Forecast

After finishing my research into both Gothic and Transport I have made the following predictions about the next 5 years.

Ecoboost Engine Logo.
(Ford Motor Company. 2011).

I believe that as non renewable resources continue to decline and become more expensive cars will become more ecologically friendly. A good example I found of this was in my Transport Horizon, where I found the  Ford EcoBoost Engine (Ford Motor Company. 2008. Ecoboost Engine Technology.) I believe that these will start to become incorporated into all of Ford's new cars, and by 2016 every new car produced will have some form of 'eco technology' inside it. What will make this especially prevalent is the eco technology may actually become cheaper to incorporate as it offsets the amount of money spent on fuel.

Hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius will also be much more mainstream, although I believe that cheaper cars will also have hybrid technology inside them - but this may be cheaper and less economical technology than the more expensive hybrid cars.

(Tata Motors. 2008)

I also predict that within 5 years time a major car company will announce they are making a 'super economical' car. This will be a very small car primarily aimed for people in the city, like the SMART cars, however it will contain a lot of economical technology. It will be a hybrid car, mostly relying on electric to run - with the petrol for longer journeys. I believe however in a surprising move this car will be very cheap, and affordable for most people - like India's Tata Nano (BBC News. 2008. World's Cheapest Car Goes on Show.), in an attempt to get people to move onto the saving technology.

(Guiney, P. 2009).

Despite these moves to be more economical in the consumer market I believe that Formula 1 racing will still be around and unaffected by it. As trends over the previous years show I also believe that the Formula 1 cars will advance quite a bit by the next 5 years, becoming even faster yet still remaining safe. In 1956 the fastest speed the cars could go was 150mph (SoftNews NET. 2008) whereas today they can go up to 220mph (Ref. (Collantie, K. 2011). I predict that Formula 1 cars will in fact become so fast that new tracks will have to be built or existing ones modified to accommodate the new top speeds.This has already happened in the past with some tracks being dropped previously, and street circuits such as Monaco being called unsafe at the speeds cars race at today (Collantie, K. 2011. If DRS is Unsafe For Monaco.)

I also believe that the popularity of the DRS system in 2011, and added tactics it has brought to the races, will spur more tactical additions to the races. I believe that as more technology gets added to the cars, teams will actually be able to change certain variables whilst the car is racing. They may be able to change the softness of suspension or limit the engine speed of the driver remotely. At the end of 5 years time I believe that the helmets drivers use will also be updated to have augmented reality, allowing many vital statistics such as engine/tire temperature, fuel and potential problems to appear layered over their vision - like the Helmet Mounted Symbology System by BAE Systems (BAE Systems. 2011. New Typhoon Helmet.) Although this will come into place I can also foresee it being removed soon after it is implemented as it could cause a distraction and some crashes to occur.

(Pettinger, T. 2011).

I believe that trains will become more popular, although ticket prices still be expensive (Pettinger, T. 2011). The trains in London however could become improved as an effect from hosting the Olympics in 2012 with the network improvement underway (Net Resources International. 2011) Trains in London may become more reliable, with more frequent trains and an overall better service like the Paris Metro currently has. However I believe this effect would be short lived, and an increase in cost to the system would lead to the government cutting budgets and the service ultimately returning to current standards.

Travel by airplane my become more expensive - however as it will probably rise not too much higher than inflation the impact of the higher ticket prices should not be felt too much. I believe though that within the next 5 years a project to 'resurrect' Concorde may be made. Taking the concept of Concorde I believe a company will try to create an economic plane that will travel very fast in the upper atmosphere. This plane may even come in two parts and in essence be a glider - using some kind of 'boosting' plane working on conventional fuel to get it high in the atmosphere which then the 'Concorde Glider' could sail quickly for long distances on hardly any fuel. If this plane is successful then I believe that travel to America and other far reach parts of the globe would become significantly cheaper.

By 2025 the UK should have at least 8 new nuclear reactors if current plans go as they should (Pfeifer, S. 2011). I believe that the change to use more renewable energies however will be a slow one, and that within the next 5 years hardly any change will have happened. Plans for more wind farms and solar panels will be discussed, but the high cost versus the low return will lead to abandoning the plans for more 'cheap' non-renewable's.

I believe that in the next 5 years the popularity of Gothic architecture will stay the same. I doubt that any new buildings will be built in the style, but I do believe that repairs will continue on existing buildings. The buildings should still be of interest to people though, and should retain their popularity for interesting design.

(Twisted Pictures. 2005).

I also predict that the link between the Gothic style and horror will grow, and by 2016 there will be more films containing it's influence in settings. Recent films and games I have found from my research such as Underworld (2004), Condemned 2 (2008) and Darksiders (2010) would suggest that the gritty settings and interesting shapes Gothic has to offer will continue to grow in popularity especially in the horror genre.

I believe that horror in itself will become more popular than it currently is, with many horror films, games and books being released in the next year as shown in my research. I believe that the days of 'gorefest' horror such as Saw 2 (2005) are over, and people are more interested in paranormal or psychological horror. If this trend continues I believe that within 5 years The X Files, or a tv show very similar, could be remade on television to cater for this increased popularity.

(InSOLense. 2009).

After 2012 I predict that there will be a lot of media attention on the lack of the Apocalypse. There will probably be a lot of media on it in the recent years afterwards, but it will die down very quickly in newspapers and magazines. The Apocalypse and judgement day however have always been popular in films and games - such as Fallout 3 (2008), and I believe this trend will continue. I believe that Fallout 4 will come out in the next 5 years, but also many other games and films will have the setting of a post apocalyptic world. I believe that a few of them will take the opportunity to pose an alternate history timeline where the Apocalypse - or some catastrophic event - happened in 2012.

(Doumax, D. 2005)

I believe that along with this there will be more media attention on cults for a short amount of time. I predict that there will be news reports of cults committing weird acts and mass suicides for a few years after 2012, mistaking it for some kind of 'sign' or wanting to achieve a 'higher presence'. This could spark people's worries and in 5 years time I predict that there may be a few more 'protect yourself from cults' books and websites available to the public. However despite this increased cult activity I believe that Scientology will begin to unravel in the next 5 years as people become more aware and scared of cults. I believe that governments will also become more aware and doubtful over Scientology and its effects, and will try to make it harder for the organization to operate.