Back in 2013, 2014 and 2015, Sony worked with a handful of automakers to create 17 unique-and-futuristic cars for the racing game Gran Turismo 6. That program asked the automakers to create a car that featured the most advanced technology that the teams could imagine to create futuristic cars in a virtual world, where gamers could drive them. The final car created under the “Vision Gran Turismo” program was the 2035 SRT Tomahawk – an all-wheel-drive, mid-engine hypercar that combined a 144-degree V10 gasoline engine with a pneumatic drive system to deliver as much as 2,590 horsepower in a car that weighs under 2,000 pounds.
The SRT design team actually created three versions of the Tomahawk – the Tomahawk Street, the Tomahawk GTS-R and the Tomahawk X. All three models feature a hybrid drivetrain, but it is not like today’s average gas-electric hybrid systems. Instead, a 144-degree V10 engine (similar to the design used in Indy cars at that time) mounted mid-ship powers the rear wheels with help from a 7-speed dual clutch gearbox while an air-driven pneumatic system provides power to the front wheels.
In the Street trim level (above – Red car), the V10 delivers 792 horsepower and the pneumatic system adds 215 more for a total output of 1,007 horsepower in a car that weighs just 2,206 pounds in this trim. When you step up to the Tomahawk GTS-R (below, race livery), output increases to 1,450 pounds, with 1,137 coming from the V10 and 313 from the pneumatic system. This trim level also cuts weight down to just 1,459 pounds, proving a near one-to-one horsepower-to-weight ratio.
Finally, when you get to the 2023 SRT Tomahawk X (below – white car), the V10 is beefed up to yield 2,168 horsepower and the pneumatic system adds 422 more to the front wheels for a total hybrid system output of 2,590 horsepower. The X also drops more weight, down to just 1,658 pounds.
Finally, in addition to the monstrous hybrid drivetrain, the SRT Tomahawk used an elaborate series of active body panels that used the same air-drive system as the front wheels. Like some real life hypercars, the Tomahawk had an active rear wing system to aid with braking, but the Dodge//SRT team took that a big step forward. The majority of the body panels lifted to help with braking and cornering, allowing the car to dramatically increase downforce on certain wheels when entering turns, then continuously shifting the downforce focus to get the car out of the turn more quickly. As a result, you could drive this hypercar on Gran Turismo 6 much deeper into the turns before braking, along with accelerating through turns and out of turns with loads of throttle input.
Dodge was so happy with the results of the design of the SRT Tomahawk, that they had a media “drive event” at their Auburn Hills headquarters, and I was among those invited. We drove the car at Laguna Seca using the PlayStation 3 gaming console and the Gran Turismo 6 game, and we were told that the winner would get a poster of the SRT Tomahawk signed by the Dodge design team and members of the Sony team. I won that poster with a lap time of 45.489, the best time among all members of the media in attendance. The only person to turn a faster lap time than mine was the lead designer of the game, who ran a 45.458.
As you might expect, having 2,590 horsepower in a 1,658-pound, all-wheel-drive hypercar led to pretty incredible acceleration in the game, with the active body panels helping with traction every step of the way. At the time, it was easily the best-performing car that I had driven in any simulation-based video game.
Here is an excerpt from my review of the SRT Tomahawk lineup on Allpar:
I started off by driving the SRT Tomahawk Street and, not surprisingly, it wasn’t all that difficult to pilot around the intricate road course. It accelerates like the Bugatti Veyron, but unlike the big, heavy Bugatti, the Tomahawk can handle a turn. Even in street trim, the Tomahawk slips through the turns with ease while reaching big speeds on the short straights so as hypercars on a video game go, the SRT Tomahawk Street is a beast.
However, the Tomahawk Street is just another virtual lightweight supercar with a thousand horsepower, so I was eager to get into the GTS-R version to feel the difference. The GTS-R is mechanically similar to the Street version, except that the GTS-R is much lighter and yields superior braking, cornering, and even greater speeds on the short straights of Laguna Seca. With the all-wheel drive system, the fact that the Tomahawk GTS-R has a 1 to 1 power to weight ratio doesn’t even come up, as this beast sends the power to the ground in fine fashion, allowing you to carelessly mash the pedal when you come out of a turn without any real concern of wheel spin.
Mashing the gas of a 1,450hp car that can actually use all of that power equates to very quick exits from the turn and as a result, I was able to turn significantly better lap times with the Tomahawk GTS-R compared to the Street version – although even in GTS-R trim, the new SRT concept was “just your average ultra-high performance hypercar.” When I moved over to the SRT Tomahawk X, that all changed, as the X package takes this hybrid-V10 and air-powered hypercar to the next level.
The SRT Tomahawk X employs active body panels all around the car that are unlike anything that we have ever seen on a car – even in video games. There are active body panels above the front tires, above the rear tires, along the lower rear sides and, of course, the massive wing that makes up most of the rear area of the car. Several other cars on today’s market have rear spoilers that rise to aid braking and all of those panels swing out to support braking, but the SRT team took that approach a step further, allowing these active panels to constantly shift while driving in order to adjust how the air slips around the body. Much like the way parts of an airplane move to turn the plane by adjusting how the air moves around the body, the Tomahawk’s panels channel air in a certain direction to help the body cut through the air more efficiently.
Basically, the SRT Tomahawk X has the aerodynamic advantages of a fighter jet while having the basic mechanical goodies of a modern supercar. Oh, and with a curb weight of just 1,658lbs, the 2,590 horsepower affords this car acceleration like nothing I’ve ever experienced when the panels are tucked flat in high speed mode. Really, this power to weight ratio does allow the Tomahawk X to spin the tires a bit on a hard launch or a hard exit, but it is minimal and when the tires to grip – this car blasts to speeds like I’ve never seen in a racing simulator.
High speeds aside, those high tech body panels might sound like an odd concept, but they make a huge difference as you make your way around the track. First, braking points are extended way into every turn, allowing you to basically stab the brake pedal for an instant in order to get it through a turn cleanly. Also, as your guide the Tomahawk X through the corners, the car turns much more sharply than either of the other packages that do not have the active body panels and in some cases, you only need to lift off of the gas going into a tight, high speed turn.
When going through sweeping, higher speed turns, these active panels provide monster downforce which leads to improved high speed stability, so even when you cruise through a long turn at 250 miles per hour, the Tomahawk clings to the road like it is on rails. In fact, the active panels allow the Tomahawk X to turn so sharply at high speeds, that a quick swerve of the steering wheel will quickly guide you into the grass or the wall, so this car has more learning curve than any car I’ve used in the Gran Turismo series.
Of course, nothing like the SRT Tomahawk exists in the real world, but we are still 12 years away from the point in automotive history in which the team imagined such a vehicle. This creation made for an incredible choice for gamers playing Gran Turismo 6. It was also an awesome experience for me to meet the developers of the game and hear about the design of the SRT Tomahawk from Ralph Gilles, Mark Trostle and the rest of the SRT team back in 2014-2015.
