Gran Turismo Sport collector’s edition comes with a real car

In the seemingly neverending escalation of exotic special editions, Gran Turismo Sport offered one that came with a real car.

As spied by NeoGAF and reported yesterday by the Taiwanese blog ck101.com, the bundle packaged Gran Turismo Sport with a PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation VR, 12 months of PlayStation Plus, a Sony Bravia 4K HDR television, the Thrustmaster T-GT driving wheel, the Apiga AP1 racing chair and, by the way, a 2018 Mazda MX-5 with PS4 branding on the grille (and a “soul-moving red” paint job with racing stripe).

The promotion was a publicity stunt by Taiwan Sony Interactive Entertainment and man, did it work. A collector already snapped it up. The price was about 1.4 million New Taiwan Dollars, which is $46,300 in U.S. currency.

Mazda USA’s site lists the grand touring model of the MX-5 as starting at $30,065. Thrustmaster’s rig goes for $799.99. The TV is the 65-inch model, that goes for $3,999.99. The chair is $389. PS Plus is $59.99, the Pro’s MSRP is $399 and PlayStation VR is $449. Actual retail price of this showcase showdown is $36,218.99 so the collector paid about a $10,000 premium for that PS4-branded sled, unless it has all the options like rich Corinthian leather.

We’ve seen some re-donk-ulous special editions lately, including, most recently, an $800 Assassin’s Creed Origins, and 2015’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, which came packed with a mini-fridge. And while we admire the chutzpah behind a five-figure vanity edition like this, it’s nowhere near the most expensive one offered. That was the $387,000 “My Apocalypse Edition” of Dying Light, (on sale in the U.K. only) which came with a goddamn zombie-proof bunker.

For the rest of us plebes, Gran Tursmo Sport launches today on PlayStation 4 and its MSRP is a very affordable $59.99.