With the number of Vision Gran Turismo concepts being unveiled in recent weeks, it’s about time that Nissan, which is involved more closely with the game’s developer Polyphony Digital, got in on the action.
As part of the award-winning gaming franchise’s 15th birthday, creator Kazunori Yamauchi has had automaker design studios pen radical concepts that will be made available to gamers via online updates to Gran Turismo 6. But apart from just a styling exercise and tool with which to dominate racing events on GT6, the Nissan Vision GT is also believed to preview the company’s next halo model – the R36 GT-R.
The Vision GT seems to be a radical departure from the current R35 GT-R. From the images released by Nissan, we can make out that it’s certainly a lot more low-slung and makes use of even sharper angles and edges.
Andy Palmer, Nissan’s chief planning officer, recently told Evo magazine that the new GT-R will have more power, but that it is important for him that the car still stays relatively affordable. He basically wants the GT-R to have the most power in its price segment.
The most important fact was this though: “We’ve registered the R-Hybrid trademark.” If you read between the lines of this interview, it seems the new car might not be lighter than the rather portly R35, but that even with the hybrid system onboard, it might weigh the same, owing to the use of newer, lighter materials.
This means the new GT-R is likely to be hybrid, but if we look at the likes of the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 and LaFerrari, it’s definitely something to look forward to.
Of course, Nissan will remain mum on the specifics till next Monday, but we also know that when the R35 GT-R first made an appearance as a concept, it was in 2001, six years before it was finally launched – and it also featured in the Gran Turismo franchise.
