GTbyCitroen concept hits the streets of London

At last year's Paris Motor Show, Citroen stunned the audience with a dramatically styled supercar dubbed the GTbyCitroen. A few months later, the company revealed it would produce a limited run of the cars. And in May Citroen revealed that the low-slung and futuristic vehicle would be tackling some of motorsport's most prestigious events this summer. The third and final stop left on the schedule is the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which runs July 3-5 at the legendary British locale. In the lead up to the event, the striking concept car has hit the streets of London.

The result of a unique partnership between Citroen and Polyphony Digital Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony, creators of the Gran Turismo game series, the concept measures nearly five metres long and just over a metre high. As part of its London tour, the virtual-turned-reality supercar swapped pixels for Piccadilly as it swept through the world famous circus, toured Regent Street, rounded Trafalgar Square and cruised down the Mall past Buckingham Palace.

At next month’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, the GTbyCitroen will participate in the event’s hill climb as part of the Sunday Times Supercar Run. The famous 1.16-mile dash hosts some of the world’s most incredible cars, both past and present, each year. But the GTbyCitroen ought to be used to sharing tarmac with the biggest names in the business by now.

The concept’s styling is characterized by a large wraparound windscreen which flows into the roof and on into the rear mobile airfoil. The dynamic supercar effect is further enhanced by wide air intakes, a flat underside, rear air-diffuser, clear-cut horizontal headlamps, gullwing doors and diamond-effect 21in aluminum wheels.

Last month the car also participated in the 24 Hours Nurburgring race in which it took a single 'lap of honor' around the circuit. It was also on display at the Polyphony stand during the event. Then earlier this month it joined a line of other supercars at Le Mans for the 'Grande Parade des Pilotes', a presentation of the 150 drivers and 50 teams taking part in the actual competitive portion of the 24-hour event race weekend.

Despite all the pomp and circumstance, however, there's still no clear roadmap from Citroen on when the supercar will make it to its limited production run. Perhaps an announcement could be due at Goodwood, but we'll have to wait and see.