Nissan Tech Drive VR

The Challenge

Nissan is committed to redefining how cars are driven, powered, and integrated into society—a vision derived from the belief that the most exciting technology you own is right in your driveway. To communicate the benefits of Nissan Intelligent Mobility technologies for the Altima, we looked for a way to put people in the middle of the action without any real threat or danger. The result was Tech Drive VR—a way for people to understand and connect with the Altima’s advanced technologies.

Our Insight

In the real world, a test drive lets you evaluate a car’s performance and handling. But really important things, like safety technologies, go untested, and with good reason –it’s too dangerous to test them.

Nissan’s Tech Drive lets people take a drive into danger because it happens entirely in VR, letting you experience these technologies in ways no conventional test drive can safely allow. See what happens when a pedestrian suddenly comes out of nowhere, survive a close call changing lanes, and feel the tension of navigating a corner between two semis.

Tech Drive drops you right into the action in full 360 ̊, as realistically as possible, so you can not only see but actually feel how Nissan technologies work to save you from danger, without putting you in any at all.

Our Approach

With Tech Drive VR, Nissan allows you to experience how it feels when technology saves the day. By using a 360 ̊, virtual reality experience, we put technology to the test in ways no test drive ever has.

The 360 ̊ experience puts you in the virtual driver’s seat to test the car’s capabilities and test drive what you couldn’t in real life. This first-person perspective means that users not only see and hear dangerous close calls but actually feel them. Using a custom-built 360 ̊ camera rig, we dropped people right into the action—behind the wheel and on the street—to give users a genuine, interactive feel for how the Altima’s safety features work. To enhance authenticity, Tech Drive was shot live, in a real car, on real streets, with threats as close as they would be in real life.

Results

Tech Drive VR has been accessible on VR headsets at over 300 Nissan dealerships and events as well as on Microsoft Xboxes. It’s an industry-first React360 beta that put the 360 ̊ test drive right in your Facebook feed and other social media platforms.

In its first 30 days, Tech Drive VR reached 100 million video impressions, with thousands of virtual test drives taken around the world. The VR experience also launched at dealerships and auto events around North America in December of 2018—including the LA Auto Show, DetroitAuto Show, Chicago Auto Show, New York Auto Show, Toronto Auto Show, and over 300 Nissan Dealerships.