Never before was a car purely designed for it's apprearance in a videogame, until the GTbyCitroën came along a couple of years ago. It was specifically designed to impress gaming carfreaks in the Playstation-only title Gran Turismo 5 but wowed many audiences around the globe. That's mostly to do with the insane styling Citroën has developed, which looks like nothing we've ever seen before. Mostly that's to do with the surface language of the profile. It looks like the center of the car was designed as a stretched cocoon, with the wheelarches only attached to the center by two overlapping surfaces. On top of that, it has an enormous rear spoiler which can easily serve as a bookshelf. It somehow reminds me of a crouching leopard; with it's head between it shoulders and the rear legs ready to attack.
But this car is not all about show. Citroën showed a real-life model of this car on the Paris motorshow 2008 and little details like the door mirrors, which are actual mirrors instead of camera's, plus the fact that it had a fully operational drivetrain made that Citroëns intentions were very clear; this car was meant for production. Unfortunately the crisis kicked in and the project was scrapped. So apart from buying it in the Gran Turismo Playstation-game, there is no other way for us to own one. Luckily Norev is here to help with a 1/18 model of this amazing concept car.
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First of all; let's make clear that this model, despite it's ancestor, ís all about show. The concept model never had an engine on display (and to date no-one seems to know which engine was powering the real car) so there is no opening engine cover. Nor there is an opening bootlid, it doesen't even have a boot. No, Norev designed this model specifically to look good. And it does. The difficult shapes of the GTbyCitroën are captured quite nicely, although the sharp edges on top of the wheelarches are a bit rough. Mostly that's to do with the paint. I simply can't help noticing that around all edges the paint appears to bubble. It's not disturbing, not at all in fact, but at certain angles it just does not look right.
To make matters worse; the car is white, which means that you instantly notice oversized panelgaps. The model only has two openable parts (being the doors), but they are partly integrated in the roof, which means you're always looking on top of two quite large gaps; enhanced by the sloppy paintwork on the edges. This is very disappointing, because Norev has already proven that they cán build and paint their models brilliantly (Porsche 911 Turbo).
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But there is more to the design of this car than the paint. First of all the amazing shape. Norev has certainly streched their efforts on this one because it does exactly what it needs to do; draw your attention. No matter what model it's parked next to, your eyes are immediatly drawn to the Citroën. The stance is very neatly copied and the low ride height make it a very impressive look. The "GTbyCitroën" stickers excell in their brilliance. Not only do they look absolutely perfect on top of the white paint, they are also made out of a 3D-texture which is a small detail often forgotten by other manufacturers. The headlamps look good, although Norev hasen't been through the trouble of creating all the LED's. Instead, they use plain blue clusters. Strange, especially when you notice that the taillights áre made out of LED's...
I wish I could say this differently, but the wheels and rims just don't look right to me. The white coating of the rims is not reflective and the silver inlay is not made out of shiny silver. It's made out of plain grey plastic, which almost isen't noticable on top of the white parts. I seriously don't understand why they haven't used the same colour as the grey parts on the body, because those really stand out and look like the original. There's more; the tyre walls don't have markings and the rear wheels are attached using a single axle. And on top of all that; the front wheels don't really steer.
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When you open the doors you notice that they hinge with a small dogleg. This is a nessecity created by the movement of the doors. Inside you'll likely to find a doorpanel, because it constantly falls off in every model I've seen (anxious to hear your experiences on this), but besides that the interiour is replicated quite nicely. The colour of the copper dashboard is replicated perfectly and the amazing shape beams at you like you've never seen before. It looks brilliant and the same goes for the seats. They feel soft and look right. The four-point harnasses are represented as two rubber strips, which are as flexible and as detailed as they need to be.
Car: Citroën GTbyCitroën concept
Manufacturer: Norev
Scale: 1/18
Price: $60
Score: 45/100
This model confuses me. I have no idea why Norev painted it this bad and haven't put more attention to the rims. When you buy a model solely for the looks, you don't expect those two issues to be flawed. But when you look at it from a normal distance in a showcase; it does look absolutely amazing. Actually, the model only falls apart when you start to look at it a bit closer. So as a colclusion; if you are a regulair diecast collector who likes to look at his/her models some time; you can't go wrong. If you're a real hardcore enthousiast who likes to display his/her models in unique way's and explore all of it's features; leave it in the shop.
