Virtual Sports Car to be Built by Citroën
Originally published in Razorfish Headlight Blog
I still remember the day when I first laid my hands on the NES – Nintendo’s 8-bit video game console and the best-selling gaming console of its time – back in 1985, playing now-classics, such as Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. And I remember logging hours upon hours on my Sony PlayStation playing automotive games like Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo, immersing myself with everything car-related far before I was even legally allowed to drive. Fast forward to the day I was shopping for my first car; you can bet that I had flashbacks of the car models I “owned” in Gran Turismo.
I am part of the first generation to grow up with video games; a demographic often referred to as Generation Y and, more specifically, the Video Game Generation. This population segment represents more than 75 million 17- to 28-year-old prospective car buyers who will be buying one out of every four new vehicles in the U.S. by 2010. It’s no surprise that automakers have begun to collaborate with Polyphony Digital and other game development studios to try to capture this market, as evidenced by the design and strategy behind Nissan’s R35 Skyline GT-R.
At the 2008 Paris Motor Show, Citroën announced its plans to build a supercar that was originally designed for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. And this is coming from the first mass-production car company, outside of the U.S. The details aren’t yet clear, but insiders claim that only six are going to be produced worldwide. To be unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show this September, the final version will be significantly influenced by the in-game concept, potentially including a carbon fiber body, copper interior highlights, gullwing doors and a mid-engine two-seater chassis with a $2.1 million price tag.
