If you’ve ever wanted to fire a rocket at your best mate while driving a real go-kart, time is running out.
BattleKart, tucked inside the Entertainment Quarter at Moore Park in Sydney, is the closest thing you’ll find to physically driving through a video game – and with the precinct facing a major redevelopment, the venue is set to wrap up soon.
Unlike traditional karting, there’s no painted track and no tyre walls. Instead, more than 80 ceiling-mounted projectors – each installed with millimetre precision – beam the circuit, power-ups and hazards directly onto the floor, and the karts interact with all of it in real time.
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Pick up a bonus square and a rocket appears on your dashboard. Drop an oil slick and the karts behind you physically slow down. It sounds like a gimmick until you’re mid-race, at which point it becomes deadly serious.
Because the electric karts feature an anti-collision system that automatically slows or stops them when another kart gets too close, there’s no need for helmets either. You just jump in and go, which makes the whole thing far more accessible than a typical karting session.
There are five game modes on offer: BattleRace, a Mario Kart-style racing game with power-ups and weapons; BattleSnake, a real-life version of the classic Snake game; BattleFoot, which is essentially soccer with karts; BattleColour, where teams compete to paint the arena; and BattleVirus, a co-op mode where players work together to stop a virus spreading across the arena.
There’s no minimum age – anyone at least 145cm tall can race – and the venue caters to everything from birthday parties and family outings to school groups and corporate team building.
According to the operators, the biggest problem isn’t getting people through the door; it’s convincing adults it’s for them too. Once they’ve had a session, they’re hooked.
BattleKart sits just a five-minute walk from sister venue Hyper Karting, home to Australia’s longest indoor electric karting track, so you can easily do both in one visit.
Hyper Karting has had a fight of its own this year, too. The rooftop circuit – built across level 5 of the Entertainment Quarter carpark – faced closure after the City of Sydney refused to extend its temporary operating approval, insisting the space return to parking despite the venue drawing more than 500,000 visitors since opening in 2021.
The decision put more than 150 jobs at risk and triggered a fierce public backlash, with thousands of submissions flooding the council’s review in support of the venue. After months of battling the bureaucracy, Hyper Karting overcame the challenge and the karts keep lapping seven days a week.
If you want to get in before the chequered flag falls, BattleKart is currently running 25 per cent off all sessions. Use the code GETHYPER when booking online, with the offer valid until the end of the school holidays on Sunday, July 19.
Something tells us the queue is about to get longer.