All of the features, including the chassis, wheelbase and track, tire and suspension, engine, gearbox, differentials, aero loading, aero draft, steering, brakes and ABS can be adapted for your personal use, with each simulator coming with three 42-inch TV screens for the racing to be projected onto.

Cruden is claiming it'll last 10 - 15 years, which works out to around $19,150 a year—surely you can spare that from your annual salary? [Cruden via Autoblog]

Joining the in-car Wi-Fi available via Ford's Sync system, the iTunes tagging will allow car-owners to buy songs they've just heard on the radio on iTunes. The new version of Sync is expected to be rolled out sometime in 2010. [Jalopnik]

"The objective of the Transformer (TX) program is to demonstrate a one- to four-person transportation vehicle that can drive and fly, thus enabling the warfighter to avoid water, difficult terrain, and road obstructions as well as IED and ambush threats"

Sounds like something as small as a Jeep, but as easy to shoot out of the sky as a Helicopter. The Sphere goes on to recount the not-so-brief history of failed and embarrassing flying cars. We'll see what some government money does for the situation, but I think they've got it wrong: instead of making cars fly, how about they put road going wheels on jets? [Gov via Sphere, above, the Moller Flying Car]

BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the Grinch hated Christmas, click here.

Scrolling LED Message Sign With Remote: There's so much to say to your fellow drivers on the road that the finger, two signal directions, high beams and horns don't cover. Can you really put a price on the ability to articulate "YOU DRIVE LIKE SHIT", "PLEASE SIGNAL", "DO NOT TAILGATE" and "PLEASE LEAVE THE FAST LANE IF YOU ARE DRIVING 50MPH". $40 [Thinkgeek]

Valentine One Radar Detector: It's still the best radar detector. With sensors forward and aft and an increasing frequency of beeps correlating to strength of signal, you can tell if smokey was passing you on the highway, is creeping up from behind or is sitting dead forward in a speed trap. $400 [ValentineOne]

MiFi Wi-Fi 3G Wireless Router: Car internet was but a dream. Then people started cludging together routers and 3G cards, and it was a little bit more of a nightmare. The little MiFi runs on Verizon's reliable 3G network, supports a few clients and has more than enough Wi-Fi range for your car (or a giant RV). Since it fits in the palm of your hand, stashing it under a seat or in a glovebox is easy. We don't recommend hard wiring these things, either, since they run off batteries for awhile, too. $100 with two year $60 contract [Mifi on Giz]

Duracell Powerpack 450 Talking Portable Power Unit: This portable battery has enough 110v power to run a laptop for 8 hours, jump start a car and inflate tires with its built in air compressor. It also has built in voice prompts to walk you through the process of jump starting, in case you or your loved ones don't remember if its black before red or the other way around. $120 Bonus: Black and Decker's 200-watt inverter turns your 12v cigarette adapter into a 110volt plug for $35. [Duracell Powerpack on Giz]

Wagan Ergo Comfort Rest Heated Massage Car Seat Cushion: The good doctor has made this 12v car seat cover that heats and massages. Knowing the power output a 12v plus is capable of, I'm doubtful this thing will do anything but get warm and vibrate a little bit. But if you need a car cover, a few degrees and some artificially induced butt modulation never made a long car ride any worse. And for $33, it's not such a big risk. [Amazon]

Wavebox Car Microwave/cooler: I don't think this is a good idea. I just think it's kind of cool to be able to make popcorn while you drive. I mean, with the proper in-dash DVD system, I'm halfway to feeling better that drive-in movie theaters are dead. Halfway. I wouldn't rank this a do not buy, but I wouldn't want you to ignore the 1.5 star Amazon rating, either. $300 [Wavebox on Giz, Amazon]

DON'T BUY My Pee Pee Bottle: A nalgene-style bottle for peeing in on road trips. Bad idea. Just pull over — you're not on the Cannonball Run nor are you some trucker late for his interstate Ikea drop off. Just pull over! [Jalopnik]

DON'T BUY Top of the Line Garmin GPS: The Nuvi 1690 is great. It has wireless search and traffic, lane suggestion and a Bluetooth speakerphone with dialing for your cellphone. It's also $500 and is a total waste of money. Smartphones are going to replace these sorts of connected GPS. One day. For now, a good touchscreen GPS should be bought from Garmin by checking prices to see what's on sale for a little over $100. Like this Nuvi 260W that is on sale for $117. For GPS apps, we recommend the free and built-in Google Maps Navigation program on Android, and Motion X GPS for the iPhone, which is a great value at $25 per year. (But not a very visceral good gift, as an app, especially since there are subscription fees after awhile.)

Don't forget to recommend your own favorite Car Gadget in comments-include pics and pricing if possible.

