Japan’s street racing scene is the stuff of legends, and now authorities in Tochigi Prefecture have an equally-legendary tool to chase it after a local man donated a new Nissan GT-R to police to help take names and fight crime. Either that, or he was just sick of everyone else going faster than him.
Nissan announced the new 565-horsepower patrol unit with a set of formal photos befitting a new recruit getting inducted into the force. Unlike the extreme “Copzilla” Nissan GT-R police car that Nissan built for fun last year, this particular model has been outfitted for duty as a real patrol unit for local authorities; we’re guessing that involved removing the 111-mph speed limiter found on every GT-R sold in Japan.
Japan News reports it will be added to the prefectural police highway patrol fleet and “used to crack down on traffic violations such as speeding and tailgating.” That’s exactly what the 64-year-old man who donated the car intended, telling reporters he hoped that the law-abiding Godzilla would be useful in “preventing traffic accidents.”
There’s also a hometown connection that makes this a little more than your average community service cruiser—the factory where the GT-R has been built since 2007 is located in Tochigi Prefecture. Also, this particular GT-R isn’t even the first Godzilla to stalk the country’s roads. An R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R has reportedly been prowling the expressways around Tokyo for well over a decade, most recently spotted with its lights flashing in 2016.
One thing’s for sure: we wouldn’t want to see either beast in our rear-view mirror.