Toyota managed to keep the FT-1 a secret until its world premiere today at the Detroit auto show. The brand’s Calty Design Research in California devised the front-engine, rear-wheel drive study, originally for the PlayStation Gran Turismo game, with the name standing for “Future Toyota,” and the number “1” for ultimate – always according to the automaker.

There’s no question that everyone’s mind goes to the long-rumored Supra replacement, and while Toyota did mention that the study builds upon “a rich sports coupe heritage dating back to the 2000GT, Celica, Supra, MR2 and most recently Scion FR-S”, it did point out that it’s only a design exercise.

“Our team was heavily influenced by Toyota’s sports car past, especially Celica and Supra, and we sought to capture some of that history,” said Alex Shen, Calty’s Studio Chief Designer. “It is an aggressive, track-focused sports car concept with a presence that has been amplified for shock and awe”

Nonetheless, design elements from the FT-1 concept will find their way into future Toyota products, and possibly even the next Supra, if it comes to materialize.

Toyota said that the study is a rolling concept with no real powertrain, adding that it envisioned the sports coupe to be powered by “a high-technology, high performance internal combustion engine”.

If you like what you see, you will be able to drive the FT-1 in Gran Turismo 6’s virtual environment as the car will be offered to players for free via DLC (downloadable content) as part of the Vision series.

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