The most hotly anticipated set of wheels since Honda's NSX of the early 1990s, the Nissan GT-R is the talk of the town this year.
With supercar performance for the outlay of a luxury saloon, the GT-R is said to beat the Porsche 911 Turbo in a straight line - and Audi's space-age R8 round corners - to the title of the fastest production car in the world, making the 0-100km/h dash in an astonishing 3.5 seconds.
More than this, a roar around Hong Kong in the GT-R is the perfect blend of anticipation tinged with trepidation that marks this test driver's 40th birthday - a mid-life crisis in metal, if you will.
First impressions add to the sense of unease that a milestone anniversary brings, and there's something about the GT-R's demeanour, and reputation (it managed a circuit of the Nuerburgring in a shade over 71/2 minutes) that makes it an unsettling prospect to drive.
A potent amalgam of tailored curves and softened edges, the GT-R looks like a Nissan 350Z morphed with a Shelby Mustang - then flattened some more, like a Peking duck. Despite its 1,700kg weight, long track to accommodate four seats and a 300-litre boot, the GT-R cleaves the air with a sleek 0.27 drag coefficient.
Apart from the trademark circular tail lights, there's little to remind you of the GT-R's Skyline lineage from the outside - a point Nissan is rightly keen to underline. Engineered from scratch, the GT-R is a completely different entity from the souped-up boy-racers of the 80s and 90s, and there's nothing familiar about the neck-jolting performance the car unleashes. Behind the wheel, the GT-R feels suitably imposing. It's nailed together like a tank - the doors close with a hearty clunk and there's a solid, no-nonsense feel to the cabin despite the array of time-machine dials, displays, switches and screens relaying the car's acceleration curve and response times to the driver.
Stick it on the highway, ironically, and you won't have much time to check the readouts as the G-forces let loose by the 473bhp twin-turbo mean there's no time to blink from the get-go.