Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo was originally developed exclusively for virtual races on PlayStation 4. Now Audi is making the new Race car a reality where the stunning electric car will be deployed as a race taxi at this weekend Formula E race in Rome.

The customers and guests of the German brand will take to the city circuit as passengers in the one-of-a-kind car.

Audi has been working with Sony and Polyphony Digital – the creators of the cult “Gran Turismo” game – for nearly 20 years. Audi designers created the Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo for the “Vision Gran Turismo” competition that was launched to mark the game’s 15th anniversary. This car was amongst others developed by manufacturers for the virtual race series.

Many of these concept cars were subsequently built as full-scale models and presented at trade shows. The Audi e-tron Vision Gran Turismo, however, is the first concept car of this group to take to a real-world race track as a fully functional vehicle following just 11 months of development.

Taking styling cues from the fierce wide-bodied Audi 90 Quattro IMSO GTO, the Vision GT is equipped with permanent all-wheel drive and driven by three electric motors.

You find two motors at the rear and one up front, each outputting 200 kW of electric power. This gives a total system output of 600 kW which equates of 815 hp. Combine this with a low curb weight of 1,450 kilograms and the electric race car can accelerate to 62mph in less than 2.5 seconds.

The futuristic race taxi will be deployed at all European Formula E races and numerous other events in 2018. At the wheel will be former DTM driver Rahel Frey from Switzerland or Le Mans winner Dindo Capello from Italy.

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