► Wide-bodied Golf concept packs 500bhp
► …or it would if it were real
► Created for Gran Turismo computer game
This is the VW GTI Supersport Vision Gran Turismo, an ultra-wide, ultra-powerful Golf-based concept car that blurs the lines between hot hatch and supercar. It’s also not real. For now it exists only as a set of pixels within the Gran Turismo 6 computer game, with gamers able to download the car and wrestle it around virtual racetracks from May 2015 onwards.
Hang on a minute. This sounds awfully familiar.
Indeed. You’ll remember 2014’s Volkswagen GTI Roadster Vision Gran Turismo, another 500-odd bhp super-Golf created as a Gran Turismo concept. That car was also turned into a full-scale model for the annual Worthersee GTI festival.
To all intents and purposes, this is that same car with a roof. So for gamers who prefer to keep the virtual wind out of their hair, this is the hardtop alternative. Its design has clearly been strongly influenced by the Design Vision Golf GTI concept from the 2013 Worthersee show, with a similarly striking overlapping bodywork and brake cooling intake arrangement towards the rear of the car’s flanks.
It’s still got a red pinstripe across its nose, but this is an altogether wilder kind of GTI.
What’s powering the VW GTI Supersport (virtually, at least)?
Volkswagen’s new 3.0-litre ‘VR6 TSI’ six-cylinder turbo petrol engine, with a theoretical 496bhp and 490lb ft. That’s matched to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, driving all four wheels. Top speed is calculated to be around 186mph.
The bodywork is made largely of carbonfibre (well, pixels, but let’s pretend), with a power-to-weight ratio of 2.5kg-per-horspower quoted. Going off the metric horsepower figure, that’s a likely kerbweight of around 1257kg.
There’s an enormous roof spoiler and diffuser arrangement at the back, suggesting the Supersport would pack a bit more downforce than its Roadster Gran Turismo garage-mate.
Will it get built for real?
There’s no official word from VW on a physical, full-scale GTI Supersport concept car. Although last year’s Roadster Vision GT was turned into a touchable show car for Worthersee, Volkswagen says this year’s GTI-fest showpiece will be a different, bespoke design created by a team of apprentices. But that’s not to say they won’t surprise us.