Chaos Karts Transforms Immersive Karting with Panasonic's High-Performance Projectors

"Projector reliability and quality visuals are essential for combining real-world go-karting with video games. We need to ensure a sharp, engaging, and unforgettable experience every time and Panasonic projectors remain incredibly bright and reliable even after 18 months of continuous use."

Client: Chaos Karts (Engineered by Little Lion Entertainment)

Location: Arcade Arena Manchester, UK

Product(s) supplied: PT-MZ17KL PT-MZ14KL PT-MZ11KL

Challenge

Deliver a complex installation for Chaos Karts that would create a vivid, dynamic, and immersive karting experience at the UK’s first interactive entertainment venue.

Solution

Chaos Karts selected Panasonic’s PT-MZ20 series of projectors, delivering up to 20,000lm of brightness, and the reliability and installation flexibility required for delivering an immersive and gamified karting experience.

Racing Meets Augmented Reality

Chaos Karts is an immersive karting experience that blends real-life racing with video game elements. Located at Arcade Arena Manchester – the UK’s first interactive entertainment venue of its kind – it offers players the chance to race through digitally projected worlds without the need for headsets or screens.

The karts are equipped with collision-reduction technology and interactive power-ups, allowing racers to compete in a thrilling, gamified environment. With futuristic landscapes, virtual obstacles, and unique weapons, Chaos Karts transforms traditional karting into an adrenaline-fueled adventure that feels like stepping into a real-life video game.

Class-Leading Flexibility and Brightness for Immersive Environments

Chaos Karts required a projector that delivered continuous projection and minimal maintenance to create an immersive experience. Within an environment that was complex from an installation perspective, considerable upfront planning was needed to obtain accurate drawings of the venue and rigging grid details.

Working with UK-based AV specialists, Adlib, the Little Lion Entertainment team mapped out the optimal positioning and required angles of the projectors for illuminating the floor and walls.

Having previously used Panasonic projectors in other installations, Adlib selected 23 x MZ20 series projectors, using a mix of brightness levels (between 10,000lm and 17,000lm) for the walls, floor, and pit-lane, and illuminating the surfaces with the circuit outline, virtual power-ups, and weapons for each player to use.

Going the Extra Mile with Panasonic Expertise

Careful consideration was given to the materials used for projection surfaces with highly reflective fabric used for the walls, whereas robust paint that could withstand heavy wear, was used for the floor.

The initial projection design was reviewed and approved by Panasonic’s team in Japan, and with the help of Adlib, the physical installation including signal cabling, was undertaken. Little Lion Entertainment’s in-house team managed the precise alignment and edge-blending of images, leveraging the built-in tools within Panasonic’s projectors for corner correction and edge blending for seamless visuals.

This capability was crucial given the ever-changing visuals within the immersive environment, with players suddenly transitioning from Daytona Beach to the Tokyo Skyline, for example.

Full Speed Ahead for Chaos Karts

Chaos Karts has received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with players describing the thrilling experience as a ‘video game in real life;’ and unlike anything they have experienced before. It has broad audience appeal and is loved by families, couples, groups of friends, and kids of all ages.

Together with Panasonic, Little Lion Entertainment has established itself as a leader in the immersive, live-action video game market with Chaos Karts just the first of my games. It has already expanded to Dubai, and is planning to launch new installations in additional cities, including London in early 2026.

Reimagining a Video Game Classic

With the success of Chaos Karts at Arcade Arena Manchester and Dubai, Little Lion Entertainment has launched in parallel its second game the PAC-MAN LIVE EXPERIENCE. This sees players navigate through a life-sized glowing maze as they transform into PAC-MAN, chasing high scores in a physical recreation of the world's most famous arcade game. Panasonic’s MZ20 series projectors deliver cutting-edge projection mapping and tracking technology, bringing every PAC-DOT power pellet and ghost to vibrant life around each player.

"We have perfected bringing video games to life with Panasonic’s technology. We have built this on universally known concepts including video games, racing, and fun. There are no language barriers or complicated instructions, it therefore appeals to all ages and backgrounds. Now we can deliver the same immersive engaging experience anywhere in the world, bringing fully interactive digital entertainment to everyone."

Chaos Karts Transforms Immersive Karting with Panasonic's High-Performance Projectors

Challenge

Solution

Racing Meets Augmented Reality

Class-Leading Flexibility and Brightness for Immersive Environments

Going the Extra Mile with Panasonic Expertise

Full Speed Ahead for Chaos Karts

Reimagining a Video Game Classic

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