Nissan lifts the virtual covers off CONCEPT 2020 Vision Gran Turismo

Gran Turismo, the famous series of racing video games exclusive to the PlayStation gaming console is celebrating its 15th birthday and Nissan commemorated it with a special birthday gift. The company took the virtual wraps off the Concept 2020 Vision Gran Turismo which will debut in Grand Turismo 6 and can be downloaded from July 2014. The concept was hatched when Nissan designers were given free rein to create their dream supercar for their own Gran Turismo fantasy garage. Nissan engineers teamed up with the creators of Gran Turismo, Polyphony Digital Inc., in the process. A team of young designers at Nissan Design Europe, in London, England are the brains behind the swooping design of the concept while engineering inputs are from the Nissan Technical Centre in Atsugi, Japan.

The new concept is much more than just a car to drive in the virtual world. The involvement of Nissan Technical Centre in Atsugi, Japan clearly suggests that the concept talks volumes about the design and styling cues that the next-gen of Nissan’s performance cars will possess. From the pictures released, one can understand that some design bits are taken from the current generation GT-R. The long bonnet design, position of the headlamps and design of the tail lamps indicates that this concept might debut as the R36 GT-R, touted to be introduced in 2016. The Concept 2020 retains a separate design language from Nissan’s current line-up. The wrap-around windshield is a throwback to the past yet contemporary design has been tastefully incorporated into the concept.

Nissan has already confirmed their participation in the 2015 World Endurance Championship with a LMP1 program to take on Audi, Porsche and Toyota, using the NISMO GT-R as its basis. Reports from the automobile fraternity state that the development of the LMP1 car and the new GT-R is progressing hand-in-hand and various aspects of both cars will be shared.