This was a fun, and unique project to work on. It was a virtual reality test drive for the VW Taureg, where you would sit in the front passenger seat of the real car, and put on a VR headset. A driver would then navigate a track, which corresponded to the virtual world the user would see inside the VR experience. So they would feel the real world forces of the car, but what they saw was a virtual fantasy where they would get chased through a futuristic city by alien spaceships, with a story that highlighted the various features of the car itself.
I was modelling on the project; there were a few different environments and phases to the experience and my first task was to model modular pieces for buildings to be constructed in Unreal engine, as well as the road and some other environment features, which would make up a futuristic town we race through during the middle portion of the drive. Aliens would be chasing the car, shooting buildings and rubble would fall onto the streets, the real world car would drive up a ramp and around a corner, while in the virtual car it would look like you are driving up and over some rubble.
I also did a lot of work on the final phase/zone of the experience, which one would experience the climax of the alien chase, when the mothership would be brought in during a Star Wars inspired "trench run" through a futuristic industrial zone. Again I modelled moudlar pieces to build up this section of the environment, but I also enjoyed some creative freedom to layout the environment which we would be driven through. While the course the car had to take couldn't be changed, as it had to match the real world track, I could could still have some fun throwing in paths to misdirect the user, which would become blocked at the last minute due to destruction caused by the mother ships weapons, so the natural turn in the real world course would look perhaps feel more like evasive action in the VR experience. So it was fun to approach designing and building the environment with that sense of narrative in mind.
Read more about the project here on Framestore's website.
