Sim Gaming Expo 2026 - Chicago, Sept 18–20
North America's first expo for sim racing, flight & VR. Test the latest gear, meet the creators, score show-only deals. Schaumburg, Chicago - September 18–20.
Sim Gaming Expo 2026 is officially underway just outside Chicago, bringing together a pretty ridiculous collection of sim racing, flight simulation, VR, motion, and gaming hardware under one roof. The event is running from September 18 through September 20 at the Schaumburg Renaissance Convention Center.
I walked through basically the entire show floor, and there is a lot going on this year. Some companies brought their complete existing lineups, others used the event to show unreleased hardware, and several of the simulators on display are among the most extreme setups I have seen in person.
Heusinkveld is positioned near the entrance with two clean simulator setups featuring its pedals, shifters, newer butterfly-style steering wheel, and control hardware. Most of these products have already been shown before, but having everything together makes for a pretty good representation of how much the Heusinkveld ecosystem has grown.
Directly beside them is Simucube, sharing space with Driven Dynamic. The setups here are loaded with Simucube’s highest-end equipment, including ActivePedals and premium direct drive hardware, while Driven Dynamic provides some seriously aggressive motion systems underneath them.
I had the chance to try the motion, and they feel about as crazy as they look.
Moza has one of the larger booths in the middle of the hall and brought a huge variety of hardware. That includes its motion system, flight simulation equipment, trucking hardware, direct drive wheel bases, pedals, and several of its newest steering wheels.
The upcoming Ford Mustang GTD wheel is one of the more notable pieces on display. Moza has been expanding extremely quickly across racing, flight, motion, and licensed hardware, and having almost all of it together makes that pretty obvious.
For anyone wanting to compare different parts of the Moza ecosystem in person, this is probably one of the better opportunities to do it.
Sim-Lab has also gone pretty massive this year. Its booth includes cockpits, pedals, shifters, handbrakes, and the enormous new DDS direct drive wheel bases, which somehow look even larger in person.
More interesting are two unreleased products being shown at the event. The first is Sim-Lab’s upcoming Porsche 963-inspired prototype steering wheel, built around an almost one-to-one replica design with a full carbon shell and details taken directly from the real race car.
The second is a compact digital button box that works somewhat like a dedicated sim racing Stream Deck. It uses customizable digital controls, can be adjusted around the cockpit, and is expected relatively soon.
Between the DDS bases, steering wheels, electronics, pedals, and cockpits, Sim-Lab is very clearly moving toward becoming a full hardware ecosystem rather than primarily a cockpit manufacturer.
Motion is probably one of the biggest themes of the show. SimCraft brought seven motion platforms, including racing systems, flight simulators, and a traction-loss platform designed to sit underneath an existing cockpit.
Apevie has an equally ridiculous collection of hardware on display, including several Qubic motion platforms with both four and six degrees of freedom. Their booth also includes triple 4K simulator builds, flight equipment, and some particularly elaborate complete setups.
Elsewhere, DOF Reality is demonstrating more affordable racing and flight motion systems, while Ark Dynamics has several large six-DOF platforms. VRS is also involved with one of the more extreme builds at the show, featuring a custom high-torque direct drive system synchronized with a full motion platform.
Simagic has a substantial presence through SimHQ, with almost its complete product lineup available to try. That includes the newer Zeus steering wheels, pedals, shifters, complete rigs, and Circuit One motion hardware.
VRS has also brought a large portion of its ecosystem, including cockpits, DFP pedals, wheel bases, steering wheels, and motion equipment. GSI is similarly well represented with one of the larger booths in the hall and essentially its complete premium steering wheel lineup on display.
SRP is another standout. The company specializes in pneumatic sim racing pedals and has several beautifully finished display rigs showing off its pedals and handbrakes, with a huge amount of customization available.
Sim Gaming Expo goes well beyond racing this year. A dedicated VR Zone includes companies such as Pimax, which is demonstrating several of its latest headsets, alongside Freeaim and its unusual VR shoes that allow users to physically walk in place.
Flight simulation is spread throughout the hall as well. Rowsfire has highly detailed cockpit control panels, Alpine Sim Instruments is showing modular flight controls, and several motion companies have complete aviation-focused simulators running alongside their racing setups.
That variety keeps the event from feeling like rows of nearly identical racing rigs. You can go from a 30-plus Nm direct drive simulator to a six-DOF flight setup and then straight into VR within a few minutes.
Some of the most interesting products actually come from smaller booths. Sensit Haptics is showing its haptic seat inserts alongside Bavarian SimTec steering wheels, while SimScience is demonstrating detailed lap analysis and post-race debriefing tools.
The Stint Link is also here with software focused on driver training and accessibility. Its Racing Without Limits esports team helps drivers with disabilities compete in endurance racing, which is one of the more interesting projects at the entire show.
There are also youth simulators, rental companies, custom apparel, button boxes, speaker systems, control panels, dashboards, PC builders, pinball machines, RC racing, and even golf simulation scattered around the hall.
Sim Gaming Expo 2026 feels considerably bigger than simply a sim racing hardware show. The major brands are here with some genuinely impressive equipment, but the smaller companies, experimental products, motion systems, VR hardware, and completely overbuilt custom simulators give the event much more personality.
Moza, Sim-Lab, Simucube, Heusinkveld, Simagic, VRS, GSI, SRP, SimCraft, Pimax, and plenty of others give enthusiasts a huge amount of hardware to actually try rather than simply look at online.
And after walking basically the entire hall, there is definitely enough here to spend an entire day exploring. For anyone seriously into sim racing or simulation hardware in general, Sim Gaming Expo 2026 has turned into a pretty impressive showcase of where the hobby is heading.
