From £790 a day · Fits drivers from 125cm
Full-size racing simulators set up for young drivers. Seats and pedals that adjust down to 125cm, driving aids set to suit each child, and our crew coaching every first lap.
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How it works for children
Plenty of attractions say they are suitable for children. The question a parent is really asking is whether their eight year old will get out of the seat having driven, or having sat in a car that would not go where they pointed it.
That comes down to three things. Whether the child physically fits the rig, whether the car is set up so they can keep it on the circuit, and whether somebody stands beside them for the first lap. We do all three on every booking.
Seats and pedals adjust for drivers from 125cm to 220cm. Our crew slides the seat forward and sets the pedals for the child standing in front of them, so their feet reach and their hands sit on the wheel. A driver who is stretching cannot drive, so the rig is set before the lap starts, not during it.
We turn the driving aids up for younger drivers. Automatic gears, traction control, braking assistance and the racing line on screen. The car stays on the circuit, the lap keeps flowing, and the child spends the session driving instead of spinning at the first corner.
A crew member kneels beside the sim and talks the child through the opening lap. Which pedal is which, where to brake, when to turn in. Nobody is left sitting in a stationary car working out why nothing is happening.
Sessions for children are kept short on purpose. A quick lap each turns the queue over, so more children get a turn and none of them wait long enough to wander off. Tell us how many children you expect and over how many hours, and we will size the grid to match.
All 18 simulators network onto one live leaderboard, and it can run a separate category for children. A seven year old is then ranked against other children rather than against an adult who races on a wheel every weekend. Everybody gets to be near the top of something.
The kit sits behind a barrier with a clear viewing side. Parents watch the screen and the driver from a few feet away, without standing over the rig, and the child gets to do the driving themselves in front of an audience.
Racing their own age group
A child does not enjoy being twenty seconds off a leaderboard they cannot reach. All 18 simulators run on one live leaderboard, and we can split it so children are timed as their own category. The board then has a name at the top that belongs to somebody who is nine.
On bigger events we go further and set sims aside as a separate children’s area, with the adult rigs signed and run alongside. That is exactly how the Jaguar TCS Racing activation was laid out, and the photograph here is the adult side of it.
Plan a family eventWhere it works
The centrepiece that holds a field or a car park for the whole day. Children queue, drive, then come back to see whether their time has survived.
Families visit in groups, so the activation has to occupy the children as well as the adults. Wrap the sims in your colours and the branding sits in every photo a parent takes.
Branding options →Staff bring partners and children, and the entertainment has to work for all three. The same grid handles a competitive department final and a first driving lesson for a six year old.
Corporate hire →A simulator makes braking points, grip and reaction time something a pupil can feel rather than read. Our crew runs the sessions so teaching staff are not tied to the kit.
Footfall stops for a live leaderboard. A dedicated setup for children keeps a family in the centre for the length of a queue, a lap and a look at the times.
Every guest gets timed laps and there is a winner at the end. Ages 5 to 99, so parents and grandparents can take a turn once the children have finished.
The proof
Jaguar TCS Racing is the Jaguar team in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. We delivered branded simulator activations for them, and that work included a dedicated children’s racing simulator setup running alongside the adult rigs.
The photographs on this page are from that activation. Signed areas for each group, kit behind rope barriers, and our crew on the floor with the drivers.
In the first photograph a crew member is kneeling at the rig, setting the session up on the keyboard while the child holds the wheel. In the second, one child drives while the others wait their turn a step away and watch the screen. That is what a children’s setup looks like when it is running properly.
Virtually Entertained is an independent simulator hire company. We built and ran this activation for the team. We are not a Formula E partner, supplier or licensee.
Safety and supervision
A racing simulator is a seat, a wheel and two pedals bolted to a frame. Nothing moves, nothing is hot and there is nothing sharp on it. The risk on a children’s activation is not the kit itself, it is an unattended queue and a rig nobody is watching.
So we staff it. Our crew delivers, builds, sets each rig for the driver, runs every session and packs down at the end. Someone from our team is beside the simulators for the whole event.
Each sim needs roughly 1.61m by 0.6m of floor and stands about 1.42m tall, so the grid lines up along a wall with room for the barrier and the queue in front of it. Setup takes about two hours and we build before your doors open.
Never drop-and-go
We do not drop the kit and leave. Our professionals deliver, build, welcome your guests, run the racing and pack down at the end.
Tell us the basics and we will come back with an itemised quote within 24 hours, Monday to Friday.
Pricing
There is no separate children’s price list, because there is no separate children’s product. It is the same 18 simulators, the same crew and the same day rates. What changes is how we configure the rigs and how we run the sessions, and that costs you nothing extra.
| Grid size | Per day |
|---|---|
| 1 F1 simulator | £790 |
| 2 F1 simulators | £890 |
| 3 F1 simulators | £1,305 |
| 4 F1 simulators | £1,655 |
| 6 F1 simulators | £2,330 |
| Each extra sim, up to 16 | £375 |
All prices exclude VAT. Additional days are 25% off. 50% deposit to book, balance 14 days before the event.
Worth adding for a young crowd: a Batak reaction board at £450 a day. It suits ages 5 to 99, it is quick to explain and the queue moves fast. Batak hire →
Quick answers
From age 5. Height matters more than the birthday, because the driver has to reach the pedals and hold the wheel. The seats and pedals adjust for drivers from 125cm to 220cm, and our crew sets the rig for each child before they start. Tell us the age range you expect and we will tell you honestly what will work.
Yes. Steering and braking both matter, so the driver needs their feet on the pedals. That is why the pedal deck and the seat adjust down to 125cm. Our crew resets both between drivers, which takes seconds, so a child never inherits the position an adult left behind.
Yes. It is the same fleet and the same rigs, adjusted between drivers. On larger events we set sims aside as a dedicated setup for children, which is what we did for Jaguar TCS Racing, and the live leaderboard can hold a separate category for children, so the two groups are not compared against each other.
Our crew runs every session from setup to breakdown. They set the aids, adjust the rig, coach the first lap and stay with the simulators throughout, so no member of your team has to stand and manage the queue. General supervision of children at the event remains with parents and the organiser, and we work to whatever safeguarding rules your venue sets.
2 hours
Typical setup time
13A socket
All each sim needs
125–220cm
Every driver fits
100 miles
Delivery included from Silverstone
Enquire
Send this and you will have an itemised quote within 24 hours, Monday to Friday. Prefer to talk? Call 01327 856155 or emailsales@virtuallyentertained.com.