From Saturday 24th July Brighton Palace Pier will play host to the spot where real life and VR collide to create a unique fairground ride experience.
Combining the past with the future Thrill Engineer Brendan Walker, Founder Director of Studio Go Go, has chosen Brighton’s ever-popular traditional fairground ride the Twister, to launch his new business initiative “Ride with VR”
Riders choosing to experience the ride with the addition of the bespoke VR headset will experience the “VR Twister” a meticulously crafted digital fairground artwork set to provide a totally different ride from the classic Twister, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year.
In this “twist on the Twister” mind-expanding development, VR riders are transported into a world where the oscillating forces they experience on the mechanical ride are translated into an upward ascent into the heavens. Whilst the classic Twister does not levitate, VR riders will find themselves zooming upwards through a rainbow, flying up and out past an array of colourful abstract forms and moving structures.
“I’ve always enjoyed watching people scream and laugh at the fairground, which is why I now love to design weird and wonderful rides. I’m super excited to be working with the Twister. It still provides the same classic fun of being squished and catapulted around, but when wearing a VR headset you’ll be in my world – and I’m going to take you on a crazy ride you won’t forget”. Brendan Walker
And this is far more than simply wearing a headset on a fairground ride; visitors to the event will experience a world first, as the groundbreaking technology in this project means that for the first time on a ride anywhere in the world, interactive VR content is synchronised in real time to the movement of the rider’s body in space, using Go Go XR™ – a unique new technology that can predict exactly where a rider is on the ride and what G-forces are being experienced – creating the most tailored VR funfair ride in the world. This technology allows the Studio Go Go designers to harness the oscillating forces experienced on the existing mechanical ride, propelling the punter’s experience into a whole new dimension.
As a former aeronautical engineer and ride designer, Brendan understands how to use visual illusion (or virtual reality) to trick the brain into thinking the body is performing amazing feats of acrobatics, and visitors to the ride will genuinely be able to say they’ve experienced something that has never previously been experienced.
Each VR ride costs £5 with an existing Brighton Pier visitor wristband, or £7 without.
“I’m thrilled by Brendan’s plan to reinvigorate the art of the fairground ride experience using 21st century virtual reality technology.” Erstwhile Twister ride owner-operator”John Collins OBE
“Ride with VR brings a next generational immersive experience to our already exciting array of rides and activities at the Brighton Palace Pier. We are thrilled to be premiering this technology on our traditional fairground ride The Twister – transforming it into the ultimate ride experience,”Anne Ackord, CEO of Brighton Palace Pier Group
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