Volkswagen ‘launches’ the 2010 GTI on the iPhone with Real Racing GTI game

realracing

To call us a “car blog” would sorta be stretching the truth. Occasionally one of the guys—aka Matt Burns—will do a car story, yeah, but that’s primarily because he thinks he’s James May. I have no such illusions of grandeur; I’m just sitting at a desk typing things, and writing student loan checks… Before this gets any further off track, the news: Volkswagen has teamed up with the guys behind Real Racing, Firemint, to “launch” the new 2010 VW GTI. By downloading the app to your iPhone or iPod touch, you can drive around—for free, mind you—the car you wish you owned.

If you’re not familiar with Real Racing, here’s a 10-second review: it’s a racing game for the iPhone (and iPod touch) that has been very well received. Like, it’s currently sitting on 4.5 stars on the iTunes Store. That’s pretty much it.

So what Team VW did was hook up with Firemint, and now you can “test drive,” so to speak, the new GTI (full name: Volkswagen GTI MkVI) before your local car dealer has one. Or maybe you’re 15-years-old and can’t drive yet? Whatever the case may be, friends.

Incidentally, every time you play the game you’re automatically entered into a contest to win one of six special edition cars. So that’s neat.

Time for some good-natured cynicism: right now the iPhone is still cool (how long will that last, by the way?), so it’s still OK for companies to do what VW did, create an App that popularizes their product or whatever. I just wonder how long these types of campaigns will be effective before people decide they’re lame.