Most modern vehicles include a digital instrument cluster as standard equipment or an option. A customisable screen replaces the typical analogue speedometer and rev counter behind the steering wheel with these digital gauges.

Audi's Virtual Cockpit technology was one of the first to hit the market, setting a high standard for other automakers to follow. So should you pay the additional money to go digital if you're speccing a newAudi digital dashboardat your local dealership and the salesman advises you to upgrade to the system?

What exactly is the Audi Virtual Cockpit?

Audi digital cockpit replaces traditional analogue instruments with a flexible TFT display. That means you can utilise it similarly to an infotainment system, bringing up everything from music playlists to navigation instructions — and everything in between.

It's not a touchscreen and typically depends on voice control or steering-wheel-mounted controls to work. But, because of the VW Group's magic, it's nearly totally found across the Audi cockpitcar, with additional variants, such as VW's Active Info display, placed in other VAG group cars. Want to learn about the Audi Cockpit origins, what it can accomplish for you, and why it's worth specifying in your next vehicle?

Audi Virtual Cockpit plus: are they that new?

If you're a car enthusiast over the age of 35, two childhood memories will come flooding back: KITT from Knight Rider and the Mk2 Vauxhall Astra GTE.

Forget about the General Motors link; all a 10-year-old cared about was the garish, primary-coloured palette of digital dials. Not only did they look great, but they also gave the impression that the future had arrived in the mid-1980s, especially since your parents' vehicle clocks were analogue and backlit in Mateus Rose bottle green.

Motor shows and magazines have been forecasting all kinds of LCD and LED instruments since the invention of the pocket calculator more than a decade before. Still, when they eventually became available, the purchasing public was not always thrilled.

Austin's attempt to tszuj-up the Maestro with a digital speedometer and voice warnings failed, while Fiat's full-width electronic-fest in the first-generation Tipo didn't last as long as the car it was put on.

This meant that digital instruments remained the exception rather than the rule, contrary to popular belief, rather than becoming mainstream by the 1990s. Maybe till now.

So, what's new about the Audi Virtual Cockpit?

The proliferation of smartphones and tablets has lowered the unit cost of small, programmable LCD panels, making them more financially appealing to automakers. In addition, consumers are gradually growing more interested in them as an optional extra — Volkswagen normally charges £600 for its Active Info Display – but they are a few years away from being standard installation across significant models.

What is certain is that an increasing number of new and refreshed models are available with both traditional instruments (or, as Mercedes refers to them, 'Tubular Dials,' which isn't a little-known Mike Oldfield record) and some adaptive electronic display (the Comand Digital Instrument Panel in Benzspeak).

Audi Virtual Cockpit: why have it?

Aside from the fact that they appear friendly, similar to a Head-Up Display system, an adaptable instrument binnacle is one of those technological advances that makes you wonder how you ever got by without it.

They invariably allow the driver to customise the appearance and size of the instruments and the scope and depth of data provided at a glance.

In addition to digging through various fuel efficiency and eco-driving statistics, the Virtual Cockpit will display information about what you're listening to on the radio, who you're talking to on the phone, or, on high-performance S- and RS-gradevirtual cockpit google maps, data about tire temperatures and G-forces pulled while cornering.

But, for some reason, it always appears to be the sat-nav – or, more precisely, generated satellite imagery with superimposed maps – that has your passengers gaping. If you allowed them, they'd have you driving around the block.

Audi Virtual Cockpit: but you can get all that on a standard screen?

You can, but having the map and turn-by-turn directions displayed from just below your driving eyeliner seems much more natural when driving. And in today's automobiles, with so many other things competing for your attention – even before the kids are on board – that has to be safer.

There's already evidence of patterns shifting, with newer display systems abandoning previous skeuomorphic designs favouring flatter visuals, mirroring what's happening in the smartphone market. After all, shouldn't anything created in the digital era appear, well, digital?

So, the future we were promised three decades ago has finally arrived, which means we'll be writing the epitaph for classic analog dials shortly. Or are we?

Well, perhaps not. As google maps Audi virtual cockpit become more common in the general automobile market over the next decade, discriminating, premium clients seek something that expresses their uniqueness more conventionally, possibly through hand-crafted dials designed with Swiss watch perfection. Looking for used Audi Cars Online? ABE offers the best pre-owned luxury Audi cars models like A4, A6, Q7 etc.