Virtual reality headsets will be rolled out into Audi dealerships from the end of 2015, as the car manufacturer aims to enhance the customer experience in its car showrooms.

Branded the Audi VR experience, it will give customers the opportunity to configure their chosen car at the dealership through virtual reality headsets and experience it in an unprecedentedly realistic way, in three dimensions and will full sound effects, says Audi.

Audi says it has become the first automotive manufacturer to develop a dedicated retail software solution for virtual reality headsets.

The first dealerships will introduce it before the end of 2015, starting with Audi's growth markets.

Luca de Meo, Audi member of the board of management for sales and marketing, said: "Hand in hand with our dealers, we are bringing digital innovations into the dealership in order to improve convenience and to provide even better advice.

"With the Audi VR experience, we are once again demonstrating the pioneering role of the four rings in this area."

The system will mean customers can virtually take a seat behind the wheel of their individually configured dream car or take a look in the boot, as a camera tracks the movements of the user's head and the system adapts the image displayed accordingly.

The full spectrum of the Audi model range, with respective customization options, can be called up - colours, leathers, inlays as well as infotainment systems - meaning the dealer is able to demonstrate the diversity of the Audi portfolio in a very convenient way and to provide individual advice to the visitor.

 In future, it will also be possible to provide the Audi VR experience away from the dealership as a mobile solution – while visiting the customer at home, for example.

It's the latest technology development for Audi, which opened its first Audi City hi-tech boutique brand centre in London in 2012 and has since added these in Berlin and Beijing, with Moscow due to open this year.