Did you know that Sony is working with Honda to develop an electric vehicle that is scheduled to be released in 2026? Sony Honda Mobility is currently letting journalists get hands-on with the Afila prototype, Gran Turismo You control a video game version of a car while sitting inside the actual machine.
That’s why I drove down to PlayStation’s North American headquarters last week to try out the Afeela inside and experience what I’ve never been able to experience before – but I got way more than I bargained for!
Below you’ll find a short 50-second video summarizing the experience, along with a short list of new things I learned.
1) Don’t expect to be able to test drive it right away.
No, before you ask, we did not get to drive an actual Sony Honda vehicle. We held the wheel and pressed the pedals, but nothing happened in-game or out of the game. “We will provide journalists with the opportunity to test drive the vehicle as soon as possible, consistent with our vehicle development schedule,” reads a statement released through Sony Honda Mobility third-party spokesman Glenn Mandel.
We’re told test drives won’t be happening this year, but could happen next year, but it may be 2026 before journalists are actually able to get behind the wheel.
2) A physical button has been added to open the door.
There were previously two ways to open the prototype’s door from the outside: by pressing a button on Afeela’s smartphone app, or by having the camera system recognize your face and open the door. But the latest prototype has a third way: a physical button mounted under the window that can send the same signal. I pressed it, and it worked. Sony Honda is still working on the authentication method, though. The representative declined to say whether it will use a key fob or a digital car key like UWB to recognize nearby people.
3) Afeela does not allow the driver to see what is displayed on the passenger screen.
While the Afeela’s ultra-wide screen is one of its most impressive features, Sony Honda doesn’t plan to let the driver see the entire screen while driving. Instead, it will use some sort of privacy filter to separate the passenger side screen section, allowing them to continue watching without disturbing the driver.
“The specifications for mass production have not yet been decided, but to ensure the driver can drive safely, we plan to equip the vehicle with a mechanism that cannot be seen by the driver while driving,” says SHM.
4) There probably won’t be an actual PS5 inside.
I played Gran Turismo 7 The Afila’s screen displays games streamed wirelessly from a nearby PS5 using Sony’s PS Remote Play app. There’s no actual PS5 console in the car, and there are currently no plans to change that. In January, Sony Honda Mobility president and COO Izumi Kawanishi said that while it’s still not decided whether an actual PS5 will appear, SHM currently “envisions remote play instead of an installed PS5 console.”
It’s also unclear whether you’ll be able to play anything using the Afeela’s steering wheel and pedals.
5) Afilia’s “personal representative” you With questions.
Sony Honda signed a deal with Microsoft last year. The company aims to create “conversational personal agents” in cars, and while it’s not yet clear what that means in practice, it’s likely that the car’s AI will Urge you After anticipating your needs, we ask you questions.
“We are investigating the possibility of two-way communication between people and cars, and are also working with Microsoft to develop a conversational personal agent using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Services,” SHM said when asked. “It will grow according to the user, so we believe it will be possible to communicate with the user in a way that suits their preferences.”
6) There’s a good reason Sony Honda didn’t let us touch the cars at CES.
As mentioned in the video, many parts of the prototype are just mockups at this point and aren’t even functional yet. This includes flashy things like digital side and rearview mirrors, but also mundane things like the turn signal stalk, sun visors, glove and storage compartments, and most parts of the touchscreen user experience.
I could scroll through a map of Las Vegas, but I couldn’t tap pins. I could scrub through a video that was playing and slide it to the driver’s or passenger’s side screen with gestures, but I couldn’t launch many other functions on the touchscreen or the included smartphone app. I’m not criticizing SHM, though; Sony Honda has made it perfectly clear that this is a prototype, and it will be a few more years before we can figure it all out.
7) Afeela doesn’t necessarily have to be an advertisement for Sony.
Yes, the current prototype has a silly digital billboard displaying Sony properties on the front bumper. Spiderman and Forbidden West of the HorizonYou can tune the car’s digital motor sound with a variety of noises, from Sony properties to the Crunchyroll anime streaming service. But a spokesperson said Sony Honda is considering partnering with companies other than Sony. And you could display any text you wanted on the bumper screen by simply typing it into the phone app.
Of course, I chose The Verge.