The final specs for the 2013 Nissan GT-R haven’t been announced (although we’re expecting them next week), but we know this much: while identical to the 2012 model on the outside, the 2013 Nissan GT-R will make more power and will get suspension improvements.

Rumor has the power output of the 2013 Nissan GT-R at around 550 horsepower, up from 523 in the 2012 version. Right hand drive countries will get a GT-R with an asymmetric suspension to counter the weight of the steering gear, although it isn’t known if this change will make its way to left hand drive cars as well.

As Piston Heads reports, the changes to the 2013 Nissan GT-R are significant enough to lower the car’s Nürburgring lap time by as much as 8 seconds compared to the 2011 car. Those numbers come from Kazutoshi Mizuno, the “father of the Nissan GT-R,” and were given only after careful consideration of the new car’s increased performance.

In other words, the 2013 Nissan GT-R could be as much as 10 seconds faster per lap than the 2011 version, which would put the new car’s ‘Ring lap time between 7:16.22 and 7:14.22. That’s seriously fast, and it may even challenge the Lexus LFA’s lap time of 7:14.64; it would certainly beat the Porsche 911 GT2 RS’ lap time of 7:18 should Mizuno's prediction hold true.

We’ll update you on all the specifications of the 2013 Nissan GT-R as soon as they’re published. We’re pretty sure you can expect a high-speed video tour of the Nürburgring starring the new Nissan GT-R in the coming months as well.