The Gran Turismo franchise of racing simulators is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its “Vision GT” program, in which automakers are invited to design wild, what-if concepts that players can actually drive around in. To celebrate, it turned over the design reins to Bulgari, which made both a Vision car, and a watch for the series.
Since the car is inspired by the watch,
let’s start there. The Bulgari Aluminum x Gran Turismo Special Edition
timepiece is inspired by the brand’s original Aluminum sports watch, from 1998.
Available in two colors, yellow and anthracite, the watch face was inspired by
the dials from Italian grand touring cars from the 1990s. In turn, the dials in
the Bulgari Aluminum Vision Gran Turismo concept are inspired by the watch.
Indeed, the speedometer in the center of its instrument binnacle is almost a
direct copy of the watch, with its three sub dials.
However, unlike the watch, the exterior of
the vehicle is inspired by Italian concept cars from the ’60s and ’70s.
Presented in a silver color that is reminiscent of the aluminum watch, it’s not
hard to see how the car’s wedge-shape took cues from the likes of the Lancia
Stratos Zero and the original Lamborghini Countach concept. Like the Lancia,
the Bulgari Aluminum Vision GT has a thin light bar at the front, however its headlights
emerge from a panel at the front. Unlike the concepts from the ’70s, it has no
roof, and is described as a pure barchetta. In another departure from the
origami designs of the later concepts, the Bulgari car has high wheel arches
that elicit classic ’60s racecars like the Maserati Birdcage.
The whole design comes together
surprisingly nicely. That probably shouldn’t come as a surprise, though. Before
he designed this concept car, Bulgari’s executive director of product creation,
Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, worked at Fiat’s Centro Stile. He worked with
Fabio Filippini, the former design director at Pinin Farina, on this project. Sadly,
even though this is a purely digital creation, you’re still going to have to
wait before you can drive it. The Bulgari Aluminum Vision Gran Turismo will
only become available in Gran Turismo 7 in 2024.
