Mario Kart in real life? It’s actually possible in Eindhoven

What makes this experience so special is how seamlessly the physical and digital worlds intertwine. You aren’t driving on a traditional go-kart track, but through an open physical space that is fully enriched with digital elements. As you steer, accelerate or drift, virtual obstacles, power-ups and effects appear at exactly the right moment and in exactly the right place. It doesn’t feel like you’re looking at a screen, but as if the game is unfolding all around you.

The real world as a playing field
Behind this technology is GGeese Studio, which focuses entirely on immersive mixed reality gaming. The studio was founded by students from Fontys ICT and is a member of the SPARC Incubator programme. This programme gives students the chance for graduation from their own start-up.

The team combines game design, sensor technology and spatial computing to link physical movement to digital worlds. They build not only the software, but also the systems needed to make these kinds of experiences reliable and scalable. This allows players to move freely in a real space, whilst the virtual environment adapts in real time to everything they do. With this combination of physical activity and digital gameplay, GGeese Studio aims to create a new form of entertainment. Not just a game on a screen, but an experience in which players truly feel part of the game world and share the same mixed reality together.

New: join in from the sofa too
GGeese Studio has also added a new playful feature: you can now join in from the sofa using a screen and controllers. Whilst someone is driving around in a real kart, others can control a digital character driving around in the same virtual space. This creates a fun dynamic. It makes the experience accessible to everyone, including those who’d rather not get into a kart themselves.

Technology with a playful vision
What stands out when you talk to GGeese Studio is their playful way of thinking. They don’t approach technology as a set of limitations, but as an opportunity to make people laugh, jump, race and become completely absorbed in the moment. Their aim is not to make yet another game, but to create a new form of entertainment in which your body, your surroundings and the digital world become one. It is high-tech that you not only see, but also feel, and that makes it accessible, even to people who normally have little interest in gaming.