Audi is introducing a new sports car soon. It’s not a successor to the TT or R8, but something entirely different based on the new Concept C. While it will be electric, the new sports car will reportedly have the software necessary to trick you into thinking you’re driving a gasoline-powered vehicle, things like simulated gear shifts and fake engine sounds.
Audi CEO Gernot Döllner told Top Gear that the company found that “a virtual gearbox and sound really add something to driving an electric car.” Döllner noted that, on a race track, he’s “faster with a car with a virtual gearbox.”
Extracting every bit of performance from a vehicle around the track requires clear communication between the driver and the car. EVs lack many of the visceral physical cues our bodies can sense when driving, and these fake sounds and shifts bring back those tell-tale markers.
“We’re developing it, I think we’ll have one,” Döllner told the publication. “The company is quite open to finding innovative solutions in this area.” And Audi might revive the five-cylinder engine sound “virtually.” Software allows Audi to add any engine sound to its future EV, and we hope the five-cylinder is one of them.
Photo by: Audi
The production car that’ll come from the concept “sits almost precisely” between the TT and R8, Döllner said. He didn’t elaborate on what they meant, but it likely means the new sports car will bridge the gap between Audi’s two sports cars in terms of performance and price.
The TT RS bowed out a few years ago, making 400 horsepower from its five-cylinder engine. The R8 had a V-10 with over 600 hp, and the new sports car will supposedly split that difference.
Döllner added that the car would not bear the TT name. He suggested Audi could give it a real name or something that starts “with an R.” Concept C is not the most inspiring name, but Audi’s boss admitted that “Sometimes it’s easier to develop a car than find a name for it.”
Adding fakeness to electric vehicles isn’t new. Lexus launched its first EV with fake gear shifts. Porsche might go even further and add simulated gears and artificial engine noises. Ferrari even filed a patent for a virtual engine and gear-shift system for the car.
Even the upcoming electric M3 has a simulated exhaust note, and Kia has added fake gears to the EV6 GT. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N has seemingly perfected it.
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Source: Audi
However, not every automaker has embraced artificiality. Dodge’s new Charger Daytona EV might have a fake sound, but it lacks a simulated gearbox.
It’s basically skeuomorphism for cars. Skeuomorphism, more recently, is the trend where a digital thing retains the familiar look, feel, and use of its real-world counterpart, like how the camera app on your smartphone still has a shutter sound. Fake gear shifts and engine noise serve the same purpose, making EVs feel familiar to people who have only driven gasoline-powered cars.
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