This is the 192mph convertible Volkswagen I wish I could buy
Car changing is a big deal
This is the Volkswagen GTI Roadster; a bonkers concept car which was designed for the Gran Turismo video game series. It may have never made it to showrooms, but after looking around the car, news editor Jamie Edkins wishes it did.
Volkswagen is no stranger to a crazy concept car. Behind the sensible family-focused facade it’s cooked up some insane creations, and I’ve been looking around one of the most striking – the GTI Roadster Vision Gran Turismo.
It was built exclusively for the iconic racing game series back in 2014, and players could download the car on Gran Turismo 6 for the PlayStation 3.
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Volkswagen GTI Roadster design: what’s it like in person?
There’s no denying that the GTI Roadster looks insane, but that’s what you’d expect from a car designed for a video game. So how did this partnership come about?
Back in 2013, Sony was celebrating the 15th anniversary of Gran Turismo, one of the world’s most iconic racing games. Kazunori Yamauchi, the inventor of the series, is a Golf GTI owner and fan, so Volkswagen were chosen to design an exclusive concept car for the occasion.
It launched an in-house competition for Volkswagen’s young designers, and once all the submissions were in, the winner was picked by Klaus Bischoff, head of Volkswagen design at the time, and Yamauchi himself. The GTI Roadster was born, first on the screen and then in the metal around a year later.
Looking at the car in person, I was left speechless by the attention to detail. From the front, you can see the influence from the Golf GTI of the time. Those swept-back headlights look like sleeker versions of the one found on the Mk7 Golf, and the lower grille mimics that car as well.
There’s not much Golf-ness in the side profile though. The scissor doors add a sense of drama, as does the really short windscreen and big rollover bar. I love the 20-inch centre-lock alloys as well. The GTI Roadster looks like a serious racer.
You can’t ignore the massive rear wing, and the carbon fibre diffuser looks really aggressive as well.
Stepping inside, the GTI Roadster is like a thoroughbred race car. It feels like you’re sitting on the floor, and your legs stretch straight out in front of you as you grip the Alcantara-trimmed steering yoke.
A massive carbon fibre centre tunnel separates you from your passenger and also makes the body more rigid, and you get a single screen in the car in front of the driver showing all the vital information you need while racing.
What’s powering the Volkswagen GTI Roadster?
The GTI Roadster isn’t just a design study, Volkswagen put proper thought into what’s under the skin as well.
It has a 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6 engine with 503hp, and power is sent to all four wheels via a dual-clutch automatic gearbox. This means it’ll do 0-60mph in around 3.5 seconds, and it’ll go onto a top speed of 193mph.
That makes it almost as fast as a Lamborghini Huracan, in a car with no roof and only half a windscreen. Better remember to wear goggles behind the wheel, because I wouldn’t fancy taking a fly to the eye at that speed.
I want Volkswagen to build another open-top sports car for the road
The Volkswagen GTI Roadster never saw production. It was displayed at GTI-Treffen, the same GTI festival where VW debuted the Golf W12-650 in 2007, but there was never a version which people could buy.
It’s no wonder really, because I can’t imagine a car this extreme would be particularly easy to get approved for the road, nor do I think there would be much demand for an extreme sports car with no roof and no boot.
If you want a sporty Volkswagen convertible, there used to be a convertible version of the Golf GTI. That car went off sale in 2013, and you can find them on the used market for between £5,000 and £10,000.
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