YORK COUNTY, Pa. — It’s time to start your engines and shift into high gear.
Flatout Sim Racing opened its doors in Springfield Township, York County earlier this month.
Ian MacGregor is the Chief Marketing Officer and says the business offers an engaging racing experience unmatched by at-home video games.
“In a few words we define this as a hyper-realistic motorsport simulation so it’s a little more than a video game but it’s not exactly putting you into a real-life car,” MacGregor described.
Drivers are paired with custom-engineered rigs that use iRacing, the same software used to train professional racers.
There are six racing disciplines to choose from.
Drivers can race as a group or solo and no experience is required.
“We can run micro, quarter-midgets, midgets, things like that on local tracks as well as some other tracks around the world and around the country such as in Millbridge,” MacGregor said.
The rigs are built with haptic motion technology, which gives drivers a more immersive experience.
“What it does is allow the chassis to move so you can feel every bump, curve, acceleration and break,” MacGregor said.
John Elwood had the idea to open the business in 2018 after purchasing a wheel for a home-console racing game.
“It started out in my basement, just building the rigs and finding ways to make it better and better, and from there it just kind of grew and evolved to what you see here, and I think we’ve got it pretty dialed in now, everyone is having an absolute blast and I’m loving it,” Elwood said.
Elwood moved from Maryland to New Freedom in 2020 and continued to design rigs.
Several of his friends, like MacGregor, would become business partners.
The rest is history.
“This is just the starting line; we warmed up our tires and we’re ready to start the race.”
The business has plans to offer memberships, organize racing leagues and design rigs for younger children.
10 rigs are currently available for booking.
Flatout can host groups of up to 40 people with shared rigs for 24 drivers.