You can try every IndyCar track with Tony Kanaan's new racing simulator in Indy
INDIANAPOLIS — Every IndyCar track is at your fingertips.
With Tony Kanaan’s new racing simulator, which debuted at the Micro Center in northeast Indianapolis this week, you can customize your own car down to the chassis, engine, and color. There are countless IndyCar tracks to choose from, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval and road course.
Of course, it’ll cost you — the most basic wheel in the collection is $499, and that’s only one part of the simulator. There’s still the chair, pedals, three monitors, rigs to set it all up and other accessories to give the true experience.
But, just for a taste, you can try it all for free at the Micro Center.
The basic wheel, which is on the in-store simulator, isn’t a true IndyCar wheel experience, either. Out of 15 wheels to choose from on a wall next to the simulator, Kanaan said he designed three of them, including one that was a true IndyCar wheel experience.
All kinds of wheels to choose from for the simulator.
The one on the setup at Micro Center is the most basic — TK said he can’t scare people away right away.
The one on the top row second from the left is most authentic to an IndyCar wheel, and one he designed himself. pic.twitter.com/Qv5SoiGvwk— chloe peterson (@chloepeterson67) July 24, 2023
They didn’t put the true IndyCar on the in-store simulator for a reason, though — he doesn't want to scare people away with both the price and the complexity of the wheel. There is also an option to only buy a wheel and hook it up to a monitor at home.
“Not everybody can spend $2,000 on a wheel,” Kanaan said. “So, you're trying to make it so everybody can afford this one.”
Kanaan, who officially retired following the 2023 Indy 500 after a storied IndyCar career, wasn’t originally a fan of simulators.
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But when IndyCar shut down for six months in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, IndyCar officials asked him and other drivers to stream simulated versions of races. When Kanaan got his equipment for online racing, it wasn’t up to his standards. So, he took it into his own hands.
“IndyCar says, ‘Look, we're not racing for six months, we need to do some online racing to keep the fans engaged,’” Kanaan said at Micro Center on Monday. “And we all did, right. So, I go out and I buy my first wheel, my first pedals, and as a typical racecar driver, you're looking to change stuff. And that's how I started.”
He connected with Warren Beneson, the Chief Merchandising Officer of Micro Center, to start putting together a racecar driver-approved simulator. Kanaan had input in everything that went into the simulator — other than the design.
“100%,” Kanaan said. “Everything else that is there was talked about — not design, because I'm not a designer — but it was my input.”
Now, three years later, he’s fully bought into the simulator craze — enough so that he helped a struggling driver in the middle of an interview.
While I was talking to Tony Kanaan about his new racing simulator today, he stepped in to help someone who had crashed ~just~ a little too much.
He started developing the simulator in 2020 when IndyCar shut down for six months, and it debuted at the Micro Center today. pic.twitter.com/90DvtgpD0i— chloe peterson (@chloepeterson67) July 24, 2023
“We developed the first one, and a year later because we're still going through COVID and they couldn't make it,” Kanaan added. “They made a sample, and we made it better. And now, we even have a new one coming out for Christmas. It’s just like a race car, you just improve every time, we try to make it better every time.”
His new Christmas simulator will come out just in time for kids to beg their parents for it as a present, too.
“(Parents say,) ‘We don’t need that,’ or, ‘For Christmas,’” Kanaan said. “I have four kids, I know how you promise them.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: You can try every track with Tony Kanaan's new racing simulator
