November 6, 2025
Yes — there is real go-karting in Phuket, and there is indoor sim racing at Boat Lagoon Marina. Which one suits your family comes down to age. Outdoor karts have height and age minimums that rule out younger children. A sim racing session at SIMPRO Academy Phuket is 60 minutes for 1,300 THB, runs indoors in air conditioning, and children under 14 can take part with an adult alongside them.
Phuket is an easy island for families. Between the beaches, the elephant sanctuaries and the water parks, there is more to do with children here than most first-time visitors expect — and motorsport is genuinely part of that list.
Kart racing arrived in Phuket through the outdoor circuits on the west side of the island, near Patong and Kathu. They are proper outdoor tracks: floodlit, a few hundred metres of tarmac, a fleet of karts in different engine sizes, and a timing system. If your children are old enough and tall enough, they are a good afternoon.
The word “karting” has since stretched to cover simulator racing too, which is what we run inside the Soho complex at Boat Lagoon Marina. It is not the same activity, and it is honest to say so. What follows is a straight comparison, so you can pick the one that fits the ages in your group.
Outdoor kart figures below are the published session rates and stated minimums at Patong Go-Kart Speedway as advertised in August 2026; check directly with the track before you travel, because rates and kart classes change. SIMPRO figures are our own.
| Outdoor go-karting | Sim racing at SIMPRO Academy | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Kathu / Patong, west Phuket | Boat Lagoon Marina, Koh Kaew, east Phuket |
| Time at the wheel | Roughly 10–20 minutes per session | 60 minutes |
| Typical price | Around 750–1,500 THB depending on kart class | 1,300 THB per person |
| Youngest driver | Around 8 years old and 1.25 m tall; race events usually 16+ | 14 and over drive solo; younger children with an adult alongside |
| Weather | Outdoors — rain and midday heat both matter | Indoors, air-conditioned, unaffected |
| Physical risk | A real vehicle at real speed; spins and contact happen | None — the seat is bolted to the floor |
| Sensation | Genuine G-force, wind, engine noise, smell of fuel | Force through the wheel and pedals; no body movement |
| What else is on site | Track facilities | Free pool, restaurant, sauna and ice bath, sports lounge |
A go-kart is a small open vehicle travelling at genuine speed, a few centimetres off the tarmac. Tracks run helmets, briefings and marshals, and the sport has a long safety record — but it is still motorsport, and spins and contact are part of it. That is precisely the appeal for a confident teenager, and precisely the hesitation for a parent with a six-year-old.
Sim racing removes the physical risk entirely. The rig is bolted to the floor. A driver can lose the car at Eau Rouge, spin, hit the wall, laugh, and be back on the racing line ten seconds later. Nobody is bruised and nothing is broken. For mixed-age groups — where one child is ready for a real kart and another is not — that difference is usually what decides it.
This is where the numbers separate. A session at SIMPRO Academy is 60 minutes at the wheel for 1,300 THB per person. A published outdoor kart session in Phuket is commonly 10 to 20 minutes for a broadly comparable outlay, depending on the kart class you choose.
That is not a criticism of the tracks — running real machinery costs real money, and their pricing reflects it. But if the question is “how much driving does my family actually get for the budget,” an hour is a very different afternoon from a quarter of one. It is also long enough for a child to stop crashing and start improving, which is the part they remember.
If you expect to come back, sessions are cheaper bought up front: 6,950 THB for six, 10,950 THB for ten, and 21,500 THB for twenty — the last working out at 1,075 a session. Family and group discounts apply when you buy more than one package.
Realistic enough that adults who arrive humouring their children usually book a second session.
Our racing rigs run iRacing, the platform professional drivers use, on Simucube 2 Pro direct-drive wheelbases with Simtrecs load-cell pedals and 32-inch curved triple monitors backed by a live telemetry display. The training car is the Mazda MX-5 Cup, chosen because it is forgiving enough for a first-timer and rewarding enough for someone chasing a lap time. The flight rigs use full cockpit instruments with optional VR, alongside a MOZA joystick, a Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog throttle and stick, and an F5 Simulation Seat.
