BMW has a long and storied history in Art Cars. Many of them are excellent. Some are odd. This one, is a first: it is a BMW M6 GT3 car, designed by Chinese artist Cao Fei, and employs augmented and virtual reality.

Which explains the weirdness of the images you can see in this gallery. It is the first ever ‘digital’ BMW Art Car. It incorporates three separate elements: a video focusing on a “time travelling spiritual practitioner”, an app that allows for augmented reality features “picturing colourful light particles”, and of course, the physical, real-world carbon black M6 racer.

“To me, light represents thoughts,” Fei explains. “As the speed of thoughts cannot be measured, the #18 Art Car questions the existence of the boundaries of the human mind. We are entering a new age, where the mind directly controls objects and where thoughts can be transferred, such as unmanned operations and artificial intelligence. Which attitudes and temperaments hold the key to opening the gateway to the new age?”

Um, OK. For the things we can understand, Fei opted for a non-reflective carbon black that allowed the M6 to integrate into a digital sphere. It has the handy aside of looking downright menacing.

We’re informed that when the car is viewed in conjunction with the app – we suspect by pointing your phone at it – the light swishes float around and above the M6. Not only does it make the M6 come alive, but also references a proud spiritual tradition employed throughout Asia of blessing new objects. “In this case,” explains BMW, “wishing good luck to car and driver”. Aww.

Could have used some of the blessing at last weekend’s Nürburgring race, mind, where an M6 finished second behind Audi’s R8, but perhaps BMW works driver Augusto Farfus can employ it for the future. It’s the second Art Car he’ll be racing this year, and he’s pumped. “I’m really looking forward to diving deeper into this project,” Farfus explains, “and learning more about the artist’s ideas and her philosophy behind it”. Of course he is. Perhaps he can employ the AR app to distract his opponents…

Have a flick through the gallery and let us know what you think: is this the Art Car for our age?