You’ve probably at least once played a video game and wished that it could be real, particularly for fans of racing games who would love to take their favourite car home or for any GTA player who’s ever wished they could just ram their way out of traffic jams.
Some of these cars are fast, some are fun and others come loaded with giant cannons and mini-guns. The one thing they have in common? They’re all the coolest video game-inspired cars brought to life.
Sonic the Hedgehog Civic
Get ready to feel old: Sonic the Hedgehog is officially 25 years old this year. In order to celebrate the birthday of everybody’s favourite speedy blue mammal, Honda unveiled a special Sonic Edition Civic at the San Diego Comic-Con.
Along with the Sonic wrap and the wheels designed to look like the golden rings he spends his life chasing and his red and white shoes, it also comes with a huge set of subwoofers and a 32-inch TV that flips up to allow you to play all your favourite Sonic games.
It’s probably not quite as fast as Sonic himself though, given that it’s powered by a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine that produces a fairly middling 201bhp.
UNSC Warthog
Anybody who’s so much as breathed on an Xbox before will probably be familiar with the Warthog, probably the most iconic vehicle from the Halo game series and one of the most fun cars in video game history.
Equipped with four-wheel steering and a big cannon on the back for blasting the bejeesus out of any nasty alien invader, you haven’t lived until you’ve used the ‘Hog to mow down entire swathes of pixelated bad guys.
To celebrate the release of Halo 4 back in 2012, Halo developers 343 Industries had a real-life version built, based on the chassis of a Hummer H1 and powered by a big 6.5-litre diesel V8. The only bad thing? The gun doesn’t work, and top speed is limited to just 25mph.
Ridge Racer Raggio
One of the most popular racing games of the 90s, Ridge Racer was developed by Namco in 1993 and saw players take part in drifting races set in the fictional Ridge City.
Probably the most iconic car in the game was the Yamasa Raggio, a red number adorned with decals and based on the real-life Honda NSX, at the time one of the world’s premier supercars.
In 2006 performance brake company Project Mu brought the Raggio to life at the Tokyo Auto Salon. The car was powered by the original NSX’s 3.2-litre V6 and, according to some, actually drove better than the NSX itself.
Volkswagen GTi Roadster Concept
Volkswagen’s take on the Gran Turismo Vision GT series, designed to mark the 15th anniversary of the racing series back in 2014, the GTi Roadster is a roofless Golf concept that’s quicker than a Ferrari.
A display model was built, but the GTi Roadster is available to drive only in Gran Turismo 6, where it boasts boggling performance figures like a huge 500bhp from a twin-turbo V6 engine, which can take it from 0-62mph in just 3.6 seconds in-game.
Interestingly, Volkswagen says that it could also offer a glimpse of where the road-going GTi’s future is headed, but whether that involves no roof and massive aero wings remains to be seen.
Bravado Banshee
Grand Theft Auto is well known for its roster of cars which look like real life models, but which are just different enough to avoid a lawsuit. Some look a bit more obvious than other, however, and the Banshee is probably the best-known example.
To promote GTA V, iconic tuner house West Coast Customs created a real-life replica of the Banshee which was unsurprisingly based on the car’s original inspiration, the Dodge Viper.
Gamers who bought GTA V upon its release were entered into a raffle to win the car, but the Banshee actually ended up in the hands of a North Carolina grandmother after her son bought a copy of the game using her credit card. Kudos to her, she actually drove the V10-powered beast for a year or two before selling it at auction.
Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo
Like the GTi Roadster, Bugatti designed its Vision Gran Turismo exclusively for Gran Turismo 6, and also built a stunning real-life model that was the major talking point of the 2014 Frankfurt Motor Show.
No proper specs were ever released for the working version, but it did use a W16 engine that was theoretically able to take the car from 0-62mph in two seconds or so.
Most interestingly, the Vision Gran Turismo was widely expected to preview the next Bugatti hypercar, and it did with the recently unveiled 1,500bhp Chiron an almost exact copy of the concept.
Mario’s Mario Kart
West Coast Customs can again take credit for this incredible Mario Kart replica, which was built on behalf of Nintendo back in 2011 to accompany the launch of Mario Kart 7.
Almost entirely custom fabricated, the kart uses the electric motor and battery pack from a GEM electric buggy, with a bespoke chassis built around it and every exact detail from the game version recreated.
Mario’s kart is front-wheel drive with 18-inch wheels at the rear and features a Super Glider attachment for cliff jumping, though we probably wouldn’t advise trying that one out in real life.
