Porsche is taking inspiration from the world of esports and livestreaming for its next racecar concept. The all-electric Porsche Mission R, first introduced at this weeks’ 2021 IAA Mobility conference in Munich, is what Porsche believes is “the future of customer motorsport.”
According to Porsche, the Mission R is designed to create “new ways for fans and driver to interact.” The car features a mostly glass roof — reminiscent of consumer EVs like the Tesla Model 3 or Porsche’s own Taycan — so the driver can be viewed from above during the entirety of race. Inside there are mounted cameras for the driver’s helmet, a movable camera on the car’s A-pillar, and a backward-facing dashboard cam so fans can get up close and personal. Porsche claims the gaming rig-inspired steering wheel has built-in biometric sensors to track a driver’s vitals throughout, and the car also features a dedicated “Livestream button.”
Porsche says the Mission R can go from zero to 100 km/h (around 62mph) in 2.5 seconds, with a max speed of over 300 km/h (around 186mph) thanks to an electric motor. It also has up to 320kW of power in the front axle and one with a maximum of 480kW of power in the rear. That’s equivalent to the same lap time performance as the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, according to the automaker. The Mission R’s 80kWh battery — provided you have the right charger — also seems impressive, with 900 volt charging from 5 percent to 80 percent capacity in 15 minutes.
As a subsidiary of the larger Volkswagen Group, Porsche is participating in the company’s push for electrification across the board. The Mission R is the high-end professional side of efforts that started with the Taycan in 2019. It might not ever officially hit the racetrack, but it’s an interesting acknowledgment of the weird ways gaming and racing intermingle. When races were canceled due to the pandemic, virtual races filled the hole, with the very same drivers. The Mission R is just video game livestreaming filtering back in the other way.
