Chevrolet joins the the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Volkswagen, to introduced its own vision GT vehicle for Gran Turismo 6 during this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show and boy was it a showstopper, well, in a virtual way, that is. Being a made-for-game car, Chevrolet’s engineering and design teams were not held back when coming with this what Chevy described as “an audacious and ambition vision.” Looking at the images, we couldn’t agree more with Chevy’s executive director of advanced design, Clay Dean and even more so when you come to realize how this is supposed to be driven and what’s propelling it forth. Developed especially for the Vision Gran Turismo project, the Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo drew its inspiration from innovative race cars developed by Chaparral Racing and Chevrolet over four-and-a-half decades ago.
The virtual race car is powered by a concept propulsion system said to be inspired by technology derived from advanced work targeted at space travel and future aircraft design, and features a mid-mounted laser beamed-energy propulsion system that pulses beams of light, focusing in a shroud to create shock waves for the thrust. The 671 kW laser system, powered by a pack of lithium-ion batteries, and an air-powered generator produces a cool 900 horsepower, which enables the vehicle to sprint from 0-60 in an unbelievable 1.5 seconds, before topping out at 240 mph (386 km/h) in the game (obviously). The position of the driver is also highly unconventional. It involves having the driver in prone position, face down with the driver’s arms and legs splayed toward the wheels like you might have seen in some science fiction flicks.
Additionally, the vehicle is outfitted with driver-enabled aerodynamics which negates the need for conventional wings and also enable the designers to arrive to a lightweight vehicle with minimal structure. Like Nissan, Chevrolet has also took this opportunity to turn this made-for-game car into the real world, which the automaker has put up on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show through to November 30. For those who can’t see it in person (namely, we), you will have to wait download the online update for the Gran Turismo 6 in order to gain access to this wild dream ride of the future.
