Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).
UK organisation Guild Esports and Gaming have partnered with sim racing venue operator Drive Lounge to expand Guild’s gaming facility in Shoreditch, London.
We’ll cover that specific news further in this article, but for now, who are Drive Lounge?
They were established in 2023 ‘to bring the immersive experience of virtual racing to leisure customers, racing fans and gamers, offering local access to a new level of entertainment’. Their goal is to connect people and turn their passion into skills, by becoming a better racer or develop their learning via gaming and esports.
This academy offered 500 youngsters aged 10-16 an opportunity to delve into the world of sim racing/motorsport esports, with workshops and theory/advice from experts, plus the chance to improve their skills in the rigs.
Drive Lounge then went on to run a 12-week after-school programme for kids from September 2024, which has engaged 500+ students nationwide.
The Norwich facility was well set up, with professional racing rigs, wide-screen monitors, a podium, workshop area, plus a projector showing the race from a broadcast-style camera to give spectators a feel of the race, beyond the perspective of individual drivers.
Drive Lounge also have plans to open 12 facilities across the UK, and to add some food and drink offerings, with some locations already in mind in the North of England.
We caught up with Drive Lounge CEO Paul Bolton at the academy back in the summer.
He said:
“We wanted to try and create something that gives people an immersive social racing experience, all of the sim rigs are connected together and we have our own software that runs across them that puts people in races together.”
Paul Bolton, Drive Lounge
“And we can have people of different levels of ability in the same race, and give them opportunities to enhance the racing experience, so it levels out the playing field a bit.
“We have different types of racing: Formula racing, GT racing, off-road and rally stuff, and even had guys in doing truck and van racing as well!
“We want to give people a taster of sim racing, get them excited and get them back, and hopefully spot some future talent.”
Drive Lounge also have British sim racer James Baldwin (who races for UK esports organisation Guild Esports’ ESL R1) on board as a brand ambassador.
They’ve also run some tournaments and have had guest visitors in from Lotus, which is based nearby.
On sim racing being male-dominant, Paul added: “We have had some girls in and some ladies come on their own. You sometimes get brothers and sisters racing each other and some real rivalries! Some mums shared photos on Instagram of sisters beating their brothers!
“The girls we’ve had in are very focused and thinking about getting faster lap times, rather than just diving in and driving.”
Guild Gaming and Drive Lounge expand Shoreditch simulator venue and open-access academy
As mentioned, Guild Esports and Gaming have partnered with Drive Lounge to expand Guild’s Shoreditch gaming facility.
Guild first opened their sim racing facility just over a year ago, and this new partnership expands on it.
The previous facility had three sim rigs and was designed around membership (£59.99 per month) and path to pro, as well as training for Guild’s pro sim racers. Guild also ran a sim school.
The Drive Lounge partnership expands the venue to 20 sim rigs, and is open to the public. The idea being once it opens, anyone can book a session or turn up if space is available and try out sim racing. It’ll also be open to events/corporate hospitality as well. Guild will also utilise monitoring software which can monitor drivers’ skill levels.
Opening in February 2025, ‘Drive Lounge at Sky Guild Gaming Centre’ will cater to drivers of all skill levels, from casual fans through to those competing at the top levels of sim racing.
Guild Gaming said in a press release:
“This first-of-its-kind collaboration gives talented amateur drivers the opportunity to train, improve and take a step toward going pro.”
Guild Gaming
“Participants in events will be enrolled into a grassroots racing system designed to spot and nurture future talent, opening the door to potentially competing for Guild Racing in international sim racing events or even for Guild Prodigy Racing, Guild’s real-world motor racing team.”
Based in the US, Guild Prodigy Racing features sim racers who have successfully transitioned to the real-world track.
The simulator venue will offer members of the public an entry point into the world of sim racing, as professional sim racing rigs required to compete at a high level can be prohibitively expensive for talented racers.
Members of the public will be able to race at the venue from £16 per session, with food and drink available on-site.
Guild Racing and Drive Lounge will co-develop regular league races, professional training, and driver development programmes, with plans to expand this partnership to further locations across the UK.
Additionally, Drive Lounge will introduce its ‘After School Club’ to the Shoreditch venue, a programme which combines academic learning with sim racing for young people aged 11 to 16.
Guild has made racing moves in 2024, with Guild Racing establishing an Academy roster and Guild’s pro racing teams that claimed victory in the British F4 Esports Championship, placed sixth in the Esports World Cup, and now compete in real-world racing.
“Guild is committed to democratising access to sim racing, especially for women who are traditionally underrepresented in the sector,” Guild added.
The org recently conducted a UK-wide search and training programme for women racers with Guild partner Sky Broadband, an initiative that saw it contract two of the competing drivers to its roster.
Luke Jones, VP Commercial, Esports and Gaming at Guild Gaming, stated: “Simulator venues have grown in popularity over recent years, but what makes our partnership so unique is that when you walk in the door, you aren’t just signing up for a one-off experience – you may have made your first step to becoming a racing driver with a pro team.
“Guild has always focused on developing talent, and we believe that there are hundreds of potential future racing stars out there who either don’t know it or don’t have the pathway opportunity. With the Drive Lounge team, we have the perfect partnership to create accessibility, authenticity and viability for young drivers and their sim careers.”
Luke Jones, Guild Gaming
Paul Bolton, CEO and Co-Founder of Drive Lounge, commented: “We are incredibly excited to announce our partnership with Guild, marking a major step forward in nurturing the next generation of sim talent across the UK. The launch of a flagship venue in Shoreditch is a thrilling step for us, our second venue this year and the culmination of 12 months of development.
“Working with Guild allows us to build on one of our core principles; to support the wider community and give talented drivers a route into esports.”
There’s more info at www.drivelounge.co.uk
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
