Volkswagen ‘revives’ the Vision Gran Turismo GTI Roadster

Quick look

• Originally designed as a digital-only Vision Gran Turismo car for the PlayStation videogames, Volkswagen also built a functional, one-off physical version.

• There’s no mention of any plans to go further with a production model so the re-appearance of pictures is mainly to celebrate the original GTI’s 50th anniversary.

In the world of car design, there are ‘showcars’  and then there are ‘fantasies’. The showcars, as the name suggests, are 3-dimensional and have a physical existence, appearing at motorshows and other events. The fantasy cars usually exist only in the digital world, one of which is the Vision Gran Turismo program which began in 2013 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Gran Turismo franchise.

Kazunori Yamauchi, the series’ founder, invited manufacturers to design their ideal Grand Touring cars for the game, resulting in a collection of highly imaginative concept vehicles. These cars appear in Playstation Gran Turismo 6, Gran Turismo Sport, and Gran Turismo 7.

The Vision GT cars typically incorporate cutting-edge materials and propulsion technologies, with some models exploring nvery advanced aerodynamics and hybrid or electric powertrains. They are designed to push the boundaries of performance and aesthetics, often influencing real-world production cars. Most stay in the digital world, cars you can drive with a controller, but never actually touch.

Digital world to real world
Back in 2014, Volkswagen did something special by taking their Vision GT representative – the GTI Roadster – and making it a reality in full size. And it wasn’t just a clay model; it was a functional machine. It wasn’t to signal a supercar that was being developed and wasn’t even what could be called a ‘technology demonstrator’ even though it had a 3-litre twin-turbo VR6 engine that produced 503 bhp/560 Nm and 4MOTION AWD system.

It was built on the MQB platform – the same one that sat under the Mk7 Golf of that period – but stood just 1090 mm above the road. It didn’t have a proper windscreen; just a tiny glass deflector that required the driver to wear a helmet.

New pictures, new colour
12 years later, some may remember it vaguely or distinctly but its head-turning design isstill as advanced as when first revealed. And this week, Volkswagen has released a bunch of images – without any press release – as part of the 50th anniversary of the Golf GTI celebrations. The pictures, not reproductions of those in 2014, show the car to have new paint (green instead of red) but it is the same car (there was only one anyway).

Still no production intent
Again, there is nothing to say this is the start of a production model to come. The future production GTI will be the all-electric ID.GTI, so this ‘revival’ of the GTI Roadster is perhaps a ‘halo event’ bridging petrol-powered legends of the last 50 years and the electric performance cars of the next 50.