Pixra Racing Notify me on Kickstarter

For PS5 & Xbox · Kickstarter soon

Rig hardware for console racers. No PC. No SimHub.

Pixra reads the telemetry your console already broadcasts and runs the whole rig by itself: race display, shift lights, LED matrix, shakers and a wind simulator.

Notify me on Kickstarter Watch the film 1:52

Works with EA Sports F1 23 – 26 Gran Turismo 7 Forza Motorsport Forza Horizon 4, 5 & 6 EA Sports WRC

5–15msDDU to every accessory, over its own radio link
60fpsdashboards drawn on the DDU itself, at up to 60 fps
21RGB LEDs: rev bar, flags, spotter
0PCs anywhere in the loop
The film 1:52 Watch with sound

The console problem

The accessories exist. They all assume a PC you don't have.

SimHub is brilliant, and it is the reason nearly every rig accessory works. It is also a Windows program. If you race on a console, that leaves you two bad options and one good one.

The workaround

  • A Windows PC or laptop wedged under the rig, on just to run SimHub
  • SimHub, its plugins, its drivers and its updates to keep working
  • A USB cable from that PC to every accessory
  • Fifteen minutes of setup before every session

Going without

  • No shift lights, no flags, no wind, no feel
  • Telemetry the game is already sending, going nowhere
  • A phone-app dashboard that lags and needs charging
  • A rig that looks the part and feels like a TV

Pixra

  • The DDU listens to the console over Wi‑Fi. That is the whole setup.
  • Matrix, shakers and wind simulator pair to the DDU, not to a computer
  • Design dashboards and effects from your phone's browser
  • Turn it on, start the game, race

How it works

Three steps. None of them involve a PC.

  1. 1

    Switch on UDP telemetry

    Every supported game has it in its settings. F1 calls it UDP Telemetry, Forza calls it Data Out, Gran Turismo 7 just needs to be asked.

  2. 2

    The DDU joins your Wi‑Fi

    Type the password on its own touchscreen. From then on it listens for whichever game is running and switches dashboards to match.

  3. 3

    Accessories pair to the DDU

    Matrix, shaker, pedal and wind simulator units announce themselves and talk to the DDU over its own radio link, not through your router, so a busy house network never adds lag.

The working prototype

Out of the bag, onto the rig, into a lap.

No studio and no renders: the prototype DDU, filmed on a phone. First‑time setup on its own touchscreen, mounted on a Moza R12 V2 wheelbase, then F1 25 on an Xbox in one take.

Watch the unboxing 3:29

The software

Pixra OS

The DDU runs its own operating system on an eight‑core Radxa Cubie A7Z. Pixra OS finds the game on your Wi‑Fi, draws the dashboard, decides what every matrix, shaker, pedal and fan does, and updates itself: the job a PC running SimHub does on other rigs, done by the display in front of you.

  1. Reads the gameRecognises F1, Gran Turismo 7, Forza and EA Sports WRC on your network and switches dashboards to match.
  2. Draws at up to 60 fpsThe SimHub dashboards you import, or your own from the browser designer, drawn by the DDU's own GPU.
  3. Drives the rigWorks out every accessory's effects and sends them over ESP‑NOW, 5 – 15 ms behind the game.
  4. Updates itselfNew games, dashboards and effects over the air, for the DDU and every accessory. Rolls back on its own if an update fails.

No SimHub needed

Your SimHub dashboards come with you.

Import the .simhubdash you already race with from your phone or laptop, pick it on the DDU, and it runs on board: its screens, gauges and formulas, drawn from live telemetry with no SimHub anywhere near it. Or build your own from scratch.

The dashboard designer after an import: the imported dashboard running in a preview, and a button to make it the default

1Import it

Hand the dashboard designer the file, from any browser. A moment later it is on the DDU: you see it running, and one question, whether to make it your default.

An imported SimHub dashboard running on the DDU's screen

2Race with it

It runs on the DDU itself, every screen, page and formula. Tap a panel to page it, swipe for the next screen. When its author ships a new version, import that and it updates in place.

Imported dashboard: AIO by TheKingM249

The Pixra dashboard designer with a race dashboard being built

+Or build your own

Start from an empty screen in the dashboard designer: drag on gauges, rev bars, tyres, maps and timing, bind them to the game's telemetry, save, and it's on the DDU.

