In the market for a luxury car? Now you can test drive one that hasn’t come out yet without actually putting any rubber to the road. Lexus and its agency Team One have developed a motion-controlled driving simulator using the Oculus Rift DK 2, which lets users take a ride in its upcoming 2015 RC F Sports coupe.
There has has been no shortage of virtual-reality campaigns recently. Marriott Hotels sent to travelers to Hawaii and London. HBO’s “Game of Thrones” gave viewers a sneak-peak of its fictional setting. Even Chrysler is giving car enthusiasts a virtual tour of its 5 million square-foot factory.
The RC F Rift, as it has been called, is reminiscent of arcade driving games. Participants sit behind an actual RC F steering wheel and foot pedals and don the Oculus Rift viewer for an immersive experience. They can take a virtual drive on some of the world’s most famous racetracks like the Fuji Speedway, all without risking a speeding ticket. While the beta version debuted at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August, the latest iteration was for all to see this past weekend at the Orange County Auto Show.
“It is like a driving simulator on Oculus Rift steroids,” Will Nicklas, corporate manager at Lexus marketing, planning and communications, told Digiday. “High-performance sports car fans are into technology, so this was a great way for us to articulate our passion for technology and innovation to them.”
Ad position: web_incontent_pos1
The 2015 Lexus RC F will be in markets early next month, and the driving simulator will be traveling to auto shows in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Detroit. Additionally, Lexus is also offering its consumers to take the car for a test-drive in Chicago, Englishtown, New Jersey, and Atlanta over the next few weeks.
The campaign also has a crowdsourced element, in which it asks its Facebook fans to come up with the name for one of RC F’s colors, a flaming orange. Some submissions so far: “Solar Flare,” “Daybreak” and, uh, “Agent Orange.”
“The idea was to get our fans involved with the brand have a deeper relationship with it and be connected in a super-fun way,” Nicklas said.
More in Marketing
In the marketing world, anime is following in the footsteps of gaming
As marketers look to take advantage of anime’s entry into the zeitgeist, they might be wise to observe the parallels between the evolution of anime as a marketing channel and the ways brands have learned to better leverage gaming in recent years.
With the introduction of video ads and e-commerce, Roblox looks to attain platform status
Roblox is expanding into more areas than just ads in 2024. Much like platforms such as Amazon and Facebook have transcended their origins to evolve from their origins as online marketplaces and social media channels, Roblox is in the midst of a transformation into a platform for all elements of users’ virtual lives.
PepsiCo wants to remain a ‘driver of culture’ as it turns to influencers and activations amid rebrand
The soda-maker says it can translate cultural relevance into sales volume.
Ad position: web_bfu