AUBURN HILLS, MI – Six weeks from now, you can hop in a lightweight mid-engine race car with pneumatically driven front wheels, a graphene windshield and a 7.0L V-10 that makes close to 2,600 hp and dial up insane speeds on the world’s finest racetracks.
But the steering wheel will be the only part you can touch in the virtual realm of simulated racing.
FCA US rolls out a new car intended to take the gaming world by storm: the SRT Tomahawk Vision, a dramatically shaped 1-seater that took seven designers and one engineer at Fiat Chrysler 1½ years to develop, with much of the work being done after hours.
Gran Turismo first appeared in 1998, and the sixth generation, now considered the gold standard among video racing games, was released two years ago.
Virtual versions of other Dodge and SRT vehicles are available in Gran Turismo 6, such as the Viper and Challenger, but the Tomahawk was designed to be outrageously fast and agile with the help of technologies and materials expected to be available 20 years from now.
Although the Tomahawk is intangible, designers and engineers had to approach it as a real vehicle based on lateral limitations, torsional rigidity, aerodynamics and the like. That’s because Polyphony Digital, the company that develops Gran Turismo, insists on physically correct models with actual gear ratios, curb weights, redlines and fuel tanks.
“You can speak the language to these game designers, because they’re all racers themselves. They all understand physics and vehicle dynamics,” says Ralph Gilles, head of design at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and a proficient racer on both real and simulated tracks.
“When they are speaking, they sound like our dynamics engineers,” he says. “They start talking about lateral loading, G’s, tire deflection. It’s beautiful.”
That explains why the SRT Tomahawk is unveiled at a media event here at the FCA Design Dome with a 3-page spec sheet with the same kind of detail as a production vehicle ready to roll off a real assembly line.
There are three versions of the SRT Tomahawk, which earns its name from the outlandish real-world 10-cyl. motorcycle concept that Wolfgang Bernhard (Chrysler’s chief operating officer at the time) rode onstage at the 2003 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The base street-legal “S” model is rated at 1,007 hp and capable of at least 250 mph (402 km/h); the race-ready “GTS-R” pumps out 1,450 hp and can top 300 mph (483 km/h); and the experimental “X” delivers 2,590 hp, good for a salt-flat run of 400 mph (644 km/h), according to the spec sheet.
But certain elements carry over among all three vehicles, such as the all-wheel-drive architecture, 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, 118-in. (2,988 mm) wheelbase, 7.0L V-10 (144 degree, naturally aspirated) and pneumatically driven front wheels.
All three versions use the same suspension: double wishbone front and rear, pushrod and cam actuated. Pneumatic continuously variable springs and active camber adjustment allows the geometry to be optimized for corners, straight-line stability and ultimate speed.
As expected, the high-output “X” version has a much higher redline (14,500 rpm vs. the pedestrian 9,500 rpm in the other two models) and gets wheels made of a carbon fiber-magnesium hybrid (21 in. up front and 23 in. in back).
In addition, Gran Turismo 6 players must prove their virtual driving skills before getting the green light in the X. Due to the extreme environment, an X driver also is required to wear a G-suit for protection.
Tomahawk Uses 9 Active Aero Panels
Keeping in mind that these far-out concepts are geared for a customer in the year 2035, the Tomahawk handles with remarkable ease in the fantasy world.
At PlayStation gaming bucks set up in the Design Dome here, the Challenger SRT and Viper are difficult to control for the novice gamer, plowing through turns, while the Tomahawk’s carbon-matrix brakes feel more realistic and help the car negotiate a virtual version of the Corkscrew at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca at much higher speeds.
The Tomahawk also takes advantage of nine active aerodynamic panels and two front splitters to keep the car stable.
Gilles says the car’s aerodynamic elements “pushed the folks at Polyphony to the edge,” because they had to validate how those features affected steering.
“They had to calculate that,” he says. “What would that much drag do to the yaw rate of the car? They really went to town on it, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.”
Unfettered by crash tests and SAE horsepower certification numbers, the FCA team working on the game was able to suspend the rules of the real world – to a point.
Mike Shinedling, advanced concepts manager at SRT Engineering, was recruited (and thrilled) to work on the drivetrain, packaging and vehicle dynamics. FCA designer Paul Hoste, who grew up playing Gran Turismo, penned the winning design for the Tomahawk.
A computational fluid dynamics model was developed to study the aerodynamics, says Mark Trostle, head of Dodge and SRT Design at FCA US.
“So we went to the aero department and said, ‘We have this virtual model, and we want you guys to go blow on it,’” Trostle says. “They were all over it.”
As the Tomahawk program progressed, both Shinedling and Trostle traveled to Polyphony’s studios in California several months ago to work with the game designers.
“They said, ‘That’s not how it should handle.’ They kept tuning the handling of the car,” Gilles says. “If you get really good at the game and you’re also a racer, it’s all there. The way the car behaves is what you’d expect.”
After spending so much time fine-tuning this virtual car and locking down the specs, why not just build it for real?
After prolonged laughter, Trostle says the creative outlet for the crew working on the virtual car was reward enough. Plus, the Tomahawk will help Dodge and SRT build brand awareness among gamers, many of them young.
Gilles has a more pragmatic response to the idea of producing the Tomahawk.
“I don’t think many people could afford this car,” he says. “In my estimation, it would be about a $3 million car.”
