Virtual Reality Is Carmakers’ Latest Selling Tool, at Shows and in Showrooms<br />“The computers that control the simulation are right out of the Demon.”<br />While simulations put showgoers in the driver’s seat of a device<br />that acts and feels like a real vehicle, virtual reality executions can pack a three-dimensional, 360-degree video environment — such as the interior of an automobile and the view through the windows — into a headset.<br />A number of automakers showed off such V. R.<br />systems at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January, and the technology is already being used in dealerships.<br />Visitors might learn about an automaker’s plans for urban mobility while flying above a make-believe landscape, take<br />a virtual reality sprint around a test track or scream down a drag strip at the wheel of a production-model hot rod.<br />“Lexus and Team One took the Virtual Showroom on the road to support dealer launches, create interest at events<br />and inspire preorders,” said Todd Lewis, events marketing strategist for the brand.