01 · Pixra DDU

A real race display, not a phone in a bracket.

A 5-inch capacitive touchscreen under twenty‑one through‑hole RGB LEDs, each a 5 mm lens standing proud of the housing: fifteen rev lights across the top, flag and spotter blocks down each side. Behind the glass a Radxa Cubie A7Z (eight cores, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB storage) runs Pixra OS and draws the dashboard itself, at up to 60 frames a second, from the game's telemetry.

  • Design dashboards in a browser by drag and drop, or import the .simhubdash you already race with.
  • Track maps it learns from your own laps, so every circuit works from lap two.
  • Multi-screen dashboards: swipe for the next screen, tap a panel to page it.
  • Screen and shift‑light brightness set on the DDU itself; the lights dim to 1 % for a dark room.
  • A power button on the back: one press starts it, one press shuts it down cleanly.
  • Updates itself over the air. Rolls back on its own if an update fails.
Display
VoCore 5.0" IPS, 854 × 480, multi‑touch
Brain
Radxa Cubie A7Z + ESP32‑C3 radio
Compute
8 cores (2 × Cortex‑A76, 6 × Cortex‑A55), 1 GB RAM, 8 GB storage
Shift lights
21 through‑hole RGB LEDs, 5 mm
Software
Pixra OS
Telemetry in
UDP over Wi‑Fi, auto‑detects the game
Power
USB‑C (2 m braided cable included), power button
Updates
Over the air, with automatic rollback

Inside the DDU

Scroll to open it up.

The actual CAD, not an illustration. The housing, the VoCore panel, an LED bar PCB that carries the twenty‑one through‑hole LEDs, the power stage and its own ESP32‑C3 talking to the accessories, a Radxa Cubie A7Z on its back doing the drawing, and a finned heatsink with a blower so it never throttles mid‑race.

Scroll

Accessories

Add the rest of the rig, one piece at a time.

Each one pairs to the DDU once and takes its orders over the DDU's own radio link, never through your router. Start with the display and add these whenever you like.

02 · Pixra LED Matrix

Flags, gear and warnings, big enough to see without looking.

An 8 × 8 wireless pixel panel you mount wherever your eyes already go. Yellow flag, blue flag, pit limiter, the gear you're in: the DDU renders every frame and the matrix just shows it.

  • Design what it shows, per game and per condition, in the same browser designer.
  • Wireless. Pair it once from the DDU and it sits anywhere on the rig, 5 – 15 ms behind it.
  • Add a second or third one. No extra setup, they announce themselves.
  • Blanks itself within half a second if the feed ever drops, so a stale flag never sits on your rig.
Pixels
8 × 8 WS2812B matrix on an ESP32‑C3
Link
ESP‑NOW to the DDU, 5 – 15 ms
Pairing
Bluetooth from the DDU, once
Power
USB‑C, 5 V (2 m braided cable included)

03 · Pixra Seat Shaker

Feel the engine, the shift, and the lock‑up.

A Dayton BST‑2 bass shaker on our own printed saddle, bolted to your seat frame's 40 × 40 rail with two T‑nuts (two saddles clamp a round seat tube instead), with its amp and radio in a printed case bolted to the same rail. Driven by tones the DDU synthesises from the telemetry, the same family of effects PC racers get from ShakeIt, with no PC in the loop.

Bring your own BST‑2. The transducer isn't in the box: it's heavy and magnetic, so shipping one costs more than the £30 or so it sells for locally. Everything else is.

  • Engine rumble that climbs with revs. A thump on every gear change.
  • Wheel lock, road texture, kerb impacts, braking and lateral G.
  • Tune every effect from your phone. Test tone included.
Transducer
Dayton BST‑2 (bought separately), 35 W, TPA3116 class‑D amp
Range
10 – 50 Hz, ESP32‑C3 tone synth, 4 tones per channel
Link
ESP‑NOW to the DDU, 5 – 15 ms · 60 Hz effects
Safety
Goes silent 1 s after the feed stops

Right now 42.0 Hz 64 %

04 · Pixra Wind Simulator

Speed you can feel on your face.

Two blower fans on flexible ducts, so the outlets sit exactly where you want them. Wind rises with speed, and the inside duct eases off through corners, so a fast left feels different from a fast right.

