action shot of McDonald's NASCAR pit crew changing tires and refilling gas

Immersing fans in the pit crew experience

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VR

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Motion Capture

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Live Action

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3D

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Sound Design

In this award-winning brand Virtual Reality activation, McDonald’s tapped NEXT/NOW, Evolve Concepts, and KemperLesnik to create a brand virtual reality sports experience for the hundreds of thousands of NASCAR fans during the Sprint Cup Series. Fans put on the headset and were transported into the excitement of a virtual NASCAR pit stop where Jamie McMurray, driver of the McDonald’s #1 Car, instructed them to become part of the team by changing the driver’s side tires in a race against time.

Man in VR goggles mimics a tire replacement motion against a McDonald's backdrop
two 3d modeled pit crew members crouch in the ready position with wheel and bolt gun in hand
aerial shot of the pit crew zone on a 3d modeled raceway

A true sense of realism

Extreme attention to detail placed fans in a thrilling and authentic pit experience. Using a variety of real-world capture techniques like motion-capture suits and on-site SFX recordings, NEXT/NOW was able to mimic real spaces with incredibly high levels of precision. The 3D environment, built using Unreal Engine, also pushed the visual boundaries of what was possible in order to give each player a true sense of realism.

McDonalds NASCAR car sits in the raceway pit as five members of the pit crew approach with new tires and gas

The Result

We honed in on McDonald’s desire to create a branded experience with real-world precision. Over 6,000 fans enjoyed the experience generating over 820hrs of brand time. The experience also won first place at the 2017 EventTech Awards and was name ICX Elevate’s Deployment of the Year.