- all video-game cars are technically zero-emission, but jaguar just unveiled its first ever virtual all-electric sports car, the vision gt.
- the ev uses the sound of the jaguar d-type race-spec 3.8-liter engine from le mans in 1957, because why not?
- players can download the new jaguar vision gt virtual car for the gran turismo sport game on ps4 starting in november.
a retro-futuristic electric vehicle from jaguar, the vision gt, will make its debut for players in gran turismo sport on the playstation 4 next month. but first, it will participate in a promotional race at the gran turismo world tour event during the tokyo auto show this weekend.
jaguar says the look of the vision gt is meant to revive the company's racing past for the digital age, with visual callbacks to the c-type, d-type, and e-type racing cars as well as "rear haunches inspired by jaguar’s revolutionary 1968 xj saloon." while we're not sure how a digital vehicle managed this next part, jaguar says the vision gt was "crafted from experimental lightweight materials, with the light and stiff monocoque made from carbon-fiber composites and advanced aluminum alloys." the fact that the programmers put the brand’s leaping cat on the grille for the first time is what really matters in a virtual car.
the video-game specs for the vision gt are impressive. the ev has three motors—one on the front axle, two on the rear—that produce a total of 1005 horsepower and 885 lb-ft of torque. the digital model has also been designed to weigh 3086 pounds and deliver near 50:50 weight distribution. a key number for anyone who wants to race the vision gt on computerized racetracks is that it has a zero-to-62-mph time of under two seconds.
jaguar put some engineering time into creating the vision gt, taking real-world lessons from formula e and putting them into the game car. it draws on the technology from the jaguar i-type 4 and etrophy race cars for a virtual racer that will be "exhilarating to drive and a real threat to the competition," according to james barclay, the team director of panasonic jaguar racing.
since jaguar is going all in on creating its own reality with the vision gt, the automaker decided to use classic engine noises for the ev's in-game soundtrack. in this case, the video-game car uses new recordings of the 3.8-liter xk engine from the no. 603 long-nose d-type that finished on the podium in the 1957 24 hours of le mans.
jaguar has had vehicles in other games in the gran turismo series. in 2013, the video-gaming website kotaku discovered that gran turismo 6 was an expensive place to race pixels. the site rifled through gran turismo's virtual shopping lot and found the most expensive car in the game was a 1966 jaguar xj13, which had a digital price tag of $20 million (well, the equivalent; at the time it cost either a lot of in-game money or $140 in real monty to park one if your game's garage immediately).
the vision gt will be available for download in gran turismo sport for the sony playstation 4 at the end of november.