Hexatech F1-spec driving simulator goes on sale

If you’re serious about your gaming – and we mean very serious indeed – then Dutch simulator firm Cruden has just unveiled the last word in driving simulators. The Hexatech is a six-strut hydraulic set-up that’s normally only sold to F1, WRC and NASCAR teams. But it has now decided to unleash it on the public – you just need to find the £120,000 asking price.

It is a little on the steep side, but it’s no toy. The professional system is fitted with its own bespoke software – no Playstation plug-ins here, please – that is able to replicate pretty much any car and track combination with a degree of accuracy and realism to keep top-drawer F1 drivers up to speed.

And its six-point articulation can also replicate the multiple G-force experienced during braking, acceleration and cornering, with realism levels enhanced by seatbelt tensioners and an ear-bleeding 5.1 surround sound system.

That £120,000 is just the starting point. A full F1 cockpit or a three-seater version – so you can take your mates for a ride – will add another £75k to the asking price, and you get the choice of either three 42-inch wrap-around screens or a pair of advanced stereo projectors, so that onlookers can watch you slice down the Nürburgring’s Foxhole at 160mph.

You can also hook up any number of Hexatechs so that you can race against friends or set up 24-hour endurance races no matter where they are in the world.

Just make sure you have enough room before you pick up the phone – it has a huge 2.3m x 3m footprint, needs 3m of headroom and must sit on a floor capable of handling one tonne per square meter.              

By Ben Whitworth