CAR magazine samples Cupra's wildest concept yet. It's an electric race car, in which you wear a set of VR goggles in order to tear around a virtual racetrack. Click here...
► It involves wearing a VR headset at the wheel of a car…Cupra is a young brand, which means it has the freedom to explore new ideas. That’s a real luxury in the car industry. Enduring, prestigious brands such as Porsche and Ferrari often lock horns with their fanbase each time they introduce a technological innovation.
When Cupra told us we’d be driving this new concept racer, we envisaged an expensive accident in our immediate future. Crashes are normally inevitable when you drive a car under the influence of blindness – and, if it isn’t clear enough from the images, once you have the headset on, your visual connection to the physical world is cut. All you see is an arcade-style video game racetrack. You just have to trust there aren’t any obstacles in your real-world path.
You don’t get that with the Exponential Experience Concept, though. Turn a right-hand corner in the game and you’re slammed into the left-hand side of your seat, just like you would be in a real race car – because you’re really driving a real race car. You just have a screen on your face. It’s big business, too. Twitch says its platform hosts an average of 35 million visitors every day. To put that figure into context, the cumulative TV audience for the entire 2022 Formula One racing season was around 1.54 billion. That means Twitch attracts the equivalent of F1’s entire yearly viewership every 44 days. Obviously, Cupra wants in on that hustle.Once you’re over the fear of bumping into stuff you can’t see, it’s surprisingly natural.
And you really can press on. The Urban Rebel is a seriously well-balanced car. The steering is joyfully communicative and there’s virtually no understeer. There’s also quite a lot of power. The racer has two electric motors producing 429bhp and, because it only weighs a shade over 1.2 tonnes, it accelerates like it’s been dropped from a crane.
Gavin Cheng, CEO of the eSports network FTW Worldwide said: ‘It’s an exploration. Nothing will ever replace, in Cupra’s mind, the thrill of actually driving a vehicle. This is core to them. On the other side, you have a generation raised on games. Gaming, influencing, Gran Turismo, Valorant – whatever it is – there’s this whole digital world that’s out there.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
18.3-percent growth in car sales in August in Canada | Car NewsAugust 2023 saw automotive sales grow by 18.3 percent in Canada compared to the same period last year. Auto123 has the details.
Leer más »
Teen punched by stranger in Big Apple tears up recounting ‘traumatic’ experience on TikTokA teenager called getting punched in the face in the Big Apple “scary” and said “you never know when s–t like this is going to happen” in a new video she posted on Tik…
Leer más »
Black MS Experience sheds light on challenges of living with multiple sclerosis as African AmericanThe Black MS Experience Program invites people to join them for a day of connection and learning on Sept. 16.
Leer más »
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Busing BattlegroundPremieres Monday, Sept. 11, 2023 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS App + Encores Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 16 at 6 a.m. and Noon on KPBS 2. 'The Busing Battleground' viscerally captures the class tensions and racial violence that ensued when Black and white students in Boston were bused for the first time between neighborhoods to comply with a federal desegregation order.
Leer más »
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's SchoolsPremieres Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS App + Encore Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2. Explore what happened when the small Mississippi town of Leland integrated its public schools in 1970. Told through the remembrances of students, teachers and parents, the film shows how the town - and America - were transformed.
Leer más »