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WWE champ turned superstar actor John Cena made his first appearance in the Fast & Furious franchise with F9 in 2021. If there was any doubt about his enthusiast credentials, we can put them to rest right now thanks to this interview.Cena appeared on the Whisky Ginger w/ Andrew Santino podcast last week, where he revealed his daily driver: a Honda Civic Type R. The clip about the hot hatch was also shared widely on Twitter and TikTok.This content is imported from Tiktok. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.”It’s got tech, it’s manual, it’s reliable,” Cena said. “It’s a 2020 and it’s got a third pedal. At 145 [mph] it’s stable. It’s got seats in the back, I can actually pick people up.”In F9, Cena, who played Dominic Toretto’s brother Jakob, drove a Ford Mustang and a Toyota Supra. More Cena, More Type R”If you have a purse in a Countach, you’re screwed,” Cena added. “They’re a little rough around the edges. The clutch is a dogfight and it’s really tough to get those things running right. So if I actually need to drive a car more than 10 miles, it’s the Civic.”Check out the full interview right here:This content is imported from Tiktok. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.It’s John Cena! | Whiskey Ginger w/ Andrew Santino 231Watch onYouTube IconYouTube IconRoad & Track staff writer with a taste for high-mileage, rusted-out projects and amateur endurance racing. More

GM has launched a new educational tool called EV Live to answer customers’ questions about electric vehicles and how to charge them.The site is open to all—you can ask about charging, range, and even non-GM products, though they’re happy to discuss GM vehicles and technology.On evlive.gm.com, users can schedule a live session with a real person.Other carmakers have various means of educating and informing potential electric-vehicle buyers about EVs, but none has gone as far as General Motors’ new EV Live. Through an online web address, evlive.gm.com, anyone who wants to can schedule a meeting with a living, breathing, walking, and talking product expert who can answer just about any question or concern you may have about electric cars. More on EV LiveThe experts can also literally take you inside any of GM’s various electric-car offerings, from a Bolt EUV to a BrightDrop commercial vehicle, all from a space inside GM’s Tech Center in Warren, Michigan. EV charging questions are open for discussion, too. “Anybody can access it—it’s always available, and it’s free,” said Hoss Hossani, GM’s vice president of the EV Ecosystem. “It’s not just for GM customers. It’s really for anybody. It’s basically an interactive education platform.”A potential customer uses EVLive online on a tablet.GMAnd the answers cover the whole of the EV universe, delivered by a real person.”There’s a lot of content on the site,” Hossani said. “The ideal experience is to actually speak with one of our EV Live specialists that are real humans. These aren’t avatars or bots or ChatGPT AI. Behind the scenes is a real human being. You can see them on video (they can’t see you), and you can ask them literally any question you have about EVs: charging, range, batteries, longevity, sustainability, recyclability, cost of ownership. They’re really there to help demystify EVs for the masses. And for folks who are on the fence, or maybe they don’t believe in EVs altogether. So that’s the gist of what EV Live is all about.”We Put It to the TestI got to try it out. A technician in a big hotel meeting room in Los Angeles showed me the EV Live experience on a large TV screen. Most people will be watching this on their phones, though you can connect to it on any internet-capable device. Immediately I was whisked virtually into a studio in wonderful Warren, Michigan, and there was a confident and friendly EV expert. She showed me around the EUV Bolt, pointing out a few features.I asked a question I’ve heard many times: How can I charge an EV if I live in an apartment? “Oh gosh, we have lots of solutions,” said Jen, the EV specialist on the screen. Know Your StuffJen told me that she herself wants to buy a Chevy Bolt EUV. In her apartment complex there is a charging hub for residents, with three charging cables available, she said, and that at some workplaces there are charging outlets that allow EV owners to charge while at work. And if that doesn’t do it for you, there are more fast chargers being built all the time. For public chargers, you can get an EVGo credit of $500, Jen said. I asked about BrightDrop, GM’s commercial-electric vehicle. Jen recommended I set up a tour with Trish, the EV Live BrightDrop specialist. GM offers a lot of EVs, with more coming soon.GMThere are separate GM EV Live studios for Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC. “We have this very seamless handoff between the EV Live studio and, for