First Carrera GT sold in minutes!!!

Congratulations to Rubi Ichigo for purchasing the first Carrera GT ... minutes after I enabled the vendors! Just been out showing her the ropes, and she's loving it !!!

It was good to eventually start pushing the Carrera GT onto the grid so others can start enjoying it too, and I am pleased to have some really appreciative and happy customers.

9 Carrera GT's were sold on opening day, and it was interesting to meet most of the customers, all interesting people, some with auto-related interests (a couple of car collectors, and a few car builders).

Thanks to all my customers for making Opening day a success!

Carrera GT RELEASED !!!

As promised to excited fans, the Carrera GT was released on the SL grid on evening of Sunday 20th April 2008.

It is available NOW for purchase in-world at the vendor ONLY at our shop (click here for TP).

Customers will receive FREE updates automatically as soon as they are released. At release it's only available in Pearl White, but later updates will include a user-selectable color pack.

NOTE that this is a early release model and still has a few small bugs to resolve. These will be automatically pushed to customers using our advanced update server technology.

Thanks to all the customers / fans / friends for all their support (and patience) in getting this released.

Enjoy :)

SL's Carrera GT Website for Help and FAQ

Click here to view the website dedicated to the Carrera GT. This is where all the info on the car, help screens and FAQ's will be posted.

"REAL-Damage" added

Another SL first!!!

We've just introduced "REAL-Damage" to the Carrera GT (and SL) !!!

So while out on the track (or driving home after a few drinks) be careful what you drive into! Or what drives into you!

Both the front and rear ends have the ability to incur damage. Of course the owner can fix it all up with a click ... one big advantage the SL Carrera has over the RL one :))

Optional: Real damage only works when the FX option is enabled (HUD switch), so if you too embarrassed to leave it on, you can disable it. And for the racers' info - its zero lag.

"REAL-Lights" added

In an effort to push the boundaries of realism in SL, we have now added 'REAL Lights' to the Carrera GT.

This is another SL first!!!

The picture shows it well, but in-world they are beautiful, with a slight flickering effect just like it really is in First Life :)


Real lights have two parts : the 'glow' and the 'beam'. The beam only works when the FX option is enabled (HUD switch), so if you'd like to disable it, you can. And for the racers info - the glow is zero lag, beam very close to that (less than the tyre/exhaust smoke on racing cars) ... but can be turned off if you insist.

Glowing driving / brake lights ...

SL has just announced a new client version 1.20 in RC (Release Candidate). One of the cool features it introduces is 'scriptable glow'.

At a recent test track conversation with some other car developers they said they are looking forward to that. I told them I've been using it on the Carrera GT for two weeks already ... which they laughed at, so I rezzed the car and showed them on the track, and they all viewed it loud and clear - in their standard SL 1.19.1(4) etc clients. I guess it's true as they say ... he who laughs last, laughs best :)

So for the rest that are waiting for scriptable glow, it's already available if you know how to get at it ... alongside are the 3 pics of it in action on the Carrera GT :

1. Chilling (not driving - relaxing in car) = only sunlight/moonlight glow
2. Normal Driving = lights on glow
3. Under Braking = high glow

Of course, not many cars will be able to use this, whether the scripters can or not, simply because they have run out of prims :)) ... unless its a mega-lag high prim attachment vehicle (which everyone HATES at the tracks as they kill the sim).

However, included in our 32 prim maximum (real SL vehicle allocation) highly detailed Carrera GT, we have 2 glowing tail-lights. Oh and BTW ... we have 4 glowing headlamps too !!! The headlamps glow as soon as you enter drive-mode.

Click on pic for a closer view

Carrera GT Close to Completion

The Carrera GT is now very close to completion.

Watch this site for a release notification!


We were waiting for the roll-out of Havok 4 as driving scripts have been optimized that. Havok 4 was rolled out to SL grid last weekend.

In the meantime, we've added Intelli-Drive code to assist driving. This adds some neat features lacking in most if not all other vehicles, including but not limited to adaptive steering strength depending on current vehicle status, and flat track mode to cut down on airtime on busy flat racetracks.

See included pic at our test-sim ( don't worry - you won't be forced to have these colors :), we'll have a few standard colors available ).

If you've ever driven a classy car like this in SL you'll have experienced what I have in testing. Every time I test AV's are jumping in the car with me. While I don't normally have an issue, there have been some troublemakers (ie. read jealous car owners) jumping in and making life unpleasant. So I added an eject option to eject the passenger on demand, and also a ban option to ban a AV re-entering ... must be the first car with a built-in ban system :) ... but it needs it ... EVERYONE wants to ride with.

Some other fun / realistic options you won't find in many SL vehicles include:

• Genuine custom Carrera GT recorded sounds ... none of those internet sounds everyone has
• Tyres even squeal on gear-change!
• Everything opens .. .doors, bonnet, engine hood
• Working aero-wing ... raises and lowers at speed
• Realistic wheel rotation on steering ... the front wheels don't look silly when you turn and they adapt to speed
• Working steering wheel turns with direction changes ... it just sucks that others don't have this
• Drive lights ... when driving, headlights and taillights light up (look fantastic at night!) ..see photo below
  
• Working drive / brake-lights ... pressing brake key activates the brake lights
• Custom driving and passenger animations
• Burn option .... hear the tyres scream amid smoke as you burn some rubber!

We're working on the HUD to show speed as well as engine RPM.

pic of driving lights at night ... braking really lights it up :)