Over the weekend, Nissan and Datsun devotees descended on the Fuji Speedway to enjoy the festivities at the 12th NISMO Festival in Japan. In the lead-up to the event, speculation swirled that the 2010 Nissan GT-R Spec-V would be revealed to the world, but instead, the Spec-V's modification list was leaked to GTR-World. The supposed specs leave us cold. Hit the jump to find out why.

Where do supercars go when they die? Some sacrilegious blend between Heaven and Hell where they get chopped up into little bits, but are then given a chance to give other supercars a new lease on life. One such Nissan GT-R met its demise far too young in its life. With only 4,000km on the odometer, some fool t-boned it and it was a goner. In came Australian motorsport outfit Just Jap Racing, who took the wrecked GT-R and cut it down to use as for spare parts for their racing program.

Not quite the first GT-R roadster as some would believe, but something far more important: Proof that, for Japanese sportscars at least, there is life after death.

[Source: GTRblog]

It appears that GT-R owners won't have to worry about voiding their warranties if they use Launch Control -- for the 2010 model year, the car won't come with the feature. Inside Line is quoting a Nissan exec as saying "It's gone. We just don't want to deal with the warranty nightmare anymore. It'll make the 2009 GT-R really special. It'll be the only R35 with launch control."

The Nissan GT-R will benefit from a few engineering and cosmetic tweaks for the 2009 model year in Japan, beginning with a slight bump in performance that brings output up from 480 to 485 PS (just under five hp). Other modifications include a larger fuel tank - expanded from 71 liters to 73.8 liters - a slight increase in fuel economy (about .3 km/l), "Nissan" replacing "Brembo" on the brake calipers, a new mounting location for the front license plate and a new paint code for Storm White (changed fro QX1 to QAB).

Reports about the release and pricing of the Nissan GT-R Spec-V have been circulating for months and Nissan HQ has supposedly confirmed the rumors and targeted an on-sale date in Japan in late January or early February.

The GT-R Spec-V is expected to be packing another 100 hp through the use of a new exhaust, more boost and a retuned ECU. Carbon fiber will replace some of the body panels to reduce weight, while new wheels, upgraded brakes and suspension tweaks will round out the mods.

Rumors have been circulating for almost a year that Nissan plans to campaign the GT-R in several different series outside of SuperGT, including the Grand Am championship and the 24 Hours of LeMans. Japan's Best Car magazine supposedly has it on good authority that Nissan is developing a road-going model of the LeMans competition car that will carry an "LM Edition" badge and be sold in limited numbers.

Click above to view hi-res gallery of the Nissan GT-R Academy

With a 7:29 lap time, Nissan contends its GT-R is the King of the 'Ring. What better place, then, to introduce the new supercar to its European owners than the track infamously known as the Green Hell?

Over four years ago, National Geographic approached Nissan to see if it could follow the development of a vehicle from conception to production for its "Inside" series. Nissan's response, "We've got something for you. It's called the GT-R."