An F1 Fan's Guide to Las Vegas 2026 (Beyond Race Weekend)

Is there an F1 experience in Las Vegas?

Yes, during its operating season. 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 operates seasonally, 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.

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.

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.