F1 Arcade Boston — Restaurant in Boston

I'm writing this review from the comfort of my couch, enjoying an affogato at home that I made after spending all of 31 minutes at F1 Arcade.  There's a lot to like here, and a lot that can be improved. Let's go minute-by-minute in a slightly embellished but mostly accurate accounting of our experience.

9:40 - My partner and I arrive downstairs ahead of our 9:45 reservation.  Gentleman working the door was very welcoming. 9:42 - We get to the top of the stairs to check-in and there are a number of people standing around.  It's not clear to us where to go but we eventually get to the check-in desk, greeted by very friendly staff in STUNNING sequin jackets.  They're playing early-2010's party staples on a crisp, clear sound system, and we got the sense that it was being mixed live by a DJ - the music was just right for our Millennial ears. 9:43 - We are walked to our simulators and given the rundown by another gracious staff member who (correctly!) suggested to start on the most novice level.  She concluded the intro by saying that at precisely 9:45 we would begin, and she was absolutely correct. 9:45:00.00 - The simulator starts and you scan a QR code to set up your account.  You have TWO MINUTES to complete this before the race starts. 9:47-9:52 - We race our first race, with both of us racing against 8 computer players, not other players at the arcade.  The racing was competitive and hyper-realistic.  In fact it was so realistic, Verstappen won. 9:54 - 9:59 - Race 2 10:02 - 10:07 - Race 3!  I secured a win! 10:08 - We conclude racing with no ceremony other than the system showing our point totals on the screen and saying we won 50 tokens of some kind (they had a name that now escapes me).  It was not clear what the tokens were for, or how to use them.  ZERO CHAMPAGNE SHOWER DESPITE ME LITERALLY WINNING AT SILVERSTONE. 10:10 - We walk around and poke our head into other rooms to get a lay of the land.  At 10pm on a Friday I'd guess only about 50% of the simulators had people at them. 10:16 - I ask my girlfriend, "you want a drink?" and she says "not really" and we went home. What can we learn from this? The entire experience felt rushed - this is not like a restaurant where you show up at 8:15 for an 8:15 reservation, hang around for a minute, maybe get a drink, then get seated.  This is like booking a tee time at a private country club, where if you are teeing off at 9:08, you are teeing off at 9:08 sharp.  If you're meeting people here, I would overcommunicate with them ahead of time that they CANNOT be late. It's not a particularly social experience.  As many other folks have mentioned in their reviews, the ambiance is impeccable, and the staff are super friendly, but it's just not a social thing like mini-golf or a more traditional arcade. Honestly the pricing is pretty fair. Super entertaining though short in duration.  The simulators were way higher quality than I expected - this is not an arcade Cruisin' USA machine that has been in the same spot since the Clinton years.  This is varsity ball. There didn't seem to be any offering for service to your simulator, and at no point were we offered any food or drinks.  We literally arrived, sat at the simulator, and then went home. We could not pause between races - once you start, you're racing for 20-25 minutes. Not the most romantic date night.  It's pretty loud, you can't really communicate during the race given the speakers are built into the racing seat (super immersive experience though).

Keep in mind this was just one experience, and it could be different for large groups, private events, etc. There's a world in which I would become a regular here, and would view it like bowling / driving range / axe throwing, but as it is, this is probably a...

We made reservation at 8 o’clock for 20 people and I get it’s a huge party to deal with but we are wanted to experience this new place. While they are pretty adamant on you being on time for your reservations, you’re not exactly guaranteed to play at the time you reserve. When the majority of us had arrived, there was another group of us that was still playing so we had to wait for them to finish so they push the time to 815 while we wait for the rest of the Group to come. However, when it got to our turn to play, the system was down for probably about 30 minutes so we couldn’t play until almost 9. Also, when we were directed to our table, there seem to be some confusion, like there was definitely a section reserved for us, but for some reason, they told us that it wasn’t and then come to find out it was. I wish they had a better way communicating to the whole group and making sure that everybody was able to find their way to the reserve section. There’s a lot going on so when groups are starting to come in it would be nice to have somebody be there to direct and explain the game and all that because we were waiting for quite some time. Each race is about perhaps two minutes and you have to create an account to register your name if you want to, but it’s not necessary. I was having trouble registering my name so I just played on whoever account was.

Your reservation will start regardless how late your party is, I think for the reservation it’s about two hours of game time but due to the system being down, we probably played about an hour. This is rather frustrating, but nonetheless, we did play for a good hour which I think for some of us that’s enough time to enjoy the experience.

Our server was so nice and making sure that everybody had their drinks and honestly was such a vibe with our group. The issue was when I had was two of my friends coming a little later and the bouncer was giving them a hard time letting them in. I had to go down there and see what was going on and it seemed like they weren’t letting anyone in due to the system being down for a minute. I’m not trying to cause any inconvenience but the way they did not allow to my friends who are part of my reservations, was also frustrating. They were trying to allow people with reservations in first, but I had this reservation prior to this whole thing happening so it just didn’t make sense why they wouldn’t just allow the rest of my party to come in? Anyhow, it did get resolved rather quickly and my two friends were able to come in with me about 10 minutes later.

The ambience is my favorite part as there’s a lot of neon lights going on and it’s with theme for F1. It’s definitely a great vibe for a group outing, and everybody gets to show their racing skills. Just know that there will still be technical difficulties with technology and try to be patient. I think everybody was excited about it, but don’t give it too much expectation you might get disappointed very easily.

In the end, the staff did make sure that my group was having a good time and they gave me a card for the next time I come in that I could bring one other guess which is kind of crazy because I got 20 people that I brought over just to be...

This review will focus solely on the sim racing experience. I found it enjoyable but there were a couple of shortcomings which have resulted in a 3 star rating.

For $25, you drive in 3 individual 10-minute races. If you arrive with friends, you will race against each other. If you arrive alone, you will race against AI opponents.

You will race a different track for each individual race, and you do not have the opportunity to choose which track you race, or in which order. This means that by the time you "learn" a track, you are dropped into a brand new one. Fortunately, the "racing line" can help show you where to turn and when to brake.

There are 5 options for realism/difficulty, with various driving assists gradually being turned off. The difficulty can be adjusted between each race. The "racing line" is visible in settings 1-4 but is disabled for setting 5. The transmission is automatic in settings 1-4 and is manual for setting 5. This means the only way to experience manual shifting is with the racing line turned off. It would have been wonderful if the "racing line" were assigned to a button on the multifunctional steering wheel, so it could be turned on and off at will.

When racing against the AI, you can expect they will treat your car as if it is not there. If you are next to an AI car coming towards a turn, it will most likely push you off the track.

For most folks, I think this place is going to be great fun, particularly if you bring a group of people. This is definitely a step up from games like Cruisin USA, but if you have an iRacing rig at home, or you are a track-day guy or wheel-to-wheel gal, you may find that these machines still feel a little "arcade-y."

I wish the AI were a little less inclined to ignore my car, and I wish I could have selected my own tracks. I would have picked the same track three times in a row so I could increase the difficulty setting and eventually turn the racing line off once I had really learned the track. At the highest difficulty setting, a great amount of care is required to keep the car from losing control, so you would be wise to heed the staff's advice and start on a lower difficulty setting before working your way up.

The staff is friendly, the vibe and decor is great, and $25 for 3 races didn't seem too steep. I did not experience the...