A Volvo designer Instagram account has revealed the existence of a Vision Gran Turismo car which has never seen the light of day. The account, “wedesignvolvo“, is about as close to official as you can get, run by Volvo designers. While they are unable to head into work at the moment, the team is sharing its old work on social media.
The design in question is for a Volvo shooting brake. Created by Belarussian designer Yury Zamkavenka, on an internship at Volvo a few years ago, the VVGT takes inspiration from classic Volvo designs like the 850 estate. Volvo famously campaigned the estate-bodied 850 in the British Touring Car Championship back in 1994, and some of the sporting intent shines through.
In the concept drawings Zamkavenka — who now works at Volvo on exterior design — evolves the original shape of the 850 through a two-door racing concept labeled “GT850”. That then gains some of the modern Volvo design language, like the Thor’s Hammer headlights and the post-2014 logo, to create the Volvo GT.
The net result doesn’t look too much unlike the Polestar 1, a coupe based on the Volvo S90 sedan, with a few differences. That notably includes roofed doors — doors with an integrated roof section — like the Ford GT. Although we don’t see much by way of an interior in the VVGT, you can reasonably infer it’d be pretty close to the S90/V90, perhaps with a more sporty bent.
To further send that message home, Zamavenka also came up with some design drawings that turned the GT into a race car. Wearing the mixed colors of both Volvo’s native Sweden and the Polestar Cyan racing team, as it was at the time, the GT makes for an interesting interpretation of the WTCC format.
Sadly, Gran Turismo players have never had the chance to drive the GT, and of course there is one pretty major stumbling block: the Volvo brand isn’t in the game any more. Like Geely stablemate Lotus, Volvo hasn’t made the jump from PS3 to PS4, and has no presence in GT Sport. It wasn’t the best-represented brand, with only the 240 wagon, C30 hatchback, and S60 sedan appearing in GT6 — and a similar number of legacy assets in the current-gen Forza Horizon 4 — but nonetheless it’s a marque the fans miss.
With sister brand Polestar making its gaming debut in last year’s Need for Speed Heat, there may be an appetite in Sweden for the Volvo family to come back to racing games.
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