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favorite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We'll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

If you're having trouble getting over the price tag long enough to daydream, just think of how much you're saving with the standard HD radio. Or think about a Tesla, which is dirt cheap in comparison. [Autocar via Dvice via Geekologie]

Here we modify battered, crappy cars—like this 1988 Oldsmobile Delta—in just four weeks using "a few motors, potentiometers, a Compact RIO embedded controller, and LabVIEW," which get connected to the iPhone using Wi-Fi. And then we strip out the doors for fun. And we ride it on top of its roof. Hopefully to an In-n-Out drive-in. Would you like to do it yourself? Your lucky day, Mad Max. Here's a video tutorial:

And if that wasn't enough, you can also drive it using a modded Power Wheels truck. America, I salute you. [Engineer Awesome via LikeCool]

There are not a lot of details except what you can see in the video. The GPS- and Wi-Fi-equipped Spirit of Berlin—as they called the car—uses drive-by-wire controls, with mechanic parts to operate the pedals. On its top, there are video cameras and pewpewtastic laser 3D sensors.

The iPhone connects to the car using Wi-Fi, transmitting acceleration data to the car in real time. It looks like the real thing, but maybe it's all a four-wheeled Octoberfest joke. []

The free app connects to a Viper SmartStart hardware module installed in your car, and controls five basic functions: It'll start your car, turn on the heat, unlock your doors or trunk, and manage the car alarm. The range is effectively infinite too, since all communication is carried out over cell networks—no line of sight contact necessary, not that the iPhone has the IR hardware for anything like that anyway.

This is without a doubt one of the coolest apps I've ever seen, but as always, glorious novelty comes at a price: while the app is free, the SmartStart car module costs at least $300, and annual service, after the first complementary year, is $30. [Viper]

This is the Nissan Land Glider, an electric car with two seats. it has a narrow body, which Nissan says will help reduce traffic congestion by allowing more cars in the same city space, as well as making parking easier. It has a balancing system to make it stable as it takes curves, compensating for inertia with the car's body movement.

The winner, however, is that stunning cockpit equipped with flat color screens and joysticks with touch surfaces. I really hope it has lasers and anti-matter cannons built-in too.

Head to Pink Tentacle to see the rest of the prototypes at the Tokyo Motor Show. [Pink Tentacle]

Yes. That definitely goes beyond the general area of stupidity straight into the I'm a Bloody Moron, Please Shoot Me Dimension. It had to be a dumb Spaniard, of course, for this Euro-African country—alongside Italy and France—produces the biggest driving—and regular—dumbasses in the planet (I know because I was born there).

The 18-year-old driver—identified as J.C.R—was caught by the Spanish police while racing through the streets of the Northwest city of Vigo. The police noticed the speeding car at 2:50am. According to them, the guy was fishtailing, and running red lights while taking photos of himself using a cellphone.

When the police tried to stop him, the moron accelerated and tried to escape, only to be intercepted in another street. Then he tried to escape running and, when he realized he couldn't make it, he returned to his car, and crashed against one of the police vehicles that was chasing him.

Adding to this list of idiotic things, when the police tested his alcohol levels, he was off of the scale. In Spanish law, that means that you will get your driver's license automatically revoked. But then again—as the police discovered later—this guy doesn't even have a driver's license, so it's not that he's going to care about that. Not that he will need one in jail, anyway. [Yahoo! Noticias (in Spanish)—Thanks Mariló]

Don't get me wrong. If I had a car, I would love it to fly. But more like in a Back to the Future way than on this awkward let's-get-these-big-honkin'-wings out and do the Koji Kabuto. Stephen Harris and his father like the idea enough, so much that they are going to put their company—Leigh Aerosystems, which has created drones and weapons for the Air Force before—on it. These is the design they have came up with.

The specs are good:

• FAA certification for instrument flight operations
• 100LL fuel
• 180 mph cruise speed at 15,000 ft.
• 20,000 ft ceiling
• 500 mile range

And on the road:

• 25 mpg fuel consumption
• 500 mile range

They claim they tested their model at the San Diego Low Wind tunnel and it can fly. Of course, there's a big gap between testing a model and actually getting it to fly and in production. [Leigh Aerosystems via Born Rich]

The Panasonic CY-BB1000D, announced for the Japan market, is a (I call it a car stereo, as dated as that term may be) with GPS, 1seg TV tuner, 7-inch HD LCD, Bluetooth and 40GB hard drive. But the system's biggest claim to fame is the its integrated Blu-ray player (with everything but BD Live).

Save for the guy with a PS3 in his trunk, the Panasonic CY-BB1000D is the first Blu-ray player for cars. But we're guessing that natural selection will prevent this model from ever becoming all that popular following its release this fall. [Impress via New Launches]