As the latest Nissan GT-R is being sold as a road-going race car it's important that it can perform the on-road task at least moderately well. That way anyone who buys one to race it can cut out the expensive task of towing it to a circuit to do so. Drive it to the track, change onto racing slicks, set the correct programs on the central computer – and the road car becomes a full-on racing machine. How good is that!

On the road there are inevitable compromises, compromises that lean in the direction of the race-car side of the equation.

The double-clutch gearbox, which sits at the back of the car in the interests of best front-rear weight distribution, clunks and snicks as it makes it changes. And is on the harsh side at times when asked to do its work as quickly as possible. Perhaps the fact that the gearbox is just behind your left elbow magnifies these events.

The ride is very firm, even with the shock absorbers dialled onto the so-called ‘comfort’ setting. The car isn't generally so rough as to become unpleasant. However, when one of our non-revhead commentators sat in the passenger seat for almost two hours it aggravated a previous back injury to the extent that she needed medication afterwards. That was partly caused by the hard ride, but was exacerbated by the extremely low position of the passenger seat and the fact that there's no vertical adjustment on that side of the cabin.

But let's forget the understandable on-road compromises and look at the immense positives offered by this Nissan supercar. This is a machine that cries out to be driven hard, yet is amazingly docile when asked to trundle along in traffic. Even at 40 km/h in torrential rain on the M1 motorway south of Brisbane it wasn’t fazed.

When asked to leap off the line to put a couple of hot utes into their rightful place in the automotive pecking order the Nissan GT-R did it with contemptuous ease. And in complete safety, the brakes are huge, their response virtually instantaneous and they haul off speed in exemplary fashion. The only real complaint about the stoppers is the noise they create at very low speeds. Yet another compromise, after all they are designed to pull back speeds from 300 km/h at racetracks.

Nissan has deliberately designed a two-plus-two coupe body, reasoning that many buyers want a degree of day-to-day functionality. The back seats are small and tight for legroom and head space but are there for young children or as emergency accommodation for adults. On the other hand, a two-seater would have been lighter and more nimble...

Nissan has built the GT-R as a showcase for its technological ability in the early years of the 21^st century. This is a supercar by any definition. It can top 300 km/h where conditions permit, has a weight to power ratio of just 3.6 kilograms per horsepower. Engine power is a hefty 357 kW and the twin-turbo, 3.8-litre V6 unit has torque spread of 588 Newton metres all the way from 3200 to 5200 revs. So the 2009 spec Nissan GT-R R35 can leap from rest to 100 km/h in a mere 3.3 seconds, making it even hotter than the 2008 original.

Best of all, it has been driven around the famous Nurburgring Nordschleife ‘green hell’ in Germany in just seven minutes and 28 seconds. That's right, 7:28 minutes, a full second was trimmed off the GT-R’s best time in a stunning run on April 15 this year, using the 09 spec car to beat the 08’s previous record.

Nissan GT-R is normally driven only by its rear wheels, with power and torque being fed to the fronts as required depending on road and driving conditions. A display on the dash tells how much work the different ends of the transmission are doing, but only on the most brutal of takeoffs during on-road driving are the front wheels brought into traction play, and then only for a few moments.

So the latest Nissan GT-R passes the on-road tests we tossed at it. But only just. If you are looking for smooth quiet comfort you will need to opt for softer car. On the other hand if you can accept the aforementioned compromises and want to commute during the week, then race on Sunday, it will be all-but impossible to find a better car.