Penske Autosport, the US-based auto racing team involved in many areas of motorsport, has expanded its partnership with Ansible Motion, manufacturer of Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) simulators, with the delivery of four Theta Seat Sport simulators.
The Theta Seat Sport simulator is the first model in Ansible Motion’s new motorsport product series, designed specifically for racing applications, with an engineering-grade computational architecture that powers highly detailed vehicle and environment models, plus interconnection capacity for multiple networked DIL simulators.
Following the deployment of Ansible Motion’s Delta S3 DIL simulator to Penske Autosport in 2024, the racing team now has a multi-sim testing and development centre. This new five-simulator setup enables the driver of the existing Ansible Motion Delta S3 simulator at DS Penske – featuring full dynamics, 48K image rendering, a full 360° wrap-around screen and real Formula E cockpit – to interact virtually in real-time on-track with four drivers in separate Theta Seat Sport simulators.
Phil Charles, deputy team principal and team president at DS Penske says:
Having already experienced the superlative capabilities and engineering benefits of operating the Ansible Motion Delta S3 dynamic simulator – which we installed last year – we were keen to expand our simulator programme to include multiple, simultaneous drivers in order to explore inter-vehicle and inter-driver situations. Ansible Motion’s new Theta Seat Sport simulator suite is now enabling us to do this.”
Also enabling the multi-sim setup is equally cutting-edge software from AVL RACETECH – a long-time technical partner of Ansible Motion – with its vehicle modelling network, providing unified multi-simulator connectivity.
Guillermo Pezzetto, global sales & business development manager racing at AVL RACETECH, commented:
DS Penske’s multi-simulator solution enables the customer to simulate highly realistic race scenarios, including traffic, thus creating a unique testing environment for the development of race car setups and energy management strategies. To maximise the benefits of this setup, the vehicle dynamics simulation used must be capable of realistically modelling the physical effects of running in traffic, which is exactly what our AVL VSM™ RACE software is doing.
Theta Seat is a part of Ansible Motion’s range of static and compact DIL simulators intended for virtual system integration and vehicle product development. The newly-introduced Sport variant – the first in the company’s new motorsport product series – is designed specifically for motorsport applications, with a sophisticated, engineering-grade computational architecture that powers highly detailed vehicle and environment models, plus interconnection capacity for multiple networked DIL simulators.
Four new, networked Theta Seat Sport simulators at DS Penske’s facility.
Image: Ansible Motion. Copyright 2025 © Sam Bagnall
Supported by a modular, plinth-based physical structure, Theta Seat Sport provides a scalable and reconfigurable architecture that can easily adapt to different race series and scale from affordable price point specifications with gaming-standard controls up to sophisticated, more immersive setups with multi-function racing steering wheels and upgrade kits for Ansible Motion’s existing supplemental cueing and active loading systems for steering torque, pedal actuation, harness tension, helmet force and high-frequency actuation.
Seamless integration with the world’s most advanced, engineering-grade driving simulation software – supplied by Ansible Motion’s sister company, rFpro - delivers real-world physics, high fidelity track simulations for Formula E, enhancing driver immersion alongside the cutting-edge vision, motion, and audio systems.
Dan Clark, managing director of Ansible Motion, adds:
We’re delighted that Penske Autosport has recognised the performance and multi-sim interconnection advantages of our newly configured Sport simulators, becoming the first to acquire a suite of these immersive development platforms. We have no doubt that the team’s Formula E title challenge in 2025 will be aided by this advancement in simulator capability. Our multi-sim technology opens up new avenues for development that weren't possible before, and we are looking forward to introducing several new Sport products in the near term.
Manufactured in the UK at Ansible Motion’s facility, Penske Autosport’s new Theta Seat Sport simulators were delivered in January 2025, just 3 months after order placement, and are already operational as the team competes in Formula E’s eleventh season.
More insights can be found in recent articles in Vehicle Dynamics International, Professional Motorsport World, Formula E Notebook, and others.
And if you are interested in reading more about the current state of the art in motorsport simulators, we invite you to download our FREE eBook, Engineering the advantage: Driver-in-the-Loop simulation in motorsport:
