We’ve already had our introduction to the unicorn of all race cars, Red Bull’s X1 Prototype.
While regulations all over the world have prevented racing teams from creating the ultimate racing machine, there’s something to be said about the virtual world where rules and regulations take a backseat to the thrilling chase of building the fastest machine on the planet. This is where the Red Bull X1 Prototype takes center stage. The car is the epitome of the ultimate race car, devoid of any restrictions and built with only three things in mind: speed, speed, and speed.
Red Bull Formula One racer Sebastian Vettel took to the simulator to give the X1 a proper shakedown at the Nurburgring and judging by the sheer lap times alone – the X1 Prototype ran 30 seconds faster than Vettel’s fastest lap time in a Red Bull F1 car – the X1 Prototype has no peers, both in the real and in the virtual world.
Have you ever imagined a car that defied any form of technical rules? A car that, if seriously made, would annihilate any other four-wheeled vehicle on the planet?
For one reason or another, the real world isn’t ready for such a car. But in the world of Gran Turismo 5 where anything and everything is possible, you just might find that unicorn of a car that only resides in your dreams.
This is the Red Bull X1 Prototype, the brainchild of legendary race car designer Adrian Newey. Looking like a crossbreed between a Formula One car and an LMP1 racer, the X1 Prototype is powered by a gas turbine that produces a staggering 1,483 horsepower and 527 lb/ft of torque. Wrap your heads around those numbers for a second.
Done?
Just to illustrate how unbelievable the X1 Prototype is, Red Bull F1 driver Sebastian Vettel gave it a simulated run around the Suzuka race circuit and the super beast of a car clocked in a time of 1:11.540, over 20 seconds faster than Vettel’s time on board a Red Bull F1 race car during the 2009 Japanese GP.
20 seconds faster than a Formula One race car. 20 seconds.
This is the Red Bull X1 Prototype, folks. And as much as we’d like to see this car come to life, we’re afraid that we’re all not ready for it so it’s probably for the best that we can only get our hands on it in GT5.
Gran Turismo 5 may be a touchy topic these days after Sony – for the umpteenth time, it seems – once again pulled back the release of the video game from its November 2nd deadline. Obviously, that decision wasn’t met with raucous cheers and high salutes, but with exasperation and resigned frustration. That being said, there’s really nothing any one of us can do about it except exercise a great deal of patience. We’ve come this far, anyway. What’s another month or two?
Since we’re on the topic of waiting, here’s something that we can watch to pass the time. It’s the first commercial of GT5 in its home country of Japan featuring an invasion of Matchbox cars sliding down a giant slide with a “We love cars” jingle accompanying it. And in typical Japanese fashion, the ad is concluded by a high-pitched overly enthusiastic voice over touting the game’s release date.
By the way, don’t get your hopes up with that ’11.03’ image at the end. This ad was released before Sony announced its latest delay so there’s nothing to it.
We were so tempted to put that title in ALL CAPS out of frustration, but, fortunately, better judgment prevailed.
Nevertheless, we’re still pretty miffed, as all of you will be after reading this, that Sony has once again pushed back the release date of Gran Turismo 5.
Yep. That means November 2 is back to being just a regular day for all of us.
The announcement was made through the Playstation Blog and went like this:
“We can confirm that Gran Turismo 5 will not be available this November 2nd, but the game’s release will be coming this holiday season.
We sincerely apologize to GT fans for the delay, however, creator Kazunori Yamauchi and the team at Polyphony Digital want to make certain they are creating the perfect racing experience, and we are confident that this ambitious game will exceed expectations when it launches.”
The only silver lining to all of this is that the game will be released during the holiday season, which really isn’t a long ways from November. But with the way this whole debacle has gone, we’ll only believe it until we see the game out on store shelves.
