Inside Denver’s new F1 Arcade – full of racing simulators, exposed brick and … Blucifer cocktails?

The seats jolted as the Formula One race car on the screen veered off the concrete course onto gritty dirt. Speakers hidden in the seat’s head rest blasted the sound of the engine revving straight into the ears after a push to the pedal accelerated the car.

On the rookie level, green guiding lines help beginners get accustomed to driving on the racing simulator. Meanwhile, in expert mode, racers are completely on their own.

This is no Mario Kart.

F1 Arcade, an entertainment complex with nearly 70 simulators based off the fast-growing elite racing competition, has arrived in Denver.

The arcade located in the River North Arts District at 2734 Walnut St. is the company’s fourth U.S. location as F1 sets to propel its entertainment strategy across the nation.

It opens in Denver on Wednesday.

The racing competition owned by Liberty Media, locally headquartered in Englewood, is quickly growing across the U.S. as viewership numbers climb and the blockbuster movie F1 hit theaters this summer.

Live race viewership is up 23% in the United States from 2024’s seasonal average, F1 said in a post two weeks ago. The U.S. fanbase grew to 52 million this year.

“They’ve invested in a very big way into the sport in the U.S. I think it’s the biggest untapped market they see as potential,” Jon Gardner, U.S. president of F1 Arcade, told The Denver Gazette.

F1 has a presence with major races in Austin, Texas, Miami and Las Vegas. But the arcade is a way to engage new fans in markets that aren’t major strongholds for the brand.

“This is not an F1 fan experience, per se. This is for everyone,” Gardner said. “We’re able to attract the F1 fans and non-F1 fans and bring them into an experience that they haven’t had before.”

F1 Arcade plans to add about 30 locations across the U.S. by 2027.

It already has locations in Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C. with plans to expand to Atlanta and Las Vegas next.

Kevin Carringer tests out a racing simulator in RiNo’s new F1 Arcade on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025 before its upcoming opening.

The 15,000-square-foot arcade in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood features a U-shaped bar with glowing black-and-white racing stripes.

Neon lamps in the shape of race courses hang from the vaulted ceilings. F1 Arcade left the exposed brick of the old RiNo building’s walls and accented it with more neon lights. One neon sculpture on the wall replicates the heart rate of three F1 racers in the middle of a race.

Incorporating the exposed brick and the vaulted ceilings from the structure is one of the most differentiating features of the F1 Arcade in Denver, Gardner said.

“We’ve got a lot of people saying this is one of their favorite venues that we’ve had. The beauty is all of our locations are a little bit unique,” he explained. “This is the biggest change that we’ve taken from our traditional concept into the RiNo area.”

The entertainment complex combined three old buildings that used to be vacant office and warehouse spaces in the RiNo District, said Kevin Carringer, vice president at Trinity Investors, the real estate group that led the development of the space.

They spent about $7 million for the property in 2024 and reinvested about another $7 million to transform it into the arcade, Carringer said. F1 Arcade also built out an outdoor patio and has a rental room with a private bar and simulators for corporate events.

“We came over and tore it, and it made a lot of sense to take an unused building, retrofit it and turn it into something great for the community,” Carringer said.

F1 Arcade hired local muralist Ally Grimes to create artwork that ties racetracks with Denver’s Rocky Mountain scenery.

But it’s not just the historic brick aesthetic popular in RiNo that differentiates Denver’s F1 Arcade.

The bar at the new F1 Arcade features local cocktails, craft beers and more.

The F1 Arcade model has a heavy focus on food and beverage. The menu has a high-end and localized cocktail menu developed by LP O’Brien, winner of Netflix’s Drink Masters, and award-winning mixologist Alex Jump.

On the menu is a drink called “Blucifer’s Bolt” (a combination of bourbon, peach brandy, coffee, sweet vermouth, amontillado and absinthe), and is described as “bold, dark and driven” like the iconic blue mustang sculpture outside of Denver International Airport.

It also has a drink inspired by South Park’s Casa Bonita episode called the Mantequilla, which is Butter’s Spanish name. It features tequila, raspberry, browned butter, lime and champagne.

Reporter Bernadette Berdychowski and investor Kevin Carringer test out the F1 Arcade’s racing simulators on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025 in Denver, Colo.

The F1 Arcade wants to not just be a racing simulator or a bar, but a full experience, Gardner said. Especially as people’s attention spans get shorter, he said they wanted to create something that is highly interactive for groups of friends and family to engage with.

“What we’re trying to do is drive something you’ve never had before,” Gardner said. “And that’s from the music, to the design, to the sense, to the food and the drinks.”

Guests will be able to create digital profiles to track their scores and time records throughout their visits.

The racing simulators are priced by peak, standard and off-peak times. The lowest prices start at $22 per person for three races.

F1 Arcade takes walk-ins but recommends pre-booking before visits as simulators fill up fast. For group visits of more than five people, Gardner said F1 Arcade may limit how many simulators it offers to encourage sharing of the simulators so some friends can race while others watch and chat.

“The point is, you’re not just here hardcore racing,” Gardner said. “You’re having a drink, you’re laughing, you’re watching everyone crash and you’re in and out of the sim the whole time.”