The Toyota FT-1 Concept car was specially designed for the Gran Turismo 6 racing game. Toyota announced that the concept car previews the company’s future design language. The concept was designed by the Calty design team and comes just in time to celebrate the team’s 40th anniversary. In January 2014, it was officially unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show.
FT-1 stands for "Future Toyota," and the number "1" represents the ultimate. According to its designers at Calty Design Research, the FT-1 Concept is the ultimate expression of a Toyota coupe design, building upon Toyota's rich sports coupe heritage dating back to the 2000GT, Celica, Supra, MR2 and most recently Scion FR-S. In addition, the concept draws inspiration from Calty's more recent sports car concept work such as FT-HS (2007) and the Lexus LF-LC (2012).
The concept features a very aggressive front look with large inlets, ducting and vents that ensure a proper cooling for the engine. Just like the exterior, the interior is also specific for a high-end sports car. It gets an F1-inspired steering wheel, a slung cockpit with the A-pillars set far back to help optimize cornering vision, a delta-shaped display zone and a cockpit specially tuned for the driver. The concept is also equipped with composite seat, a color heads-up display that keeps the driver’s attention on the road ahead, plus a windshield and side glass inspired by the legendary Toyota 2000GT.
Toyota offered no details on the engine, but it announced that the FT-1 concept is a balanced front-engine, rear wheel-drive model powered by a high performance internal combustion engine. (topspeed.com & autoblog.com)
2014 Toyota FT-1 Graphite Concept
Presented in August 2014 at McCall's Motorworks Revival in Monterey, CA, the Toyota FT-1 Graphite Concept goes for a more upscale and refined graphite exterior and a tan leather interior with exposed metal elements. The second version of the FT-1 Concept has a new interior with natural leather on the seat combined with brown edges.
2014 Toyota FT-1 Vision GT Concept
Additionally, in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Gran Turismo series, Calty has also designed an ultra high-performance race version of the FT-1 that inside the game is called the FT-1 "Vision GT." This high-powered version interprets what a full-race FT-1 might achieve on the track.
(Photos from Motortrend.com, autoblog.com, topspeed.com & toyota.com)
