Autoblog

The day is here, the GTbyCitroen has got over its shyness and is ready to be seen by the world. Par for the French, the GT is funky -- and we're not even going to get into the seventh teaser for the car in which the car was completely covered. Contrary to the rakishness of its looks, it's also fairly slow. The 3,000-pound two-seater takes a virtual 3.6 seconds to get to a virtual 62 mph, and that's with a 646 digital ponies boosted by an additional 136 hydrogen-powered horses. As for the design, if you're wondering what that rear overhang is about, the phrase you're looking for is "retinal persistence." Yeah. You can find more explanations like that and a whole lot more in the press release after the jump, and the gallery of high-res photos below.

In a move more "Um, yeah..." than "Oh yeah!", Citroen has released the sixth teaser image of the car that will, one of these days, be revealed entirely to the world, all at once, front and back. We aren't even sure if this qualifies as a tease, since getting a glimpse at a front end we've already seen doesn't really ring the bell. What we can say is that one of our commenters appears to be right: the car does look like it's only 10 inches high. Relive the magic of the slowest reveal ever in the gallery of high-res photos below.


[Source: 4 Wheels News]

Citroen has let slip another drip in the GT by Citroen reveal, and this time it's a video showing off the dramatic shapes of "The Drive of Your Life." Dig those mirrors, and the glasshouse swept back in monumental fashion. Whatever is pushing the car's massive rims apparently needs a lot of air, with two raked scoops behind the canopy and two more on the sides ahead of the rear wheels. And the rear end of the car looks like -- dare we say it -- a tail... It's Mach 5 if the car comes together like we expect, or platypus if it doesn't. The Paris Motor Show reveal is in but a few days, and you can mark us down as officially excited. Check out the video after the jump and more teaser pics in the gallery below. Thanks for the tip, Nick!


[Source: Gran Turismo]

The cloak on the GT by Citroen has been pulled back again to reveal a little more sheetmetal. Call us crazy, but we have the feeling this car is going to put the "Whoa, that's wild..." back into concept cars. This little corner shows off two vastly different personalities: look at the center structure and it could be any pleasant Frenchmobile -- a 2CV even; scan out to the sides, and it's got the kind of vicious appendages of a predator. Then there's that diffuser hanging out there like an arctic steppe, mirrors that are 18 inches long, and a tapered rear end that can't possibly stay planted without some aero aid on scaffolding. For all we know, the car could be hiding nine or ten other personalities, as well. We can't wait to see it.


[Source: ZerCustoms]

The Citroen GT striptease continues with a more revealing image of what looks like a rip-snorting concept car. Huge tires, a ginormous front splitter meant to keep something seriously fast bolted to the ground at speed, enough front air intakes to break records, and that thing out back, which we thought were mirrors yesterday, must be a terrific wing. As they say in French, oh la la, c'est cool. Meant to appear in Gran Turismo Prologue, it will also be at next month's Paris Motor Show, and so will we, so stay tuned. In the mean time, you can check out both high-res images in the gallery below.


[Source: ZerCustoms]

Citroen is teaming up with Sony to launch a new concept that will debut at the Paris Motor Show and be available in Gran Turismo Prologue on the Playstation 3. Sony has released one image of the cloaked concept and a brief teaser video (posted after the break) showing the low-slung coupe sporting a set of slit LEDs, massive fenders and a widened stance. We haven't been able to coax out any details from our contacts, but if this Citroen GT doesn't make in onto the road, at least we'll get to experience it in the virtual realm.

[Sources: Sony, LeBlogAuto]

First art imitates life and now video games do the same, with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Nissan having joined forces to create the GT Academy. Over the course of eight months, the academy culled a group of wannabe racers from a field of entrants who posted the best lap times in GT5 Prologue. Then, for five days at Silverstone, the finalists competed in the game and on the actual track, watched by ex-F1 racer Johnny Herbert and a panel of five judges.

The two winners were just announced, and Top Gun status went to Lars Schlomer and Luis Ordonez. Schlomer is a taxi driver in Bonn, Germany; Ordonez is an MBA student from Spain. Now that they've won, they'll be thrown into boot camp for four months to learn to how to race for real silver: in four months, they'll have to earn their racing licenses and get ready to drive a factory-backed Nissan 350Z in the 24 Hours of Dubai this coming January.The rest of us will have to be content with GT5 Prologue for now...

[Source: Sony]

We had the opportunity to sit in a dark maroon Ford Flex at the Dolby booth for a demonstration of their 7.1 Surround Sound system they've developed with the Blue Oval, and the first thing I notice is the super-nice croc-print leather seats beneath me. Michael Becker, Dolby's Global Marketing Director, says something like, "Oh, yeah. This is Funkmaster Flex's Flex." So don't look for the sweet, lizard-like leather on the production version.

But we weren't actually at the Dolby booth to ogle celeb-designed cars, we were there to listen to them.

Becker says one of the premium audio options in the upcoming non-Funkmasterized Flex will be the Sony system we heard with 12 speakers and 7.1 surround sound. With 375 watts it's an awesome-sounding system, especially for what is essentially a station wagon. We can assure you, your parents' Vista Cruiser never sounded this good.

Which brings up the question, "Why put such a high-end sound system in a family car?" So Dolby's Becker demonstrated. If you want to retain some of the premium sound, but still keep the kids asleep in back, use the touch-screen fader to move the sound up front. In most cars, that would have produced sound a little better than a pocket-sized transistor radio. But the Flex's system retains Dolby 5.1 for the front system or the rear if the fader is moved towards the back. This means the sound is still far ahead of that Vista Cruiser, and probably better than what you're driving now.

We can't wait to see how this sounds with real-world noise outside instead of within the crowds of CES-goers. Speaking of which, Becker said the Flex had attracted major attention from show-goers, with one even way overestimating the list price above $100k. It's nice, but not that nice. As if to demonstrate what he meant, while in the car demonstrating the sound system, we had to lock the doors to keep out the curious, even with the car roped off. Possibly a very good sign for Ford's Flex.

As previously reported, the demo of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will be available to download October 20th through November 11th for those of you lucky enough to be PS3-equipped. Now, we've got the details about what vehicles you'll be able to virtually flog while battling out with 16 other contenders around Suzuka.

Seven vehicles are available, including the BMW 135i, Daihatsu OFC-1 (?), Lexus IS-F, Mazda Atenza (Mazda6), Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR, Nissan GT-R and the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI. As mentioned, only one track will be available: Suzuka.

Also of note, Sony has plans to unveil a new car between the 23rd and 25th, but it's anyone's guess what that could be. The maker of our favorite electronic crack will also be showing off its new free news service geared towards auto coverage and motorsports.

[Source: GTChannel]

Toyota and Sony are forming a new partnership to enter a segment rarely tackled by mainstream automakers, the single-seater vehicle market. Back in 2005, Toyota unveiled the i-swing, a concept car that was basically an armchair on wheels. This time around it's making a serious attempt at creating a viable one-seater vehicle, and has enlisted the help of several Sony engineers to help see it to fruition.

Sony has sold several major patents surrounding its robotic technology to Toyota and seven of its researchers are temporarily working with the carmaker on project called the next-generation "transporter."

Toyota has already developed a new robot-on-wheels called the TPR-Robina. The robot is used as a guide at its headquarters and has the ability to avoid obstacles and talk with visitors. Sony, meanwhile, has abandoned the early work it's done in robotics and is instead focusing on improving its core electronics business.

[Source: Drive]