Performance fans are always speculating about the next generation Nissan GT-R. One design student has taken a longer-term view and imagined the Nissan GT-R X 2050. Jaebum Choi’s creation imagines a performance car for enthusiasts in the age of self-driving cars, hopefully not too soon then. Better yet, Nissan took the design student’s free-form concept and turned it into a real-life scale model.

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A car to wear

The Nissan GT-R X 2050 is not so much a car as it is a high-performance, ground-bound wing suit. For starters, it seats, err… hosts just a single occupant. With that in mind the dimensions are tiny: it measures a hair over 60 cm high and is just over three metres in length. The rider/driver lies in a prone position, ie as though you’re on a motorcycle with really wide handlebars. The exterior shape mimics the driver’s position, hence the X-shape when viewed from overhead. Some GT-R signature elements have been carried over such as the quad circular taillights.

Check out a few more single-seat cars at this link.

“Exo-skeletons today make people stronger by wearing mechanical structures. I tried to fit the size of a person’s body as much as I could, as if I were wearing a car,” Choi explains about the vehicle’s compact layout. “I wanted to create a new form of machine that is not a vehicle to ride, it is the space where machine and the human become one.”

Read about the Nissan GT-R50, which was created to celebrate 50 years of the GT-R by clicking this link.

Instead of a windscreen the driver “sees” out via a special VR helmet that you connect to the car’s extensive camera system. The drivers steers via controls operated by moving your hands and arms much like a wing-suit pilot does. According to its designer the car should feel like an extension of the body.

Check out the next generation Nissan Z car at this link.

Tony Stark-it

Choi took inspiration from the comic book hero Iron Man for the car’s powerplant. An “arc reactor” creates electricity for electric motors that power it. Choi says the bulbous wheels are a one-piece rim/tyre combo that allows the car to turn 360 degrees. An active wing pops up to aid downforce when required.

“Choi has essentially envisioned a new mode of transportation that people could experience like clothes, “wearable,” instead of a traditional vehicle “carriage,” says David Woodhouse, Nissan Design America (NDA) VP. “It is the kind of breaking-the-mould thinking that has always been encouraged here at NDA. We’ve been honoured to help bring Choi’s vision to life.”