Nissan's need for a GT3 car arose after the FIA GT1 World Championship — where the factory GT-R GT1 had won the 2011 drivers' title — transitioned to GT3-specification machinery in 2012. Nismo and JR Motorsports began development immediately, conducting numerous test sessions before the car was officially launched. The original specification used the VR38DETT engine with 390 kW (530 PS) at 6,400 rpm linked to a Ricardo six-speed sequential gearbox. Regional sales were divided: Nissan handled Japan, Asia, and North America while JR Motorsports covered Europe and the Middle East.
The 2013 update raised engine output to 405 kW (551 PS) via new camshaft timing and reinforced components, plus revised aerodynamics including front canards and a repositioned rear wing. In 2016 the car received a comprehensive overhaul with an AP Racing brake system, improved weight distribution (starter motor repositioned to the rear transaxle), and more efficient aerodynamics. The most substantial revision came in 2018, incorporating the road car's facelift and lowering the engine and drivetrain by 150 mm to reduce the centre of gravity, along with a redesigned aero package that reduced weight by roughly 15 kg. This variant was renamed the GT-R Nismo GT3 Evo.
The car made its Super GT GT300 debut at the 2012 Okayama round and won its first race at Sportsland Sugo in only its fourth start. After modest early seasons, the GT-R Nismo GT3 developed into the most decorated car in GT300 history. In 2015 team Gainer, with Andre Couto as lead driver, claimed the first championship double. Kondo Racing, with Kiyoto Fujinami and Joao Paulo de Oliveira, won the double again in 2020 and repeated in 2022, giving the car a record three GT300 championship doubles in drivers' and teams' titles. The car remained a competitive force in the class through the mid-2020s, with Kondo Racing securing a race victory in 2026 to mark the car's continued relevance fifteen years after its debut.
In the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup (then the Blancpain Endurance Series), the GT-R Nismo GT3 was competitive from its first full season in 2013. GT Academy Team RJN won the Pro-Am driver and team championships that year, then captured the overall Pro class driver championship in 2015 with Alex Buncombe, Katsumasa Chiyo, and Wolfgang Reip. The car secured outright Endurance Cup victories and earned GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup podiums in multiple seasons. Nissan and Nismo officially withdrew from international GT3 racing as a manufacturer at the end of 2017, citing their focus on Formula E, though customer teams continued to campaign the car in Asia and Australasia.
In GT World Challenge Asia, team KCMG debuted the car in 2018 and nearly won the Pro-Am driver title in its first season. The GT-R Nismo GT3 Evo remained active in the series and the SRO Japan Cup through the 2020s, with team 5ZIGEN recording consistent championship challenges and individual race victories.
The car's most celebrated outright result came at the 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour, where the Nismo Athlete Global Team entry with Florian Strauss, Chiyo, and Wolfgang Reip charged from third place to the lead on the penultimate lap to win one of international GT racing's most prestigious events.
In the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, the car competed from 2013 onward without an overall victory but recorded strong SP9 GT3 class finishes, with a 9th-place result in 2019 being among the highlights. The car also competed at the 24 Hours of Spa, the Dubai 24 Hour, the Macau Grand Prix, and the Suzuka 10 Hours.
The GT-R Nismo GT3 is the most successful GT3 car in the Super Taikyu Series (Japan's Super Endurance championship), having claimed six of the twelve full-season titles between 2012 and 2025. It won five championships in six seasons from 2014 through 2019, including a completely dominant 2016 campaign where it won every race and finished 1-2-3 in the standings. GTNET Motorsport and HELM Motorsports each claimed titles with the car.
The FIA homologation for the GT-R Nismo GT3 is valid through the end of 2030, allowing the car to remain eligible for GT3 competition well into its third decade. Across its career it competed in virtually every major Group GT3 series globally — British GT, ADAC GT Masters, Intercontinental GT Challenge, GT World Challenge Australia, and the GT World Challenge America among them — winning championships and class titles on multiple continents. The car's longevity in competitive GT3 racing stands as a testament to both Nismo's engineering and the depth of the customer racing program that supported it.