We already discussed the Emperor super-power chair from NovelQuest, but in the booth next to it at CES was SimCraft’s racing simulator. That’s real Indy 500 race car driver Sarah Fisher in the photo, by the way.

I got a chance to try it, and I tell you, it felt like I was really auto racing. The frame was made of the same materials found in actual race cars, and it moved when I turned the wheel. I quickly learned that first lesson of racing: an inch is a mile.

In other words, you barely need to turn the wheel when you are going at 150 miles an hour on the track. You also have to stay on the outside of ring of the track, because once you go inside, your suspension gets all messed up and you go into the wall. Could a console game have taught me that? Not even with a steering wheel control.

Also, when you crash, you can feel it. Not as bad as a real race car, and that is the point. One of the SimCraft representatives has genuine experience race car driving, and he says the experience is pretty close, with some exceptions. For example, the user of the SimCraft cannot feel the same tremors on the steering wheel that a real race car driver will feel, and even though the triple-screen view on the SimCraft is good, it doesn’t compare to the view a real race car driver would have.

I can’t seem to find a price on the SimCraft site, but it can’t be cheap. I have learned that the company is planning a version that can fold down and fit under the bed. I have another suggestion for a future product: make it like the Speed Racer movie. Of course, you will have to put some sort of hydraulic lifting mechanism for the impossible jumps done in that film.