Seven issues I realized concerning the Sony automobile whereas enjoying Gran Turismo inside one

You understand how Sony making a electrical automobile with Honda that’s coming in 2026? Sony Honda Mobility is now letting journalists critically contact its Afeela prototype — and play with a Gran Turismo online game model of the automobile whereas sitting contained in the precise machine.

That’s why I drove to PlayStation’s North American headquarters final week, to attempt an Afeela inside an Afeela and contact the issues we couldn’t contact earlier than. However I obtained a bit greater than I bargained for!

Right here’s my fast 50-second video of the expertise, and a brief checklist of the brand new issues I’ve realized.

No, earlier than you ask, they didn’t let me drive the precise Sony Honda automobile. I grabbed the wheel and pushed the pedals, however they did nothing — in recreation or in any other case. “We’ll present journalists with the chance to check drive as quickly as potential in step with the car growth schedule,” reads a press release from Sony Honda Mobility by way of third-party spokesperson Glenn Mandel.

I’m listening to take a look at drives aren’t coming this yr — subsequent yr is feasible — nevertheless it may even be 2026 earlier than a journalist will get behind a working wheel.

There was two methods to open the prototype’s door from exterior. You might press a button within the Afeela’s smartphone app, or let a digital camera system open it for you after it acknowledges your face. The newest prototype has a 3rd technique, although: a bodily button mounted beneath the window that may ship the identical sign. I pressed it, and it labored nice. Sony Honda continues to be deciding how one can authenticate you, although — reps couldn’t say if it might use a keyfob or some type of digital automobile key like UWB to comprehend it’s you close by.

The Afeela’s extra-wide display screen is one among its most placing options, however Sony Honda doesn’t plan to let the motive force see the whole factor whereas in movement. As an alternative, it’ll use some type of privateness filter to wall off the passenger’s part of display screen to allow them to proceed to observe with out distracting the motive force.

“Specs for mass manufacturing haven’t but been determined, however we plan to put in a mechanism that can not be seen from the motive force’s facet whereas driving in order that the motive force can drive safely,” SHM tells us.

I performed Gran Turismo 7 on the Afeela’s display screen, streaming wirelessly from a close-by PS5 utilizing Sony’s PS Distant Play app. There isn’t an precise PS5 console within the automobile, and there’s at the moment no plan to vary that. In January, Sony Honda Mobility president and COO Izumi Kawanishi instructed me it was nonetheless undecided whether or not an actual PS5 would seem, however SHM is now “assuming distant play as a substitute of putting in a PS5 console.”

It’s additionally not clear in the event you’ll be capable to use the Afeela’s personal steering wheels and pedals to play something.

Sony Honda inked a cope with Microsoft final yr to create a “conversational private agent” for the automobile, and whereas there’s no agency particulars but on what that really means, I’m listening to the aim is for the automobile’s AI to immediate you with questions after trying to anticipate your wants.

“We’re contemplating the potential for two-way communication between individuals and vehicles, and we’re additionally growing an interactive private agent utilizing Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in collaboration with Microsoft,” writes SHM after I ask. “We imagine that since it can develop relying on the consumer, we will talk in response to the consumer’s preferences.”

I am going over this within the video, however many items of the prototype are at the moment simply mockups, not purposeful but. That features fancy issues just like the digital facet mirrors and rear view mirrors, but in addition mundane bits like flip sign stalks, solar visors, glove and storage compartments, and most components of the touchscreen consumer expertise.

I may scroll round a map of Las Vegas, however couldn’t faucet on any of the pins; I may scrub by means of a enjoying video and sling it to the motive force’s or passenger’s facet of the display screen with a gesture, however couldn’t hearth up a variety of different options on the touchscreen or within the companion smartphone app. I’m not dinging SHM, although; Sony Honda has been fully clear that this can be a prototype, and has a pair extra years to determine all of it out.

Sure, the present prototype has a ridiculous digital billboard throughout its entrance bumper that shows Sony properties like Spider-Man and Horizon Forbidden West, and allows you to tune the automobile’s digital motor sound with noises impressed by Sony properties as much as and together with the Crunchyroll anime streaming service. However a spokesperson tells me Sony Honda is seeking to associate with non-Sony entities too — and I used to be capable of show any textual content I preferred on the bumper display screen simply by typing it into the telephone app.

I selected “The Verge,” in fact.