► Built for the gaming franchise Gran Turismo
► You won’t see these parked outside Harrods
► Bugatti, SRT, Hyundai and Mazda
Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo
You’d think Bugatti had better things to do – polishing off the Veyron-succeeding Chiron, for example – but it reputedly spent six months putting this virtual racer together. It’s billed as part tribute to the legions of Bugatti fans who couldn’t afford one of the 450 Veyron production cars, part preview of the firm’s future design direction. So actually, maybe it isn’t so fantastical after all. Certainly, Bugatti is at pains to point out that the engineering details are as realistic as possible – unlike some of the other entries on this page we could mention. But then, nor are they particularly radical, since the VGT reprises the W16 engine and sends power to all four wheels, just like the Veyron. Still, Chiron? Soon. Please.
Need to know
Powertrain: W16 of unspecified size and output, 4wd
Performance: Claimed to exceed 250mph four times around Gran Turismo’s virtual Le Mans circuit
Design highlights: Digital instruments in the steering wheel, Chiron-previewing front end?
SRT Tomahawk X Vision Gran Turismo
SRT, in case you need a reminder, is the Dodge performance brand that now takes responsibility for the Viper – which explains the Tomahawk’s V10 engine. Everything after that is pure energy-drink-overdosed all-night gaming session-induced madness. Somebody really let these guys off the chain, because not only is the V10 a near-flat 144-degree design, its maximum 2000bhp output is boosted by a pair of pneumatic energy storage devices laminated into the carbon nanofibre and graphene micro-lattice structure. Then there’s the active chassis and aero, controlled by a road-scanning laser and so extreme the virtual pilot has to wear a G-suit. It’s giving us the caffeine jitters just thinking about it.
Need to know
Powertrain: 2500bhp+ via 6.98-litre V10 and twin pneumatic boosters, 4wd
Performance: 422mph, thus demanding a seven-month virtual training programme
Design highlights: Active aero, active suspension, active camber, single seat
Hyundai N 2025 Vision Gran Tursimo
Cunning conceptual double play, this. On the one hand the ‘N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo’ helps publicise Hyundai’s new N (for the Namyang R&D centre and the Nürburgring) performance brand; on the other it highlights the company’s fuel-cell activities, as the imagineers have loosely based the powertrain on the hydrogen tech from the production ix35 FCEV. Emphasis on ‘loosely’, though, as the N 2025’s dual fuel-cell stacks generate a virtual 650kW – equivalent to 872bhp – topping that up with a 150kW (201bhp) capacitor, charged via energy recuperation. In-wheel electric motors put the power to the PlayStation, while digital carbonfibre means it would weigh just 972kg. If it was real, that is…
Need to know
Powertrain: 1073bhp via dual hydrogen fuel-cell stacks and capacitor, 4wd via independent in-wheel electric motors
Performance: 1104bhp per tonne
Design highlights: low centre of gravity, air brakes, 200,000rpm aero-enhancing turbine
Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo
Dear Mazda, if you’re going to take the time to make up a highly futuristic hypercar, could you at least make up some technical data as well? While we commend citing the 1991 Le Mans-winning 787b as muse – and what would appear to be the digital appropriation of its rotary engine note – even the in-game spec panels are blank when it comes to power output, engine type and other performance parameters. Fortunately, people with more time than us have taken it to the virtual max (thanks YouTube), so we know it can do 290mph in a (very long) straightline. Possibly nobody else cares. Probably all that matters is that it looks pretty, goes fast,and plugs Mazda’s holistic Skyactiv philosophy.
Need to know
Powertrain: Sounds like a digital derivative of the 787b’s quad-rotor to us, 4wd
Performance: 290mph, so beyond 787b’s reputed 700bhp…?
Design highlights: Appearing 40m in the air on the 2015 Goodwood central sculpture. Too literal?