Drive your Toyota GT86, visualise it in Gran Turismo 6

Data loggers on race cars are common and a necessity, but on a road car? With the increasing popularity of track days around the world, there are more and more enthusiasts taking their cars to the track. Some do it for the thrill of driving their cars on the limit, while others do it to hone their skills. Toyota now has a brilliant device for both breeds: a data logger on their GT86 road car! But this isn’t a conventional data logger.

Toyota and Polyphony Digital (the people who designed Gran Turismo 6) engineers have come together to create a first of its kind concept. You install the data logger on your car, do your laps, take the data on a USB drive, connect it to your Play Station 3 and analyse your lap on the game. How cool is that?

There are 33 tracks from around the world in GT6, but only three of them are currently available for data logging with plans to add most of the others soon. One can do a timed lap on Suzuka, Fuji or Tsukuba circuits, get the data and compare it with the best in the world. You can even view your car from unusual camera angles which are only used during Formula One races. There’s even an option to compete against friends, and keep a log of best times in a group.

The telemetry device, christened by Toyota as “Sports Drive Logger” records data using the vehicle’s Controller Area Network (CAN) along with GPS. It collects data which includes GPS position, pedal input, steering angles, shift operation signals, engine speed and vehicle speed. Drivers can analyse their racing lines, driving, braking and acceleration techniques to improve their skills.

The system will be available on PS3 after a firmware update (version 1.06), which should enable the GPS visualiser. The data logger will be available in Japan from June 2, 2014 at a retail price of 91,800 yen (Rs 53,000).