An animated colorful world. There is a large tree with orange leaves, a waterfall, floating cliffs, planets and a bridge

Hyper Reality Test Drive

Working for Volkswagen Group China Import, Framestore created the VW Touareg Hyper Reality Test Drive, along with key technology partner and motion capture specialists Noitom. Framestore built on its aptitude for groundbreaking experiential content to develop this, the world’s first live VR test drive experience.

Presented to press and a crowd of VIPs in Zhuhai, the Hyper Reality Test Drive was designed to complement the technology-fuelled Touareg. 

Animation
Effects Simulation
XR
Realtime
backseat perspective of a car facing the windscreen. there is a driver that is wearing a helmet and protective suit as they hold onto the steering wheel. there are colourful light beams shooting towards us from the distance that gives the effect of hyper speed.

Seated as passenger in the all-new Touareg on a real-life stunt track, and equipped with a bespoke customised Oculus VR headset, test drive guests are taken on an exhilarating high velocity chase through other-worldly lands, as the vehicle comes under extraterrestrial fire - with only its in-built technology smarts to help it.

Through an artful interweaving of the physical and virtual, the experience offers users an immersive encounter with the new Touareg: combining real test drive physics with a world class virtual view that, in the manner of the ultimate test drive, delivers on both functionality and thrill.

Framestore scripted the experience, plotting a hero’s journey across a four-act structure that shines light on the Touareg’s advanced inbuilt technology. The creative studio’s Art Department supplied initial artwork for the experience’s characters and three stylised off-world environments.

Central to the script are the Touareg’s next level features, which offer heroic escape from the narrative’s tumult of dangers. Strategically placed throughout the experience, the features create suspense and thrill, and form critical 4D touchpoints between the virtual and physical worlds.

virtual reality environment of an extraterrestrial planet that has orange trees and there are planets visible in the atmosphere
an electrified wormhole coming out of the ground. there are rocks shooting out of the wormhole
futuristic cityscape of skyscrapers set in nighttime. there is a spacecraft hovering in the centre, close to the ground

The physical experience covers acreage akin to a football pitch; the script was mapped, and 4D elements plotted to create action highlights. A custom trigger system ensures total synchronicity between in-game and real world, for all six vehicles running the test drive at any one time. The experience sound design - a bespoke soundtrack by Goldstein, engineered by GCVRS, as well as Mandarin and English voiceover - was overlaid in a complex arrangement reflecting the user’s movements within the 4D experience, with the flexibility to play in line with the content triggers.

hyper reality environment in space. there is a bridge that leads to colourful translucent pillars on the left. on the right there are geometrical shapes folded into a wormhole and a spacecraft hovering just towards its left

Thrillseekers, buckle up, for the adventure does not stop here. For its creators, Hyper Reality Test Drive marks only the beginning of an innovative creative relationship as Volkswagen Group China Import looks to the future. We’ll see you there.

dark environment with space in the background. there is a spaceshift hovering in the top centre shooting out a red laser beam to the ground.

Credits

Client
Volkswagen Group China Import
MD
Axel Schroeder
CMO
Henning Schindler
Technology Partner
Noitom
Technical Architecture
Dr Tristan Ruoli DAI
Project Director
Ying JIN
Lead System Integration Engineer
Tongjie HU
Lead Technical Artist
Linlin SI
Head of VR (Framestore)
Karl Woolley
Executive Producer
Heather Kinal
Producer
Adam Sargent, Taylor Kennard, Liam Thompson, Cosmos Deng
Production Assistant
Cameron McLarty
Creative Director
Simon Wood
VR Supervisor
Michael Cable
Lead Developer
Alex Perry
Animation Lead
Brad Silby
Senior Technical Artist
Makoto Tanaka
Developer
Marios Bikos
Technical Artist
Will Arterton, Sondre Utheim, Rob Fraser
CG FX
Chrystia Siolkowsky
Rigging
Thomas Bourret
CG Animation
Emma Ewing, Juba Polati
CG
Tim Gregson, David Kent, Joel Savage, Xing Xu, Paola Santoro, Michael John
Digital Matte Painter
Gerard Dunleavy
Concept Artist
Nikola Yordanov
Creative
Angela Zhu
Designers
Sean McNulty, Philip Rambowski
Audio
GCVRS
Sound Designers
Steve Lane, Culum Simpson
Audio Developer
Mirren Malcolm-Neale
Audio Producer
Mike Hill
Special Thanks
Hong Yane Wang
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