Bizarrely, Nissan’s test driver is called Mr Suzuki and he has a childlike glint in his eyes. Like a teen showing an adult how to beat a console game, he is the complete master of the controls. To him, Nissan’s supercar is a toy.

That morning (two weeks ago) the Japanese manufacturer confirmed that the GT-R had become the fastest mass-production car on the Nurburgring. According to Nissan’s figures, a time of less than seven minutes, 30 seconds places it third behind the Porsche Carrera GT and Pagani Zonda on the twisting 21km track. The Formula 1 circuit at Estoril would always be far less taxing, and Suzuki-san had been looking forward to his walk in the park.

Pushing a 480bhp, twin-turbo V6 pram is the Japanese test driver’s idea of a Sunday stroll. Through his intensive testing of this fifth-generation already-legendary GT-R, which made its worldwide debut at the Tokyo motor show last year, he has played his part in developing the concept of “the ultimate supercar that can be driven by anyone, any time, anywhere”, as Nissan sees it.

A small figure in a race suit and helmet, Suzuki-san had plans to spend the day having fun, by performing flying laps and testing the laws of physics to the limit. Hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun, Suzuki-san and the GT-R were always going to be adept at drifting. Despite its all-wheel drive, a professional in the mould of Suzuki-san would find a way to keep its rear at a constant 45 degrees to the apex of any corner.

Help me, Suzuki

As a passenger, you feel helpless to change events. The limit to your input is to demand Suzuki-san makes the charge “full-on and fun” as you climb into and interior of plastic and gauges.

But why would the test driver do anything different to that?

On the track, you can feel his desperation to finish one lap and get cracking with the next. There’s no such thing as taking your time over things, and the digital meter on the passenger’s side allows you to make sense of the sensations as you experience them.

If it weren’t for the hugging seats, you would be all over the place, subjected to the lateral G-force fighter pilots get their thrills out of. With the speedo regularly making it over the 240kph threshold, a quick glance at Suzuki-san’s calm eyes in his helmet tells you that, for him, this is just a run to Spinneys.

Moving through the gears, waiting until the last moment before braking for a hairpin, or timing the famous Parabólica corner to flat-out perfection, the test driver looked somnolent, as if he was just waiting for something good to happen around the corner. With the time up and the ride over, the old jelly legs kick in as you exit the low-slung passenger seat. In the words of UK rock outfit XTC, your senses are still working overtime, even as you traipse through the pits, looking for a calming cuppa.

Your brain has a latent sense of what is right from the laws of physics, and if an outside object such as the GT-R challenges what you know, the grey matter has to spend some time rationalising what it has experienced.

It helps if you then move into the driving seat of the car and give it a blast yourself. With the traction control firmly on and the track ahead empty, you can allow your brain the do the calculations first-hand since you are now in charge. Your being can monitor your input and witness the response. As you hurtle forward at full gas, your brain takes in the thrust and the V6’s sound — a screaming, racing noise different from the lightning-fast V8s and above that usually occupy the supercar club.

Heaven sent

By the end of the first straight, you think you’re flying, though the speedo rejects this: There’s still half a clock to go. But before you can work on addressing this, a sharp right needs your attention and late braking action, the blips of the downchanges and a little wobble from the steering combine to power you through the curve and back into acceleration heaven.

The multi-setting traction control is not intrusive but keeps you alive. While living kamikazes like Suzuki-san steer clear of it, the TCS button keeps the less skilled alive while letting them experience the utmost in exhilaration. By the time you reach the Parabólica, you realise why it is one of the most famous bends in the Grand Prix world. This opening expanse of high-speed curve is a handful, and your experience of it in the GT-R makes memories of Jacques Villeneuve’s daring manoeuvre around Michael Schumacher in 1996 more vivid.

But the Nissan takes much of the danger out of it, albeit while leaving a sediment of thrill and anticipation for the worst. In essence, it provides the everyman driver with a clue of what it is like to be a Villeneuve or a Suzuki-san.

The GT-R’s boast of being a supercar you can drive anywhere rings completely true. After your own flying laps, you still get the wobbly pins, but you start to understand that Nissan has crafted a vehicle to offer a combination of breakneck performance and drivability. That may sound like PR spin, but in truth it is a tasty mixture and something that has brought the GT-R badge into the realm of some of the most loved performance cars in the world.