Jaguar unveils first virtual electric sports car for Gran Turismo Sport
Jaguar has today unveiled an all-new, all-electric race car, but don’t hold your breath because it won’t be coming to a track near you anytime soon. For this futuristic masterpiece is the Jaguar Vision Gran Turismo Coupé, a virtual racecar set to join the Vision Gran Turismo grid next month.
Combining a futuristic vision with inspiration from Jaguar’s incredible racing lineage, the GT Coupé has powerful, sculpted shoulders reminiscent of those of the iconic Le Mans-winning C- and D-types. Experimental lightweight materials play a key role in the car’s construction, says Jaguar, with the monocoque made from carbon-fibre composites and advanced aluminium alloys. As a result it weighs 1,400kg and is fractions away from a perfect 50:50 weight distribution.
Aerodynamics are as important in the virtual racing world as they are in real life, and so Jaguar has fitted the car with a deployable, active rear wing to optimise energy efficiency while generating the perfect amount of downforce.
Oliver Cattell-Ford, Exterior Designer, Jaguar Advanced Design, said: “This was the dream project for a car designer, creating a futuristic sports car for Gran Turismo means our designs and ideas could be truly limitless. It has to excite future generations and most importantly, look and feel unmistakably Jaguar.”
The interior design is unmistakably Jaguar, too, with a lightweight E-type shaped cab with a modern twist thanks to an on-board artificial intelligence system named “KITT-E”, augmented reality digital side glass for enhanced vision either side of the car and a 3D instrument cluster.
Julian Thomson, Jaguar Design Director, added: “This project has been completely led by our young designers and represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them to create a vehicle steeped in our incredible heritagebut pushing the boundaries of future design. The team have done an incredible job in creating something which is clearly identifiable as a Jaguar, inspired – but not constrained – by our iconic past.”
Bizarrely for a car that doesn’t exist, the Panasonic Jaguar Racing engineers behind the I-TYPE 4 Formula E and I-PACE eTROPHY race cars were called upon to create the powertrain. With three powerful, compact motors – one driving both front wheels, the other two driving a rear wheel each – the Vision GT Coupé will ‘produce’ a combined 1,006hp (750kW) and 1,200Nm (888lb ft) of torque. This power will allow virtual acceleration from 0-62mph in less than two seconds, with a maximum speed in excess of 200mph. All from the comfort of your sofa.
While the car is entirely electric, its soundtrack was created using recordings of the 1957 Le Mans podium-finishing ‘603’ Long Nose D-type’s 3.8-litre XK engine.
James Barclay, Team Director, Panasonic Jaguar Racing said: “The opportunity to take what we have learned on the track from our time in Formula E and apply it to a futuristic Jaguar race car has been a great challenge for the Jaguar Racing engineers. With its all-electric motor design drawing on the technology from both the Jaguar I-TYPE 4 and eTROPHY race cars, we have accurately modelled the performance of the Jaguar Vision GT Coupé in the virtual world, creating a car that will be exhilarating to drive and a real threat to the competition.”
The Jaguar Vision GT will be available for download in Gran Turismo Sport on the Sony PlayStation 4 at the end of November. Time for a race with all of the Gran Turismo specials, we think...