Toyota has become the latest automotive giant to flex its considerable design muscle in the creation of a new Vision Gran Turismo concept car for Gran Turismo®6. The Japanese giant, with a rich heritage in creating iconic sports coupes, turned to its US CALTY Design Research facility to create the FT-1 Vision Gran Turismo. A virtual car was presented by Toyota at McCall’s Motorwork Revival at Monterey Airport on Wednesday, 13 August.

The car is a new evolution of the FT-1 concept, originally designed for Gran Turismo 6 for PlayStation®3 before wowing the North American International Auto Show in January. While the FT-1 was created as a thoroughbred sports car for car lovers, the new FT-1 Vision Gran Turismo is an out-and-out racer designed to appeal to the legions of Gran Turismo fans around the world.

Toyota’s designers closely studied racetracks and racing cars, and applied their research into the new styling. A deep sense of rawness is evident in the FT-1 Vision Gran Turismo, due to its purely function-driven design aesthetics. Wider fenders allow for racing tyres with extreme grip. The enlarged air intakes provide increased cooling, and a larger rear wing and additional front canards have been added for even more down force. The rear diffuser has been enlarged with multiple vertical fins, and is moved further back for cleaner airflow.

The FT-1 Vision Gran Turismo looks and feels the way it performs. With Gran Turismo’s legendary levels of realism and attention to detail, drivers can speed through race tracks with the same sensations and thrills of real racing.

“We conceived the Vision Gran Turismo project to celebrate 15 years of Gran Turismo, and I have been overwhelmed by the response of our partners in the automotive world,” admitted Gran Turismo creator and President of Polyphony Digital Inc, Kazunori Yamauchi. “The manufacturers have all approached the challenge in a different way and the results have been a real variety of stunning new concepts with some great innovation. Toyota has made a number of fantastic sports cars that have featured in Gran Turismo, but this new FT-1 Vision Gran Turismo is a very exciting addition. I send heartfelt thanks and congratulations to Toyota and the team at CALTY.”

Yamauchi-san is a frequent visitor to Pebble Beach where he awards the annual Gran Turismo Trophy to one of the cars participating in the Concours d’Elegance with the winner subsequently transformed into a virtual version to grace the game.

The Toyota FT-1 Vision Gran Turismo will be released as a download for Gran Turismo 6 in September, 2014.