Cyberpunk Runs in a Tesla
Most people know Tesla as a sexy electric vehicle company. Founder and CEO Elon Musk has been vocal about wanting to integrate games into his cars.
Teslas feature a large touchscreen for navigation, radio, A/C and all your typical automobile functions. Looking more closely at the electronics, we see some rather impressive hardware which powers the vehicle.
In last week’s Model S Delivery Event, Musk announced that Tesla would boast gaming experiences on the level of next-gen consoles! Specifically, the presentation stated “PS5-Level Performance” inside their latest vehicle.
A few moments later, we saw Cyberpunk 2077 being run on the front dash. The clip was brief and didn’t show off any gunplay, but the game was indeed working inside of an on-stage Tesla. To make things even more impressive, the notoriously glitchy game was running at 60 FPS (supposedly)!
What This Means for Tesla in Gaming
Elon Musk is an avid gamer. He’s mentioned featuring Atari games inside Tesla cars, but this latest demo takes things to another level.
By highlighting the Tesla’s raw gaming power, it begs the question how high of a priority entertainment is in their vehicles. It may have been at the end of the showcase presentation, but it still warranted more than 90 minutes of airtime.
Having access to AAA games in your car is one thing, but actually taking advantage of this feature is something else. About a decade ago, I put a DVR player in my car. The screen wasn’t very large, but it worked. I ended up watching a few movies while on a lunch break, but never actually found a regular use for it.
On the gaming side, I could see a passenger playing games on the Tesla screen during a long road trip. However, this is pretty dangerous since it would likely be a major distraction for the driver. How many gamers can avoid looking at the screen when their friend exclaims loudly?
Perhaps Tesla is looking to change the way we utilize vehicles. Rather than being viewed as a mode of transportation, it can transition into a home away from home. This is definitely a motivating factor for the pickup truck which was announced with a “camper” mode.
Regardless, this is the type of announcement that made me do a double take. The availability of Tesla vehicles is better than that of a PS5, but it’s several orders of magnitude more expensive.
Tesla’s Gaming Future
There are numerous things that can be done with a large touchscreen monitor and modern GPUs. There isn’t much competition in the electric vehicle market, and it’s unlikely that playing Cyberpunk would be a huge selling point, but it’s fun to see video games migrating into new industries!
I don’t think Tesla will give Microsoft or Sony a run for their money, but I’m hopeful that they can help make gaming more widespread.
What are your thoughts on Tesla in the gaming space? What video games would you like to play in your car? Join the conversation in the comments section, below!
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