F1 VR Experience
Immersive Data Visualization·3 min read
Formula 1 fans already juggle a broadcast, onboard cameras, radio, and a leaderboard. None of that was designed for a headset. I designed a VR viewing system that treats the race like a HUD, not a TV dragged into 3D.
Role
UX/UI Designer
Timeline
Fall 2026, 4 weeks
Type
Directed Studio (Senior Project)
Tools
Figma, ShapesXR, Meta Quest 3S, Cursor
Background
Formula 1 is one of the world's fastest-growing sports. The way people watch it has barely moved.
Problem
A race dumps more information than a flat screen can hold, and the director chooses what you see.
Solution
Keep the live stream fixed in front of you, then place cameras, standings, and driver info in spatial zones around it.
Outcome
A modular VR layout that stays readable and comfortable across a two-hour race.
Problem
Why This Project?
Unlike most projects, this did not start with a complaint. It started with a gap.
A Formula 1 fan already lives inside:
All of it lands on a rectangle someone else is cutting. There is no native Formula 1 experience for a headset. If you want the race in VR, you are mirroring a desktop or sitting in a virtual cinema, watching television with extra steps.
Opportunity
The data already exists. The screen is the bottleneck.
What if Formula 1 viewing was designed for the space around you, not for a television that happens to be in a headset?
That was the opening. Not a floating TV. A HUD.
Solution
Core Concept
Rather than recreating a television inside VR, I approached the experience as a racing game HUD. Instead of replacing the broadcast:
The platform augments it.
The live race stream remains the primary experience while supporting information becomes spatially distributed around the viewer.
This allows fans to:
- 01Watch the race
- 02Monitor standings
- 03Switch onboard cameras
- 04Access driver information
- 05Follow race events
without leaving the broadcast
Constraints
Quest-class headsets were the honest test. Largest consumer install base, limited battery, and a field of view that punishes anything you have to hunt for.
01
Long viewing sessions
A race regularly runs two to three hours. The layout has to survive the whole thing, not the first lap.
02
Battery life
Consumer headsets do not last a Grand Prix. Every extra turn of the head is energy you do not have.
03
Motion comfort
If you have to steer to read the standings, you will stop reading the standings.
04
Live data
Telemetry, cameras, and race control keep moving. The interface cannot freeze while the race does not.
Design for the race, not the demo
I designed for Meta Quest-class headsets because that is what people actually own. Comfort beat spectacle. If it only looks right for thirty seconds, it is not a viewing system.
Two hours in a headset only works if you barely have to look around.
Key Design Decisions
Decision #1
Fixed Central Stream
Problem
Users should never lose the race
Solution
The live broadcast remains anchored in a fixed central position
Why?
- Reduces head steering
- Creates a consistent focal point
- Mimics familiar television behavior
- Improves comfort during long sessions
Outcome
Users can quickly glance at supporting information and immediately return to the race.
Decision #2
Spatial Zones
Problem
Race information competes for attention.
Solution
The interface is divided into three spatial zones: Left, Center, Right. Each zone serves a distinct purpose.
Outcome
Users spend less time searching for information and more time watching the race.
Decision #3
Window Hierarchy
Problem
Not every piece of information deserves equal prominence.
Solution
Created a hierarchy of windows: Primary, Secondary, and Support.
Outcome
Clear visual hierarchy reduces cognitive load.
Decision #4
Modular Window System
Problem
Future race experiences may require new information modules
Solution
Windows were designed as reusable system components
Each module can be added, removed, resized, or repositioned without redesigning the interface.
Outcome
The system can scale as new race features are introduced.
Design Iterations
Early Exploration
I explored three visual directions
I tried three visual directions. Some of them wanted to be a livery more than an interface. Familiar F1 color and type helped. Unchecked, they also fought the stream for attention.
- Familiar
- Brand aligned
- Dense
- Visually noisy
The Turn
Three looks in, some of the work was trying to win a beauty contest. A livery is not an interface.
Keep the stream in charge, quiet everything else down, and borrow from racing HUDs instead of television chrome.
The hybrid that shipped kept the identity, borrowed the logic of a racing HUD, and followed the rules of spatial computing: one anchor, quieter chrome, supporting information that knows it is supporting.
Final Design
Secondary modules handle the things you reach for during a stint: team radio and commentary, a live leaderboard, persistent driver information, and a camera browser for the broadcast, onboards, track cameras, and aerial views.
Support sits further out. Race-control notifications (yellow flags, red flags, safety cars, fastest laps) and a world-anchored track map you can glance at without steering the whole layout.
Validation
I put the concept on a Quest with people who already watch Formula 1. The questions were simple: could they stay comfortable, could they find things, and did they still watch the race.
From the headset
The note that kept coming back:
“Don't make me look for the race.”
Key Findings
Finding 1
They wanted the race stream locked. Once it drifted, they stopped watching and started hunting.
Finding 2
Peripheral panels only worked if they stayed secondary. Equal weight meant equal noise.
Finding 3
A layout that did not reshuffle itself was easier to live in for two hours.
Reflection
Spatial Design Is Not Floating Screens
Putting windows in 3D is the easy part. The work is hierarchy, a place for everything to live, and a session you can survive. Every interface decision had to take something off the viewer's body: less turning, less searching, less deciding where to look.
What I learned: design for the length of a race, not the first thirty seconds. Build a system you can add a module to, not a one-off overlay. Translate a broadcast instead of copying one. Keep the race in front of you, and the data around you, and spatial computing starts to feel like watching, not operating software.
