The 2016 Audi TT Has a Virtual Cockpit That Helped Me Find a Fishing Spot

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The 2016 Audi TT Has a Virtual Cockpit That Helped Me Find a Fishing Spot

Ah, the wonders of technology. It’s crazy to imagine what life will be like in a few years as we’re driving around in autonomous cars as we play backgammon with other passengers. That sensor in the stop sign? It just noticed you made a rolling stop. The guy in the Corvette next to you will be able to send you a message that your Toyota Corolla is an embarrassment to society.

Think it’s not coming? Try driving a 2016 Audi TT. The car uses what Audi calls a Virtual Cockpit that seems to be borrowed from a future society on another planet, one that understands the finer pleasures of German automotive engineering. The display is friggin’ huge at 12.3-inches in width and, as you drive, you can watch Google Earth roll by in what seems like a dream state. Uncle Bob’s barn appears minus the cows and the manure, the neighbor’s pool (which you know he purchased after getting a second mortgage) scrolls into view as you realize you can barely afford a jet tub at Menard’s, and you notice there’s a portion of a lake in your area that winds incalculably behind a row of trees near a preternatural weed line.

Who knew, right? All of those things are 100% true and they looked glorious as I drove around mindlessly trying to figure out how it all works. There were times when I wanted to just stare at the TFT screen, which has exactly 1440 × 540 pixels, and take it all in. You might think I’m exaggerating with the future society comment, but I’ve driven a Tesla Model S and this is even better. Not so much the whole car driving itself thing and going to 0-60 in three seconds, but the screen (located above the steering wheel with no center touchscreen) is fantastic.

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When I noticed the lake, I went home and looked up the name and tried to figure out how to drag my kayak out there. That’s technology at its best. The TT revealed things I didn’t know, opened my eyes to things I didn’t see, and made me more aware of my surroundings. Oddly, it’s not the default view on the screen, so you have to press a View button to expand the screen and open up Google Earth for your navigational pleasure. This also puts the tachometer and speedometer on the lower left and right portion of the screen.

Not to get too techie here, but the quality of the screen really is thanks to NVIDIA. The company makes a chipset called Tegra that never sputters or flickers. If there wasn’t a smooth Google Earth animation playing on the 12-inch screen, if it flickered or looked like crap, you’d disable it or maybe watch the road instead. Here, it’s like an Xbox game, one that involves finding lakes and coveting your neighbor’s pool. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

The controls are also sublime. There’s a rotary dial in between the seats that you use to flick and gestures your way through the options. Other than Google Earth, you can skip through tracks playing from your phone, look up your contacts and make calls, and even browse through some of the connected car features for finding gas stations and local events. Like most new Audi models these days, the car connects to an LTE network for the Internet service.

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My only minor complaint is that I kept looking for a center touchscreen. I was happy in some ways that there isn’t one, since it would make the dash a bit too cluttered, but if you have driven newer cars you get accustomed to looking there to control the climate and other options. The TT lets you adjust the temp and use the seat warmers but pressing electronics controls on the vents, which is rather ingenious (and something else I’ve never seen).

By the way, the Audi TT is fast. I drove a version that let me put the top down, and there’s so much pep here for a small car that you have to put your head back if you really floor it from a full stop. It’s not as fast as one of my all-time favorite small cars (that would be the Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG) and doesn’t quite have the same cornering ability, but it’s in the ballpark. Also, the AMG didn’t help me find that fishing spot. I’d pay $42,900 for that TT feature alone.

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