I'm just gonna skip right over the whole "is it a real Nexus debate" (I say it is fwiw) and just say that if I were a GNex owner on Verizon, I would take this opportunity to learn how to unlock the bootloader and flash a new ROM.
In fact, when I was a Verizon GNex owner, that's exactly what I did. It was the first time I ever tinkered and it scared the bajeezus outta me, but I learned. And since it's a Nexus, you pretty much can't screw up too bad because you can restore it all from Google's stock images.
After you've mastered all this and truly learned all the benefits of owning a Nexus, there's no such thing as being "behind." Any version you're on is an active choice you've made.