Nissan has hit a major home run with its latest Skyline, known as the GT-R here in the States. In fact, the car was knocked so far out of the park that it seems an obvious choice for anyone’s Car of the Year. Nissan’s latest supercar boasts enough performance to take on the best from the rest of the world regardless of price, making it an amazing value despite costing upwards of $80,000. As such, the new GT-R has been awarded the Car of the Year trophy from Automobile Mag. Who are we to argue?

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).

What are the best innovations that the global automotive industry debuted in 2008? Popular Science has just picked its favorites and revealed the Best of What’s New awards for the year that just was; um, is. The grand prize goes to the Nissan GT-R for its technical brilliance, astonishing performance and relatively attractive pricing. No real complaints there, though we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least mention that the new Corvette ZR1 in the same breathe, which PopSci fails to do.