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Launching a new car? Forget four-color ads, TV spots, direct mail and the fancy displays at auto trade shows, and instead use a game made for the iPhone. As reviewed by ClickZ, that’s the strategy VW took when unveiling its 2010 Golf Mark VI. 

While “baking in” sponsorships to online games is not new, the “totally iPhone” marketing play VW adopted certainly puts a new spin on the approach, right at the intersection of young affluent iPhone users and a key VW GTI segment.

The game Real Racing GTI, available as a free version of the $4.99 Real Racing game found on the iTunes App Store, provides some decent race action, sound and graphics (in what else, a VW GTI).

On the game side, there’s the usual Quick Race, Time Trial, and Winner’s circle to show off personal-best times.  As of May 20, 50,144 users have rated this game on the App Store.

On the soft-sell side, users will find a virtual showroom and a geo-locator to find the nearest “punch-dub” store. 

According to the ClickZ report, 175 sales have been tracked directly to registered users of the game; 50% were new VW customers. 

While not a high volume of sales, the effort drives home the point that the convergence of mobile and gaming can sell and track.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to strap in and take a few test laps on the virtual Mayapan Beach track in my Tornado Red GTI, all in the name of research.