Porsche Vision Gran Turismo all-electric virtual racer unveiled 

Porsche is giving us a taste of the fully electric race cars of the future with this Porsche Vision Gran Turismo. Designed for the Gran Turismo 7 racing game that’s set to be released next year, the VGT is an entirely virtual concept car that hints at what Porsche’s future EV sports cars could look like. 

The design certainly makes an impact; the VGT blends contemporary Porsche cues with a low-slung, svelte body shape to dramatic effect. The low nose features a set of rectangular headlights with Porsche’s quad-LED running light signature, which blend with aero cut-outs ahead of the front wheels. The flat bonnet and tall peaks of the front wheelarches are reminiscent of Porsche’s 918 Spyder hypercar.

The VGT is fitted with a set of cartoonishly large wheels with white and red inlays, wrapped in semi-slick Michelin rubber. The surfacing along the side of the car is smooth and uncluttered, save for a deep scallop behind the front wheels, designed to relieve air pressure in the wheelarches to add downforce. 

The windscreen is a single piece, wraparound item for great visibility on a track. It’s joined to the roof to create a large, forward-hinged canopy for entry and exit. Despite not using a combustion engine, the VGT adopts typical mid-engined design details such as a cab-forward silhouette and a pair of buttresses over the rear deck. 

The full-width tailight bar is a nod to the fully electric Taycan, and includes a pair of extending active aero fins. These combine with a tall diffuser and rear bumper cutouts to produce downforce in the game. 

15

Porsche has minimised weight for the virtual racer, too, thanks to a carbon fibre and titanium interior construction. The skeletal dashboard features minimal switchgear, with the rectangular, Alcantara steering wheel festooned with buttons instead. The instrument panel is a transparent, holographic affair, and Porsche claims that the car is made entirely of vegan materials. 

Despite only being drivable on a PlayStation, Porsche has released a set of performance figures for the VGT, for drivers to sample in the game. On overboost and with launch control enabled, the Vision Gran Turismo sends 1274bhp to all four wheels, for a 0-62mph sprint in just 2.1 seconds. The car tops out at 217mph, and thanks to an 87kWh battery, can travel 311 miles on a single charge. 

With the VGT, Porsche joins Aston Martin, Bugatti, Lamborghini and others in creating a car exclusively for Gran Turismo. The newest instalment of the franchise, Gran Turismo 7, is set to release on 4 March next year.

Here are plenty more concept cars from Porsche from the past decade...