The Next Web

Career shift: I’m gonna be an F1 racer

Written on June 11, 2008 – 12:40 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Give me four months and I’ll race against Kimi Raikonnen and Fernando Alonso. Not that I’ll practice with go-karts or anything, no, I’ll just play some Formula 1 games to get ready. You think I’m bluffing? Think again. Dutch entrepreneur Andy Lurling is working hard to make this reality. By using a sophisticated DGPS-based technology his company iOpener Media will offer players the opportunity to race against their heroes. That’s better than just watching with a beer in your hand.

BBC News runs an article today about this technology that will make many dreams come true. Lurling told the British reporter that “it’s clear that the next trend in gaming is going to be bringing real objects into the virtual world; playing not against other gamers but people doing the real thing.” So Lurling and his team have developed a patented product that imports in real-time GPS data from racing events into compatible game consoles and PC’s.

Lurling has already tested the service with a real F1 car. The only thing that is holding him back to bring it to the market is finding the right partner. He’s currently talking to six parties and aims to launch the first game as early as this September. This game will also use some AI magic. For example, if Alonso drives past you (he can’t see you in real life, he’s watching our for real cars), the game will generate a real-life looking overtake. Same goes for those spectacular collisions - although Alonso will always get away with it, you probably will be walking back to the pits.

Yet what if you’re not into racing? Well, don’t worry, Lurling told the BBC that you can also think of biking, rowing, skiing and snowboarding. “In the next three to five years, we believe that games will not be ‘triple A’ games unless they have our feature in”, the GPS-magician said.

[WebTipr: David Petherick]

I hope you like that post!

The Next Web Blog covers start-up news from all over the world (not just the Valley), exciting new technologies and inspiring entrepreneurs. If you're new here, you may want to read our 'About' page and subscribe to our RSS feed.

Do you have a start-up that we should write about? Contact us! Thanks for visiting and hope you come back again!

Artificial Intelligence, Formula One, games, iopener media, reailty, Sports