Infiniti Concept Vision Gran Turismo unleashed

INFINITI has revealed its Concept Vision Gran Turismo, powered by a naturally aspirated hybrid V8, which is now available to drive digitally through the Playstation 3 racing game Gran Turismo 6 (GT6).

Power and torque figures have yet to be disclosed, but Infiniti has fitted its radically styled new car with an electric motor for use at low speeds before propulsion duties are taken over by the 4.5-litre atmo V8 engine.

The virtual car features a front mid-ship/transaxle powetrain layout, which affords the concept car a 45:55 front/rear weight distribution and the company says it will “fill users with the joy of driving by actively drifting the rear”.

Front and rear diffusers, along with a giant boomerang-shaped rear spoiler will add substantial down-force, while extensive use of carbon-fibre will keep weight down.

The design exercise was completed by Infiniti’s Chinese design team after they won a global competition to “design a pure Infiniti GT car,” with their idea to create “an ambitious racing language for Infiniti.”Using a combination of both hand crafting and digital design, Infiniti says, “the process of developing the design of the Infiniti Concept Vision Gran Turismo started with hand sketching, then refined digitally, refined again by hand sculpting, and then returned to digital for final refinement”.

The extremely styled Infiniti is available thanks to the GT6's unique Vision Gran Turismo program, wherein the developers, Polyphony Digital, invited car-makers (and some non-car brands such as Nike) to design a car as wild and ambitious as they could imagine.

Other cars released through the program include the recently revealed Chevrolet Chaparral 2X, Subaru Viziv GT, Aston Martin DP-100, Nissan Concept 2020, Volkswagen GTI Roadster and Mercedes-Benz AMG Vision Gran Turismo, with some of these concept models tipped to influence the future design language of their respective brands.

Many of the Vision Gran Turismo cars have made the leap from digital to reality, and it looks like Infiniti want to follow the trend, saying “the desire to break new ground includes the dream to take this GT to a real race one day.”The Infiniti Concept Vision Gran Turismo is available to download and race from today via a free content patch.