Nissan puts classic Skyline, Silvia, Fairlady into the Metaverse

Nissan has opened a series of heritage car studios in the Metaverse to teach users about traffic safety.We have only the most rudimentary understanding of what any of that means, but if it means another way to experience classics like the Kenmeri Skyline then sure, why not?

The studios are accessed via VRChat, and put users in the period correct world of the cars. From the 80s is an S13 Nissan Silvia, recreated in a night scene that evokes a Bubble Era Japanese television drama. Interestingly, it’s a Silvia Q’s rather than the top-spec Silvia K’s. Presumably the latter will be reserved for a virtual drift session.

A Fairlady SPL213 is set at a virtual 1950-style American diner, complete with mannequins in polka-dot poodle skirts. There’s also a drive-in movie theater and some kind of game called “steering wheel gymnastics” in which players wave around a detached steering wheel. It looks like a scene out of Grease, which presumably explains why the car is LHD.

Lastly, you can take a Kenmeri Skyline 2000GTX-E for a virtual drive to practice road safety. Incredibly, the car is put on a driving simulator and not in an actual simulation, despite the whole thing being virtual. This is one extra layer of meta weirdness that our analog-world minds aren’t equipped to understand.

The collaboration took input from professors at several of Japan’s universities. Nissan says it’s designed to promote the company’s technology to younger users who have had had little contact with cars. It’s kind of sad that Nissan thinks the next generation needs this kind of virtual coaxing to get interested in cars, but we suppose it’s better than nothing.