One thing we are careful to be straight about: our rigs are fixed-base. The seat does not move. They are not motion platforms and they are not certified full flight simulators. Feedback reaches you through the wheel and the brake pedal instead — which is the setup competitive sim racers actually train on, because force through the controls tells you more about grip than a tilting seat does. If a child is expecting a fairground ride, say so before you arrive.
Here is the honest answer, and it corrects something this post used to say less precisely.
Children aged 14 and above drive on their own. Younger children are welcome with an adult alongside them. The practical limit is reach — the driver needs to press the pedals fully while sitting properly in the seat, and that varies more by height than by birthday. Mention everyone’s ages when you book and the team will have the seat and pedals set before you sit down.
Compare that with the outdoor tracks, which generally want a child to be around 8 years old and at least 1.25 metres tall to drive a kart, with competitive race events restricted to 16 and over. Neither rule is better than the other — they are answers to different risks.
SIMPRO Academy sits inside Soho Pool Club at Boat Lagoon Marina in Koh Kaew, on Phuket’s quieter east coast — about fifteen minutes from Phuket Town and twenty from the airport. There is free parking with plenty of space, and taxi and ride-hailing drivers know Boat Lagoon by name, so you never have to explain the address.
The marina itself is the reason this works as a family day rather than a single activity. It is calm, shaded and walkable, with yachts moving in and out of the water all afternoon. Soho is run by Andrea and Paul Chappell, who live on the island and are usually somewhere on site — which is the main reason a mixed-age group can turn up without a plan and still be looked after.
The awkward part of most family activities is that they entertain one person and park the rest. An hour in a simulator would have exactly that problem if it happened anywhere else.
Because it happens inside Soho, it does not. The pool is free to use — no entry charge, no minimum spend — so whoever is not racing can swim. Upstairs, The Clubhouse has two large screens running live sport, from Formula 1 to AFL to rugby, and a Predict & Win game during headline matches. The kitchen runs 11 AM to 10 PM, and food and drinks can be sent straight to the rig without pausing the session.
For the adults, Soho Wellness sits poolside: a five-person Clearlight infrared sauna and Bison ice baths, available on a day pass separate from the pool. Concentrating hard for an hour is more tiring than people expect, and the heat is a good place to sit afterwards.
What we will claim for it: muscle and joint relief, relaxation, and better sleep the same night. What we will not claim: it does not detoxify you, does not boost your immune system and is not a weight-loss tool. Those claims get made a lot in wellness marketing and they are not supported. The sauna is a pleasant, warm place to sit, and that is reason enough.
Racing makes people hungry, and the kitchen is genuinely part of the day rather than an afterthought. Chef Ai leads it, sourcing from local farmers and fishermen and cooking Thai food alongside burgers, pasta and salads — which matters when one child eats only nuggets and another wants tom yum.
There is a proper kids’ section on the menu: chicken strips at 200 THB, nuggets at 180 THB, fish fingers at 200 THB. The Khao Soi Gai at 290 THB is the dish people come back for. All prices are ++, meaning 7% VAT and 10% service are added. The full 2026 list is in the Soho 2026 menu, and the restaurant page has the rest.
A session is 60 minutes for 1,300 THB per person, staff-run. That is the standard product and it is what almost everyone books.
If an hour is not enough, a 30-minute extension is 500 THB, making 90 minutes 1,800 THB in total — worth mentioning when you arrive rather than at the end, since it depends on the rig being free afterwards. And if someone in the family wants to be properly coached rather than just driven around, one-to-one coaching with Paul Chappell is 2,000 THB per hour and is always booked separately from session time.
Every lap is recorded. That means telemetry — braking traces, throttle inputs, racing lines, lap deltas — is available to look at afterwards, which turns “that was fun” into “I was braking four metres too late into turn three.”
