Can virtual reality replace test drives in lockdown? We find out

For the first (and hopefully last) time in my life, I recently bought a second-hand car unseen - a 17 year-old one at that. 

I had never even driven one, relying simply on the trusted words written by colleagues and copious forum posts to establish it was the car for me. And when the third lockdown made its unwelcome return, showrooms shut and non-essential journeys were banned, it became clear that I wasn’t going to be able to drive one before buying it. 

With no end of this lockdown in sight, I lost patience and took the plunge. Fastidious research meant that I lucked out and came away with a good’un, arranging contactless delivery from the garage in Swansea to my home. But that didn’t prevent the odd sleepless night prior to that wondering if what I had actually bought would be decidedly underwhelming to drive when I finally got the chance. 

The risk of buying a lemon when shopping for new cars is obviously lower than with used cars, but prospective buyers are still not allowed to simply pop in for a test drive (and still might not feel comfortable doing so when restrictions ease). So manufacturers are having to get creative to let consumers try in some way before buying. 

Abarth, Fiat’s sporting offshoot, has gone down the high-tech route. The firm took its latest Abarth 595 variant, the limited-run Scorpioneoro (try saying that before your first coffee) to Snowdonia, North Wales, filmed it with the latest high-tech gear and created a virtual-reality ‘driving’ experience for potential customers to enjoy in their living rooms. 

Obviously Abarth won’t be delivering a full-on driving simulator to every potential punter’s living room. Rather, we were sent an Abarth-branded wooden crate featuring a VR headset and Bose headphones for full immersion. Pre-loaded on it was a video where Abarth enthusiast and YouTuber Stef Vilaverde talks you around the car’s features, shows off its fruity exhaust and takes you for a spin from Black Rock Sands along the Welsh coast towards Mount Snowdon.