Get ready to play, come rain, shine, snow or storm. Let’s look at how the best sports home simulators money can buy can transport you to other worlds at a moment’s notice, from midnight gaming sessions to the ultimate sports watch parties.
Athlete or not, sometimes you don’t want to (or can’t) leave the house. But that doesn’t mean you need to miss out on your sports fix. Perhaps you want to play nine on St. Andrews, or you want the cardio burn of an uphill bike climb in the Andes—maybe you even want to race the twisties of Maggots and Becketts in the British Grand Prix. Whatever it is, technology has more than caught up to deliver lifelike experiences like these from the indulgent comfort of your own home.
Most obviously, sim racing is a good place to start. A realistic home racing simulator may have you butt-clenching your way through Spa-Francorchamp’s Eau Rouge in Belgium from the luxury of your own living room—but they don’t often look pretty. These racing rigs have been built for realism, not refined beauty, from steel bars to F1 nose shells—until now.
Produced by the motorsport company behind Aston Martin Racing, the Prodrive Racing Simulator has been designed to sit in any luxury condo as a statement art piece, in collaboration with design and engineering house CALLUM. A sculpted carbon monocoque housing the cockpit floats underneath 16 layers of birch in a lacquered black finish. Cocooned inside, you’ll experience 49” of gloriously smooth graphics across a sweeping curved screen using a 12GB GeForce RTX graphics card. A precision SIM steering wheel couples with a Simucube steering motor so you can hit the apex to within the millimeter. Whether you’re an avid F1 sim racer or you prefer swapping asphalt for dirt track drifting, you’ll also be an art collector—driving in what must be the most beautiful race simulator in the world.
With that said, if you’re into Aston Martin, why not go directly to the source? The British marque’s new racing simulator, the AMR-C01, will set you back a cool $80,000 and offer the same gentlemanly, knowingly suave looks as the real thing would. With precise seating that replicates the sill and bucket seat of an Aston Martin Valkyrie and a single 49” curved display that wraps you inside the cockpit, it’s truer to life than most. There’s a kill switch with a red cover, a race-ready steering wheel and microsuede upholstery. It’ll run any Windows-based racing game you like, and has a wireless keyboard and trackpad tucked away in the chassis. It’s certainly not the most powerful sim out there, with its 2K screen, Intel i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card, but then again—it’s an Aston Martin. It doesn’t need to be.
But racing isn’t for everyone. Sometimes something more sedate is in order. There’s nothing quite like a round of 18 on a Sunday morning, the sun beating down overhead, the sprinklers gently humming in the distance. Sure, you could fly to Augusta or Valderrama for a round any time, but what if you fancied playing nine on each? Or if it’s cold and wet? Sim tech has you covered. Again.
A Trackman 4 home set-up will take you to any of its 320 courses around the world in the comfort of your pajamas (if you wanted to). Combined with astroturf mats, a screen projector and protective enclosure, this simulator setup uses an engine called the Trackman 4, a launch monitor that uses optically-enhanced radar tracking to give you stinger-level accuracy on your shots. The software it uses is industry-leading and tour-trusted, coming with the Trackman Performance Studio for AI-powered shot analysis, putt performance, impact location and speed training. It is the ultimate caddy, coach, tour guide and driving range. Why deal with the hassle of fueling up the jet when you can play ultra-realistic golf at The Belfry at the drop of a golf cap?
Speaking of flying, how about swapping the private jet for an adrenaline-packed fighter? Yes, you can fly one of these, too, from the comfort of your study—and we’re not talking about a joystick plopped onto your computer desk. With VIPER WING, you can bring in an entire F-18 rig into the house, with rotaries, switches, rudders and an aluminum, electrically-adjustable seat. And, of course, a joystick.
Paired with an optional, immersive curved screen, this flight sim experience brings you right into the cockpit onboard U.S. Navy aircraft carriers with functional tactical weapons, sensors, radar, nav systems, fuel and hydraulic simulations based on the U.S. Navy’s flight manuals for the F-18. You can quite literally jet off, anywhere.
Back at ground level, you could channel your inner Babe Ruth and practice your swing in a Batbox batting cage that uses virtual reality to slot you right into the baseball stadium. Using high-speed camera sensors and high-definition screen simulation, you’ll pitch and bat your way through home runs without so much as opening the front door.
A pitching machine with adjustable ball speed, height and direction according to the player keeps you dancing on your toes, while an automatic ball-collecting system means you can keep your feet rooted to the base. Invite your pals over for the ultimate watch party, going head-to-head in the batting cage before watching the game IRL. You’ll be the most popular neighbor in town.
Whatever your sport, hobby or fantasy, sports and gaming sims can take you there. All you have to do is decide which one you fancy turning pro at.
For more articles on technology, check out our articles here!