Audi's Vision Gran Turismo Creation Is A Fully Functioning, 805bhp Weapon

With a steady stream of Vision Gran Turismo arriving for the last four and a half years, you’re probably used to how these news pieces go by now. We’ll make some quip about how much virtual horsepower its virtual engine produces, tell you when you can download it, and throw out a sentence about how we wished it was a real thing.

However, Audi has entered the Vision GT fray for the first time, and it’s using a rather different approach: the car you see here is real. And we don’t just mean Ingolstadt has - as other manufacturers have before it - whipped up a full-scale model.

Nope, it’s a fully-functioning, all-wheel drive electric monster. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to see the ‘e-tron Vision Gran Turismo’ in action too - to plug Audi’s new e-tron sub-brand, the car will be used as a “race taxi” at Formula E events. It’ll make its public debut at the Rome E-Prix this weekend.

Under the bodywork - inspired by the 90 Quattro IMSA racing car of the late 1980s - you’ll find a trio of electric motors each putting out 200kW. Two of the units power the rear axle while one powers the front, giving all-wheel drive and a total output of 805bhp.

It weighs just 1450kg, making 0-62mph possible in “less than” 2.5 seconds. Weight distribution meanwhile hits the perfect 50:50 mark.

As for the in-game version, that’s available to drive from today via the latest Gran Turismo Sport update. It’s brought along a hybrid sibling too (above right), simply called the Audi Vision Gran Turismo. This switches the rear motors for a 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6, for a total system output of 1257bhp.