Houston's newest racing experience lets you speed around Loop 610
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Cruising through Uptown at 140 mph. Photo: Jay R. Jordan/Axios
From the streets to the screen, a simulated racing lounge is bringing a one-of-a-kind virtual driving experience to the Bayou City.
Why it matters: It's a fitting tribute to a city rooted in car culture.
How it works: Velocity Sim Racing Lounge, which opened in March, has more than a dozen racing simulator setups.
- Each is equipped with pedals, steering wheels, video displays and special hardware that provides movement feedback as you drive, simulating the experience of driving a real car.
Driving the news (very, very fast): Velocity's new 610 Challenge racing simulator puts you in the driver's seat of a souped-up supercar as you navigate a true-to-scale virtual model of all 40 miles of Loop 610.
- The track debuted Aug. 22.
Zoom in: The virtual track is as accurate as they come, including 3D models of buildings along the highway like the Williams Tower and Astrodome, bumps and imperfections in the roadway surface, and — of course — simulated traffic.
- The simulated sky is set to reflect the real one, meaning if it's sunset IRL, it's sunset in the simulation.
- Plus, you're able to chat with your friends and fellow racers through headsets as you drive.
What they're saying: Velocity's founder and owner, Viet Tran, says the 610 Challenge pays homage to Houston's car culture.
- Tran, who grew up in northwest Houston, spent plenty of time in young adulthood at underground car meets and much of his life racing motorcycles competitively.
- After crashing at a race in 2023, Tran had to pull back as he recovered from his injuries. In the meantime, he would practice racing on simulators built for race drivers to hone their skills in the safety of a virtual environment.
- Seeing his friends take turns on his equipment gave him the idea to launch Velocity. At the same time, he envisioned the 610 Challenge.
"Even before we started construction of the physical space for Velocity, we had started development of the 610 Challenge," Tran tells Axios.
- "It was always part of the vision to have an experience that was so uniquely and truly Houstonian."
Zoom out: Tran partnered with gaming studio Authentic Simulation to make the custom Loop 610 track. They used lidar to map the lanes, built the custom 3D models of various landmarks and gathered anecdotal input from Tran to make it not only true to scale but true to life.
- "We literally went mile by mile and just critiqued every single sector of it," Tran says. "I can't tell you how many times I personally drove 610."
If you go: Velocity Sim Racing Lounge, 2110 Edwards St.
- A 30-minute session starts at $35, with $10 off during happy hour on weekdays until 6pm.