If you prefer racing cars from the comfort of your sofa on your favourite console than braving the UK weather to see a race up close and personal (or watching it on the TV), you may not know that lots of the cars you may be driving in the game, you could own in real life (assuming you have a full UK driving license of course). Transforming those pixels to real life, here’s a top five list to make those dreams a reality.
Honda Civic Type-R Mugen 2.2
Made famous in the gaming world by the Forza motorsport series, the Mugen gets its name from the Japanese word for ‘unlimited’. Under the hood you’ll find a standard 2.0 litre i-VTEC that’s been re-built from the ground up by Honda’s crème de la crème of specialists, replacing standard parts with high-performance parts thus gaining a 39bhp increase to a whopping 240bhp. It’ll take you from 0-60 in less than six seconds and it’ll do all of this beautifully for £39k.
Lightening McQueen from the film, Cars
As much as when you think of Lightening McQueen you’ll probably think of the film, the video game of the franchise was also very popular. Lightening McQueen was loosely based on the fantastic Dodge Viper. Not the cheapest car in the world, if you want to buy a new one, it’ll set you back a cool £75k or thereabouts. There’s plenty of other games besides Cars that you can whizz around a circuit or two in a Dodge Viper, like Need for Speed and Project Gotham Racing (PGR), and with its go-faster signature wide strips down the hood and boot, you’ll feel like the race car driver you were born to be.
Subaru Impreza
Before the days of video games, this car was only really seen on rally tracks being driven by pro’s such as Carlos Sainz and the late great Colin McRae. In its signature blue with yellow decals it’s a hard one to miss, and spotting them on the motorway or high street is more of an everyday occurrence. If it’s the kind of car to float your boat, make sure to have around £33k on standby if you’re planning on getting a new one.
Honda NSX
A staple champion car in most racing games, the NSX is much desired. Boasting around 286bhp with a 3.2 V6 engine in its later models, it certainly packs a punch. But don’t get too excited, even a 1997 model will set you back the best part of £30k, with the later 2005 model coming in around £65k. But fear not, there is a new one in development being planned for release in 2015, god only knows how much that one will be!
Nissan Skyline R34 GTR
Before Gran Turismo took this car under its digital wing, this car pretty much wasn’t known outside of Japan. Now amongst racing gamers it’s a household name, with the R34 being arguably the most revered of all the models. Depending on what year you opt for, you could be looking at £7k for a 1998/99 model, or up to £30-40k for 2001+.
This guest post was written free of charge by Georgina Kent, the in house writer for the Confused.com car insurance comparison website.
