Alpine Vision Gran Turismo revealed

FRENCH CONCEPT HEADS TO CONSOLES IN MARCH

   French manufacturer Alpine revealed its Vision Gran Turismo concept on Wednesday. It will appear in Polyphony Digital’s “Gran Turismo 6” driving simulator in March. Company execs liked the concept so much, they actually produced a real one for the Festival Automobile International in Paris.

   To arrive at the final look, Alpine held an in-house competition featuring 15 designers. Victor Sfiazof submitted the winning piece. His goal, according to Alpine, was to pen a lightweight, agile, barquette-type (boat-shaped) car inspired by the company’s A450 Le Mans program.

   "It's a genuine sports car that combines the passion for cars with enjoyment behind the wheel," explains Sfiazof. "There are numerous references to the past, present and future. The idea of a barquette stemmed from the Alpine A450's involvement in the Le Mans 24 Hours, but the front end takes its inspiration from the A110, while the vertical fins at the rear recall the A210 and A220 and make a real contribution to the car's styling. As an aeronautic fan, I also wanted to incorporate cues from the world of aviation, too. The airbrakes add a nice high-tech touch to the rear end."

   The car will remain on display at Hotel des Invalides in Paris before heading to the 2015 Retromobile show at Porte de Versailles.

   Terry Baillon, a simulation and chassis engineer for Alpine, was extra-enthused with the collaboration.

    "There is genuine value in working this way," he says. "In my opinion, there is a bright future for this sort of collaboration. If we correlate the information we glean from both Gran Turismo and the real vehicle, further developments will become possible. Our objective is to offer a car whose dynamics match those that we initially defined. If everything is modeled perfectly, we can even continue to work on the car and compare it to other models, so that we can see where we stand."

    The Alpine gets a theoretical powerplant of a 4.5-liter, 450-hp V8. Twist is rated at 428 lb-ft. It uses a carbon fiber monocoque, double wishbones, pushrods and adjustable spring/damper assemblies. Top speed is set at 199 mph. Compared to some of the other GT6 concepts, that’s fairly plausible.

    Fans can download the Alpine concept for Gran Turismo 6 from the PlayStation Network in March.