2017 Audi A4's Virtual Cockpit and MMI are sensational (pictures)

The optional Virtual Cockpit is a stunning piece of tech.

This particular screen showing the navigation system using Google Maps topography has the speedometer and tachometer minimized.

This screen showing the navigation system incorporating Google Maps topography has the speedometer and tachometer maximized for easy viewing.

When you select the navigation option, the center screen size increases to the 7.3-inch unit seen here. Skimp out, and you'll get a 6-inch screen instead.

A rearview camera is standard, but Audi's optional 360-degree camera system, known as Top View, is shown here.

Screen resolution is excellent, and dynamic parking lines are helpful when parking. A similar forward-facing view is also available.

Audi amusingly preloaded the MMI system's hard drive with some throwback Seventies and Eighties rock tunes.

This is what the FM radio station selection screen looks like. You can rifle through stations using the central MMI control knob.

It's still possible to scroll through music selections (in this case, radio stations) using the in-cluster display and steering-wheel-mounted thumbwheel.

Another, arguably less useful view offered by Virtual Cockpit gives an unusual amount of screen real estate to the date and time.

This is Virtual Cockpit's most traditional screen, with a large tachometer and matching speedometer (note that the latter is displayed in kph, not mph, as the photo car is a European model).

Note the MMI jog wheel with swipe-gesture touchpad just ahead of the gear selector, as well as the driver-definable global preset buttons sitting in front of the cupholders.