Look at the Honda HSV-010 GT and it's difficult to stop your mind wandering to Gotham City; with its tarmac-scraping gait, carbon fibre composition, matte black finish, exposed body rivets and concertina of bonnet vents stretching across the wheel arches, it's exactly the sort of car that draws lazy Batman comparisons. There, we've done it.

Now that's out of the way, let's look at the stats of this thing before indulging in some giddy speculation about what else the HSV-010 GT could mean in future (though you probably already know where that's going). Before anything, though, we feel obliged to draw your attention to the quarter-sectioned exhaust finisher that's housed within the beginnings of one of the most stupendously large rear wings you're ever likely to see without laughing out loud. Amazing.

Anyway, those stats. It's powered by a naturally aspirated, direct injection 3.4-litre V8 with double overhead camshafts, which we're told has '500bhp or more'. Despite the vagueness, you'll agree that's an impressive amount of power from 3.4-litres, so it will rev into the stratosphere. It only weighs 1,100kg, although Honda has seen fit to add 'or more' at the end of that particular statistic too, so it could weigh three tonnes for all we know. Looking at all the carbon fibre on display makes that unlikely, however.

A paddle shift swaps cogs, though how many ratios there are is unclear - yet we do know the exact girth and width of the tyres: 330/40 R18 at the front, 330/45 R17 at the rear. Power goes to the rear wheels.

It's built to compete in the GT500 class of the Japanese Super GT series and Honda is adamant that this thing isn't the basis of a road car, not nowhere, not no-how. It's based on the canned NSX project, which was to be powered by a V10 engine and whose natural competitor would have been the Lexus LFA - though we expect the Honda wouldn't have cost as much. Sadly, when Honda started feeling the pinch last year, instead of trying to spend its way out of trouble like a desperate gambler, it pulled the plug on fantasy projects like supercars and Formula One teams.

So, officially the car you see here is both the beginning and the end. But never say never, because it could yet form the basis of a rear-drive V8 mega sports car with a red Honda badge on it. We're prepared to wait as long as it takes for something like that.

Mark Nichol - 18 Jan 2010