Racing simulators grew out of 1970s arcade driving games. Atari's Gran Trak 10 (1974) added a steering wheel, pedals and a gear shifter; Atari's Hard Drivin' (1989) brought a force-feedback wheel and 3D polygon graphics; PC simulations from Papyrus, starting with Indianapolis 500: The Simulation (1989), pushed realism; and online services and laser-scanned tracks arrived with iRacing in 2008. Motion platforms came from flight simulation.
Timeline
| Year | Milestone | Why it mattered |
|---|---|---|
| 1929 | Link trainer | Often cited as the first flight simulator; a mechanical trainer for instrument flying (Smithsonian) |
| 1974 | Gran Trak 10 (Atari) | Steering wheel, four-position shifter and accelerator and brake pedals (Museum of the Game) |
| 1989 | Hard Drivin' (Atari Games) | Steering wheel with force feedback; described as the first driving simulator to use 3D polygon graphics (Museum of the Game) |
| 1989 | Indianapolis 500: The Simulation (Papyrus) | Called the first legitimate racing sim to reach the market (Motor Sport) |
| 1997 | Gran Turismo (PlayStation) | Released in Japan on December 23, 1997 (background) |
| 1998 | Grand Prix Legends (Papyrus) | Recreated the 1967 Formula 1 season; difficult and slow-selling (Motor Sport) |
| 2008 | iRacing launches | Online racing service, launched with 22 laser-scanned North American tracks (iRacing; Motor Sport) |
| 2014 | Assetto Corsa (KUNOS Simulazioni) | Physics, laser-scanned tracks and a large modding community (KUNOS) |
| 2019 | Assetto Corsa Competizione | Built around the SRO GT World Challenge (KUNOS) |
| 2025 | Assetto Corsa EVO (Early Access) | New tire model and dynamic weather (KUNOS) |
The arcade era
Gran Trak 10 was a single-player, top-down race against the clock. The Museum of the Game lists its controls as a wheel, a four-position shifter and two pedals, and notes that the car kept turning only while you turned the wheel, not quite like a real car (Museum of the Game). Fifteen years later, Hard Drivin' put players in a cockpit cabinet with a force-feedback wheel, a five-position shifter, three pedals and an ignition key (Museum of the Game).
Simulation on home computers
Dave Kaemmer co-founded Papyrus Design Group in the 1980s. Motor Sport magazine describes how Electronic Arts asked his team for an Indianapolis 500 game, which became Indianapolis 500: The Simulation in 1989, with setup changes and a damage model. Papyrus followed with IndyCar and NASCAR titles and, in 1998, Grand Prix Legends (Motor Sport). On consoles, Gran Turismo arrived on the PlayStation at the end of 1997 (Wikipedia).
Online racing and real tracks
After Papyrus closed, Kaemmer started iRacing, which launched its online service in August 2008 (iRacing). Motor Sport reports that it launched with eight cars and 22 laser-scanned tracks (Motor Sport). Laser scanning captured bumps and camber that earlier hand-measured tracks missed; see how laser-scanned tracks are made.
In Italy, KUNOS Simulazioni released Assetto Corsa in 2014, Assetto Corsa Competizione in 2019, and Assetto Corsa EVO in Early Access in 2025 (KUNOS Simulazioni). Read more in what is Assetto Corsa.
Better hardware at home
Direct-drive wheel bases, where the wheel mounts straight to a large motor, were long limited to enthusiasts and professional settings. Fanatec describes its Podium DD1 and DD2 as the first true mass-market products in the category, and says later models such as the CSL DD made direct drive accessible to a wider audience (Fanatec).
Motion from flight simulation
Moving cockpits came from aviation. The six-actuator hexapod, now known as the Gough-Stewart platform, was in use in the UK by 1954 and published by D. Stewart in 1965, and American engineer Klaus Cappel licensed a similar design to early flight-simulator companies (background). Today, compact electric systems such as SIGMA Integrale's DK series bring telemetry-driven motion to sim-racing seats (SIGMA Integrale).
Try a modern rig
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