Costco Fulfills F1 Racing Dreams… For a Price

Posted on May 11, 2022 in Racing | 2 comments

Costco F1 racing simulator

Costco: the land where dreams come true.


Assuming, of course, your dreams include 50-pound bags of sugar, gallons of mayonnaise and full access to all the toilet paper you’ll ever need.


Bulk discounts on household staples are enough to keep some people coming back every Saturday. Every once in a while, though, Costco surprises by offering something so over-the-top extravagant or absurd that it blows our little minds. That includes million-dollar diamonds, caskets stacked near the TVs, and now, F1 cars.


Kind of.


What you see above is perhaps the most extravagant example of gaming accessories ever created.


Somehow Costco U.K. has brokered a deal to sell a racing simulator that is mounted to a life-size F1 car. That car includes pretty much everything needed to hit the track except an engine and transmission. Included are plenty of carbon fiber, alloy, full brakes, wheels and tires.


The price is £90,000, which equates to about $138,000 here in the States. That’s a lot of money to spend on a hobby, especially considering you could buy a real Porsche 911 GT3 or a couple of Jaguar F-Types for the same money. That price does include delivery, set up and training, but it takes about 12 to 18 weeks to deliver.


Costco F1 racing simulator, inside

Instead of a drivetrain, the simulator is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor gaming PC with 16 gigs of RAM and a SSD hard drive. The wraparound display is composed of three 23-inch thin film transistor (TFT) LCD displays, accompanied by speakers on either side that complement a full built-in 5.1 Surround Sound system. That should be more than enough to make you feel like you’re actually behind the wheel at Monte Carlo, or whichever F1 race you choose to take on.


For now, the simulator is sold only through Costco in the U.K., but who knows what could happen if enough racing-obsessed gamers in the U.S. made demands. Knowing our market, though, we’d end up with a NASCAR version, which wouldn’t be nearly as cool.

2 comments

  1. Elise H.

    The real thing is the way to go. If money was no object there would be absolutely no reason to settle for a simulation. I’m sure the simulator is fun but no way could it even compare to the thrill of actually driving the car.

  2. Randy

    A racing simulator is great for those who want to experience some of the elements of racing without the brutal, slamming G-forces, heat, and sheer terror. Having spent a fair amount of time behind the wheel and in the right seat of high performance cars in a track environment, I can’t imagine what F1 drivers go through given the extreme performance of these machines. I remember Jeremy Clarkson unsuccessfully trying to drive an F1 car on Top Gear. The car needed to attain such high speeds to get sufficient down force to corner properly, he just couldn’t do it.