Virtually perfect: the next-level Lotus Evija configurator

“The change between specifying a car in a studio and taking delivery of it can be quite dramatic,” says Tony Prosser, Realtime’s managing director. So while this stuff is all very fancy and impresses casual browsers like me, the fact is that it helps customers get the precise car they wanted.

So does how comprehensive the configurator is, how much you can personalise on the car, and how easily. “Some configurators are too complicated – and that affects the bottom line of the company,” says McSweeney.

The Evija is a doddle to use. You can open doors, extend wings, look inside and freely roam an environment so complex that even the shoulder of the tyre changes profile depending on whether you’ve chosen Pirelli P Zero or Trofeo rubber. And while most online configurators are pre-programmed 2D renderings, this one renders it in 3D as it goes.

It uses – and this is where, dear reader, I tried to keep up but my limits were being challenged like a 386 processor running Doom (ask your dad) – Epic Games’ Unreal Engine (v4), which looks hyper-realistic to me.

“The beauty of a game engine is that you can make changes very quickly,” says McSweeney. That gives it a use beyond showing it to customers, too: Lotus execs can look at different materials and colours and see if they fly. “It’s tremendous in that respect,” says Holroyd. “You can show anyone in the company, deliver all of the colours and all of the materials quickly. In a way, it competes with the live-action photo shoot.”

Next to me, a photographer shuffles nervously.

Evija: our specs

Well. Where do you begin? “Where I might start is with some design editions,” says Alan Holroyd. Lotus, like Aston Martin and others, has a few base ideas to get people’s creative juices going.

There are general themes such as Origin, Launch, Heritage, Formula, Cup Yellow and Neon, or designs with dual-colour highlights that replicate some of Lotus’s famous racing colours, and some it would rather you didn’t see yet.

I go with yellow, subtle inside, with discreet wheel and brake caliper colour. Those and more can be changed – and little break-out boxes let customers write specific bespoke instructions, too. To be honest, I’d still be there now.

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