GT1R Motec C1212 Dash Kit Is A RM 60k GT-R Digital Dash

Would anyone fork out this kind of money to upgrade the interior of their R35 GT-R?

When the Nissan R35 GT-R was launched in late 2007, it continued the GT-R tradition as being the most technologically advanced car on the market at the time.

A car that could eat 911 Turbos for breakfast was the flag bearer of JDM technological innovation for many years. Even today, after nearly 13 years on the market, the GT-R can still hold its own among the very latest supercars in the performance arena. 

However, performance isn’t the only area that cars have improved upon in the last decade or so. Modern cars these days have modern interiors, screens are now the norm in cars, with every high end car having a digital instrument cluster. 

So even if the GT-R was launched with a central screen designed by the people behind the Gran Turismo video games, the GT-R still runs conventional mechanical dials in its instrument cluster. However, the aftermarket is at hand to bring the GT-R’s interior into the modern era with the GT1R Motec C1212 digital dash. 

Developed by T1 Race Development as part of its GT1R upgrade package for the current generation Nissan R35 GT-Rs, the digital dash display that measures 12 inches diagonally is able to provide the driver with a lot more information regarding the vehicle than the stock instrument cluster ever could.

Designed for tuned GT-Rs in particular, the main screen of the standard display is much like what you’ll find in modern digital instrument clusters of the current crop of sports cars. Right in the centre that is a central dial gauge that shows the vehicle speed, RPM and boost pressure. To the right and left of the Lamborghini-esque central gauge though is a plethora of other vehicle information that can be toggled through at the touch of a button. Providing the driver with ample data about the car on the fly. 

Out of the box, the right screen is set to display the engine oil temperature and coolant temperature, in addition to the fuel level. A line of standard indicator icons seen on the stock GT-R cluster can also be found digitally here on this digital dash. On the right hand side of the screen meanwhile is the domain of more in-depth vehicular information. Three pages worth of bar gauges provide information about things like fuel pressure, coolant pressure and transmission temperature. 

As with most aftermarket parts, endless customisation and personalisation could be done to this digital dash display to truly make it work for one’s needs. Through the Dash Manager software provided with the kit, tuners can program the screens to display a horsepower and torque gauge instead, or even display tire pressures and a g-force gauge for that matter. 

In short, this kit is perhaps the most comprehensive digital instrument clusters to come out of the aftermarket for any car. The attention to detail and the overall design matches some of the best from the major manufacturers. For instance, if one’s GT-R has a reverse camera installed, the digital dash could even be fed the footage, thus aiding in parking manoeuvres of a usually wide-bodied car. 

That said though, for the privilege of owning one of these fancy electrical trickery doesn’t come cheap. Hold on to your seats as this digital dash kit costs a whopping $6,495 (RM 26,700). Furthermore, while the firm claims it to be ‘essentially’ plug-and-play. There are a few caveats to this statement, with the main one being that a Motec M1 ECU is needed to run this digital dash. And this plug-in ECU kit costs $7,580 (RM 31,200). 

What more is that for nearly RM 60,000, installation of the kit still takes 5 hours for a first time DIYer. While this digital dash is meant to fit into the stock instrument cluster, it is not without the need for minor fettling. 

While it may be nice to bring a touch of additional modernity into what is now quite an old car already, spending RM 60k on a digital dash display may not be to everyone’s tastes. Saying that, the screen is actually really comprehensive and from the forum discussions at least, endlessly customisable and reasonably popular, especially amongst the tuned GT-R community. So if any Malaysian GT-R enthusiast is interested, perhaps read more on the forums and see if it suits you before putting down that significant chunk of cash.