example, the Chevy studio if you want to find out more about the Equinox that’s coming out—whether it’s a gasoline Equinox, or the electric Equinox—this studio is meant to be focused on that education, around EVs.”EV Live is not the only way for customers to become educated about GM EVs.”Every General Motors customer, if they have a Chevrolet, they have a myChevrolet app. If they’ve got a GMC, they have a myGMC app,” said Hossani. “People are initiating a live call or looking to go deeper than the information we’re providing on the website, which is the whole point, to allow us to have deeper conversations that are more personalized to your individual use case.”Why this? Why now? Last year 6 percent of vehicles sold in the U.S. were electric. That could be a tipping point.”Based on what we’ve seen in China and in Europe, once you hit that 5 or 6 percent of new-vehicle sales being EVs, you start to see an acceleration,” said Hossani. “So the next five years, we’ll see it become a tipping point. I see a lot more people getting into electric over the next five years than we did over the last 10.” Mark Vaughn grew up in a Ford family and spent many hours holding a trouble light over a straight-six miraculously fed by a single-barrel carburetor while his father cursed Ford, all its products and everyone who ever worked there. This was his introduction to objective automotive criticism. He started writing for City News Service in Los Angeles, then moved to Europe and became editor of a car magazine called, creatively, Auto. He decided Auto should cover Formula 1, sports prototypes and touring cars—no one stopped him! From there he interviewed with Autoweek at the 1989 Frankfurt motor show and has been with us ever since. More

We tried it, and we can categorically state that Gran Turismo 7 on PlayStation 5 is a whole new experience when you add Sony’s PS VR2 headset.The virtual reality headset uses a high-resolution OLED display compatible with 4K HDR games at up to 120 frames per second.Available exclusively for the Sony PlayStation 5, the PS VR2 headset with its two VR2 sense controllers will set you back $549.The floor space of Toyota’s GR010 Hybrid Le Mans Hypercar is awash with computers, wiring harnesses, and carbon-fiber bodywork all neatly packed by an assortment of stainless-steel fasteners. Until recently, the handy work by Toyota Gazoo Racing engineers required a stint with the race team, but we’re having a look from the living room couch. Using Sony’s all-new PS VR2 headset, these finer details shine bright enough to make you squint. The PlayStation 5 virtual reality experience isn’t just a new toy it makes Gran Turismo 7, the company’s exclusive driving sim, feel brand-new all over again.Game Time, All the TimeThe PS VR2 virtual reality headset is a profound pair of goggles. It’s a wired unit that’s only compatible with the PlayStation 5. It uses a high-resolution OLED display for each eye that illustrates compatible video games in 4K HDR at up to 120 frames per second. The headset even tracks eye movement to simulate how we focus in the real world. When experiencing this in Gran Turismo 7, it means when your eyeballs are pointed at the braking zone marker, the sharpness intensifies in one specific spot and feathers away from what you’re looking at. Can’t see the rearview camera because your knuckles are in the way? No problem, pick your chin up to look around them. The game’s level of detail adjusts on the fly instead of painting all of it at once across a television screen.SonyThe headset weighs just over a pound, which is much lighter than even the most expensive carbon-fiber lightweight racing helmet. While the PS VR2 only covers your eyes and forehead, the way the hardware locks you into a vision-canceling aura is similar to what it’s like peering out of something Snell certified. Drive across the curbing of Inner Loop at Watkins Glen, and the headset’s vibration deepens the illusion. There’s even plenty of room in the viewing area to accommodate prescription eyeglasses. The magic of playing Gran Turismo 7 while wearing the PS VR2 is that everything becomes a three-dimensional experience. Whether you’re competing online against real people, attempting to complete license challenges, watching replays, or taking a tour of every car at the dealership, the entire game is all up in your face. Mountain Dew–Flavored DramamineExploring the supremely detailed interiors that Polyphony Digital has developed for Sony’s driving sim is like seeing color television for the first time. You can’t help but let out an audible “oh my God” and quickly forget what Gran Turismo 7 was like without it. It’s seriously that good. The change of perspective while wearing the PS VR2 headset is major. It’s a lot of fun but doesn’t feel like playing a game; it feels exceptionally real.A word of caution: sometimes things can get a little too real, so take it slow. Especially if you’re new to VR. Don’t put the headset on and expect to stomach an hour of intense driving at the Nürburgring in a GT3 race car. We tried that, paying the price of nearly revisiting our Taco Bell lunch. Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi suggests starting slow and in a convertible. Saying in an interview to just drive normally and build up your tolerance in stints, just as you would out on a real race track for the first time. Although even when we were warmed up after hours of gameplay, the elevation change and vehicle movement during rally races had us pausing to take a break. 15 minutes later, we sat back down and finished the race without the worry of experiencing Return of the Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Many Pennies, But Worth It For our experience with the PS VR2 headset and Gran Turismo 7, we used the PS5 DualSense controller instead of a racing wheel. The two VR2 Sense controllers that are necessary in other VR games, aren’t apart of the Gran Turismo 7 experience. The PS5 DualSense does its best to imitate brake fade and pedal feel through adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. Even without a racing wheel, we’d argue the dynamic perspective helped us improve our lap times. The combination of the force feedback in the PS VR2 headset with the PS5 DualSense adaptive triggers is a gift to gamers without the money or space to park a bucket seat and steering wheel in their living room.Sony PlayStation VR2 BundleSony PlayStation VR2 BundleThis heightened sense of simulation doesn’t come cheap. The PS VR2 currently retails for $549. That’s $150 more than the PlayStation 5 console required to use it, or $50 more if you purchase the more expensive PS5 that comes with a disc drive. Buying a bundle could add hundreds to that price. If watching that much money go toward video games gives you motion sickness, we should point out it’s a cheaper alternative to a sim rig that uses a direct-drive steering wheel and pedals. Another neat trick with the PS VR2 headset; you aren’t required to face the television, even if you’re using a full-on rig. Just create a play space as far as the headset’s 14.7-foot cord will reach and get racing.Incredible Hardware with Few Choices The PS VR2 headset isn’t the first VR experience in the competitive world of sim racing, but it’s a first for the Gran Turismo series. Popular racing games such as Assetto Corsa, Assetto Corsa Competizione, iRacing, rFactor, and Dirt Rally 2.0 unlocked virtual reality long before Sony’s new hardware launched earlier this year. Those racing sims, each have their own range of virtual reality headset options, much of which takes place on PC instead.Sony’s library of PS VR2 compatible games, outside of our own obvious favorite, still leaves a lot to be desired. Horizon: Call of the Mountain takes full advantage of the headset OLED screens with beautifully-rendered environments in an action-packed story. The space explorer No Man’s Sky is a different adventure worth checking out, one that delivers clever use of the headset and controller’s haptic feedback. For now, we’ve got more car interiors to explore in 4K.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Associate EditorYes, he’s still working on the 1986 Nissan 300ZX Turbo project car he started in high school, and no, it’s not for sale yet. Austin Irwin was born and raised in Michigan, and, despite getting shelled by hockey pucks during a not-so-successful goaltending career through high school and college, still has all of his teeth. He loves cars from the 1980s and Bleu, his Great Pyrenees, and is an active member of the Buffalo Wild Wings community. When Austin isn’t working on his own cars, he’s likely on the side of the highway helping someone else fix theirs. More

Hyundai is updating the Sonata for 2024 with a striking new exterior design.The interior is also thoroughly updated and features new display screens.We expect the Sonata to go on sale in the U.S. later this year.Hyundai is restyling the Sonata mid-size sedan with a new look that falls in line with other recent redesigns such as the Kona crossover, the Staria van, and the Grandeur sedan. It looks surprisingly different from the outgoing Sonata that first launched for the 2020 model year, and the new face is particularly futuristic.More Cool Hyundai DesignsThe full-width LED light strip stretching across the front is immediately noticeable, and the grille and headlights are reshaped. Out back, the taillights incorporate a similar light strip and the lower fascia looks more aggressive than before. Hyundai showed both the standard car and the sportier N Line model, and both have new wheel designs as well.HyundaiThe changes inside center around two large 12.3-inch screens that are now housed in a single curved display binnacle. Certain dashboard components such as the climate controls are also rearranged, and the materials appear to be an upgrade compared with before. The steering wheel is also new, and the gearshift is relocated to the steering column to free up space in the center console.We don’t expect too many changes to the Sonata’s powertrain lineup, which currently comprises a 2.5-liter inline-four, a turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four, a turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four for the N Line, and a hybrid setup. Hyundai will reveal more details about the car soon, and U.S. specs should come within the next few months.