The CarGurus Blog

One writer suggests that the new Toyota sports car, really its first since the MR-2, saved the Tokyo Auto Salon. Well, we weren’t there, but other reports are also enthusiastic, and pictures and video are flooding the Internet. The styling is unmistakably Japanese, it’s aggressive, and it mostly works, except for that ridiculous rear wing. More pix follow the break.

The car will roll out this summer in Japan under the “G Sports” or “G’s” label, as Toyota developed the FT-86 with Gazoo, its racing partner. No mechanical or performance figures are available yet, though the engine is expected to be a 2-liter four-cylinder turbo boxer derived from Subaru.

Gamers take note: Motor Trend says the FT-86 will employ (by late 2012) something called GPS Track Day technology.

From what we’ve learned, you will be able to drive your real FT-86 around a real track — the Nurburgring, for example — and then remove the memory card from your car, plug it into your [PlayStation 3] unit and either “watch” your lap virtually or race against yourself, as your real car appears as the “ghost car” that you battle against.

Now that is some sort of crazy insane convergence—when and if they can get this act together. More talk and more pix are here. Have a good weekend while you contemplate buying this car for a price “in the $30,000 range.”

Toyota surely has a different sense of how to promote its cars. Can you imagine GM doing anything like this?

—jgoods

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