After a long and arduous string of introductions to the North American market, you would think that Toyota needs a moment of respite to catch its proverbial breath. Nope, the party keeps going – both in the real world as well as across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators, as it turns out.
The Japanese automaker had few moments of satisfaction when reading the sales results for 2022 and even for the first quarter of the current year. As such, no wonder they are trying to turn on the heat and lift hype to the stratosphere with an abundance of arrivals like the S235 Crown crossover-sedan, the 2023 Prius 'Hybrid Reborn,' including in 220-hp Prime plug-in hybrid form, the 2023 Corolla Cross Hybrid and an entire Corolla Nightshade family, the 2024 Grand Highlander, plus the all-mighty new iteration of the best-selling Tacoma mid-size pickup truck.
And you would be wrong to think that Toyota took a break now that we have entered the second part of the year. Nope, they were just giving the premium Lexus division some much-needed space on the red carpet to catch the spotlight for their double ensemble – the 2024 TX (sibling to Grand Highlander with both made in Indiana by TMMI) family-oriented three-row crossover and the 2024 GX, the third iteration of the mighty off-road-focused luxury SUV. But now the Toyota assault is ready to start again as the company announced both in Europe and especially in the United States that the Land Cruiser nameplate is returning to rock both the trails and enthusiastic hearts.
But that is all in the real world. Meanwhile, across the parallel universes of CGI experts, some pixel masters are still reeling from the tremendous novelties brought about by the 2024 Toyota Tacoma. Frankly, it's a bit overwhelming, indeed, since the mid-size pickup truck has countless goodies, including the option of eight grades, the returning TRD PreRunner with a new single cab XtraCab body style, plus the 326-hp i-Force Max hybrid powertrain for TRD Pro flagships and the adventurous Trailhunter trim dedicated to overlanding fans.
So, it is no wonder that this virtual artist, known as Theottle on social media, had waited a while before he resorted to CGI slicing and dicing the latest Tacoma to make the new TRD PreRunner XtraCab fit for 4Runner duties. Aside from having in part the same name, it is pretty odd to choose the TRD PreRunner for a virtual 4Runner transformation because the former is only offered as an XtraCab model with two doors instead of four like on the Trailhunter or TRD Pro models.
Well, the latest behind-the-scenes making-of video from the pixel master reveals the reasoning behind the decision – he wanted the TRD PreRunner as a template to interface with the old-school-looking fifth-gen 4Runner and morph both into a fresher sixth iteration. So, do we give this project our CGI hall pass or not?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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