On November 28, 3DRap will be in Oxford at Oxford Brookes University as an exhibitor at DRiVE 2026, the new UK conference dedicated to disability, accessibility and opportunities in Sim Racing.
Organized by Quatermass Motorsport with the support of Motorsport UK, DRiVE will bring together disabled and neurodivergent people, sim racers, families, teams, educators, accessibility specialists, technology companies and motorsport professionals. Its goal is practical: to make driving simulation and online competition easier to access.
For 3DRap, this is an opportunity to bring to the UK one of the projects that best represents our vision of innovation and accessible Sim Racing: the 3DRap Hand Controller HC1.
A Hand Controller designed to make driving simulation accessible
The project began with a specific challenge: enabling people who cannot use their legs to control the accelerator and brake of a driving simulator with one hand.
But making a simulator accessible means much more than enabling someone to play a racing game.
Today, Sim Racing lets enthusiasts who live far apart meet on the same virtual track, train and compete online with other sim racers around the world.
For a person with a disability, controlling the accelerator and brake can mean joining a community, improving their performance and taking part in competition without a physical limitation necessarily becoming a barrier.
That is one of the principles behind DRiVE 2026. Its program will cover equipment and adaptations, coaching, competitions, community, driver development and accessibility in hardware and games.
From Irpinia to Oxford: the story of the 3DRap Hand Controller
The Hand Controller HC1 was developed at 3DRap as a technology project focused on accessibility and has played an important role in our story over the years.
The project received the Start Up Evolution Lamura/DFL Award, which recognizes startups and innovative projects.
It later won third place in the Start Up category at the A&T Turin Innovation 4.0 Award, an Italian event dedicated to automation, testing and Industry 4.0 technologies.
Another milestone came with Microsoft and Forza Horizon 5, which officially supported the 3DRap Hand Controller within one of the world’s best-known racing ecosystems.
From an idea developed in our workshop in Irpinia to an international event in Oxford: the journey has involved design, prototyping, additive manufacturing, electronics and, above all, conversations with the people who actually use these technologies.
DRiVE 2026: disability and Sim Racing on the same starting grid
DRiVE – Disability Racing in Virtual Esports – was created to establish clearer pathways into Sim Racing for disabled and neurodivergent people.
Beyond awareness and theory, visitors will be able to meet teams, organizations and technology providers, explore accessible equipment and solutions, and learn how to join communities and organized competitions.
The event will also be livestreamed by official media partner Traxion, allowing people who cannot attend in Oxford to follow along.
For 3DRap, taking part in an international event at Oxford Brookes University is a chance to share not just a product, but the vision of technology that we have pursued for years.
When innovation removes a barrier
Sim Racing is constantly about performance, precision, realism and lap times.
But technology can serve another purpose too: enabling someone to participate when they could not before.
That is what bringing the 3DRap Hand Controller HC1 to Oxford means to us.
It is a chance to show how design, 3D printing and electronics can make driving simulation more accessible, enabling more people to share the same passion and compete online with sim racers worldwide.
Because innovation is not just about doing something better.
Sometimes it means allowing more people onto the same starting grid.
DRiVE 2026
📍 Oxford Brookes University – Headington, Oxford, United Kingdom
📅 Saturday, November 28, 2026
🕘 09:00–17:00
🎮 Disability Racing in Virtual Esports
Admission is free for visitors with registration; places are limited.
