Ferrari has just revealed its first ever ‘virtual’ car and, while it is a car that no one can actually buy in real life, it is a car that way more people will actually have a chance to drive than your usual Ferrari.
That is because it the latest in a long line of “Vision Gran Turismo” cars designed by numerous car manufacturers for the Gran Turismo racing video game on the Sony PlayStation.
The Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo is a closed-wheel single-seater that Ferrari says was inspired by “Maranello’s unparalleled racing tradition” and its launch brings the official close of the company’s 75th anniversary celebrations of when its first-ever racing car, the 125 S, exited the iconic factory gates in 1947.
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The design was penned by the Ferrari Centro Stile under the direction of Flavio Manzoni, who says it takes its inspiration directly from legendary 1960s and 70s Ferrari Sports Prototypes that enjoyed much success in endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona.
The Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo packs the same 120-degree 3.0-litre turbo V6 seen in the Ferrari 296 and the new 499P hypercar Le Mans racer. But because it is a virtual car and there were no technical regulation constraints to comply with the engine is “tuned” to deliver an impressive 758kW at 9000rpm.
But that’s not all, because there is then an additional 240 kW available from three electric motors, one on the rear axle and one on each of the front wheels, with a total torque output of a colossal 1100Nm.
Ferrari says the hybrid technology “benefits from the unique expertise in electric boost and energy recovery strategies Ferrari has developed in Formula 1” and constantly balances the state of charge of the battery to allow the driver to make full use of the combined power available from the ICE and electric motors.
And, if you own Gran Turismo 7 on either PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5, you will soon be able to try it yourself – the Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo was unveiled during the Gran Turismo World Finals in Monte-Carlo and will become available to all users of GT7 from the 23rd of December 2022.
Before that, however, a full-scale design study will make its first public appearance on the 15th of December at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello, where it will be displayed alongside the current exhibition dedicated to the marque’s exclusive one-off models until March 2023.
The Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo is the latest in a long line of 'Vision’ cars created by manufacturers for specifically for the game that began with the Mercedes-Benz AMG Vision Gran Turismo for Gran Turismo 6 in 2013.
The Vision Gran Turismo project started on the game’s 15th anniversary with a question from the game's creator, Kazunori Yamauchi: “Would you design your rendition of the ideal GT for us?”
A total of 17 Vision cars were eventually released for Gran Turismo 6, with a further 10 being released for the subsequent Grand Turismo Sport, from manufacturers as diverse as BMW, Mitsubishi, Aston Martin and Mini.
The Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo is the 5th Vision car to be released for the latest instalment in the series, Gran Turismo 7, following on from cars by Lamborghini, Jaguar, Porsche and Suzuki.
