A sinfully beautiful Porsche you can’t drive or have, even digitally.
If you’re even only vaguely familiar with the realm of racing games, the name Gran Turismo has had to have come into frame. With developer Polyphony Digital launching the Vision Gran Turismo project, manufacturers ranging from Bugatti to Hyundai have made wild computer-crafted concept racers in response.
Porsche, however, has not breathed a word about adding an incredible, if not yet real, car to that roster. That is a shame, and it likely stems in part due to the automaker’s licensing deal with Polyphony’s rival Electronic Arts owning video game rights to the marque, which also explains why no Porsche has been seen in the racing simulator.
In Porsche’s absence, a group of six intrepid designers and digital imaging experts have come together to realise what could have been: A Porsche Vision GT racer car. They created this, which has been dubbed the 908-04 as an obvious nod to Porsche’s own 908 LH racers of the late 60s.
Despite having free reign in the digital realm, they wanted to create a car that looked more elemental and grounded within real-world dimensions and constraints such as seating position, visibility, headroom, door openings, ingress/egress, width, length, height.
It does look very much like what as Porsche racing car in the near future could look like, and its long tail design does evoke a nostalgic and also very purposeful edge to the car.
The shapes and the proportions also look exactly as they should, and the designers were careful to not overdesign it, something real-life Porsche and their form-following-function approach would approve of.
Perhaps the most stirring feature of all is the top-mounted fan located above the car in between the dual exhaust ports that are clearly inspired by the 918 Spyder, another nod to the Porsche’s racing cars of the 1970s, particularly the air-cooled flat-12 engine.
The nose of the 908-04 takes some cues from modern-day Porsche Le Mans race cars and even the quad illuminators from their current sports cars. In all, it might not be a real Porsche, but the care and detail to which the designers took to realise this vision has resulted in something breathtaking.
For more on Porsche vehicles, including pricing and specifications, check out our Showroom.
