Virtual racer finds real traction
Once a PS4-only model, now e-tron Vision Gran Turismo is speeding around racetracks, writes David Linklater.
Audi has turned a virtual PlayStation 4 racer into the real thing. For the rest of the Formula E season, the German maker’s e-tron Vision Gran Turismo electric-vehicle will be deployed as a race taxi.
‘‘E-mobility is rapidly gaining importance,’’ says Peter Mertens, member of the Audi Board of Management for technical development.
‘‘With the Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo race taxi we are turning electric mobility into a tangible experience for our customers and guests as part of the Formula E races – in the middle of the world’s metropolises.’’
Customers and guests of Audi will be able to experience Formula E’s city circuits as passengers in the e-tron Vision Gran Turismo.
Employees at Audi’s preproduction centre developed and produced the car within the space of 11 months based on the digitalonly example from the Gran Turismo PlayStation 4 game.
Audi designers created the Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo for a competition that was launched on the occasion of the game’s 15th anniversary. Numerous carmakers developed virtual race cars for the contest.
Many of these concept cars were subsequently built as fullscale models as well and presented at motor shows. Audi claims that the e-tron Vision Gran Turismo is the first concept car of this range to be deployed to real-world race tracks as a fully functional vehicle.
‘‘This is what we are particularly proud of,’’ says Audi’s chief designer Marc Lichte.
‘‘Although the design of a virtual vehicle allows much greater freedom and the creation of concepts which are only hard to implement in reality, we did not want to put a purely fictitious concept on wheels. Our aim was a fully functional car. The e-tron Vision Gran Turismo shows that electric mobility at Audi is very emotive.
‘Although the design of a virtual vehicle allows much greater freedom and the creation of concepts which are only hard to implement in reality, we did not want to put a purely fictitious concept on wheels. Our aim was a fully functional car.’
Marc Lichte
Audi’s chief designer
‘‘This car incorporates numerous elements of our new design language, such as the inverted single frame in the vehicle’s colour that will be typical for our new e-tron models.’’
Audi has taken up design elements and the colour of the legendary Audi 90 quattro IMSA GTO, which stormed the North American IMSA-GTO racing series in 1989 with drivers like Hans-Joachim Stuck, Walter Ro¨ hrl, Hurley Haywood and Scott Goodyear.
The e-tron Vision Gran Turismo has fully electric e-tron quattro all-wheel drive with variable power distribution.
Three electric motors, each with an output of 200kW, propel the concept car. Two electric motors drive the rear axle and the third one the front axle, using individual components from future Audi e-tron models.
System output is 600kW. With a weight of 1450kg the electric race car has 50:50 weight distribution between the front and the rear axle. The Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo accelerates from 0-100kmh in less than 2.5 seconds.
The race taxi will be deployed at all European Formula E races and numerous other events in 2018. At the wheel will be former DTM driver Rahel Frey from Switzerland, or Le Mans winner Dindo Capello from Italy.