Polyphony Digital Inc., the group behind the Gran Turismo gaming franchise, has announced a series of upcoming concept cars and a December 6 release date for the latest iteration of its driving simulator, Gran Turismo 6.
Part of the video game’s 15-year anniversary celebrations, the ‘Vision Gran Turismo’ project will see exclusively designed virtual concept cars recreated and made available to download and drive on Gran Turismo 6 from 2013 to 2014 via online updates.
The concepts are to be designed in partnership with Alfa Romeo, Alpine, Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Bertone, GM, Honda, Infiniti, Italdesign Giugiaro, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Peugeot, SRT, Volkswagen and Zagato as well as Nike and the Jordan brand.
Concept models already expected include the BMW Vision Gran Turismo (pictured below), Golf GTI Vision Gran Turismo, Alfa Romeo 6C Biposto Vision Gran Turismo and Mercedes-Benz AMG Vision Gran Turismo.
Following on from past collaborations with Red Bull, Citroen, Nissan and Nike, Gran Turismo creator and Polyphony Digital Inc. president Kazunori Yamauchi said Vision Gran Turismo is probably his team’s most ambitious collaboration to date.
“It promises to provide a window into the future of automotive design that we can bring to life in Gran Turismo 6,” Yamauchi said.
“Working closely with the leading lights of automotive design, as well as some design teams from outside of the industry, has been a rare privilege and we look forward to sharing their creations with fans of Gran Turismo from this year through to 2014.”
Polyphony Digital Inc., part of Sony Computer Entertainment, says Vision Gran Turismo was developed as a ‘thank you’ to the franchise’s loyal fan base who have helped the video game shift 70 million copies worldwide.
As far as the game’s graphics and physics engines have progressed since Gran Turismo debuted on the PlayStation console in 1999, GT 6 – previewed in a teaser clip below – still seems to struggle with accurately depicting tyre smoke.
