Mercedes-Benz AMG Vision Gran Turismo brings video-game design to reality

In the race to own the minds of couch-bound racers, Microsoft's Forza and Sony's Gran Turismo video game series have played a eight-year leapfrog match, with each new generation using ever-swelling oceans of polygons and physics simulators to create the most realistic worlds possible inside a game console.

Today, Mercedes-Benz revealed the latest move by the creators of the Gran Turismo series: Making the dream cars inside the game a reality, beginning with this, the AMG Vision Gran Turismo, powered by a twin-turbo 577-hp V-8. These images aren't screen captures — they're photographs.

As part of the upcoming Gran Turismo 6 game launching for the PlayStation 3 on Dec. 6, Gran Turismo invited several of the world's leading car design studios to create unique concept cars that players can eventually download and race inside the game, with at least 15 expected to be unveiled over the coming months, ranging from General Motors and Chrysler's SRT division to Italian design houses Zagato and Bertone.