VR bumper cars meet sci-fi

German VR outfitter Spree Interactive and I.E. Park present their latest attraction: a sci-fi VR action game with real bumper cars.

Spree Interactive (formerly Holodeck VR) promises a sci-fi world and a completely new bumper car experience for the summer of 2021. Visitors sit in the cars while wearing VR goggles that transport them into a neon-lit sci-fi world and transform the bumper cars into futuristic vehicles. The physical and virtual environments are precisely coordinated.

The action takes place in a future where people have uploaded their consciousness into a virtual world. Players must work together to defend the digital afterlife from an unknown technovirus.

German venture Spree Interactive announces an exclusive partnership with I.E. Park for the distribution of turnkey VR bumper cars that will position the technology, developed in partnership with VR Coaster, in the family entertainment centre market. Cyber Blaster is to be rolled out to a number of locations over the summer months. Operators can add the technology to existing rides or order a turnkey solution including bumper cars.

All-Inclusive VR Car Scooter

The idea of a virtual reality bumper car was first implemented in 2019 with the Steampunk VR Scooter on an existing bumper car at the Schloss Thurn Adventure Park, as we reported then reported. Through the cooperation with I.E. Park, operators of leisure facilities are now to be offered an all-inclusive package with virtual reality technology on new bumper cars. Installations with a footprint of ten by ten metres are already possible.

For Spree Interactive, it is already the second attraction after Mission to Mars that mixes bumper car rides and virtual reality.

"Many of our customers wanted a game with a sci-fi theme and Cyber Blaster delivers," says Jonathan Nowak Delgado, the founder and director of the Nuremberg-based company. Cyber Blaster was developed by the Oscar-winning effects studio Pixomondo (Westworld, Game of Thrones).

Location-Based Virtual Reality

The makers are convinced: "With our world's first VR bumper car attraction, we have once again opened a new chapter in location-based virtual reality," comments Prof. Thomas Wagner, managing partner of VR Coaster GmbH & Co. KG. "With the combined know-how of the VR Coaster and Spree teams, we were able to create a completely new kind of multiplayer LBE gaming. By adding all the great features that are only possible in virtual reality, like going up walls or on the ceiling, we can transform these classic rides into modern, super-immersive VR experiences."

Sounds like a lot of fun for the summer.