Volkswagen reveals 496-horsepower GTI Roadster concept

(May 30, 2014) Volkswagen is turning the virtual world into reality this weekend, as it presents the GTI Roadster concept at the famous Woerthersee GTI meeting in Austria.

The GTI Roadster was originally created as a purely electronic car, to feature in the Sony PlayStation 3 classic, Gran Turismo 6 (GT6).  The result of cooperation between Volkswagen and Sony Computer Entertainment, the GTI Roadster is the work of three young Volkswagen designers, winners of an in-house competition to design a vehicle to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Gran Turismo game.

Unconstrained by the constraints of production models — for example feasibility and price — designers Malte Hammerbeck, Domen Rucigaj and Guillermo Mignot came up with a winning design that was selected by Klaus Bischoff, Head of Design for the Volkswagen Brand, and Kazunori Yamauchi of Sony Computer Entertainment, the creator of the Gran Turismo series.



The virtual car was unveiled on May 26, and just days later, Volkswagen is presenting it made real, at the annual gathering of GTI fans on the shores of Woerthersee.

The GTI Roadster draws on last year’s Woerthersee car, the Design Vision GTI, but with an even more extreme design.  Its 2,494 mm wheelbase is 137 mm shorter than that of the production Golf GTI, and also shorter than the wheelbase of the Design Vision GTI.

Power for the two-seat GTI Roadster comes from a 3.0-liter V6 turbo TSI engine that produces 496 horsepower, and maximum torque of 413 pound-feet of torque between 4,000 and 6,000 rpm.  Some 490 pound-feet of torque is available from just 2,000 rpm.  Power is delivered via a seven-speed DSG gearbox and 4MOTION four-wheel drive, helping to propel the 1,420 kg GTI Roadster from zero to 62 mph in just 3.6 seconds, and on to a top speed of 190 mph.

The exterior of the car is painted a new color, called Gran Turismo Red, which is designed to make the GTI Roadster look fast, even when it is standing still.  The interior features black- and anthracite-colored sections, contrasted by classic GTI red on the stitching and also on the five-point safety harnesses.

While there are no plans for production, players of GT6 will be able to download the virtual GTI Roadster from mid-June.