The Car Tech blog

Audi's electric e-tron gets digital in PlayStation Home.

(Credit: Audi)

Automakers are like forum trolls. Every time you turn around another one of them is yelling, "First!"

This time it's Audi claiming to be the first carmaker to develop its own virtual area in Sony's PlayStation Home. Audi Space, as it will be known, will come on line in late 2009. Audi Space will at first feature an Audi TV channel delivering video content relating to the German automaker.

In December of '09, Audi Space will be expanded to include Vertical Run, a futuristic racing game featuring Audi's e-tron concept. Players will collect electrical energy that will presumably be untamed by the e-tron as they race for the highest possible speed. Be the fastest and you could earn a place for your Home avatar in the virtual Audi apartments, located in a large tower in the center of Audi Space.

Audi Space will be a 3D area where players can explore the Audi brand.

(Credit: Audi)

"Most young people gain their first driving experience from video games," explains Kai Mensing, who is responsible for video games and virtual worlds in Online Marketing at Audi. "With the Audi Space, we can bring this target group into contact with our brand in a highly emotion-packed and interactive environment, and demonstrate our 'Vorsprung durch Technik' with the virtual e-tron race."

"It was important to us to create an environment with Audi Space that differed from a classic showroom at an Audi dealership," Mensing said. "To achieve that, we got together with the architects at Allmann Sattler Wappner and developed an interactive concept where the focus is on selected Audi models, making it possible to experience the brand in a selective, interactive way."

The company has stated that additional Audi content will be added to Audi Space in 2010.

Gran Turismo PSP: worth the hype?

(Credit: SCEA)

In case you haven't noticed, the PSP is getting its game on--or trying to, at least. With a solid software push this year and a revamped PSP Go, Sony's solidly performing yet still second-place handheld is trying to reinvigorate its flagging game library as of late. And, sensibly, the focus is remaining on successful PS2 and PS3 ports. Gran Turismo and, more recently, the MotorStorm franchise have been great examples of first-party Sony success. They're A-level titles, and at last both are making their debut in PSP form in just a few weeks, costing $39.99 and being made available in both UMD and downloadable formats. We received download codes for both titles and gave them a thorough go here at the office, but the results may surprise you.

Scott:
I had heard tons of hype for years (since the original PSP launch in 2005, in fact) about Gran Turismo going mobile. This long-expected virtual vaporware became incredibly tangible for us this week, and will be available to everyone else October 1. I was excited, even though I'm not utterly wild about the hard-core tuning that lies at the heart of GT's automotive fetishism. I do like racing games, and the PSP hasn't had a really good one in quite some time.

Gran Turismo (PSP)

As a result, it surprised me to find that Gran Turismo was pretty boring. That's not a knock on the car models or the race tracks or the graphics in general: they're all crisp and smooth and well above average. The problem is that the game itself, in trying for realism, moves at a pace that on a small screen feels like a crawl. Watching your Audi slowly accelerate to 60 mph and take gradual turns with proper braking is the anti-Mario Kart, and not in a good way. It can be soporific, even hypnotic. While the casual nature of the races could amount to a nice mobile break from a busy day, the intensity of Gran Turismo feels like it's moved completely off the map.

That's not to say the game isn't without some great features. ... Read more

(Credit: Sony)

Sony has announced four new Xplod in-dash CD receivers. The new 2009 fall lineup adds Radio Data System (RDS) technology, which is an FM radio tech that, when receiving a compatible station, displays text data such as artist, track, and song information or station call numbers directly on the display.

The CDX-GT240 is a rather basic CD receiver.

(Credit: Sony)

Starting at the bottom of the new line is the CDX-GT240 ($80), which is a fairly standard single-disc, single-DIN CD player. In addition to the AM/FM tuner with RDS technology, the unit features MP3 and WMA file playback from the optical drive and an analog aux-in on the faceplate to connect digital media players. The entry-level unit ships with a card remote control, but only features a single preamp output, so those who want more flexibility should look further up the product line.

Building on the GT240's feature set is the CDX-GT340 ($100), which adds a second set of stereo subwoofer preamp outputs. The more advanced GT340 offers the capability to add accessory modules for satellite radio, HD radio, and an iPod adapter (at additional cost).

The Xplod line starts to get interesting with the CDX-GT540UI.

(Credit: Sony)

Stepping up once again in the Xplod line brings us to the CDX-GT540UI ($140). The "UI" at the end of the model number indicates that this models gets a faceplate-mounted USB port with iPod connectivity. The GT540UI features Sony's DM+ processing that enhances compressed digital audio and Zappin, Quick-BrowZer, and Jump Mode technologies to give users a few options for dealing with the larger file libraries that are stored on digital media players.

At the top of the 2009 Xplod lineup (and pictured at the top of this article) is the CDX-GT640UI ($160) which adds a larger LCD display with a flip-down faceplate and a total of three preamp outputs.

Sony's new Xplod lineup will be available September 2009.

(Credit: Sony)

More goodies out of Sony's party bag of patents, this one involving a remote-controlled car that can be navigated using a PlayStation Portable.

While this seems to be merely exchanging the remote for a PSP and goes where cell phones have gone before, it does add an interesting dimension--a camera mounted on top. According to the patent, visual data from the camera is beamed back to the PSP so the user can navigate obstacles or record and save a movie. Which opens up possibilities such as spying on friends carrying out surveillance work. Or even turning this idea into a patrolling security device for the home.

The patent also states that this can be used for a racing game within "augmented-reality zones" to spice up gameplay. Now all we need is a nitro-powered remote-control car that drifts, and we have a winner.

(Source: Crave Asia via Siliconera)

The Alpine iDA-X100 is so digital audio focused that it doesn't even have a CD slot.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

Whether on an iPod, a USB drive, or a cell phone that plays MP3s, more and more drivers are carrying an ever-increasing percentage of their audio on digital audio players.

These users don't want to go back to shuffling CDs when it's time to get behind the wheel, so car stereo manufacturers have responded to the market by including aux-inputs, USB ports, dock connectors, and Bluetooth connections in their stereos. We've compiled a list of some of the best car stereos for use with digital media.

Click here to view the best car stereos for digital media.

Read the full Sony NV-U84 review.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)

Depending on how you look at it, the NV-U84 is either the second or third highest device in the Sony NAV-U GPS lineup. There's no question that the NV-U94T is the flagship, but determining the NV-U84's value compared with its siblings is a tricky affair.

For one, it has the big 4.8-inch touch screen and higher price that imply it's a step up the ladder from the 4.3-inch screen of the NV-U74T. On the other hand, it lacks most of the advanced features of the NV-U94T and U74T--such as Bluetooth and traffic data--which puts it at a huge disadvantage.

Read the full Sony NV-U84 GPS review.