Nissan Motor unveiled the new GT-R supercar while Subaru showed off the Impreza WRX STI at the event at a giant convention centre near the capital ahead of the opening to the public on Saturday.

After looking at the shiny new cars in the real world, visitors can then move to the sidelines of the hall to "test drive" them on virtual racing circuits in a new version of the hit driving simulation game Gran Turismo.

The simulation, made in cooperation between Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) and carmakers, aims to give drivers a feel for the cars and see how much petrol they would consume in real racing.

"In reality you can't take a bend at a speed of 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour, and you can't either in the game. It's real though it may lack a bit of excitement for serious gamers," said Yoshiaki Oinuma of Sony's game unit.

"We hope the real and virtual worlds will cross over" in a way that would benefit both the game and the automobile industries, he told AFP at the event.

Players can also drive cars by Japan's Toyota, Daihatsu, Mitsubishi Motors, Mazda and Germany's BMW inGran Turismo 5, which will go on sale in December in Japan and in 2008 abroad.

Japanese automakers are struggling to shore up their domestic sales due to the nation's shrinking population and fading interest among young consumers who may be more happy to drive in the virtual world than the real one.

"We hope by playing the game children will realise how exciting cars are and think 'I will definitely drive this car when I reach 18'," Sony's Oinuma said.

Nissan noted the importance of a high-profile in video games for cars such as the GT-R, whose predecessors were sold only in Japan under the Skyline brand and are known overseas mainly because of their presence in video games.

"Video games have a huge impact," said Nissan spokesman Simon Sproule, noting that they could motivate young consumers to buy real cars.

"I don't think people have lost interest in cars. The situation with young people is that there are more things to occupy them -- video games, DVDs, music and the Internet," he said.

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