BMW M2 Mixed Reality review: the best racing game ever created Reviews 2022 - Top Gear

Is that headset to forestall you from looking astatine the caller BMW M2’s face?

Indeed, connected the aboveground determination appears to beryllium a plethora of casual targets to purpose for with BMW’s ‘Mixed Reality’ idea, truthful possibly immoderate discourse would beryllium constructive. At its heart, it is simply a precise elemental concept: determination is an actual, real-life BMW M2 – revealed earlier this year – featuring a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre straight-six, 454bhp and rear-wheel-drive.

There is besides a virtual world headset, which the operator of aforementioned BMW M2 indispensable wear. Inside this virtual world headset is simply a virtual satellite programmed by BMW M to correspond thing called ‘M Town’.

‘M Town’ has been programmed to acceptable wrong the confines of a real-life country – for example, astatine a car parkland located, ooh, let’s accidental astatine the BMW Driving Experience successful Munich.

Your mission, should you beryllium brave capable to take it, is to thrust the existent BMW M2 portion wearing a headset that tells your encephalon you are wrong a videogame.

I’ve got a batch to accidental astir this idea.

So bash we. A headset usually reserved for precise costly location gaming setups being utilized successful thing with precise real responses? A virtual satellite named ‘M Town’ for goodness’ sake? The information that you’re piloting a precise fast, precise almighty instrumentality fundamentally blindfolded astir a fewer cones acceptable up successful a damp, grey German car park?

TopGear.com was astir apt not unsocial successful wondering wherefore spell to each the occupation of processing a truly almighty coupe and past shielding what firm types similar to telephone ‘end users’ distant from the world of driving it.

Exactly. What’s the point?

A pertinent question, and 1 we enactment to BMW M’s Alex Kuttner, the technologist liable for this seemingly conflicted idea. “Over the past fewer years we've had comments from our fans who said ‘we privation to spell to M Town, we privation to beryllium there,” helium tells TopGear.com.

“So I had the thought that we bring you to M Town but we instrumentality our cars too.”

Does that… does that mean the virtual world… reflects a BMW M owner’s dream?

Again, we asked Alex however helium created this integer utopia. “I’m not truly sure!” helium says with a chuckle. “It was the archetypal representation I had successful my caput erstwhile I thought astir a futuristic city.”

With scepticism engaged to ‘Full’, we ventured tentatively into ‘M Town’ and sincerely hoped a) we’d ne'er person to usage that word again, and b) we wouldn’t spear disconnected into hitherto unseen corners of the existent satellite we’d beryllium driving in.

Wait, you drove the caller BMW M2?

So little it hardly qualifies arsenic a drive, particularly due to the fact that we were being sent precise confusing signals successful our brains, truthful you'll person to hold a spot for the afloat TG.com review. But it was capable to acquisition the virtual world concept.

And?

It. Is. Brilliant.

Really?

Really. It took astir a infinitesimal successful the virtual satellite to spot conscionable what a fantastic conception this Mixed Reality truly is. Videogames tin beryllium brilliant, and coders and developers walk hundreds of hours fine-tuning simulation rigs; the consciousness and effect times, agonising implicit however realistic they tin marque the game.

This jumps wide of those hurdles successful 1 fell swoop, due to the fact that it’s a real car, spearing done a magical satellite of tokens and high-rise virtual buildings and rendered corners. Liken it to a turbocharged, 454bhp controller.

Like the champion VR, there’s nary lag successful effect time, but dissimilar VR, the existent beingness M2 feeds close accusation done your fingertips, done the seat, done the motor note.

“You tin bid with it, you tin contention with it,” Alex tells us. But astir importantly, you tin just… play.

Did you consciousness frightened that you were, arsenic you say, astir to spear disconnected into an unseen country of the car park?

Not once. Everything is telegraphed truthful people and it feels truthful fluid and good rendered, you conscionable privation to support lapping the tiny conception we were privy to.

Which is of people the lone problem. Our clip was very limited, but aft conscionable 3 abbreviated laps and a expansive full of little than 3 minutes of existent thrust time, we tin declare: this is the champion racing crippled ever created.