The Pixra Wind Simulator prototype on a rig: a 120 mm fan in its printed adapter, clamped to a flexible duct
The prototype on the rig: fan, printed adapter and duct.
  • Speed-proportional, learns each car's top speed as you drive.
  • Corner-aware left / right channels.
  • Silent 25 kHz fan control. Your response curve, drawn by hand.
Fans
2 × 120 mm, 110 CFM, ducted (up to 3 per unit)
Controller
ESP32‑C3, in a case that bolts to 40 mm profile
Link
ESP‑NOW to the DDU, 5 – 15 ms
Power
One 12 V adapter runs the fans and the controller

Right now L 48 % R 48 %

05 · Pixra Pedal Shakers

ABS you feel in your right foot, not read on a screen.

A sealed haptic puck behind each pedal, one each for clutch, brake and throttle, driven by a hub that pairs to the DDU. Every effect has its own pedal: ABS chatters through the brake, wheelspin and traction control buzz the throttle, and every gear change knocks the clutch. It's the motor haptics PC racers get from SimHub, running on a console.

The Pixra Pedal Shakers prototype on a rig: a printed puck bolted behind each of three pedals
The prototype on the rig: a puck behind each pedal.
  • ABS, traction control, wheel lock and spin, gear shifts, kerbs and impacts, each routed to the pedal you'd feel it through.
  • Optionally keep a pedal quiet until you press it, judged from the game's own pedal inputs. Console included.
  • Mounted behind the pedal, out of your foot's way: a fork grips the pedal arm with one bolt and the puck pushes along the pedal's own travel. Two‑pedal sets get brake and throttle.
  • Tune from your phone: which pedal feels what, a response curve per pedal, a test tone for each.
Transducers
2 × 44 mm 20 W exciters (clutch, throttle) and 1 × 50 mm 25 W (brake), each in its own puck
Range
60 – 200 Hz, one tone per pedal, SimHub's motor mix
Link
ESP‑NOW to the DDU · 60 Hz effects
Safety
Goes silent 1 s after the feed stops

Right now C — B — T —

Pixra OS · over‑the‑air updates

It gets better after you buy it.

  • The DDU updates itself. New dashboards, new games, new effects: one tap on the Updates page, no SD card, no computer.
  • It cannot brick. Updates land in a second slot and the DDU only switches over once the new version has booted and proved itself. If it doesn't, it rolls back on its own.
  • Accessories too. The DDU pushes new firmware to every matrix, shaker, pedal and wind simulator unit over the air. You will never plug one into a laptop.

Make it yours

Six designers. Any browser. No install.

Every editor runs on the DDU and opens on your phone or laptop from a QR code on its screen. Change something, it's on the hardware before you've put the phone down.

The Pixra dashboard designer with a race dashboard being built

Dashboard designer

Drag text, gauges, rev bars, shift lights, tyres, track maps, charts and standings onto an 854 × 480 canvas that is exactly the DDU's screen. Bind anything to any telemetry channel, or write a formula. Multiple screens per dashboard. Import a .simhubdash and keep the layout you already love.

The shift-light designer

Shift lights

All 21 LEDs, group by group: rev bar colours and thresholds, flags on the end blocks, spotter, pit limiter, blink rates. Test it against sliders before you ever start a game. Imports SimHub LED profiles.

The LED matrix designer

LED matrix

Draw what each unit shows, layer by layer: gear, flags, animations, text that scrolls. Conditions per game, so an F1 blue flag and a Forza one can look different. Live preview on the real unit.

The wind simulator tuner

Wind simulator tune

Minimum and maximum gain, the speed the car tops out at (or let it learn), corner curving, static wind for the menus, and a response curve you drag by hand. A test blast for finding the level.

The seat shaker tuner

Seat shaker tune

Engine rumble with its own RPM curve, gear shift, road texture, impacts, wheel slip, braking G, acceleration G, cornering: gain and character for each. A test tone to set the amp once.

The pedal shaker tuner, with clutch, brake and throttle ticks on every effect

Pedal shakers tune

Every effect with a clutch, brake and throttle tick: choose which pedal feels ABS, traction control, wheelspin, shifts, kerbs. Gain and tone for each, a response curve you drag per pedal, a gate that keeps a pedal quiet until you press it, and a test tone per pedal.

