Nissan GT-R R35: The Performance Parts Worth Buying First

The Nissan GT-R R35 arrived in Australia in 2009 and immediately made a nonsense of every supercar benchmark the industry had set. Over a decade later, it's still capable of embarrassing cars that cost three times as much — and for the modified community, it remains one of the most rewarding platforms on the planet to build.

If you've recently acquired an R35, or you're deep into a multi-year project, this is where we'd focus the budget first.

Exhaust: XForce VAREX Catback

The factory exhaust on the R35 is competent but deliberately neutered for noise regulations. The VR38DETT twin-turbo flat-six wants to breathe. XForce's full VAREX catback system — featuring dual 3-inch-to-single-3.5-inch construction, quad 5-inch polished tips, and the VAREX valve system — opens the engine up completely in open mode while keeping the car liveable in closed mode for daily use. This is the single best-sounding upgrade you can make to an R35, and it shows immediately on any rolling road session.

Intercooler Upgrade

The factory front-mount intercooler is a bottleneck above 400kW. If your R35 is running any meaningful power above stock, a larger-capacity front-mount intercooler will bring intake temps down and allow the ECU more headroom before it pulls timing. Look for a direct bolt-on unit — anything requiring bonnet cutting on a GT-R is a compromise not worth making.

Coilover Suspension

The factory DampTronic suspension is impressive but non-adjustable for performance use. A quality coilover setup — ideally with independently adjustable compression and rebound — transforms the R35's handling from fast-in-a-straight-line to genuinely exploitable at a circuit level. Height adjustment also lets you correct for Australian road conditions without sacrificing track clearance.

Brake Upgrade

The Brembo factory setup on the R35 is good. A quality big brake kit — larger rotors, higher-temp pads, braided lines — makes it great. On track, the stock setup fades. Upgraded components don't. Braided lines alone are a worthwhile upgrade for feedback improvement on street driving.

ECU Tune

Save the tune for after your hardware changes are in place. A map written around your actual components — exhaust, intercooler, intake — will always outperform a generic off-the-shelf tune. Find a reputable tuner who has logged meaningful hours on the VR38 specifically. This is the one area of the R35 build where cheapest is never best.

Where to start

If you're working through a build on a budget, exhaust first. It's the most immediately noticeable change, it unlocks power, and the XForce VAREX system gives you daily usability that most other performance exhausts don't. From there, cooling, then suspension, then brakes, then tune everything together.

Browse R35-specific parts at OOFT Industries or contact our team for a build consultation.