Nissan's virtual concept shows off future design direction

The next Nissan GT-R will be heavily influenced by the firm's Concept 2020 Vision Gran Turismo model, which has made its world debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed today.

Developed to be a playable model inside the Gran Turismo 6 videogame, Concept 2020 is said to inform styling for the next GT-R.

Speaking to Autocar at the car's unveiling, Nissan design manager Darryl Scriven said: "I can't talk about GT-R but I can say the styling, the shapes, the volumes and the nuances here are something you will see in the future.

"There are cues on this car that you can pull from other [Nissan] vehicles. There are also cues that will hint towards 2020."

Styled in just nine months by designers at Nissan's European design centre in London, with technical input from engineers in Japan, Concept 2020 will be available to download in game for GT6 players on the PlayStation 3 from next month.

The model was designed from scratch in a digital environment, a major departure from conventional car design and something designer Michael Rienth says was "a dream project".

Rienth's design for the concept was picked from a number of entries in a global internal competition held by Nissan.

"It's what we basically always dream of but it's something that never happens," he said.

Although details about the kind of performance the Concept 2020 will be capable of in the videogame are secret, the vice-president of Nissan's European design centre, Koji Nagano, confirmed that a 3.5-litre hybrid powertrain was envisioned for the car.

It's been rumoured that the next Nissan GT-R's performance will be augmented via the use of hybridisation.

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