Volkswagen Makes Virtual Roadster Real

GERMAN car maker Volkswagen has turned the virtual world into reality, as it unveiled its GTI Roadster concept at the famous Woerthersee GTI meeting in Austria recently.

The GTI Roadster was originally created as a purely electronic car, to feature in the Sony PlayStation 3 classic, Gran Turismo 6. The result of cooperation between Volkswagen and Sony, the GTI Roadster is the work of three young Volkswagen designers, winners of an in-house competition to design a vehicle to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Gran Turismo game.

Designers Malte Hammerbeck, Domen Rucigaj and Guillermo Mignot came up with a winning design that was selected by Klaus Bischoff, Head of Design for the Volkswagen Brand, and Kazunori Yamauchi of Sony Computer Entertainment, the creator of the Gran Turismo series.

The virtual car was unveiled on 26 May, and just days later, Volkswagen it made real, at the annual gathering of GTI fans on the shores of Woerthersee.

While there are no plans for production, players of Gran Turismo 6 will be able to download the virtual GTI Roadster from mid-June.

By Press Association reporters