The gaming side of the 2013 Detroit Auto Show: The new Corvette debuts

The gaming side of the 2013 Detroit Auto Show: The new Corvette debuts

This week we had some time to spend perusing the show floor of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit taking a look at crazy cool vehicle concepts and hot new production models. We’ll do a follow up post later with some of our favorite cars (because CARZ!) but until then, we’ve opted to show you some of the cool things that we found that fit into the gaming and geeky side of life.

It all starts with the announcement of the new 2014 Corvette C7 Stingray concept, otherwise known as the new Corvette. The new Vette is indeed extremely hot, featuring a sexy bodystyle that harkens back to the speedy lines of the 80s and 90s and a new “driver select” operation that changes the function of the vehicle across modes for weather, track racing, fuel savings and more, and includes information projected onto the windshield for quick information. The graphical design of the mode selectors is very game like, and able to be switched with the press of a button. In fact it’s a lot like switching different driver perspective views in Forza 4 or (surprise!) Gran Turismo 5, which the new car just arrived in this week as special free DLC — see video above.

The new Corvette's Sport mode
The new Corvette’s Sport mode
The new Corvette's Track mode
The new Corvette’s Track mode

As a fan of racing games, flipping through the different modes felt completely natural. The switch was smooth and fast, and it almost makes the experience feel very digital (in a good way).

I got up close with the Vette and snapped a couple shots of the sexy vehicle. Note: I fit inside it perfectly.

Corvette C7 Stingray
The Corvette’s rear in Red
The Corvette in Red
The Corvette in Red

To promote the car’s game introduction, GM brought two game seats armed with Gran Turismo 5 on a big LED screen, swanky red colors, and Vette interior cues. The demo of the game was specifically created for the show, and after trying to back out to the XMB I hit a software wall and couldn’t pass the intro screens. The seats were comfortable, and rumbled slightly for effect thanks to the speakers built into it.

The two Corvette game seats
The two Corvette game seats
Utilizes a full Corvette seat
Utilizes a full Corvette seat

The booth allowed for a few modes of play, namely head-to-head competition and a live leaderboard that was updated with the fastest track times. The wheel had full Dualshock 3 controls sans the four shoulder buttons. The game seemed pretty responsive with the smaller wheel, which I assume was a Thrustmaster T500 RS.

Racing lines make it faster!
Racing lines make it faster!
The full seat
The full (monty) seat

For those wondering: I suck at actually playing video games, so I didn’t rank in the top 5. Also: there were only 5 total track records posted at that time… so yeah. I stink at GT5.