4. Cars
Announcing Cars Appearing for the First Time:

Of the over 1000 cars appearing in Gran Turismo 5, here are four select cars that will make their appearance in the game.

Citroën GT by Citroën Race Car

The GT by Citroën was announced from both real and virtual in the 2008 Paris Motor Show. The redefinition of this concept car as a motorsports machine, is the "GT by Citroën Racecar".

The exterior design is still by Takumi Yamamoto, the designer who created the original. Many sketches were sent to Polyphony Digital over several days. The original fenders were widened, and with the addition of air ducts and other aerodynamic parts, the design took an extremely aggressive turn.

Based on this, the details to make it more racing-car like was left to Polyphony Digital. Fine details like the hood pins and tow hooks you would normally see on race cars, the placement of valves for the air jacks, etc. were all set by Polyphony Digital.

The other major piece of work left to Polyphony Digital was the design of the interior. The motif was a modern jet fighter, and while being extremely high tech, it is balanced with the gritty feel of a real racing car. All parts aside from the dashboard have been replaced, and the steering wheel and HUD (heads-up display) are functional in design as befitting a racing car, while still being as eccentric as the exterior. Though not changed in design, the dashboard is made of carbon, instead of copper. This is a vastly mutated version of the "GT by Citroën", that gives off that aggressive, competitive air suited for a racing circuit.

Volkswagen typ2(T1) SambaBus

The Volkswagen "Beetle" created by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche gave birth to a large number of variants, and one of the cars which formed the foundation of VW after the war alongside the Beetle was the multipurpose van called the Transporter. A bread-loaf like van body was mounted on the Beetle chassis, and taking full advantage of the compact RR (Rear engine, Rear drive) layout which packs all the drive train mechanism at the rear axle, this great car allowed most of its interior space to be used for cargo or people.

The Samba Bus is a model in which the Transporter was converted into a microbus that can carry many passengers. The well lit interior with the additional windows had 3 rows of seats, and in a small space of just around 4 meters in length, it made space for 9 passengers. The engine was the same 1.2 liter horizontally opposed 4 cylinder engine, but this was later enlarged to a 1.5 liter.

Praised for its superior utility, it was a massive hit in Europe and the US. In the 70's its cute looks caught the eye of the younger generation, and the car virtually became one of the signature symbols of the hippie movement. Its spirit still lives on today, and VW themselves have announced concept models of tall busses in the image of the Samba Bus.

Volkswagen Kubelwagen typ82

The traditional rear engine, rear drive Volkswagen mechanism is simple, light weight and is easy to gain traction with. Their body structure is easy to manufacture, making it possible to mass produce at low cost. And utilizing all these advantages in a small military vehicle with superior off road capabilities, was the Kubelwagen.

Within the approximately 4 meter length of the car is space for 3 passengers. Its weight is less than 550kg, designed in consideration for transportation using larger transporters and boats.

After starting development of this car in January of 1939, Dr. Porsche worked at incredible speed and completed a prototype within the year. It is said that this speed in development came about because Dr. Porsche had already foreseen the innate potential of the Volkswagen as an off road vehicle.

The Kubelwagen sent into the battlefield actually displayed first class off road capabilities, and was successful in mountainous regions as well as marshes. The air cooled engine obviously had no problems such as coolant leaks common to other cars, and its high reliability further raised the high regard for this vehicle.

Until the appearance of the Kubelwagen, Soldiers were forced to march long distances with heavy equipment in rough terrain. The appearance of a car that can travel roadless paths, was a revolution that totally changed wartime strategy.

Volkswagen Schwimmwagen typ166

In 1940 as the high performance of the Kubelwagen became apparent, a development order for an amphibious vehicle based on the Kubelwagen came to Dr. Porsche. The result, was the Schwimmwagen.

Again in this car, the power train of the Volkswagen proved its versatility. Dr. Porsche designed a four wheel drive vehicle, that mounts the horizontally opposed 4 cylinder engine behind a bathtub shaped body, with the transmission and a transfer gear mounted towards the front. The Kubelwagen had already proved that a rear wheel drive provides adequate drive force on land, but on an amphibious vehicle there was a different reason for the four wheel drive transfer gears; the front wheels had to be driven in order to pull the car out of the water onto land.

And the Schwimmwagen still had one more item that needed to be driven - the propeller screw for movement in water. But because the engine is mounted behind the body, it was possible to transfer power to the propeller with a minimum number of gears easily.

Being an amphibious vehicle, overall it was heavy and harder to control, but it also served as a trainer to teach driving skill. The mechanism was complex but was designed to be easy to manufacture, which helped the Schwimmwagen to become the most mass produced amphibious vehicle in World War II.