Face it, you’ll never be able to race in Formula 1, let alone drive a Formula 1 car. And if you spend $120,000 on a great performance car, you’ll never really get a chance to drive it to its limits on public roads. So F1 and Red Bull Racing have a solution that will solve both of those problems: You can spend that amount on a high-end racing simulator, just like the ones real F1 drivers use.
For about the starting price of a brand new Porsche 911, you can buy Red Bull’s “Champions Edition” simulator, which aims to replicate the experience of driving the team’s RB18 car from the 2022 F1 season. You know, the car Max Verstappen won the championship with, the car that won 17 Grands Prix (Verstappen 15 of them, Sergio Pérez the other two.)
In fact, you don’t even need to spend the $120,000. You can buy the rig without the front-wing assembly, aka the “Race Edition” model, and it’ll only cost you $90,000. Since it will just be sitting in the gaming room of your mansion instead of catching actual air, it shouldn’t be a problem. Then why skimp?
And although the simulator costs almost as much as or exceeds a number of really hot cars in the real world, it replicates a one-of-a-kind vehicle that is priceless.
The simulator has no wheels nor a rear wing and is therefore scaled down to a visual simulacrum. But what matters is what you see from the cockpit, where there’s a curved display and a computer to help you with the virtual races. You can also connect with other rig owners and promote your own virtual F1 season.
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner said: “We are delighted to have co-created a unique sim racing experience that puts drivers in the cockpit of the championship-winning RB18. Driving a Formula 1 car is something most of us can only dream of. One can only dream, but this simulator is as close as possible to the real thing.”
The simulator is in partnership with sports memorabilia organization Memento Exclusives and “Built exactly like the original F1 cars at Memento Exclusives’ headquarters in Northamptonshire in the UK.” It can be ordered on the F1 Authentics site.
All that said, while virtual driving should be exciting enough, it would be great to see a $120,000 Porsche in your driveway. You can even buy a used race car (not the F1 variety, admittedly) and take it to the track for that kind of money. But certainly if you’re in the market for one of these, the purchase price is probably pocket change.
