Car games

A local design studio builds concept cars for the auto industry; its latest features an Xbox and a screen under the hood.There are secret things going on at Troy Sumitomo’s design studio in Huntington Beach -- things that must be done behind special barricaded walls with high-tech locks and tinted windows.

“There’s so much I can’t show you because we’re under contract right now,” he said during a brief tour of the 20,000-square-foot home of his design firm, Five Axis. Sumitomo and his team of designers and engineers fabricate prototypes and concept cars for the automotive industry. The competitive nature of the business demands secrecy, he said.

But he wasn’t shy about showing off Five Axis’ latest creation, the newly developed xA Speedster -- a sports car that can be transformed into a driving simulator and self-powered drive-in movie theater.

The car was a big hit at a recent Las Vegas car show and is one of three concept cars Sumitomo has created for Scion, a division of Toyota. Unlike the previously created Widebody tC and xB, which pushed car audio and video to a new level, Sumitomo’s newest creation takes cars to a place few designers have dared to venture -- virtual reality.

“We’re always trying to incorporate some new cool elements into the car,” he said. “We’ve done music, we’ve done movies, and we just thought to ourselves -- how cool would it be incorporate gaming into a car.”

Pop open the hood of the xA on its forward hinge and you’ll find a huge projection screen angled to face the driver. From the back seat of the car, a small projector screen connected to an Xbox videogame console shoots an image onto the screen that can be viewed only through the windshield. Sumitomo hard-wired the foot pedals to operate both the car and the video game and provided interchangeable steering wheels to toggle between the two. The result is a virtual-reality driving experience in a very real sports car.

The car can play any Xbox videogame, but on Tuesday Sumitomo had the system hooked up to Microsoft’s latest racing game, “Forza,” allowing him to race on some of the world’s most famous tracks against some of the world’s greatest drivers without ever leaving his garage.

While the car has been a hit at auto shows, don’t expect to see it cruising down the 405 Freeway. The xA is a one-of-a-kind concept car commissioned by Toyota for display at conventions and car shows -- a buzz-generator to help sell more of the automaker’s other cars.

“They want us to try and get as extreme as we can to show what’s possible,” he said.

For Sumitomo, one of the biggest challenges was determining how to get an image in front of the driver without blocking his view. Sumitomo’s team considered dropping a plasma television in the front of the engine bay, but the compartment was a just few inches too short, and the under-the-hood heat could have damaged the screen.

After the designers decided to go with the projector model, they discovered that their contraption had another application: Not only could it beam video games and DVDs onto the hood projection screen, it could also beam onto nearby walls and buildings. The result is a unique drive-in movie theater experience, complete with Dolby surround sound.

For a little extra bling, Sumitomo threw in two flat-panel monitors in the rear of the car, connected to separate video-game consoles, allowing up to three different players to play games at the same time.

Completeing the project took about seven months and a team of 12 to 15 employees. For now, the car will sit in Five Axis’ Huntington Beach warehouse and go on the road for the occasional promotion.

“What’s interesting about that car is that it pushes innovation forward for concept cars without really developing new design standards,” said car industry analyst David Keegan, who viewed the car at a recent show. “They thought of it first and they did it -- kudos to them. I think that concept of the virtual-reality automobile will continue to be developed and built upon. They’ve opened the flood gates.”20051110ippggkkn(LA)The Scion xA Speedster features Xbox game systems with flat-panel displays. 20051110ippgg6knPHOTOS BY DOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN / INDEPENDENT(LA)Troy Sumitomo, owner of Five Axis in Huntington Beach, designed the Scion xA Speedster, which can be transformed into a driving simulator and self-powered drive-in movie theater. In the background are other vehicles Sumitomo modified for Scion, a division of Toyota. Five Axis’ current projects are kept strictly secret.