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Infiniti's Vision for Gran Turismo revealed in full [w/video]

Just about any car has to be designed with some sort of limitations, whether it's a production car that has to be usable on the road, a racecar that has to comply with regulations, or even a concept car that does, at the end of the day, actually need to be crafted out of real materials and wheeled onto a stage. But the Vision Gran Turismo series imposes no such limitations. Designed only for a virtual reality, the project allows for designers to craft a purely fantastical design whose limits fall barely short of their own imaginations. It presents companies with the opportunity to represent their brand as they want to, so it comes as little surprise that every automaker from here to Hong Kong has been lining up to take part. And the latest is Infiniti. Previewed in a pair of teaser renderings barely over a week ago, the Infiniti Concept Vision Gran Turismo is a suitably striking addition to the virtual world of the Gran Turismo video game franchise. Designed at the company's Beijing studio, the brief calls for a 4.5-liter naturally aspirated V8 hybrid powertrain, with a front mid-ship layout driving a rear transaxle for ideal 45/55 front-rear weight distribution. Beyond that it's all flowing forms, extreme aero and signature Infiniti design cues like a widened version of the brand's trademark grille shape and the kink in the rear pillar. It's got butterfly doors hinged ahead of those spindly mirrors, center-lock alloys crafted from carbon fiber, deeply sculpted aerodynamic elements, a large boomerang-shaped rear wing and aggressive long-hood/low greenhouse proportions. It's F1 meets GT, to hear Infiniti tell it, and whether you've got a PS3 and a copy of Gran Turismo 6 to play around with it or not, you can check it out in the images above and the video below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Introducing the INFINITI CONCEPT Vision Gran Turismo The "INFINITI CONCEPT Vision Gran Turismo" has been released on "Gran Turismo 6", available exclusively on PlayStation®3. Infiniti has continued to break new ground in design since the brand was first established. This is a sensuous GT car brimming with the Infiniti philosophy. How to receive it After Update 1.15 has been installed, the car can be purchased from the [Vision GT] area within the [CARS] section in "My Home" (here, you can also find the car's presentation movie).

Nissan and Infiniti to get 6 EVs within 5 years

Nissan will get four new electric-powered vehicles, while its luxury division Infiniti will get two over the next five years, a top executive told Automotive News. The six EVs will make up Nissan and Infiniti's share of the 12 electric vehicles planned for Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi by 2022, though there's no word on how the numbers break down for those other brands. Infiniti last month announced plans for its first all-electric vehicle in 2021, plus new "e-Power" series hybrids like the ones it has introduced in other markets. But the six vehicles divulged by Toshihiro Hirai, Nissan's corporate vice president for powertrain and EV engineering, reportedly include only full battery-electrics and not hybrids. The only full-electric currently offered by either brand in the U.S. is the Nissan Leaf, which was just updated for 2018. Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn has been a consistent supporter of electric vehicles, and he has said EVs need greater government incentives, lower development costs and a greater recognition among the buying public of the risks of climate change in order to gain traction among consumers. Last summer, Nissan-Renault announced plans to build electric vehicles in China in a new venture with Dongfeng Motor to meet EV quotas. They'll use a subcompact crossover platform from its own vehicle family.Related Video:

The yin and yang of the 2017 Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400

When we first drove the Q50 Red Sport 400, Infiniti had the car out at a prepared slalom-and-cone course in a large, open parking lot. The car was stacked up against another Q50 without the Direct Adaptive Steer steer-by-wire system, and the course was designed to show that the DAS-equipped Red Sport 400 (it's a $1,000 option) required less steering input to master the same course. With all due respect to Infiniti, which is invested in this unfortunate system and has been working hard to revise it, the comparison doesn't make a lot of sense. The non-DAS Red Sport 400 has a steering ratio of 15:1 in RWD and 16.7:1 in AWD forms. The DAS system can vary between 12:1 and 32.9:1 in RWD and 11.8:1 to 32.3:1 in AWD flavors. At its extremes, the DAS system's ratio is vastly different than the fixed-ratio cars. So sure, with a super-quick steering ratio available, the DAS driver's going to do less work. It's all in the gearing. Does this mean it's better, that the steering feel is more natural, that it's easier to hustle quickly? The amount the driver saws at the wheel isn't an indication of that, necessarily. After a few days in a rear-drive Red Sport 400, I'm saying that the spooky disconnection between the driver and the front wheels would be a severe deficit to a driver on a real autocross course. It's not like the DAS system is choosing bad ratios within its range, it's just not supplying the feedback to make it enjoyable. Knowing what your front tires are up to is critical. I can hear you saying right now, "But what Q50 Red Sport 400 owners are going to autocross their cars?" Sure, but it was just a means to an end: showing off the DAS in a good light. And in that case, it probably did. The thing is, in isolation, not back-to-back with a non-DAS car with a slow steering ratio, the DAS system has the same issues it's always had: It simply doesn't feel natural. It doesn't feel intuitive. There doesn't seem to be any real advantage over a slightly quicker rack. I don't hear about people making buying decisions based on how much work they have to do sawing at the wheel, do you? So, that's one side of the Q50 coin – one that's hard to ignore if you're an enthusiast and steering feel is an important connection between you and the vehicle you just dropped a large hunk of change on, and will be spending a lot of your time in. The other is that there's a really compelling reason to drive a Red Sport 400: The 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 is a monster.