For fans of Mario Kart: VR races with real electric karts announced
The French VR arcade operator EVA is bringing a multiplayer racing game to its arenas – including power-ups, VR headsets, and real karts.
A touch of Mario Kart will soon be blowing through EVA's VR arcades.
(Image: EVA Esports Virtual Arenas)
The French provider of location-based VR experiences EVA has unveiled a new virtual reality experience at Paris Games Week 2025 that enables physical kart racing on a virtual racetrack. In "EVA Karting GP," participants sit in modified electric karts, wear VR goggles, and move through a virtual environment with tunnels, curves, and power-ups in a 500-square-meter arena – a nod to Mario Kart.
According to EVA, the real movement of the kart is precisely synchronized with the digital world, which is intended to enable a fluid experience without risk of motion sickness. The VR headsets are from ByteDance subsidiary Pico XR. Both companies announced a strategic partnership a few weeks ago, which will equip all EVA arenas with the enterprise version of the Pico 4 Ultra.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externes YouTube-Video (Google Ireland Limited) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (Google Ireland Limited) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
Through the arena with four friends
Currently, the game supports four participants per race, with plans to expand to up to eight. Each session lasts about 20 minutes. EVA describes the experience as a mix of strategy, skill, and surprises – for example, through virtual bonuses and traps on the track. A minimum age of twelve years is recommended, but according to the provider, no prior experience in VR or karting is required.
Videos by heise
"EVA Karting GP" is scheduled to be gradually rolled out at all locations worldwide over the course of next year. The France-based company currently operates over 60 so-called "Location-Based Entertainment" arenas, mainly in France and Belgium. In Germany, there are already centers in Cologne and Unna. EVA was also present at this year's Gamescom with an arena in the event halls, allowing interested parties to compete against each other in a tactical VR shooter.
In Germany, EVA primarily competes with the VR arcade chain "Sandbox VR," which recently presented a Stranger Things VR experience and now operates ten locations in Germany.
(joe)
