We're very torn about this one. In Japan, the new 2009 Nissan GT-R's are limited to a top speed of 112 mph (180 km/h). Which, quite frankly, is depressing. Remember though— that's Japan only. American and European hoons are (supposedly) limited to 155 mph (250 km/h). Back in Japan, should you take your Godzilla to a track, the GPS doohickies tell the computer to remove the limiter. Makes sense, right? Limit the car to a moderate top speed on the road, and then unleash its full, city-smashing, Mothra-wrasslin' potential on the track. We have two major problems with that.
First of all, this is a Skyline. When the R32 left the factory, the engineers colored the governor yellow so that buyer's could easily locate it and rip it out, unlocking the engine's full and quite super potential. With the new GT-R, Nissan is doing a 180, and not just in kilometers per hour. According to reports, the ECU on the latest Skyline is is quite heavily encrypted and therefor not easily hacked. So, that's no good.
Our second gripe is all about Orwellian, Big Brother-type precedents. Yeah, how cute, when you get to the track you can go faster. We get it. But how long until this sort of technology filters down to the rest of us? As in you're in a 35 mph zone — you can only go 35 mph. Never forget how O'Brien described the future to Winston Smith, "...a boot stamping on a human face forever." We may be hyperbolizin' and feeling a bit like the Red Rocker, but we're still shuddering. (You need to take a SOMA or something dude... - Ed.) [Gizmodo]