Room Racers

»Room Racers« links physical and virtual space.

First, toys are distributed around the carpet. A camera captures these objects and interprets them as barriers. In the next step, players can define a race track or an arena. Then, four players with virtual toy cars can race against each other.

Van Velthoven sees his mixed reality project as a critique of children’s play culture today and as an opportunity to point up new paths. Computer games and virtual spaces are replacing playing with physical objects. But instead of banning computer games, Velthoven’s proposal is to combine the best of both worlds.