We are extremely excited about the next Nissan 400Z. The replacement for the charming but aged 370Z was suggested in the form of the Z Proto concept car, a pleasing-looking sports coupe that pays homage to the Z cars of the past without being cloyingly retro. Nissan says the Z Proto is a very accurate representation of what the production car will offer, including a V-6 biturbo and an available manual transmission, but the automaker hasn’t released the exact specifications yet.
That is why we are very intrigued by the latest rumor about the 400Z, which reaches us from the world of racing video games.
As discovered by fans at NewNissanZ.com, a forum dedicated to the next generation of the Nissan sports coupe, the Z Proto concept is one of many cars available at Project Cars 3, a building and racing game for PC, XBox or PlayStation 4. And if the Z Proto numbers in the racing game are true, this will be a powerful and impressive machine.
NewNissanZ.com
According to the forum post Rusty, the Z Proto that you can direct and modify at Project Cars 3 comes straight out of the box with 444 hp and a total weight of 3,251 pounds. According to my calculator, this is 7.32 pounds per hp. And this is very impressive. For comparison, I calculated the same statistic for comparable sports cars:
OZ Proto beats everything above, except for the Corvette. Or, at least, the video game version does.
So, does that mean that the production 400Z, when it arrives, will have a power-to-weight ratio that embarrasses the six-cylinder Cayman, the M4 snorer and many other performance machines? Fans of the NewNissanZ forum think so. At the Road and trail, we are a little skeptical. It is very likely that Nissan gave these figures to the Project Cars team as a way to create excitement for the eventual debut of the production car. Note that the car you can play in the game is called “Z Proto”, a very clear indication that what you see on the screen is the digital representation of the concept car. This gives Nissan an easy way out if the 400Z arrives with less power (or greater curb weight) than what is in the game: “hey, this is just the prototype.”
But the numbers in the game are not entirely unbelievable. Nissan already gets 400 hp with that 3.0-liter biturbo V-6 in the Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400. Another 44 hp does not seem impossible, especially for the long-awaited Nissan halo coupe. As for the total weight of 3251 pounds? The current 370Z tilts the scale by over 3,300 pounds; the Proto Z is a little longer and wider, but has a slightly lower roof line, according to the specifications of the prototype that Nissan released last year. Could Nissan cut a good hundred pounds off its next-generation coupe by adding the complexity of a twin-turbo engine and all the convenience and safety technology that the 370Z lacks? We hope so, because the numbers of that Z Proto video game, imaginary or not, are quite impressive.
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