Visit Your Overseas Car Museum From Home.
As Australia and, indeed, the globe, moves towards the sort of lifestyle once only forecast in sci-fi novels, travel restrictions make what we took for granted on a daily basis ever more harder to do. Technology, as always, provides an option or two.
Car people now have the perfect excuse to travel overseas, albeit virtually, to check out some great car museums. Some have Virtual Reality access either from their site or a third party, others have scrollable 360 degree vision.
Germany.
Easily one of the best car museums in the world, and one on many enthusiasts’ bucket lists, the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany, gathers the brand’s most iconic and influential sports cars, race cars, and one very important tractor in a stunningly designed building that’s an attraction in itself. The museum’s virtual tour lets you explore the masterfully displayed collection inside and take in all the architectural beauty outside.
Also located in Stuttgart is the just-as-stunning and just-as-closed Mercedes-Benz museum. Not to be outdone by Porsche, the Museum at Mercedes-Benz has its own architecturally impressive building, as well as a massive car collection that’s presented in a dynamic and engaging way. Take the museum’s virtual tour here. If you have a VR headset, Mercedes offers a number of 360-degree videos on its YouTube channel.
Italy.
The fabled Italian car maker, Lamborghini in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy, offers a virtual tour via Google Street View. Virtually wandering through the halls may not cure the blues, but there will be plenty of other colours to see.
Ferrari has been celebrating its work in Italy and provides two access points, here and here. 
The U.S.
Bowling Green, Kentucky, is hallowed ground for diehard Corvette fans. Not only is it home to the plant that builds the Corvette, but it’s also the site of the National Corvette Museum. Thanks to the magic of Google Street View, anyone can make a virtual pilgrimage to the museum. You can also take a 360-degree tour of the sinkhole that swallowed eight classic Corvettes in 2014.
The Petersen has always been a world-class car museum, but in 2015 it got a makeover to match the quality of the automotive artifacts housed inside. The renovations completely transformed the atmosphere of the museum. This Google Street View tour of the pre-renovation Petersen, however, is a nostalgic stroll through memory lane. The cars in the collection haven’t changed, though. Click here to see a list of what the museum has on exhibit, and if you’d like to peek inside the Petersen’s prized “vault,” which stores its rarest race cars, movie cars, and icons of car culture, you can still do that while the museum is closed. For $3, you can take a livestreamed hour-long digital vault tour led by collection manager Dana Williamson. Also, catch the Petersen’s series of educational livestreams it plans to broadcast throughout the duration of L.A. school closures.
If you love weird and quirky cars, then the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is the perfect place to virtually visit. With an eclectic collection of cars that can be found here, the Lane Motor Museum is almost guaranteed to have a car you’ve never seen or heard of before. Get ready to start scratching your head and browse the collection yourself by clicking this link.
Japan.
Toyota is one of the largest automakers in the world—it even has a city named after it. So it should come as no surprise that the Japanese brand has an impressive museum. Located in Nagakute, Japan, the Toyota Automobile Museum not only tells the story of the company founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937, but of the automobile itself. As such, the museum doesn’t just showcase classic Toyotas. In fact, you’ll be treated to Bugattis, Alfa Romeos, Mercedes, Fords, and much more. If you’re hankering to see some vintage Japanese sheet metal, you’ll find plenty of that, too. Take the virtual tour here.
And here is where to go for some 360 degree views.
Level 2, 9 Help Street