Eli Sevilla is building what he wishes he had years ago.
“The biggest issue with me growing up was I didn’t have any friends who were into sim racing,” the 27-year-old told BusinessDen. “So I got into it very slowly.”
Read more Why some Denver homeowners are renovating properties instead of scraping them
He hopes to kick that process into higher gear for newcomers, while also bringing in veterans, at Peak Sim Racing, his upcoming project at 1236 S. Broadway in Denver.
When the spot opens in the coming months, Sevilla will bring 12 racing simulators to the former home of Burns Family Artisan Ales, which closed in May last year after eight years in business.
Motorheads can experience “every type of racing imaginable” at Peak Sim Racing, Sevilla said. The spot will also allow customers to upload their own car into the machines to cruise in everything from a Ford Mustang to a Toyota Camry around the track.
Sevilla said Peak Sim will offer a more authentic racing experience than other simulator businesses, such as F1 Arcade in RiNo.
“This is as close as you can get to being inside a real race car without the money or the risk,” Sevilla said.
Sevilla brought a sim to Pikes Peak in June for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. (Courtesy Peak Sim)
Each simulator is custom-made, and Peak Sim will have 10 standard machines alongside two premium ones. The former each cost around $20,000 to build out, while the premium ones run upward of $30,000. Patrons drive the cars in a first-person screen setup sitting down using a steering wheel.
Generally, sims sell anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000, Sevilla said. He built one for himself five years ago, having caught the racing bug from the 2019 Netflix docuseries “Formula 1: Drive to Survive.”
“Most companies don’t make every component you need to build a full simulator, so for the past 10 years the only option is to build it yourself,” he said. “It’s similar to custom-built PCs, but now, especially after COVID when it exploded a bit, more companies are offering turnkey options where they do all that and ship it.”
Read more From Stanley Steamer to Subaru Trailseeker – Subie’s newest EV heads for the Rockies
It’ll cost $30 per 30 minutes to use a simulator, with the per-minute amount decreasing the more time is bought up-front. Peak Sim will also use adaptive pricing, so it’ll be cheaper on quieter weekdays versus busier weekends for people walking in.
Sevilla will also offer memberships for regulars, though he hasn’t ironed out the format and pricing just yet. He does plan on holding weekly “driving academies,” he said, where people can learn and compete in sim races. The 3,200 square feet will also be available to rent for private events like birthday parties and corporate team building.
Peak Sim will have finger foods like wings, pretzel bites and fries alongside beer, soda, chips and candy. Sevilla also plans to host watch parties for races.
“We are targeting not only people who are completely unaware what sim racing is, but additionally we want people who are avid fans,” he said. “Mainly those 9-to-5 people who can’t afford to have a sim in their house and are looking for a community center to meet and talk with other racing fans.”
Shortly after Sevilla got hooked on racing during the pandemic, he started working at a similar sim center near his home in California. After that job, Sevilla, who moved to Colorado just a month ago, worked at a dealership doing marketing.
With Peak Sim, which is named after the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, he’s managing operations and branding. His parents, who are originally from Mexico but moved to Denver a couple years ago, are also his business partners in the project. His mother is an interpreter and is handling the administrative work, and his father works in dairy product exporting and is on the financial and executive sides of the business, Sevilla said.
The trio signed a five-year lease for the space and expect to spend $100,000 to convert the brewery.
“When people come in, we’ll ask them their experience level and help them find something that fits,” Sevilla said. “We won’t stick a newcomer in an F1 car because that’s the most difficult thing you can drive. We’d probably start you on a lower horsepower.”
Read more FBI no longer treating an applicant’s experience with prostitution as automatic bar against hiring
Read more from our partner, BusinessDen.
Get more business news by signing up for our Economy Now newsletter.
