Gran-Turismo 5 Lets Go With Some Screenshots. Sony:1, Willpower:0

"What's this?"
I'm glad you asked.  Here, my friends, are the downforce stats for the non-existent but totally cool Red Bull X1.

This baby and an "X1 Challenge" level was revealed this Thursday to be yet one more reason to pick up Grand Turismo 5 this holiday season.

You know you're on to something good when the reveal starts with "In a world where modern professional racing is restricted by regulations..."
Good god, people, how awesome is that?

It gets better though, this thing was initially designed by game designers and they managed to get the interest of Red Bull Racing.   You know what that means; Adrian Newey, RedBull's CTO.  Generally regarded as a master aerodynamicist and regularly referred to as genius, Mr. Newey figured this is a great chance to play around with "fan car" technology and make Red Bull look ultra cool in the process.

Mr. Newey, (Dr. Dri, if you see him in the clubs) added a large fan to the rear of the body in order to pull (or push) air out form underneath at a rapid rate.   If you know anything about air, then you know that when it moves fast, it just doesn't have the time to exert pressure.   The result?  Massive downforce even at slow speeds.

Mr. Newey also worked on the design of the front and rear wings and rear diffuser, bumping up the top speed from just under 250MPH to slightly under to 280MPH  and giving it the ability to pull 8.75G in a corner.   


Virtual Vettel (VV) just after Virtual Webber walked by.

To illustrate the effectiveness, they had Sebastian Vettel take this thing out at (simulated) Suzuka where he beat the course record by over....

wait for it....

Twenty Seconds.

Just let that sit there for a second and savor it.   This thing would start lapping F1 cars (if they were ALL driving at record pace) in about 6 laps.   The man drove Nurburgring in 1:04!



This thing is just beautiful and makes me pine for a reality where technology was unbridled, Mark Webber received at least one penalty, and Ayrton Senna was still with us.

Check out the entire reveal and more screenshots here. Don't miss the video** at the top of the page with Vettel talking about the car and using a Gran-Turismo racing wheel just like the one F1-Geeks uses.







 *How slight?  Just about the size of Jenson Button's chances of winning the championship this year.
**Complete with Gran-Turismo freaky lounge music.