The Real World
   by Gary S. Vasilash

June 26, 2003 - We recently had the opportunity to have a demonstration in the Virtual Reality Studio at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. We doffed the Crystal Eyes shuttering glasses and then saw a three-dimensional array of some of the vehicles that GM has developed lately, including the SSR, which the vehicle manufacturer proudly notes was "designed in math." In other words, it, in effect, went straight from the screen to the street.

There is certainly something to be said for the capabilities that are provided by a VR studio, such as the ability to overlay vehicle architectures: the SSR, for example, is based on the GMT 360 sport utility vehicle platform, so by being able to put the design concept over the the current architecture packaging issues can be evidently addressed. And it is certainly nice to be able to spin a full-size solid model of a vehicle around in space with the ease of Hercules, thereby getting a sense of it from angles that not even repair people will see when the vehicle is on a hoist.

But a more telling opportunity was afforded to us when we visited Miami's famous South Beach – land of the free, home of the hip – in the company of Chrysler Group designers Joe Dehner, Mike Nichols, Alan Barrington, and Mark Walters. They were there, behind Ian Schrager's Delano Hotel (complete with Phillipe Starck-devised lobby), with the array of Chrysler concept vehicles that have been presented during the past several months: the California Cruiser from the Paris Show, the Airflite from Geneva, and the Avenger, Kahuna, and Tomahawk from Detroit.

They were there, on the beach, allowing the general public – although given the rarified nature of those who strut their stuff in South Beach, characterizing them as a common denominator is dubious – to provide up-close and personal feedback about the concepts. More than static displays, the vehicles were taken out on the streets, on to Collins Avenue, on to Ocean Drive. Past the hotels, bars, and clubs. Past people who literally became slack-jawed and whiplashed from double-takes. Dream cars in physical form.

What is most striking is that unlike the controlled environments that concept vehicles are ordinarily presented in, having them out in the open, out in the real world, results in vehicles that take on entirely different perspectives than is otherwise the case. Forget virtual reality - this is the real thing.

The California Cruiser and Kahuna, of course, are meant for the beach: the surf wagon and the Woody. But the way that the light plays on the iridescent light bulbs on the former and the planted stance in the sand of the latter are things that you just can't perceive when the lighting is artificial and the terrain is essentially simulated. The broad shoulders of the Avenger have a greater physicality when the context is authentic, not a display or a patio. The Airflite truly seems like kinetic architecture when the background is building and sky, not curtains and plastic. And the Tomahawk takes on a manifest aura of machined physicality in an environment that is otherwise full of rented scooters and tricked-out Yamaha crotch-rockets.

The designers were there to get feedback, to find out how the vehicles fit, where the vehicles ideally belong: out there.

Gary S. Vasilash is Editor-in-chief, Automotive Design & Production: www.autofieldguide.com