Logan co-founder/director Ben Conrad leverages his work on automotive-insanity (like the last four Gymkhana films) into the virtual world with a riveting VR piece for Castrol EDGE via London agency The Brooklyn Brothers.

Ben Conrad: “We’re doing something that has never been done before. “Virtual Drift” begins by placing champion Formula Drifter Matt Powers and his 650-horsepower Mustang on a clear open course, before connecting the driver to the Oculus gear. Blinded by the headset but fed images of a virtual obstacle course, Powers must drive his real car in response to the virtual environment.”

To create this stunt, Conrad and his team of creative technologists designed a CG, apocalyptic obstacle course to test the best drivers’ reflexes and skills. They then hardwired a car in the real world with a triangulated GPS system and a network of sensors that would monitor variables including speed, temperature, torque, and throttle.

All this data was then collected and processed through a computer and plugged into the virtual world essentially creating an exact replica of the car in the space. As the driver maneuvered in the real world, the virtual car would move as well.

Client: Castrol
Title: “Virtual Drift”
Agency: The Brooklyn Brothers, London UK
Creative Director: Victoria Daltrey, Will Bingham
Client Partner: Matt Brown
Producer: Victoria Bennett
Creative Director: Ben Conrad
VR Producer: Pierre Nobile
Developer, Creative Technologist : Adam Amaral, Glenn Snyder
Production Company: Logan & Sons
Director: Ben Conrad
Head of Production: Scott Siegal
Producer: Rick Brown
Director of Photography: Jordan Valenti
Stunt Coordinator: Eliza Coleman
Automotive Consultant: Ashley Baker
Production Manager: Chris Fox
Editorial, VFX: Logan
Executive Creative Director: Ben Conrad
Head of Production: Scott Siegal
Producer: Pierre Nobile
Creative Director: Kenneth Robin
Editor: Volkert Besseling
Assistant Editor: Matt Anderson, Kyle Helf
Lead Design: Kenneth Robin
Designers: Kenneth Robin, Ash Thorp, Lamson To
VFX Supervisor: Stephan Kosinski
CG Lead: Pauline Giraudel
CG Artists: Pauline Giraudel, Bryanna London, Daniel Jensen, Ryan Kirkwood
Compositing Lead: Andrew Pellicer
2D Compositors: Andrew Pellicer, Bryan Yu, Ryan Kirkwood
3D Animation Lead: John Bloch
3D Animators: John Bloch, James Grow, Robin Kim, Mike Atniel, Warren Heimall, Robert Dollase, Josh Hardeman
3D Modeling: Michael Conrad, Jake Hill, Pedro Mendoza
3D Tracking: Graham Herbster, Michael Theurer
FX Artists: Jenny Anderson, Ivan Cruz, Eric Rosenthal, Pedro Mendoza
2D Roto Paint: William Cox
Flame Conform: Carl Edwards
Storyboards: Bryan De Loach
Audio: Soundsred
Sound Designer, Mixer: Keith Ruggiero
Color: Incendio
Colorist: Luis Silva
Talent, Driver: Matt Powers