Gamescom 2010 : The Atomic A1 launch
“Another absolute highlight at Gamescom was the sensational race seat from JoyRide". That was the verdict of Nerdz on Fire roving reporter Aleksandr Matjevik. Another 1000 people agreed with him, as they queued for a 4 minute rally ride on the Atomic A1
This being the world's largest gaming exhibition, we were expecting a few visitors to the JoyRide stand. But what really thrilled us was the shear number of gamers who queued for up to an hour for a 4 minute "Dirt2" rally ride on the Atomic A1. In the queue were people who already owned a static seat, a few who had driven other motion simulators and wanted to compare them to the Atomic A1, but mostly people who had watched somebody on the seat and just had to have a go themselves.
We’ll come to their reactions in a minute, but for the 4 JoyRide staff running the stand, it was a case of being on the operator end of a stand attraction that proved its marketing blurb. Tina Edward, JoyRide’s Marketing Director said “Well, having myself used the phrase ‘crowd puller’ to highlight the A1’s benefits to event organisers, we were then put in the position of having to manage that crowd! It took a day to hone our technique, eventually arranging 2 queues, one for a harder ‘rally track’, the other an easier ‘open road game.”
To allow as many people as possible to ride the simulator, we slimmed down our change over technique to include a quick “Hi, climb in”, then adjusted the steering wheel to the right height and the pedals to the correct position. Place the headphones, give the option to use a seat belt, then, once the rider was comfortable, some simple instructions and off they went. About a minute to change over made 5 minutes per ride. Just over a 1000 riders, phew!
The great thing was seeing the riders’ reactions and expressions. The kids especially were so thrilled to be able to ride, the youngest being 8 years old, a budding F1 driver in the making. As well as big smiles, many ‘wows’ and ‘amazings’ many riders were surprised at the immersive nature and realism of the ride, the concentration required and also the physical demands of keeping the vehicle on track. As Alexandr himself commented after his ride, "My God, that's exhausting, but it's the biz... sensational!"
It was also great to get some more detailed feedback from the home gamers and commercial operators who had already tried other simulators. Daniel C Kaiser, a simulation & gaming enthusiast, who has tried several other simulators said “The first time I really got a feeling of a car like in reality, it makes the under/over steering moments more predictable. Compared to what I’ve seen until today, this is the best simulator”. Read other testimonials.
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