Aston Martin Gran Turismo concept revealed

IN WHAT could be a hint of wildly different styling for future Aston Martins, the British car-maker heralded the latest vehicle to join Gran Turismo 6 PlayStation game by rolling out a full-size model of its DP-100 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The company released teaser images last week, but the iconic British brand pulled the covers off the DP-100 model on Friday morning in front of a crowd in the Supercar Paddock at Goodwood.

During the last few weeks several other car-makers including Nissan, Volkswagen and Mitsubishi have announced their own cars to join the line-up of vehicles to play in the Grand Turismo 6 as part of celebrating the 15th anniversary of the game.

The DP-100 is Aston Martin’s birthday gift, and the game's creator Kazunori Yamauchi was at Goodwood for the unveiling of the full-scale model.

Mr Yamauchi says he was impressed by the degree of dedication and detail which the Aston Martin’s designers and engineers had applied to the DP100.

“When I first came face to face with this car at the Aston Martin headquarters in Gaydon, UK I was at a loss for words seeing the level of perfection in the design,” he said.

“I was surprised by the bold proposal of the car being the first midship layout model in Aston Martin history. And while it is clean and classy in design it also very emotional.

"Not only that there was this future Aston Martin in front of me, that was so detailed it could be released on the market pretty much as it is.”

The D-100 was designed at Aston Martin’s Gaydon studio in six months and design director Mark Reichman said its styling could filter into the real world.

“It’s been an exciting and intensive project for the team, “ Reichman said.

“Many of the design cues visible in the DP-100, such as the light blade rear lamps could also feed through into future sports cars that we’ll launch into the offline world so the importance of this project should not be underestimated.”

While it’s not quite ready to drive yet, in the game the DP-100 is powered by a twin-turbo V12 producing 588kW.

The DP-100 will be available to download for Gran Turismo 6 in July.