VW GTI Roadster Concept Gran Turismo (2014) first official pictures

By Damion Smy

First Official Pictures

29 May 2014 17:07

VW has revealed this wild-looking 190mph GTI Roadster Vision Concept. After showing sketches last week, it has unveiled an in-the-metal version of the 496bhp machine to VW devotees at the annual GTI-fest at Worthersee, Austria.

It hasn’t – this is VW’s virtual competitor in Sony’s Gran Turismo 6, joining the likes of the Toyota FT-1, shown at the Detroit motor show, and the BMW Vision Gran Turismo. The cars – which can be downloaded in addition to the game’s 1200 existing machines – allow designers off the leash to make cars that, in reality, would cost too much and can ignore design rules for flight-of-fancy designs.

This isn’t even a VW design, but is the winner of a competition in conjunction with Sony, makers of Gran Turismo 6. Selected by VW head of design, Klaus Bischoff and ‘Mr Gran Turismo’, the game’s creator Kazunori Yamauchi, the Roadster concept was created by Malte Hammerbeck, Domen Rucigaj and Guillermo Mignot. It’s shorter, lower and lighter than a regular Golf GTI, and the Worthersee show car is built on the 2013 VW Design Vision Golf GTI, which we drove late in 2013.

It’s a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 hooked up to a seven-speed DSG and all-wheel drive. That’s an identical power output to the Audi A3 Clubsport Quattro Concept, also shown at Worthersee in 2014, but that’s achieved using a five-cylinder from the Audi TT range. The GTI Concept’s V6 is the same engine that was used in the VW Design Vision Golf GTI – which also made 496bhp.

While there are no figures on the latest version, the car we drove laid out 0-62mph in 3.9sec before a v-max of 186mph, but VW says that the Roadster is faster, cracking 62mph in a scant 3.6sec and a top speed of 190mph. Inside those 20in alloys, there are ceramic brakes to pull the flying VW up.

You’ll be able to download the GTI Roadster Concept for Gran Turismo 6 from June 2014. Sadly (or gladly), that’s the only way you’ll get to drive one...

By Damion Smy