Children take to this faster than their parents do, and it is the difference between an hour of entertainment and an hour of learning something. In a coaching session, Paul goes through your own data with you rather than telling you what usually goes wrong.
The simulator room is indoors and air-conditioned, which makes it one of the few things to do in Phuket that works in any weather — a green-season downpour or a fiercely hot afternoon alike. If you are planning around the seasons, our Phuket high season guide covers what changes at the marina from November to April.
Nothing special is needed beyond sensible shoes. Bags go beside the rig. Glasses and contact lenses are both fine with the VR headset — mention it on arrival and the team will set it up. Staff stay on hand throughout for as much or as little input as you want, and no experience is assumed: most people who sit down have never used a professional rig before.
Yes. Phuket has outdoor go-kart tracks on the west side of the island, near Patong and Kathu, with floodlit circuits and karts in several engine sizes. There is also indoor sim racing at SIMPRO Academy inside Soho Pool Club at Boat Lagoon Marina, on the east coast — a different activity that suits younger children and rainy afternoons better.
Outdoor tracks generally require a child to be around 8 years old and at least 1.25 metres tall to drive, with competitive race events restricted to 16 and over. At SIMPRO Academy, drivers aged 14 and above go solo, and younger children are welcome with an adult alongside them.
For children under about 8, sim racing is usually the only option of the two, because outdoor tracks have height and age minimums. For mixed-age families it is also simpler: everyone races the same rigs at the same track, and a crash costs nothing.
A session is 60 minutes for 1,300 THB per person with staff on hand throughout. Packages are 6,950 THB for six sessions, 10,950 THB for ten and 21,500 THB for twenty. One-to-one coaching with Paul Chappell is 2,000 THB per hour, booked separately.
Yes. A 30-minute extension is 500 THB, making a 90-minute session 1,800 THB in total. It depends on the rig being free afterwards, so mention it when you arrive rather than at the end of your hour.
No. The rigs are fixed-base — the seat is bolted to the floor and does not move. Feedback comes through a direct-drive wheel and a load-cell brake pedal instead. They are not motion platforms, and the flight rigs are not certified full flight simulators.
No. Most guests have never used a professional rig before. Every session starts with a setup and an introduction to the car or aircraft, and staff stay nearby for the whole hour. Beginners are usually driving competently within the first ten minutes.
The pool at Soho Pool Club is free to use, The Clubhouse upstairs streams live sport on two large screens, and Soho Wellness has an infrared sauna and ice baths on a day pass. The kitchen runs 11 AM to 10 PM and will deliver to the rig if the driver would rather not stop.
Karting in Phuket does not have to be a single choice. If your children are old enough for the outdoor tracks, go — it is a good day. If some of them are not, or if it is raining, or if you would rather the afternoon covered swimming and lunch and a sauna as well as racing, Boat Lagoon Marina does all of it in one place.
To book a simulator, call +66 62 962 2822, email info@simproacademyphuket.com, or use the SIMPRO booking page. For a table, the pool or anything else at Soho, call +66 81 787 7702 or email info@simbaseatrips.com.
Soho Pool Club · 23 Boat Lagoon Marina, Moo 2, Koh Kaeo, Ampur Mueang, Phuket 83000 · Open daily 8 AM – 10 PM, kitchen 11 AM – 10 PM. SIMPRO Academy is open daily 9 AM – 9 PM.
Paul Chappell is a co-owner of Soho Pool Club at Boat Lagoon Marina and the lead flight instructor at SIMPRO Academy Phuket, which sits inside the Soho complex. He spent more than 23 years as a professional airline pilot, holds a Qualified Flight Instructor rating and served as Lead Captain on the Boeing Business Jet. He coaches both the flight and racing sides at SIMPRO — braking points, racing line and consistency on the track, and procedures, navigation and cockpit management in the air. He runs Soho alongside his wife Andrea, and lives in Phuket.
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