Here are our 10 favourite cars in Gran Turismo 4

If ever there was a vehicle which demonstrated the utter ruthlessness of German engineering, it’s this. Having won five out of the six Le Mans races between 2000 and 2005, it’s fitting that one of the ways the carbon-bodied, V8-powered leviathan is obtained in-game is by winning that very same race.

With a 760bhp naturally aspirated V12 to haul this mid-engined, rear-wheel drive stunner around, the Cien likely would’ve been a big hit… had it been released. It’s one of the saddest ‘what if’ moments in North America’s storied concept car logbook, but at least we get to enjoy it forever more in Gran Turismo 4 (GT4).

An FIA-GT championship-winner, and probably the most aggressively-styled car of its time. That body is as long as the Mulsanne straight itself, while the gargantuan rear wing gives it about as much width as all of Normandy. For sheer presence and pantomime alone, the CLK makes this list.

The screaming four-rotor naturally aspirated power plant, the iconic orange/green livery and the slammed silhouette all make it fairly easy to swoon over the 787B. And then you remember that it bested cars like the XJR-9 and the Sauber C9 to become a national hero at a time when Japan was overdue one in endurance racing.

We know Lancia is making a mainstream comeback, and we know it’s also looking to get back into rallying… though solely on an amateur level for the time being. Nor will it do so directly under its own flag; the Ypsilon Rally 4 HF will be entered mostly by privateers in the ‘R4’ class. It makes you appreciate its past creations that bit more, and where better to start than the Stratos?

Using an uprated version of Nissan’s RB26 motor - now pushing 542bhp - and packing it into a devilishly handsome sub-one-tonne body, the ZZ-II is yet another supercar we wish had made production. In GT4, it’s one of those cars which can, with a bit of fettling, push well above its means to compete with meaner, leaner racing cars. 

Yes, this list is dominated by racing cars, but what else are we supposed to do when the darn game features so much motorsport royalty? The Bentley Speed 8 was the car which stung the aforementioned R8’s near-flawless record with an all-guns-blazing attempt at immortality in 2003. It was also Bentley’s first winner at Le Mans in 71 years and is perhaps the most brutal machine to wear ‘British Racing Green’. Ever.

A quirky thing where appearance is concerned, but completely serious where performance is. Powered by a big V8 and sending 683bhp to the rear wheels in a car with only three gears and weighing just over 800kg, the 2J is… unfair. Even more so when you peek around the back and spot the fan.

The third and final concept car we’ll feature, and one which was even closer to hitting showroom floors than the other two. The W12 Nardo Concept was a preview of what Volkswagen envisioned its chief hypercar of the future to look like. It also has a theoretical top speed of 233mph, courtesy of a 6.0-litre W12 engine, so it’s just as sharp on the inside as it is on the outside.

Where better to end this list than with the literal poster car for GT4: the Ford GT LM Spec II. It was never officially presented by Ford, but rather, was a concept realised by Yazunori and his team to signal the return of the GT after nearly 40 years. We can hear the slow opera soundtrack turning into an ear-drum-busting musical already…