Disguise has worked with the creators of F1 Arcade, the experiential hospitality brand dedicated to Formula 1, to deliver F1 Box, a racing simulator experience in Westfield Stratford City shopping centre in London.
Designed to immerse fans in the authentic feel of a real Formula 1 race, F1 Box includes 12 full-motion racing simulators complete with AV commentary and 4K screens for gameplay. Powered by and controlled through Disguise, an LED wall and reactive LED lighting on the racing simulators and floor-to-ceiling arches add a dramatic edge to the racing showdown, where players can compete in two twenty-minute, back-to-back races before celebrating wins with real-time leaderboard content developed by Disguise.
To bring the experience to life, Disguise's technical services team began by using the 3D visualiser in Disguise’s Designer software to create a real-time, pixel-accurate representation of the entire space, including visuals, lighting, leaderboard and simulators. This visualisation was sent directly to F1 Box stakeholders for approval, saving days by streamlining the process and ensuring the creative vision was met in pre-production. Quick changes could then be implemented in Designer before the team even arrived on site, helping to reduce the production timeline even further.
Once on site, the Disguise team programmed the entire space, with synchronised LED visuals, atmospheric lighting and immersive audio all coming together in one multisensory hit thanks to Disguise’s video output, lighting and API controls, and DMX mapping — which linked the LED wall, arches and simulator lighting in unison.
To fulfil F1 Arcade’s vision and bring the competition to life, Disguise’s creative services team leveraged Designer’s data integration in Notch to pull racing data directly from the simulators in real-time. This resulted in a dynamic leaderboard that displays instant results with each competitor's name and finish time on various LED displays as soon as races are completed.
images: Ian Wallman