The “Vision Gran Turismo” project was created for Gran Turismo’s 15th anniversary to celebrate one of the best racing games on the market. Renowned car manufacturers were invited to a design challenge to feature futuristic concepts in the game where they get released for free to give back to the game community that have supported the game for a decade and a half.
Bugatti joined the challenge with this: The Bugatti VGT. A breathtaking 1500hp concept envisioning what a Le Mans entry Bugatti could be like.
Bugatti’s objective for their VGT was to be as “closely connected to the real world as possible.” Every aerodynamics element was engineered extensively with wind tunnel models and simulations to be capable of reaching 278mph down Le Mans’ Mulsanne Straight. The Bugatti VGT served not just as the entry for the Gran Turismo’s project but also a preview for the Chiron. Its even based on a pre-production Chiron. So some performance figures in the game are from real-life figures
The concept was purchased along with the color matching world premier model of the Chiron by Prince Badr Bin Saud, who is the grandson of the former King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The one-off later changed hand to a wealthy Bugatti aficionado in California for around $8 million. The Bugatti VGT even get the same 1st class Bugatti service with an annual service costing $20,000.
Fortunately, there are plenty of this one I’m showing to go around and waaayyy cheaper to acquire. Out of all the cars from the 7-Eleven promotion, this is the most extreme car in the 12 car set and of course another first in the scale of 1/64. Up to this point there were really expensive 1/18 and 1/43 scales and a few R/C versions available. The car have almost all the details except for the blue-walled tires which cost $93,000 a set. I’ll excuse that inaccuracy since the car was offered with an extra set of normal looking track tires.
I would love to see more diecast brands get on this trend as it’ll appeal to a broader audience. The younger collectors will love the over the top designs, the adult collectors will appreciate being designed by a real-life car company, and will also appeal to gamers alike who can obtain their favorite car from the game. After all, its not a new idea. Mattel already have several video game theme from Forza Motorsport and GT to Halo.
