Nissan 350Z

The Nissan 350Z (Fairlady Z in Japan) is a Japanese sports car model built by Nissan. The model first appeared as the Nissan Z-Concept in Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec and has appeared under the Z33 or 350Z monikers in Gran Turismo 4,Gran Turismo (PlayStation Portable game) and Gran Turismo 5.

Description
'''This information is taken from Gran Turismo 5's description page of most standard 350Z cars. It is transcluded from here.'''

Background
After the Nissan 300ZX was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1996, Nissan initially tried to keep the Z name alive by re-creating the 240Z the following year. The car was conceived by Nissan's North American design team in their free time, and the concept was introduced in a four state Road Show in July 1998 to various car media, dealers and employees. Yutaka Katayama, regarded as the "Father of the Z" unveiled the Z concept sketch to the public when he received a motor industry award. The design, representing a modern vision of the 240Z, did not please the original 240Z designer Yoshihiko Matsuo, who compared it to the Bluebird and Leopard.

The 240Z concept was produced for the Detroit Motor Show for the following August and September. Nissan was unhappy with the first design as they felt the original 200 bhp (149 kW; 203 PS) 2.4 L engine known as the KA24DE that was going to be assigned made the car feel underpowered, they also felt the car was considered too "retro" or too "backward" resembling a futuristic 240Z; thus, a redesign was commissioned. During a press conference in February 2000, president Carlos Ghosn announced plans to produce the car as he felt the new model would help to assist the company's recovery.

Z Concept was unveiled in Detroit Motor Show two years later, which was similar in body shape but with a new front end. The car then underwent a minor redesign and was eventually assigned the VQ35DE engine, hence becoming known as the 350Z.

In Gran Turismo
Several variants of the 350Z appear from GT3 onwards:

Gran Turismo 3

 * Nissan Z Concept

Gran Turismo 4

 * Nissan 350Z (Z33) '03
 * Nissan Fairlady Z Concept LM Race Car '02
 * Nissan 350Z Gran Turismo 4 Limited Edition (Z33) '05
 * Nissan 350Z Roadster (Z33) '03
 * Nissan Fairlady Z Version ST (Z33) Option Wheel '02
 * Nissan MOTUL PITWORK Z (JGTC) '04
 * Nissan OPTION Stream Z '04

Gran Turismo (PlayStation Portable Game)

 * Nissan 350Z (Z33, EU) '03
 * Nissan 350Z (Z33, US) '03
 * Nissan Fairlady Z Concept LM Race Car '02
 * Nissan 350Z Gran Turismo 4 Limited Edition (Z33) '05
 * Nissan 350Z Roadster (Z33, EU) '03
 * Nissan 350Z Roadster (Z33, US) '03

Gran Turismo 5

 * Nissan 350Z (Z33, EU) '03
 * Nissan 350Z (Z33, US) '03
 * Nissan 350Z Concept LM Race Car
 * Nissan 350Z Gran Turismo 4 Limited Edition (Z33) '05
 * Nissan 350Z Roadster (Z33, EU) '03
 * Nissan 350Z Roadster (Z33, US) '03
 * Nissan Fairlady Z Concept LM Race Car
 * Nissan Fairlady Z Roadster (Z33) '03
 * Nissan Fairlady Z Version S (Z33) '02
 * Nissan Fairlady Z Version S (Z33) '07
 * Nissan Fairlady Z Version ST (Z33 Option Wheel) '02
 * Nissan MOTUL PITWORK Z (JGTC) '04
 * Nissan OPTION Stream Z '04
 * Nissan XANAVI NISMO Z (SUPER GT) '06

350Z by other manufacturers
Occasionally, a tuning company releases a version of the 350Z. Several of these can be found in Gran Turismo:

Nismo

 * NISMO Fairlady Z S-tune concept by GRANTURISMO (Z33) '02
 * NISMO Fairlady Z Z-tune (Z33) '03

Amuse/Opera Performance

 * Amuse/Opera Performance GRAN TURISMO 350Z RS
 * Opera Performance 350Z '04