Kickstarter prices

What it costs.

What each piece costs on Kickstarter, in pounds. The first 100 DDUs are £189, and £208 after that. Start with the DDU, which runs everything, and add the rest whenever you like. The DDU and the LED Matrix each come with a 2 m braided USB‑C to USB‑C cable at these prices.

The whole rig comes to £493 at the first‑100 price, plus your own BST‑2. Follow the Kickstarter to be told the moment it opens.

Questions

Before you back it.

Do I really need no PC, and no SimHub?

None at all. Your PS5 or Xbox already broadcasts telemetry over your Wi‑Fi; the DDU listens for it, draws the dashboards itself and drives every accessory over its own radio link. There is no computer anywhere in the loop, not even for setup or updates.

Which games and consoles work?

PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with EA Sports F1 23 – 26, Gran Turismo 7, Forza Motorsport, Forza Horizon 4, 5 & 6 and EA Sports WRC. The DDU recognises whichever game is running and switches dashboards to match. New games arrive as over‑the‑air updates.

Does it work with my wheel and pedals?

Yes. Pixra never talks to your wheel or pedals: everything comes from the game's own telemetry, so any wheel, base or pedal set works. The pedal shakers mount behind the pedal arms of whatever set you already have, and two‑pedal sets get brake and throttle.

Do the accessories need the DDU?

Yes. The DDU is the brain: it reads the game and decides what every matrix, shaker and fan does, then sends it to them wirelessly. Start with the DDU and add accessories whenever you like; each new one pairs to it once and needs no other setup.

How is it set up?

Turn on UDP telemetry in the game's settings, type your Wi‑Fi password on the DDU's touchscreen, and pair any accessories from the DDU. That is the whole setup. The accessories talk to the DDU directly, not through your router, so a busy home network never adds lag.

Can I change what it shows and how it feels?

Everything. Six designers run on the DDU and open in any browser on your phone or laptop: dashboards (import a .simhubdash you already love), shift lights, the LED matrix, the wind simulator, the seat shaker and the pedal shakers. Changes land on the hardware as you make them.

What is Pixra OS?

The operating system on the DDU. It recognises the game, draws the dashboards, works out what every accessory does and sends it to them, and hosts the six designers you open from your phone. It is the part a PC running SimHub plays on other rigs, living on the display itself, and it is what the over‑the‑air updates improve.

Will it keep getting better?

Yes. The DDU updates itself over the air with one tap, and pushes new firmware to every accessory the same way. An update lands in a second slot and the DDU only switches once it has booted and proved itself, so a failed update rolls back on its own.

When does it ship, and what will it cost?

Backers get their units 45 – 60 days after the campaign ends. On Kickstarter the DDU is £189 for the first 100 backers and £208 after that. The LED Matrix is £44, the Seat Shaker £65, the Pedal Shakers £83 and the Wind Simulator £112. What's in each box.

Why do I buy the BST‑2 myself?

The Dayton BST‑2 is heavy and magnetic, which makes it expensive to ship around the world: buying one locally, for about £30, costs you less than having it in the box. Everything it needs is included: the hub, the printed mount and the power adapter.

What powers each unit?

The DDU and the LED Matrix run on USB‑C, and each comes with a 2 m braided USB‑C to USB‑C cable. The Seat Shaker, the Wind Simulator and the Pedal Shakers each come with their own power adapter.

What happens to my email?

We use it to tell you when the Kickstarter goes live. Nothing else: no newsletter, no spam, and it is never shared or sold. The privacy notice has the detail, and contact@pixraracing.com takes you off the list.

Kickstarter

Be first on the grid.

The prototypes are finished: the DDU, matrix, seat shaker, pedal shakers and wind simulator on this page are running hardware, not a render of a plan. Kickstarter is next, and backers get their units 45 – 60 days after the campaign ends. The first 100 DDUs are £189: follow the project, and Kickstarter tells you the moment it opens.

  1. PrototypesFinished. The DDU and all four add‑ons are on the rig.
  2. Shipping45 – 60 days after the campaign ends.

The Kickstarter page is up. Follow it, and Kickstarter tells you the moment we launch.

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