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Senior EditorDespite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.   More

Plenty of ideas exist to eliminate the trouble of plugging an EV into a heavy charging cable. From wireless pads to robot arms, people have been working on this technology for a while now.Hyundai Motor Group is the latest to investigate human-free EV charging tech and will display its new Automatic Charging Robot at the Seoul Mobility Show that starts next week.Using a built-in laser, cameras, AI wheels, and a movable arm, the ACR can—with the right EV—make charging your Ioniq 6 as easy as pushing a button on the key fob.As simple as it can be to charge an electric vehicle at a known location like home or work, it could always be easier. WiTricity is working on wireless EV charging and has been for a decade. In 2015, Tesla showed a video of a metal “snake” that could plug a charging cable into an EV automatically. Ram is working on an inductive charging robot for its upcoming electric truck. This month in Seoul, Hyundai and Kia will display the latest of these automated charging technologies, this one called ACR. HyundaiThe Automatic Charging Robot is somewhat similar to Tesla’s metal snake, but it is more advanced. The snake had a proprietary Tesla connector built in, while the Hyundai Motor Group’s ACR instead has a hand that can hold different plugs. Granted, most of the time, it will use a J1772 or CCS connector, but it’s good to see this kind of forward-thinking compatibility. In fact, HMG designed the ACR to operate in any environment, “regardless of charger location, weather and potential obstacles,” the company said. It’s a waterproof and dustproof (IP65 rated) robot that uses a stationary safety pole with a built-in laser sensor installed in the ground nearby to warn the robot when it might run into a stationary or moving obstacle.HyundaiHyundaiThis is the “isn’t it fabulous” version of how the ACR is supposed to work. You park your car where it will charge up—or simply nearby, if the EV can then park itself—and tell the system to initialize charging from the key fob. The car that the ACR is attempting to charge up has to have a charging port door that can open without human interaction, and the ACR communicates with the car to open it up. The wheeled ACR then moves closer to the car and uses a 3D-camera-based artificial intelligence algorithm to determine where the charging plug is and extends the cable to the port. When the EV is charged up, the robot arm moves away.This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Newly Developed Automatic Charging Robot (ACR) For Electric Vehicles l Hyundai Motor GroupWatch onYouTube IconYouTube IconHyundai released a video of the ACR in action, and this time it’s the real thing. In July 2022, the automaker released a computer-generated video showing the robot’s potential. The head of HMG’s Robotics Lab, Dong Jin Hyun, said the ACR can be a particular help for “people with mobility barriers, as charging cables become thicker and heavier to enable high-speed charging.”For now, the ACR is just a cool toy on display at the 2023 Seoul Mobility Show. But HMG said that it predicts robots will offer support for EV charging in the “near future.” Whenever the ACR or any of the other charging simplification technologies arrive, it’ll be the next concrete step that makes driving an EV more accessible and convenient.This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.New TricksContributing EditorSebastian Blanco has been writing about electric vehicles, hybrids, and hydrogen cars since 2006. His articles and car reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Automotive News, Reuters, SAE, Autoblog, InsideEVs, Trucks.com, Car Talk, and other outlets. His first green-car media event was the launch of the Tesla Roadster, and since then he has been tracking the shift away from gasoline-powered vehicles and discovering the new technology’s importance not just for the auto industry, but for the world as a whole. Throw in the recent shift to autonomous vehicles, and there are more interesting changes happening now than most people can wrap their heads around. You can find him on Twitter or, on good days, behind the wheel of a new EV.  More