Aston Martin Experience iPhone app lets you fondle virtual sports cars
Aston Martin's new Experience iPhone app provides a vague estimation of what it's like to ride around in a £160,000 wondercar.
Too poor to buy an Aston Martin? Pawn shop not offering you anywhere near enough for your kidneys? Fret not -- Aston Martin's new Experience iPhone app uses the Jesus phone's onboard technology to put you in the driver's seat provide a vague estimation of what it's like to ride around in a £160,000 wondercar.
The app has a bootfull of features, including a virtual start button that'll fire up your virtual Aston of choice. Tilt your handset forward and backward like an accelerator pedal, meanwhile, and it'll rev the nuts (and virtual bolts) off your virtual engine. It'll even connect you with Aston Martin's Facebook page so you can share your experiences with your virtual friends.
The Aston Martin Experience app provides some clever location-based and telemetry functions. It records your top speed, the amount of forward, backward, lateral and average G-force you're pulling as you drive. It'll even recommend some of the UK's best driving roads so you can put your pretend Aston through its paces.
The app also uses the iPhone's camera and GPS features to power an "acoustically accurate" augmented reality speedometer. Place this in your windscreen (or in front of your face as you run about) and a speedo overlaid against a view of the real world climbs to represent your velocity as the virtual engine revs increase.
All those features could get a tiny bit stale after a few days, but Aston has thankfully included some extra features that may justify you using the app more than once. The most impressive of these is the city guide feature, developed in conjunction with A Hedonist's Guide, which provides tourist information on 40 of the most popular cities across the globe.
There's also a virtual tour of the company's Gaydon HQ, push notifications that provide all the latest Aston Martin news and updates from the company's Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts.
Want in? The app is available now for the iPhone for £3.49. Not impressed? Have a gander at the free Aston Martin Explore app instead, which does much of the above -- minus the telemetry and location-based services -- for absolutely nothing.
Alternatively, head over to our Car Tech reviews pages where you'll find full reviews on the Aston Martin DBS, V12 Vantage, Virage, V8 Vantage S and Rapide.