We’re always excited when any new car is making its way to Gran Turismo. When it’s a SEMA GT Award-winner, it’s even more exciting. These are cars which aren’t just some stamped-out piece of metal or carbon-fiber, but unique pieces of automotive art made with a passion by a small group — or even just one person.
When we heard the Gran Turismo team had been to scan Phil Robles’ 2017 Gran Turismo Award-winning Honda Civic, we were suitably gleeful. Now, with a new video, we can actually see the process of scanning the car taking place.
In the video (since made private) you could see the Gran Turismo team getting to work scanning the car for inclusion in what Robles termed “an upcoming release”. It’s a rather intricate process, which involves close-up photography of details and the team filming the car’s lighting — including the AIM MXL2 datalogger instrument panel.
That’s followed by a laser scan of the vehicle exterior. Along with taking body measurements, we also see one crew member scanning areas of the bodykit and creating a 3D representation live on a tablet device.
In many ways, this Civic represents the old-school of Gran Turismo. The 1992 Civic started out pretty much stock when Robles picked it up in 2006 for some amateur racing. That’s by and large how most of us kicked off our careers in Gran Turismo 1. From there he’s tweaked it somewhat.
Aside from the Rocket Bunny Pandem widebody kit, which pumps the car’s width up by some four inches, the EG Civic now also sports a turbocharged K24 engine. This is good for 394hp, and 323lbft of torque. That’s mated to a Quaife sequential gearbox and a limited-slip differential.
Robles will no doubt be even happier that the car is now digitized, as it means he can get back to racing it!
Thanks to queleuleu for the tip!
See more articles on Gran Turismo Awards, Honda, and SEMA.
