3DRap at Oxford for DRiVE 2026: Our Hand Controller for More Accessible Sim Racing
On November 28, 3DRap will be in Oxford, in the prestigious setting of Oxford Brookes University, taking part as an exhibitor at DRiVE 2026, the new British conference dedicated to disability, accessibility and opportunities in Sim Racing.
Organised by Quatermass Motorsport with the support of Motorsport UK, DRiVE will bring together people with disabilities and neurodivergences, sim racers, families, teams, educators, accessibility specialists, technology companies and motorsport professionals. The goal is concrete: to make access to driving simulation and online competition easier.
For 3DRap, it will be an opportunity to bring to the United Kingdom one of the projects that best represents our idea of innovation and accessible Sim Racing: the 3DRap Hand Controller HC1.
A Hand Controller created to make driving simulation accessible
The project was born from a specific challenge: to allow people who cannot use their legs to control the throttle and brake in a driving simulator using just one hand.
But making a simulator accessible means much more than simply allowing someone to play a racing game.
Today, Sim Racing allows enthusiasts who are physically very far apart to meet on the same virtual track, train and compete online, even at a global level, with other sim racers from all over the world.
For a person with a disability, being able to control the throttle and brake therefore means being able to join a community, improve their performance and take part in competition without a physical limitation necessarily becoming a barrier.
This is precisely one of the principles behind DRiVE 2026. The programme will address topics such as equipment and adaptations, coaching, competitions, communities, driver development, and accessibility of hardware and video games.
Hand Controller HC1 → Throttle and Brake - Gaming is possible! (PC)
3DRap Feeling PRO [Transforms your simulator into a Dynamic Platform] (PC, SimHub)
From Irpinia to Oxford: the story of the 3DRap Hand Controller
The Hand Controller HC1 was born within 3DRap as a technology project applied to accessibility and, over the years, has accompanied an important part of our story.
The project received the Start Up Evolution Lamura/DFL Award, an initiative dedicated to promoting startups and innovative projects.
It later achieved third place in the Start Up category at the Innovation 4.0 Award at A&T Turin, an Italian event dedicated to automation, testing and Industry 4.0 technologies.
Another important milestone came with Microsoft and Forza Horizon 5, with official support for the 3DRap Hand Controller within one of the best-known racing ecosystems in the world.
From an idea developed in our laboratory in Irpinia to an international event in Oxford: a journey built through design, prototyping, additive manufacturing, electronics and, above all, dialogue 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 precisely to build clearer pathways into Sim Racing for people with disabilities and neurodivergences.
Not just theory and awareness: during the day it will be possible to meet teams, organisations and technology providers, discover accessible solutions and equipment, and better understand how to enter communities and organised competitions.
The event will also be livestreamed by Traxion, the official media partner, allowing those who cannot be present in Oxford to follow it remotely.
For 3DRap, being present in an international context and at a prestigious venue such as Oxford Brookes University means having the opportunity to talk not only about a product, but about a vision of technology that we have been pursuing for years.
When innovation removes a barrier
In Sim Racing, we constantly talk about performance, precision, realism and lap times.
But technology can also serve another purpose: allowing someone to participate when they previously could not.
This is what bringing the 3DRap Hand Controller HC1 to Oxford means to us.
Demonstrating how design, 3D printing and electronics can help make driving simulation more accessible and allow an ever-growing number of people to share the same passion and compete online with sim racers from all over the world.
Because innovation does not only mean doing something better.
Sometimes it means allowing more people to be on 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
Attendance is free for visitors with prior registration, and places are limited.