P650S AR / VR

Overview

Working with our friends at I2O3D, we were tasked to create an app to showcase the the McLaren P650S using the power of Augmented Reality.

Launched at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show alongside the McLaren 650S supercar itself, this AR app allowed users to fully configure the car. Users could choose from a selection of body colours, wheel options, brake calipers and interiors to create their dream configuration.

The car could then be viewed in-situ by placing a printed marker on the floor or on a table, or placed into one of three pre-defined scenes. The app automatically controlled the reflection and lighting for the scene to achieve maximum realism.

The app was then made public by releasing it on both the iOS and Android app stores.

Enhancements

We subsequently re-used the same car model in a VR demo for the HTC Vive headset. The demo made use of the Vive's room-scale tracking to allow the user to literally walk around the car as if it were physically there.

The car model was highly optimised as it was originally designed for use on mobile platforms. Nevertheless we were pleased how well it held up in VR, where the user is able to examine the details far more closely.

The Future

These days users expect to be able to explore and engage with a car digitally before making a decision to visit a dealership, and web-based configurators are now fairly commonplace.

AR apps and VR experiences still represent the top end of digital presentation methods, so have not yet reached the mainstream, but they are becoming increasingly adopted. We are certainly very proud to have been early innovators in this space.