These bizarre cartoon images might just represent the final nail in the coffin of Ferrari's brand credibility amongst genuine petrolheads. They are 'rendered' images of the new Ferrari World, which is due to open its (presumably red) doors to the world on 28 October.
Beneath the 200,000m2 of red roof (quite a lot of red, that), there are more than 20 rides to tempt Ferrari-philes and families alike. Most curious of these has to be the 'Speed of Magic' attraction, where 'Nello', a "mischievous racing driver," (we quote Ferrari here), "leads guests on a fantastic 4-D adventure through deep green jungles to icy caves and ravines."
We always thought that four-dimensional space was 'an abstract concept, obtained by taking the rules of our three-dimensional space and generalizing them to a space with one more dimension' (ta, Wikipedia), but you live and learn.
Other than rewriting the rules of physics, Ferrari World also offers such delights as an aerial tour of Italy's most iconic sights (including a Ferrari California, naturally) and, for kids, a chance to drive scaled-down versions of Ferrari F1 cars and F430 Spiders.
The star attraction, however, is likely to be the Formula Rossa rollercoaster, which accelerates riders to a heady 150mph in less than five seconds.
Still, despite the admittedly impressive 'coaster it all sounds a bit, well, gauche to us, and further proof that the Ferrari brand is inexorably becoming a merchandising operation with a car company tagged on to the side. Having said that, if we found ourselves in the UAE we would probably be tempted to go and have a look... we do like rollercoasters, after all.