2026-07-13
An F1 Fan's Guide to Las Vegas (Beyond Race Weekend)
Las Vegas Grand Prix 2026 dates and ticket prices, F1 karting on the real Strip Circuit, and the closest thing to actually driving at speed: a supercar at 140 mph.
By John Rivera, Las Vegas exotic car driving specialist
A guy in a Ferrari cap walked up to me at the track in March and asked, completely serious, where the Grand Prix was. He had flown in from Ohio, race weekend was eight months away, and nobody had told him. I have had that conversation dozens of times since the race came to town, because F1 fans do not stop being F1 fans in July. They land in Vegas with the itch and no clear picture of what actually scratches it.
Here is the good news I gave him, and it is better than most people expect. Vegas now has a year-round F1 footprint, the 2026 race dates and ticket prices are public, and if what you really want is to feel a car move under you at real speed, that exists too. It is just not an F1 car, and I will be straight with you about why.
Is there an F1 experience in Las Vegas?
Yes, year round. Grand Prix Plaza, the permanent F1 home near the Strip, runs F1 Drive karting on part of the real race circuit from $37, the F1 X immersive experience from $59, and F1 Simulators at the F1 HUB. The race itself returns November 19 to 21, 2026.
Grand Prix Plaza is the piece most fans have not heard about yet. It sits on the race campus and stays open all year, typically 10am to 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 10am to midnight Friday and Saturday. The headliner is F1 Drive: electric karts on a 1,470-foot track with 22 turns, and part of that layout runs on actual Las Vegas Strip Circuit tarmac, the same surface the real cars race on in November. Karts reach about 30 mph, and the main format is for ages 16 and up with a 58-inch height minimum. F1 X is the walk-through side, an immersive exhibit with team cars and a simulated hot lap, from $59 with discounts around $49 for locals, military, children, and seniors. The simulators at the F1 HUB take drivers from age 12.
Then there is the part of the F1 itch that karting cannot reach: actual speed with your hands on the wheel. For that, the menu looks like this.
| Option | What it is | Speed you experience | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas GP ticket (GA) | Watch the real race, Nov 19-21 | Spectating | $809 |
| GP grandstand seat | Reserved race weekend seat | Spectating | $1,012 |
| GP hospitality | Race weekend with food and views | Spectating | $2,542 |
| F1 Drive karting | Karts on part of the real circuit | ~30 mph | $37 |
| F1 X | Immersive F1 exhibit and sim lap | Simulated | $59 |
| F1 Simulators (F1 HUB) | Racing sims, ages 12+ | Simulated | Varies |
| Supercar track drive | Ferrari or Lamborghini, coach in car | ~140 mph | $299 |
| GT race car (Dream Racing) | Stripped race machine at LVMS | Up to 150 mph | $399 |
When is the 2026 Las Vegas Grand Prix and what do tickets cost?
The 2026 Las Vegas Grand Prix runs November 19 to 21: practice Thursday, practice and qualifying Friday, the race Saturday night. Official tickets start at $809 for general admission, $1,012 for grandstands, and $2,542 for hospitality. Those are weekend prices, and they climb fast from there.
The official Las Vegas Grand Prix site is where the real tickets live, and I always point fans there first because the resale market around this race gets ugly. The Saturday night race slot is unusual for F1 and it is the whole personality of this event: the cars run down the Strip under the casino lights, and the city is fully awake around it.
| Date | Day | On track |
|---|---|---|
| November 19, 2026 | Thursday | Practice |
| November 20, 2026 | Friday | Practice and Qualifying |
| November 21, 2026 | Saturday | The Grand Prix |
If you are reading this in summer, the takeaway is simple. The race is months out, but almost everything else in this guide runs every week of the year.
Can you drive an F1 car in Las Vegas?
No. There is no experience anywhere in Las Vegas that puts a tourist in a real Formula 1 car, and anyone promising one is selling something else. The closest real-speed options are a supercar at about 140 mph at SpeedVegas or a GT race car at up to 150 mph at Dream Racing.
I want to be blunt here because I get asked constantly. An actual F1 car is a machine that professional drivers train for years to operate, and no operator in this town, or honestly anywhere tourists vacation, hands one to a visitor with a rental-counter license check. The karting at Grand Prix Plaza is genuine fun and genuinely on the circuit, but it is 30 mph. The simulators simulate.
What you can do is drive something serious. At SpeedVegas, where I have coached since 2022, the 2-Hour Exotic Car Driving Experience (check live prices) puts you in a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, or McLaren on a 1.3-mile road course with 10 corners, and you will see around 140 mph on the main straight, a drive I have described minute by minute, with a race coach in the seat next to you calling braking points. It runs from $299, exotics from $399, and it holds a 4.9 rating across roughly 2,970 Viator reviews. Across town at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the same complex that hosts the NASCAR driving experience on the banked oval, Dream Racing goes one step more hardcore: real GT race cars, stripped and caged, from $399 and up to 150 mph, for the fan who wants the race-machine feel over the badge, and you can check its cars and dates here.
What actually feels fastest?
The supercar drive. Karting tops out near 30 mph, F1 X never moves, and a grandstand seat is someone else's speed. A Ferrari or Lamborghini at 140 mph on a 10-turn road course, with a race coach calling your braking points, is the fastest thing a visitor can actually drive in Vegas.
Numbers make the case better than I can.
| Experience | Top speed you drive | Price | Rough cost per mph |
|---|---|---|---|
| F1 Drive karting | ~30 mph | $37 | ~$1.20 |
| Supercar track drive | ~140 mph | $299 to $399 | ~$2.10 to $2.85 |
| GT race car | Up to 150 mph | From $399 | ~$2.65 |
And here is the comparison that surprises every F1 fan I run it past. A general admission weekend ticket to the race is $809. Driving a Ferrari at 140 mph ($399), plus F1 karting on the real circuit ($37), plus the F1 X experience ($59), comes to $495 combined. The full driving weekend costs $314 less than standing at the fence watching other people drive. I am not telling you to skip the race, I would never. I am telling you that outside of three days in November, the driving is the main event, and even inside those three days it is the better value per heartbeat.
The coached format matters more than fans expect, too. F1 followers tend to arrive knowing the theory, apex, trail braking, all of it, and the coach's job is turning that knowledge into an actual quick lap instead of a cautious one. Watching a sim-racing F1 fan click with a real car around lap four is one of my favorite parts of this job. If you want the wider field guide, our rundown of the best racing experience in Las Vegas compares every operator in town. When you are ready to put real laps on the calendar, check live availability and prices on Viator, because cars and time slots thin out fast around any race-adjacent weekend.