Infiniti designs cars that empower drivers. But there’s nothing empowering about walking around concept cars you can’t touch or experience. So at the 2015 Pebble Beach Automotive Week, we created two immersive virtual reality experiences to create a loophole that put guests behind the wheel of the Q60 and QX30 Concept cars.

At Pebble Beach, the VR experiences were paired with a custom-built sled that mimicked G-forces, braking, and acceleration. But we also made the films to be experienced at home through a Google Cardboard-enhanced mobile app and the first ever YouTube 360 automotive ads, ensuring that viewers everywhere would be able to experience these cars the way they were meant to be experienced—from the driver’s seat.

Pebble Beach is an event primarily highlighting historic cars. There, guests typically walk around and look at cars – a very passive experience. Infiniti broke the mold not only by featuring two futuristic Concept vehicles, but finding a way through similarly futuristic technology to empower guests and put them behind the wheel of these cars. Virtual reality paired with a custom-built simulator sled transported guests outside of Pebble Beach to the world’s most exhilarating roads. 35,000 people attended the weekend, with over 7,900 at the Infiniti Pavilion. In addition the VR experience had 19.4M media impressions and 5.5M views online.