"Speed Racer" movie - interviews with the VFX directors

http://www.vrmag.org/speedracer/

When they say "VR", at least in the John Gaeta interview, I think they 
are really referring to panoramic images projected on the inside of a 
sphere, and you view it from the center and rotate to view different 
parts of the image.

The interview starts down a ways on the page.  More images are further 
along towards the bottom showing how they constructed some scenes.

Another interview, in video, includes some examples:

http://tv.boingboing.net/2008/05/05/speed-racer-is-popti.html