Gamifying Electric Racing and Physical Play
LEGO - Formula E + Porsche
Overview & Impact
In close collaboration with LEGO, Unity designed, developed, and delivered LEGO's Technic AR+ app. The AR+ app blends unrivaled physical play with mobile augmented reality, making use of the world's most renowned and unique intellectual property and brands. Our team at Unity was responsible for creating many experiences for the AR+ app, one of which was for the Formula E® Porsche 99X Electric.
📱500,000+ global downloads as of July 2023
⭐4.7 stars on the App Store as of June 2025
⭐4.4 stars on the Google Play Store as of June 2025
⭐4.7 stars on the App Store as of June 2025
⭐4.4 stars on the Google Play Store as of June 2025
Role:
Design Director, Product Designer. Led 2 other Product Designers.
Design Director, Product Designer. Led 2 other Product Designers.
The Challenge
LEGO reached out to Unity for assistance on something they had never made before: a mobile augmented reality application that was fun, authentic, and would track a fast-moving LEGO Technic model, all at the same time.
Another challenge was the engineering of the LEGO model itself: the model did not steer. This meant we needed to think outside the box to replicate the authentic Formula E circuit racing experience, which is filled with twists and turns.
Design Process
Working with LEGO, we followed three core design principles: authenticity, functionality, and challenge. These principles guided every decision. Our team at Unity aimed to deliver a distinct, IP-specific experience that preserved the functionality of LEGO’s physical sets while engaging users mentally and enhancing replayability.
Formula E, unlike its fuel-powered counterpart Formula 1, features unique elements like 'Attack Mode' and the now-retired 'Fan Boost'. Its urban circuits in cities like Rome and New York inspired the AR experience, where we abstracted real locations to create a sense of physical presence.
Prototyping & User Testing
As we built prototypes and development builds for both this Formula E experience and the Mustang Shelby GT500, we ran several user testing sessions with children aged 8-12 and internal staff who had no prior knowledge.
We ran structured tests, observed actions and reactions, and shadowed participants to validate some design decisions and get an overall grasp of whether or not our experiences sparked joy and encouraged replayability. To our delight, there were a few instances where the children would ask their parents after the session if they could try the app again to beat their previous recorded times (adults showed very similar glimpses of competitiveness).
Breaking It Up
AR gameplay for Formula E was a major challenge, as LEGO wanted an experience that made use of the model's pull-back motors. After many prototypes and ideation, we tried something different: why not have the track move around the car? We referenced real tracks, broke them up into sectors which included straights, left and right turns, and then aggregated the recorded times to make up the overall race time.
Abstracted 3D models of landmarks found on the real street circuit tracks.
The Circuit Race Experience
The main attraction of the Formula E LEGO AR+ app is the Circuit Race: players launch their pullback car one segment at a time, releasing their car at a precise moment to achieve their quickest time.
Heavily inspired by arcade-style timing games, players release when the ideal racing line appears or when specific power-ups show up on the track. This mechanic challenged players and complemented the reaction-time aspect of high-speed racing.
Full video demo of Circuit Race.
Battery Minigame
Drawing from Formula E’s strategic energy management, and inspired by The Price is Right, this arcade minigame (video below) challenged players to precisely wind back their car to recharge its battery. Players aimed to land within designated AR zones for optimal battery boosts, transforming a functional pitstop into a skill-based, engaging gameplay moment.
Full video demo of the Battery Minigame.
Deliverables
In addition to moodboards, high-level flows, wireframes, clickable prototypes, design system components and styling within Figma, we also delivered detailed high-fidelity flow diagrams that communicated specifically to developers. Edge cases like losing tracking of the LEGO model were all specified and presented to the user at the applicable touchpoints.
We also collaborated with multiple stakeholders to bring Formula E's unique IP, brand feel, and visual identity to life. The AR experience had to embody the electrified, rapid acceleration of Formula E circuit racing, capturing its dynamic twists and turns.
Outcome
LEGO Technic AR+ launched on iOS and Android in 2022, with over 500,000 global downloads to-date. It has an average rating of ⭐4.7 stars on Apple's App Store, and ⭐4.4 stars on the Google Play Store, as of June 2025.
It has since unlocked a new way of play for LEGO and its customers, and engaged new set of audience to experiment and try augmented reality. Because of the overwhelming success of the AR+ app, Unity is continuously partnering with LEGO to create more meaningful play experiences that adapt to ever-changing technologies and interaction paradigms.
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“It’s really cool to see your model come to life in races. It’s honestly the coolest game I have.”
Apple App Store
Apple App Store
“The kids found it really enjoyable that once it was built there was still more to play with and were amazed with the pull-back motor and the AR experience with the app.”
LEGO.com
LEGO.com
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