Capturing usable video footage on a racetrack is harder than it looks, trust us. When cars are traveling upward of 100 mph and there is chaos everywhere, finding the perfect angle is frustrating to say the least. That’s why many videographers use drones, as their freedom of movement allows them to capture beautiful, unobstructed shots that would be impossible otherwise. The problem is, most of them are just too slow to keep up.
Read more: Finally mature but no less ferocious, Nissan’s 2017 GT-R is all grown up
The average top speed of a high-end quadcopter hovers around 40-50 mph (no pun intended), so to shoot racing film at breakneck velocities, Nissan turned to the experts. In collaboration with World Drone Prix champions Tornado XBlades Racing, the brand created the GT-R Drone, one of the fastest First Person View machines in the world.
Built to keep up with the road-going GT-R on the track, the airborne version features a 1400mAh lithium polymer battery powering four 2000kV XNova motors. Combined with the low-drag canopy, the drone is capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in just 1.3 seconds before topping out at 115 mph. Eat that, automobiles.
Nissan recently took the flying machine along with the 2017 GT-R to the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, and the exhilarating results can be seen in the video above. The film tells the real story, but it’s clear that the two GT-Rs are more than evenly matched.
As for the car itself, the 2017 version is the smoothest, most refined version yet. Don’t let its more livable attitude fool you, though — the GT-R is still very much Godzilla at heart. With 565 horsepower and 467 pound-feet of torque powering all four wheels, the iconic supercar will make mince meat out of its competitors dollar for dollar, and the transmission is vastly improved over last year. For all our 2017 GT-R First Drive impressions, click here.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.