The long, torturous wait is almost over. The Toyota/Subaru joint rear-drive sport coupe is finally becoming a reality after years of teasing and tantalizing development that has seen three separately badged concept and near-production cars — the FT-86, Scion FR-S, and Subaru BRZ — revealed, driven and otherwise paraded around in one form or another over the past six months. Now, we have yet another moniker, the GT 86, which is what the car will officially be called in Europe.

Toyota says the name GT 86 is a nod to the brand’s GT days in Europe when the Corolla GT (or Levin) AE86, was winning British Touring Car championships and rally events in the 1980s. The GT 86 is taking the stage at next week’s 2011 Tokyo auto show, roughly two years after the first concept took the stage at the 2009 Tokyo show. At this point it’s unclear if the FT-86 name will be used at all, we’ll know more shortly.

In European-spec trim, the GT 86 outputs 197 horsepower at 7000 rpm, and 205 Nm (151 lb-ft) at 6,600 rpm from Subaru’s updated 2.0-liter Boxer four with a12.5:1 compression ratio and Toyota’s D-4S injection technology added on to help better deliver power across the rev range.

The engine will be mated to either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic with paddle shifters and a limited-slip differential will help put the power down to the rear wheels. So far we don’t have any official performance estimates, but the car is rumored to be able to hit 60 mph in about 6.5 seconds.

So for now, here’s the first official photos and press release from Toyota. We’ll have more on the GT 86 direct from Tokyo, so stay tuned.