The plans for the new Virtual Reality facility had been revealed back in December 2007.

The opening of the Center follows the acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover by Tata Motors from Ford Motor Company for a net consideration of US $2.3 billion, which was completed on 2 June 2008.

The 'state-of-the-art' design facility draws on advanced audio visual technologies with the projection power of the world’s highest resolution projectors to significantly speed up product development cycles following an investment of £2million.

Engineers and designers are able to see and interact with life-size, three-dimensional models of vehicles and components. The system reduces the need for physical prototypes, saving both time and money.

The above pictures are from an official Video by Sony on the Jaguar Virtual Reality Center

Jaguar Land Rover's ground-breaking four-walled centre is a complete turn-key solution using cutting-edge projection technology, advanced motion tracking of the user's head and hands and is driven by advanced virtual reality software.

The total solution provides a virtual reality environment like no other for simulating vehicle exteriors and interiors and capable of making bodywork appear solid or transparent, all at a resolution that is near photo-realistic.

Brian Waterfield, JLR Principal Engineer and Virtual Reality Centre Manager said: "Jaguar Land Rover has taken another giant step forward in its thrust for technological advancement; enhancing its design and engineering process to enable quicker, more robust decision making. This facility offers a different level of engineering, one that will help future our products to meet the demand of an ever changing market place."

Eight Sony SRX-S105 ultra-high resolution projectors – each capable of delivering the world's highest resolution imagery – provide a visual quality that clearly outstrips existing industry virtual reality Walls and CAVES.

In the unique projector setup these produce photo quality interactive 3D imagery where pixilation on the rear-projection screens is almost impossible to see.

The user wears 3-D glasses to experience 'ultimate realism' with an ultra-high resolution that is four-times the definition of full-High Definition TV.

Working in partnership with Sony, Sun Microsystems and ICIDO and Midlands-based HoloVis International Ltd, the JLR team was able to bring together all of the different components of the project to design, manufacture, install and support this next-generation virtual environment for Jaguar and Land Rover.

Stuart Hetherington, Managing Director, HoloVis International comments: "We spent just over 18 months working closely with Jaguar Land Rover and our chosen system partners to design, develop, test and benchmark the proposed solution prior to the project being approved.

"This gave everyone the confidence in the unique technological solution we were going to create, as well as our capability in delivering such an advanced turn-key system of this nature. This really is a world’s-first in this industry and we’re proud to have delivered this for such a prestigious client."

About Sony 4K projection technology

HoloVis Apollo 3D display system (Source: HoloVis)

Sony has partnered with HoloVis International in a $4million investment by Jaguar and Land Rover into a state-of-the-art 'Computer Aided Virtual Environment (CAVE)'.

This industry-leading facility uses specialist Sony 4K projection technology to create a virtual reality environment for simulating vehicle exteriors and interiors and assisting in rapid development and testing of all areas of the vehicle programme.

Working with installation and support partners Sun Microsystems and IC:IDO, HoloVis and Sony have created what has been recognised as the most advanced facility of its kind in the world.

Jaguar and Land Rover's four-walled 'CAVE' draws on immense projection power; each of the eight Sony SRX-S105 high resolution projectors installed is as powerful as the strongest projector used in any of today's hi-tech cinemas and their native 4K resolution provides a visual quality that outstrips existing industry CAVEs by producing photo realistic images.

At over 8.8 Mega pixels (4096 x 2160), the SRX-S105 projector accommodates images with an ultra-high resolution that is over four times as clear as the latest High Definition television.

This provides two major benefits; pixels so tiny that images are free from visible pixel structure, even when viewed at close quarters, and displaying ultra-high resolution images from a single projector eliminates the more complicated requirements of multi-projector systems using edge blending.

Director of Engineering for Jaguar and Land Rover, Al Kammerer explains, "This is a key advance in our development toolbox. The awesome power of this project is unparalleled in our industry worldwide and will allow us to produce new vehicles on a much quicker timeline, to update and develop more responsively to customer trends and to be considerably more efficient as well."

Inside the Car

Sony's high-end projectors have a max resolution of 4096x2160px,
a weight of 110 kg, and a spare xenon lamp costs about $6,000

Indeed, this next-generation virtual environment for Jaguar and Land Rover will allow engineers and designers to see life-size models of vehicles and components at a contrast ratio of greater than 1800:1.

Reproducing the images with such rich and precise colour tonal detail ensures a realistic effect, while the use of 3-D glasses again lends itself to the experience of 'ultimate realism'. The SRX-S105 therefore reduces the need for physical prototypes, significantly speeding up product development cycles and thus saving both time and money in the process.

As Raj Pandya, General Manager for Sony UK confirms, “The Sony 4K projectors are four times the resolution of High Definition, meaning it is almost impossible to see pixels on this size screen."

(Source: Jaguar Land Rover, Sony)