1966 – as a mid-size mass-market saloon.

But Nissan wanted to take on the Porsche 904 in the GT class of the Japanese Grand Prix, and in 1969, premiered its first race-spec GT-R to the world – a GT-R which featured a 2-litre engine producing 160bhp.

While the engine had the same power output as a modern-day Vauxhall Corsa, it was enough to secure 50 victories in the first year and a half, and 1,000 race wins by the time it retired in 1972.

Gallery: click below to view images of the Nissan GTR V Spec and the standard Nissan GTR

Nissan rolled out a refreshed Skyline GT-R in 1973 featuring a 2-litre engine driving the rear wheels – but just 197 examples of this model were sold and production ended in 1977.

When Nissan ended production, the GT-R took a wander into the wilderness, and those famous three letters – translated as Gran Turismo Racer – would not be seen for another 16 years.

But when the GT-R badge was revived, Nissan rolled out one of the most legendary cars the world has seen – the R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R.

The R32 was the brainchild of Nissan Motorsport – NISMO – which wanted a more competitive car to race in the Japanese Touring Car Championship Group ‘A’ racing series.

In order to qualify for the series, Nissan had to produce 5,000 road-going cars which would reflect the cars being raced – cars which the public could buy and use everyday.

Nissan were so confident of its new R32 GT-R, bosses signalled an unlimited production run of the twin-turbocharged 2.6-litre road-racer.

Factory figures put the R32’s power at 276bhp, but more unofficial tests revealed the engine pushed out closer to 330bhp, transferred to the tarmac via a complicated motorsport-derived four-wheel-drive system which included the HICAS four-wheel-steer – in essence, the GT-R was a race-car for the road.

The R32 proved massively popular, and Nissan followed its success with the revamped R33 GT-R – built between 1995 and 1997, which kept the same engine and power output.

And in 1999, the R34 GT-R was unveiled.

The car – nicknamed ‘Godzilla’ – featured the same 2.6-litre twin turbocharged engine producing 280bhp (unofficially 330bhp) and the four-wheel-drive system, together with a famous in-dash display featuring seven types of driving statistics including a G-force meter and lap timer.

Gallery: click below to view images of the Nissan GTR

The R34 GT-R was a phenomenal success – both commercially and in motorsport – establishing itself as one of the world’s most fearsome performance cars.

But at the 2001 Tokyo motor show – in the middle of the R34’s production run – Nissan bosses sneaked in a mystery guest to their stand.

A concept car appeared unannounced – and the rumour mill went into overdrive.

Spy shots, leaked performance figures and sketchy information about a world-beating Nissan supercar were finally put to rest when, five years later, Nissan gave birth to its most anticipated sportscar – the 480bhp Nissan GT-R.

It features a 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 engine, is faster around the Nürburgring than the Bugatti Veyron, costs less than a BMW M3 and is one of the fastest cars in the world – ‘Godzilla’ is back.

Video: the Nissan GTR