MotoTrainer gives motorcycle racing fans their own sim equipment

Sim racing got a massive boost in popularity the past year, especially in the early part of the pandemic, where all real physical motorsport came to a standstill. Unfortunately, just about all the fun was limited to a four-wheel drive. Recreating the experience for our motorcycle lovers will be a little harder.

How much harder? Well, so hard that it’s only now, with the announcement of the MotoTrainer Thursday, that we’re even in the ballpark. Unfortunately, as you can see in the introductory video, this is not exactly the kind of gaming solution that you attach to your desktop, as it uses an actual motorcycle as peripherals.

MotoTrainer was developed in partnership with Dorna – also known as the company that owns MotoGP – and either works with the game MotoGP, or riders can follow a board of any of the MotoGP circles. Unfortunately, there are currently no hardcore motorcycle racing simulations in the vein of iRacing available to the public, so do not expect to have the same experience.

“The software behind Moto Trainer, developed by our engineers, can play any video on board and allow riders to save their efforts on a telemetry master track,” MotoTrainer CEO Andrea Lombardi said in a statement. “This means you can drive any circuit and motorcycle you want to charge, with riders repeating the video to the reference telemetry. The software then analyzes the rider’s performance by monitoring the accelerator, front and rear brakes, gearbox and ranges. . “

It’s all incredibly cool, but you’re probably wondering what it’s going to cost, if you assume you have an extra motorcycle and have the space to set one up. Well, less than you might think, and significantly less than an automated racing simulator, but still a lot. The MotoTrainer starts at around $ 6,000 and rises from there if you want things like feedback. The fully deceived version will cost you about $ 18,130, including a computer.

So, who would know everything, who would buy this thing? Well, maybe you’re a hardcore motorcycle racer who is unable to get to a racetrack by bike, or maybe you’re someone who is recovering from a previous injury. Maybe you own a business like Base51 (run by sim harness manufacturer CXC Simulations), and you want to offer your customers two-wheeled pleasure.

Currently, it does not appear that any of these are available to the public in the United States, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that the pandemic will hopefully end, change that.