NRJ Startup Winner Creates Mario Kart in Real Life

Emakina loves creativity, entrepreneurship and tech innovation. So when NRJ radio invited our CEO Brice Le Blévennec to join the jury of their Startup initiative, he did not have to to think twice.

The theme of the NRJ Startup competition was ‘Projects to rock your everyday life’. And that’s what the participants delivered. No less than 15 exciting creative ideas saw the light, with sexy names like EasyPharm, WooClap and Constructr. The jury picked five finalists: Zendo, ListMinut, Speaky, MenuNextDoor, and BattleKart.

‘Of these five, one was simply in another league’, said Brice Le Blévennec. BattleKart, his favorite, went on to win, and its future looks really bright (although the action takes place in a completely dark playing environment).

Battlekart is a kid’s dream come true. Imagine playing Mario Kart in real life… now you can! BattleKart delivers on this mad idea and goes beyond it. It’s as though a computer game comes to life and pulls you inside its racing universe.

Congratulations to the NRJ organisation for this inspiring and successful event. Great to see so many innovative ideas, and hats off to Sébastien Millecam for his perseverance to make his dream race come true! – Brice Le Blévennec, CEO Emakina

This story started five years ago, when Sébastien had the crazy idea to place a lazer gun on a karting car. In the meantime, his initial project has grown, making the experience fully immersive, a digital racing experience that blows your mind.

BattleKart successfully combines innovative real world action with augmented reality. Onboard your kart, you are immersed in a virtually projected environment that makes you evolve like in a video game. Along with the other drivers, your vehicles moves around a projected track (that is not really there). You shoot and interact with the environment while you race, and your actions influence your performance and that of the other drivers, just like in an online game.

Of course this is now just a game, and a concept that was created for a specific context. But the possibilities to build on this first real application are huge. Want to take a spin yourself? There is a test track you can already go to, and try it out.