Nissan’s motorsports arm, Nismo, has announced it will be offering a warranty backed ECU and Transmission Control Module (TCM) upgrade for Nissan GT-R and GT-R SpecV owners in Japan. The upgrade is available separate to previous Nismo offerings for the Nissan GT-R such as the Nismo Clubsport Package and introduces a couple of interesting changes:

• Improved low end torque and response from modified ECU maps
• Increased maximum boost pressure (0.1 bar) and increased low end boost
• Improved, quicker, downshifts
• Street speed limiter raised to 320km/h

There is a few caveats however which will limit the interest for non-Japanese residents for now. Nismo will not sell you this ECU and TCM, they will rent it to you for the period of 24 months. While you’re renting it your factory warranty is still good and is backed by Nismo’s own guarantee. When you’re done, Nismo return your original ECU and TCM to your car.

The price for the initial 24 month period is 294,000 yen for both the base and SpecV versions with an additional fee of 31,500 per year if you continue on past the 24 months.

Available for pre-order come June 1st 2009, deliveries begin on the 24th of June.

While it’s always good to see Nismo producing parts and backing them with a warranty, the whole concept just seems incredibly bizzare to me. Renting tuning parts?

What do you guys think?