Let’s get phygital

Cupra’s Exponential Experience is a peculiar crossover point between virtual and actual reality – it’s not quite like Real Racing or Gran Turismo, but nor is it the same as paying for a track day and putting your precious metal at risk.

The brand’s motorsport director, Xavi Serra, says the experimental formula is one that could offer a racing experience for customers and enthusiasts – and it doesn’t need to be confined to this specific car on this specific track.

“If you take a normal driver like one of us, or even a gamer who has no driver’s licence, then it’s really mindblowing because they can experience almost motorsport feelings in an electric car. So, something in between can be possible,” he said, stating that the hardware used is basically the same as you find in high-performance home PC setups.

“For now, it’s for show. But we could configure this to millions of circuits, even here in the same place – every time you cross the ‘virtual tunnel’ you could be in a different place, with a different layout, so the car would need to drive different lines. It’s endless, you could be lapping forever in different places,” said Mr Serra.

“We could bring in gaming – our drivers here [could compete] against people in their home setup, static. They could challenge each other, we could have one car here, one car in Barcelona,” he said. “It would be something cool if there was this merge of physical and virtual – this ‘phygital’ thing – it really could be something.”