If you're new to the car game, or just not that into the current R35 GT-R or the previous R32-34 models, you might not know about the car's history, born of a racing heritage in cars called Skylines.

Though the Skyline name has been dropped from the current GT-R, the three-letter performance designation originally began as a variant of the Skyline. Nissan split the Skyline and GT-R names into two completely separate models (the Skyline's most direct modern descendant is the Infiniti G37 range) back in 2002, but the real history of the car that has become a force in the supercar world over the past five years begins all the way back in the 1960s with the vintage Skylines.

In fact, the story begins even before Nissan entered the picture, with the Prince Motor Company. Purchased by Nissan two years after the Skyline GT first rose to fame in GT racing, Prince is the real father of the GT-R.

This video takes you through some of the highlights of the rise of the GT-R's ancestors, including some great vintage racing and commentary from the drivers and engineers that helped develop the car to take on an early competition target: the Porsche 904 Carrera GTS.

For more up-close detail on the early history of the Nissan GT-R, ride along with us in a first-generation example here, or check out this pair of vintage Skylines owned by Ivan Jaramillo.

Of course, Nissan is likely priming us with this history in anticipation of an update to the current Skyline, or as we know it here in the U.S., the now six-year-old fourth-generation Infiniti G range, which is expected to hit the market sometime next year.