Up until the late oughts, video game tournaments were mostly niche events organized by amateurs. However, since that time, competitive Esports has seen a tremendous surge in popularity, evolving into its own fully-fledged industry with revenue and viewership growing by the day. Needless to say, such commercialization has resulted in some pretty state-of-the-art tech.
Just take this futuristic, F1-inspired concept from BMW’s Designworks studio, for instance. Dubbed ‘The Rival Rig,’ it’s essentially the German automaker’s take on a next-level gaming chair, engineered in order to provide gamers with the most comfortable, most immersive experience possible. As such, it’s been fitted with AI smarts, LED lighting, integrated sensors, pneumatic air pads, and electro-mechanical actuators so that it can not only mirror what’s happening onscreen but also adjust itself in real-time. So, if the chair detects things like excess arm pressure or unwanted heat build-up, it will use its microclimate control and adaptive seating capabilities to automatically change its settings such that they provide the user with the most optimal support. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, BMW also designed it to be open-source, allowing developers to add new features and modes as necessary. Check it out at the link below.
