CES 2007 – The $15,000 Race Chair

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D-BOX, the Canadian manufacturer of high-end motion sensing home theater seats, has entered the gaming market with the new GP-100 Gaming Platform. D-BOX took their award winning motion technology and applied it to create the most realistic racing seat I have ever experienced. They even use a real Sparco racing seat!

Imaging driving racetracks all over the world; feeling the bumps on the track, the G’s in the curves, accelerating down the straights, the engine at redline, and you in the driver’s seat. That is the kind of experience the D-BOX GP-100 can deliver.

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Built by gamers (rich ones), The GP-100 is the first true racing simulator with motion, made for the home. Utilizing D-BOX actuators, the seat allow you to experience full three-axis motion; turning right and left, braking, accelerating through the gears, and even feeling the textures of the road. Future updates will allow the chair to add on first person game modules for shooting, combat, fantasy, sports, flight sims, and more.

The GP-100 works with the PC only. D-BOX does plan to make the chair work with consoles like XBox and Playstation but would not give a time line on when that might happen.

The Chair In Action

The D-BOX GP-100 is expected to ship next month with a street price of $15,000 per chair. While there are lots of rich home owners willing to pay $15,000 for a D-BOX movie chair to add their $100,000+ home theater systems, I have to wonder how many gamers are willing to shell out $15K for a game chair?

Surely D-BOX knows the gaming market and home theater market are not the same markets? If they don’t, they’re going to be in for a shock.