But if you just love the car and wan't to look at it every day, you don't have any other option, but it won't disappoint you either.
![]()
But this car is not all about show. Citroën showed a real-life model of this car on the Paris motorshow 2008 and little details like the door mirrors, which are actual mirrors instead of camera's, plus the fact that it had a fully operational drivetrain made that Citroëns intentions were very clear; this car was meant for production. Unfortunately the crisis kicked in and the project was scrapped. So apart from buying it in the Gran Turismo Playstation-game, there is no other way for us to own one. Luckily Norev is here to help with a 1/18 model of this amazing concept car.
First of all; let's make clear that this model, despite it's ancestor, ís all about show. The concept model never had an engine on display (and to date no-one seems to know which engine was powering the real car) so there is no opening engine cover. Nor there is an opening bootlid, it doesen't even have a boot. No, Norev designed this model specifically to look good. And it does. The difficult shapes of the GTbyCitroën are captured quite nicely, although the sharp edges on top of the wheelarches are a bit rough. Mostly that's to do with the paint. I simply can't help noticing that around all edges the paint appears to bubble. It's not disturbing, not at all in fact, but at certain angles it just does not look right.
To make matters worse; the car is white, which means that you instantly notice oversized panelgaps. The model only has two openable parts (being the doors), but they are partly integrated in the roof, which means you're always looking on top of two quite large gaps; enhanced by the sloppy paintwork on the edges. This is very disappointing, because Norev has already proven that they cán build and paint their models brilliantly (Porsche 911 Turbo).
But there is more to the design of this car than the paint. First of all the amazing shape. Norev has certainly streched their efforts on this one because it does exactly what it needs to do; draw your attention. No matter what model it's parked next to, your eyes are immediatly drawn to the Citroën. The stance is very neatly copied and the low ride height make it a very impressive look. The "GTbyCitroën" stickers excell in their brilliance. Not only do they look absolutely perfect on top of the white paint, they are also made out of a 3D-texture which is a small detail often forgotten by other manufacturers. The headlamps look good, although Norev hasen't been through the trouble of creating all the LED's. Instead, they use plain blue clusters. Strange, especially when you notice that the taillights áre made out of LED's...
I wish I could say this differently, but the wheels and rims just don't look right to me. The white coating of the rims is not reflective and the silver inlay is not made out of shiny silver. It's made out of plain grey plastic, which almost isen't noticable on top of the white parts. I seriously don't understand why they haven't used the same colour as the grey parts on the body, because those really stand out and look like the original. There's more; the tyre walls don't have markings and the rear wheels are attached using a single axle. And on top of all that; the front wheels don't really steer.
When you open the doors you notice that they hinge with a small dogleg. This is a nessecity created by the movement of the doors. Inside you'll likely to find a doorpanel, because it constantly falls off in every model I've seen (anxious to hear your experiences on this), but besides that the interiour is replicated quite nicely. The colour of the copper dashboard is replicated perfectly and the amazing shape beams at you like you've never seen before. It looks brilliant and the same goes for the seats. They feel soft and look right. The four-point harnasses are represented as two rubber strips, which are as flexible and as detailed as they need to be.
Car: Citroën GTbyCitroën concept
Manufacturer: Norev
Scale: 1/18
Price: $60
Score: 45/100
This model confuses me. I have no idea why Norev painted it this bad and haven't put more attention to the rims. When you buy a model solely for the looks, you don't expect those two issues to be flawed. But when you look at it from a normal distance in a showcase; it does look absolutely amazing. Actually, the model only falls apart when you start to look at it a bit closer. So as a colclusion; if you are a regulair diecast collector who likes to look at his/her models some time; you can't go wrong. If you're a real hardcore enthousiast who likes to display his/her models in unique way's and explore all of it's features; leave it in the shop.
But if you just love the car and wan't to look at it every day, you don't have any other option, but it won't disappoint you either.
