The fearsome GTI Roadster has just been wheeled out at the Wörthersee show and, oh boy, what a beast it is! Just look at the key stats. It’s powered by a 3.0 litre V6 biturbo pumping out a staggering 370kW (503PS). Peak torque is 560Nm and is on tap between 4000–6000rpm. Mind, 500Nm of that torque is all yours from just 2000rpm.
That power is sent through a 7-speed DSG and 4motion all-wheel drive system and Volkswagen says its 1420kg concept can reach 100km/h in 3.6 seconds. Keep your foot planted and you’ll top out at 309km/h.
In a case of life imitating art the GTI Roadster began as nothing more than a virtual creation for the Sony Playstation game Gran Turismo 6. After being asked by Sony to create a car for Gran Turismo’s fifteenth anniversary Volkswagen launched an internal design competition.
Judged by Klaus Bischoff, Volkswagen Head of Design, and Kazunori Yamauchi, creator of Gran Tursimo, the winners were Malte Hammerbeck and Domen Rucigaj (exterior) and Guillermo Mignot (interior). They became informally known as the Vision GTI-GT6 taskforce.
The taskforce was joined by other designers and their visual creation was developed entirely by computer, including the 3D modelling. The press material below doesn’t offer any detail on the production of the model you see in the photos, though. But there are some very cool cutaway images for you after the break.
Freed from the reality of real-world production constraints the GTI Roadster is described by Volkswagen as the “most spectacular GTI ever” and it’s pretty hard to disagree with that claim.
