Recaro's new seat tech adds track feel to the sim experience at CES

Remember when a heated car seat was a big deal? Or when seats were made to cool the driver? Or massage his or her tush on a particularly annoying commute?

Recaro has been there, done that, and this week is showing off a range of advanced seating options for sim racing and endurance racing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The tech advances far beyond the heated seat.

First to debut, for professional racers and track-day drivers, was the Pro Supreme GT FPR seat, a product of a collaboration between Recaro Automotive and Ford Performance Racing, conceived specifically for the Ford Mustang GT3.

The seat offers a suite of features such as interchangeable pads in three sizes and tiered attachment point side mounts, providing maximum individual fitting flexibility. It carries the prestigious FIA certification, a testament to its adherence to stringent safety standards, Recaro says. It has been crash tested for 10 years of use in FIA-sanctioned races, underlining its reliability in high-stakes endurance racing environments.

Moving down the technology spectrum is Recaro FeelTech+, a set of seat insert pads that work with several different Recaro seats. It leverages what Recaro calls Metahaptics, offering immersive haptic and touch experiences for sim racing, e-sports and upscale video games.

As The Drive described the tech, if one climbs a “simulated” curb, the game's sounds will translate to vibrations in the seats via 14 actuators in the seat padding, to make it feel as if you're actually running over the obstacle.

The seats that can work with FeelTech+ are the Recaro Pro Sim Star, Recaro Profi SPG/SPG XL, the Recaro Pole Position, and the Recaro Sport C with haptics.

Recaro did not reveal pricing for its latest offerings.

“Recaro Automotive has a 60-year history of being the first in our industry with new product innovations,” said Emil Kreycik, president and COO, in a press statement. “Not only will visitors see firsthand the new Pro Supreme GT FPR ahead of the Ford Mustang’s return to global GT3 racing, they will experience the rich tactile responses available in our latest SIM seat, and, for the purists, see how Recaro Automotive has developed a seat structure with cross-functional purposes, answering our OEM partners desires for a seating platform that can work across vehicle lines.”