Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo and 787B

Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo Concept is a Sweet 787B Salute [w/ Video]

It may seem hard to believe but, after all these years and all the billions of yen that Toyota and Nissan have poured into trying to score an overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, those two juggernauts have yet to duplicate what plucky little Mazda did in 1991. To date, the four-rotor-Wankel-powered 787B is the only Japanese car – and the only car not powered at least in part by a piston engine – to capture sportscar racing’s biggest prize. So it shouldn’t really be a surprise that Mazda chose to make its submission to the Vision Gran Turismo festival for concept cars to be added to Gran Turismo 6 a futuristic homage to that milestone prototype of almost two-dozen years ago.

Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo side view

And while the resulting creation – called the LM55 Vision Gran Turismo, with “LM” being a nod to Le Mans and “55” being the 1991 winner’s entry number – isn’t retro in the strictest sense of the term, there are some clear Group C undertones, as well as modern LMP1 cues and even some circa-1999 GTP (i.e. Toyota GT-One and Mercedes-Benz CLR) callbacks, all neatly wrapped up with Mazda’s current “Kodo” design language serving as the bow. No mention is made of what powers this ground-hugging hottie, but it sure sounds like a rotary to us. If you want to (virtually) experience the Mazda LM55 Vision Gran Turismo for yourself, it’s available in GT6 right now.

Source: Mazda