Fanatec and Thrustmaster just made one of their biggest flexes of the year, and they didn’t need to announce any new sim racing equipment to do it. At the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, both manufacturers showed up not just as a logo on liveries, but with fully operational sim rigs on site at the track, giving fans a chance to go hands-on with the same gear pros use in their sim training.

Even more appropriately, both Fanatec and Thrustmaster rigs are running Le Mans Ultimate.

Set up inside the Ford Performance hospitality suite, Fanatec rigs were decked out with some of their highest-end sim racing hardware, including Podium DD2 wheelbases, ClubSport pedals, and GT3-spec rims.

On Thrustmaster's side, they collaborated directly with Le Mans Ultimate to create an even larger sim racing activation that fans have been swarming to. 

Bridging Sim and Real-World Racing

Fanatec’s been pushing the sim-to-pro pipeline for a while from their GT World Challenge sponsorship to DTM esports but this Le Mans setup shows they’re continuing to embed even deeper into the motorsport culture. The goal? Let real fans experience what a modern racing sim rig feels like, and show the racing world just how far simulation hardware has come. This is actually Fanatec's first-ever appearance at Le Mans!

And let’s be honest: putting your gear next to Ford’s hypercar team is a bold move and a smart one. It’s visibility. It’s credibility. It’s a signal that sim racing isn’t the "other" motorsport anymore. It’s part of the story.

Fanatec's Gear on Display

• Fanatec Podium DD2: It's good to know Fanatec didn't hold back on their wheelbase of choice for this event. They provided their big boy, the Podium DD2: 25Nm of torque, high-fidelity force feedback, built to handle real-world sim prep
• ClubSport V3 Pedals: Load cell brake, adjustable resistance, consistent under stress
• GT3-licensed steering wheels: Replicas of real-world racing wheels with full inputs, rotary encoders, and magnetic paddles

The rigs were set up with triple monitors and proper seating positions - a legit test bench for anyone curious about how sim gear holds up at the highest level.

Thrustmaster's Gear on Display

• T598 and T818 Direct Drive Wheelbases: The star of the Thrustmaster show was their latest direct drive wheelbase product, the T598, accompanied with the 488 GT3 wheel or the Hypercar wheel.
• Cockpit: Thrustmaster worked with PlaySeat to contribute the chassis and seats for their setups.

Pimax VR Headsets

Also present on some of the rigs was the option to use Pimax VR headset to experience the sim. We recently reviewed the Pimax Crystal Light  - check out that review here!

These two big sim racing brands didn’t show up at Le Mans to launch something new. They showed up to remind everyone where sim racing stands in 2025 side by side with the best teams in the world, proving that the gap between simulation and reality is thinner than ever.

If you’re a sim racer watching the race from home, know this: the gear in your rig might not just be “like” the stuff they use at the track. It might actually be the same gear.

And that’s pretty cool!

Source: Fanatec | Thrustmaster | | Ft. image by Benoît Deschasaux