Pininfarina Sim Racing Concept Brings Beautiful Design To The Rig You Were Eventually Going To Abandon Anyway

Image: Fabio Bilotta

What if famed Italian design house made a sim racing rig that you’d be proud to have and display in your home? Designer Fabio Bilotta set out to develop this idea into the piece you see here, called the Pininfarina Formula Concept. A gorgeous blend of formed dark plywood and carbon fiber, this beautiful piece of interior design is a seating surface with a purpose. It is a simple and organic flow to the piece that appeals to the eye, while blending automotive and furniture design into a single piece. I love it.

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Clearly this is more focused on formula driving simulation, as it has the feet elevated above the butt, as many current open wheelers do. It might be fun to throw a VR headset on and tackle some F1 2024 on this thing. I certainly wouldn’t want to ruin the lines of this design by mounting a big screen above it. This is far better suited to an Oculus or Meta or whatever they’re called now.

Image: Fabio Bilotta

I have an interesting relationship with my sim racing rig. I bought everything and built it a few years ago and went all-in for a little while on iRacing, as it has the most support and serious players. After a while I figured out that it isn’t fun at all, it’s work, and it’s expensive. I’m not actually convinced anyone truly enjoys iRacing. So my top-of-the-line several-thousand-dollar rig sat unused for months and I felt guilty about it. So I found an old game with lots of support and active leagues, Dirt Rally 2.0. I got pretty damn good at that game, tweaking my skills and learning new cars, until support for the game (and all of my leagues) shifted to the new WRC game, which doesn’t support VR headsets. And now my rig is once more abandoned.

Image: Fabio Bilotta

If I had this magnificent piece in my home collecting dust after I gave up my sim racing career, I’d probably be okay with it. It cuts a much more striking figure than the jungle gym of welded tubing and a racing seat with a Fanatec wheel bolted to the top currently taking up space in my office.

While this isn’t actually available to buy, and probably will never get any further than a simple rendering seen here, it will definitely float around in my dreams for a few months.