GT-R in real and virtual worlds
As soon as the covers are pulled off Nissan’s hotly anticipated GT-R at next week’s Tokyo motor show, owners of the Sony PlayStation video game Gran Turismo will be able to test drive the Japanese cult car on cyberspace.
Nissan and the producers of Gran Turismo have been working on the simultaneous launch for 12 months and the car company has given Sony unprecedented access to computer-aided design images of the new model under embargo.
The GT-R's predecessor, the Skyline GT-R, and other Japanese sports cars such as the Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Evo series have become household names among game players around the world, thanks partly to the original Gran Turismo game, which sold more than 10 million copies.
The GT-R also will appear on the latest edition of video game Need For Speed, developed by Electronic Arts, due for Australian release in November.
Simon Sproule, Nissan's vice-president of global communications, says Sony and Electronic Arts signed secrecy agreements in May to gain access to design and engineering documents.
Nissan then authorised Sony to release a downloadable preview of a disguised GT-R for Gran Turismo, complete with a replica of the camouflage kits used by car companies to disguise prototype vehicles.
"It is very much a car for the digital age. The PlayStation generation already know the car very well. Now we just need them to convince their parents to sign the cheque," he says.
The GT-R will go on sale in Japan in December. Strong worldwide demand means the car is unlikely to arrive in Australia until 2009.
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