Two pro drivers raced against each other while wearing VR headsets—here's what they saw

Here's a first — two professional drivers raced each other in virtual reality, in real time, and in real race cars.

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Virtual reality race
YouTube/ CastrolUSA

How does that even work? Ben Collins, a precision stunt driver, and Matt Powers, a formula drift professional driver, got in race cars on two separate tracks. They then put on clunky, virtual reality helmets so that they could compete side-by-side on a virtual race track.

But the virtual reality race track was far from ordinary.

Here's a look at the Titanium Strong Virtual Racers challenge, which was sponsored by motor oil company Castrol:

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The racers were on separate, physical tracks in Los Angeles, California.

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But they were side-by-side on a virtual reality race track, which was dubbed the VR track island.

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Although they weren't on the same physical track, both racers were given the same layout via their virtual reality headsets.

virtual reality headset race
YouTube/ CastrolUSA
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But the virtual reality track was no picnic — the racers had to avoid boulders flying through the sky and steam coming out of the ground.

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Here's Ben Collins and Matt Powers preparing for the race, which is the first of its kind.

virtual reality racers
YouTube/ CastrolUSA
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"It's pretty amazing what the brain can cope with, and we're absolutely pushing that to the limit," Collins said in the video demonstrating the race.

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The race shows the different ways virtual reality could be used to up the ante in competitions.

And the winner is Collins!

virtual reality race
YouTube/ CastrolUSA
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Watch the full video here:

Virtual reality Cars
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