Few motorsport specialists have achieved the range and record—from class wins at Le Mans to multiple World Rally Championships—of U.K.-based Prodrive. Now the team is preparing Aston Martin’s GT competition cars and is the technical partner on Land Rover’s new Defender desert racer, which will compete in this year’s Dakar Rally.
Yet when founder David Richards—a former Formula 1 team principal—set out to build a simulator, he wanted more than a utilitarian training tool. He envisioned a piece that racers and enthusiasts alike would welcome into their homes, not banish to the garage. To realize that goal, he turned to acclaimed British automotive designer Ian Callum—formerly Jaguar’s design director for 20 years—who styled the original Prodrive Racing Simulator that was unveiled in 2022. With a carbon-fiber tub suspended from an elegant, 16-layer bentwood frame, the setup’s design has more in common with fine furniture than with a typical gaming rig. Also rare: Prodrive’s white-glove delivery service, which once devised a way to get a unit into a client’s 22nd-floor apartment.
The configurable steering wheel features carbon-fiber paddles and numerous push buttons and dials for added realism.
Courtesy of Prodrive
Elevating the experience further, the simulator has been given a major makeover for 2025, with contributions from elite British makers. Superyacht builder Pendennis is producing the “hoop” frame in bespoke finishes. Venerable leather maker Connolly now upholsters the cockpit in any shade, stitch, and embroidery you desire. Enameled and numbered identifiers are crafted by Vaughtons, the same firm that badges Aston Martins. And audio comes courtesy of Bang & Olufsen, through either its Beoplay HX headphones or sculptural A9 speaker when you want your lap times heard.
Form, however, hasn’t overtaken function. A high-powered gaming P.C. hides in the nose cone, driving a heavily curved 49-inch dual-QHD 5k-resolution monitor. The steering wheel has five rotary dials, 12 push buttons, and carbon-fiber paddles that can be configured to replicate the functions of your actual race car. Most impressive of all is the pedal box, tuned to mimic the short, heavy action of motorsport brakes—an authenticity simulators rarely capture.
I’ve driven countless laps at Silverstone—the circuit loaded for my test—and can confirm that this simulator feels not only immersive but astonishingly real. Little wonder, since each one is assembled in the same workshop, and by the same engineers, as Prodrive cars winning on the track today.
Authors
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Ben Oliver
