Japan Report: Nissan GT-Rs at the Tokyo Auto Salon

The 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon, Japan’s premier custom and tuner show, opened its doors this week and littering the show halls was a remarkable number of Nissan GT-Rs.

Remarkable because the GT-R is still in very short supply yet many of Japan’s top tuners like HKS had already started tweaking theirs.’ Or trying to.

GT-R engine power is set very firmly at 473 horsepower in Japan spec and the GT-R’s also speed-limited to 112 mph. Spookily, the limiter only lifts when the satellite navigation recognizes the GT-R’s at a race track, thus opening up top speed.

(Click through to find out how powerful the Blitz GT-R is…)

Obviously, Japan’s tuning wizards are now trying hard to crack this limiter system, installed by Nissan to appease Japan’s nervous transport ministry bureaucrats.

At the Auto Salon, most tuners had chosen so far to modify wheels/tires but one outfit, Blitz, is already talking about a GT-R power hike up to 512 horsepower, with torque also bumping up from the stock 434 pound-feet to 519 pound-feet. Coincidentally, that’s about the output rumored for the lightweight, harder GT-R Spec V, coming later this year in Japan.