Porsche Cayman Shooting Brake Fake +video

August 13, 2009 By Cars UK

The fake Porsche Cayman Shooting Brake - rendered in Maya

Well, we got sent an email – actually, more than one – on the Porsche Cayman Shooting Brake. And although we were pretty sceptical we decided – after the third or fourth drip of information – that there might be something in it. So we reported last week on the Porsche Cayman Shooting Brake which we said was ‘Perhaps’ a reality. But we did end by saying “Don’t hold your breath”. Well, I hope you didn’t – because it was all a big hoax!

Turns out that it was all a bit of viral fun created by Jared Holstein, the outgoing editor of TopGear.com. He came up with the idea and got a bunch of Summer Interns in the States to do the donkey work. A digital design student called Matt DuVall used Maya (a digital 3D rendering programme) to create the original image (actually, I’ve been trying to master Maya for ever – must get some tips from Matt!) which incorporated lots of Porsche design themes, and even used a Porsche ‘Mule’ license plate. They then dropped that image on to a background of a Brooklyn alley, degraded the image and shot it as if it were done on a mobile phone – together with some cheesy Italian music.

Once that was done and out there, another Summer Intern started posting in a Czech forum – in Czech – about the Cayman Shooting Brake and even added what appeared to be screen shots from a forthcoming version of the Forza Motorsport 3 video game. It all added credibility.

We had our doubts, but ultimately not enough to stop us running the story – albeit with a few caveats. Well done guys, you suckered a big chunk of the motoring press!