Leveling Up the Track: Newegg x GRIDLIFE

September 28, 2026

There's a rush that comes with racing that's hard to describe until you've felt it, from the roar of the engine to the adrenaline that takes over the moment you begin flying down the track. Newegg's partnership with GRIDLIFE is about making that feeling accessible to more people by bridging the gaps that have kept it out of reach. Over the past season, the Newegg Gamer Zone experience, powered by Intel and ABS, has traveled to some of the biggest stops on the GRIDLIFE calendar, including Circuit Legends, Midwest Festival, South Carolina, Summer Apex, and most recently, Laguna Seca. At each event, fans got hands-on with high-performance PCs and sim racing rigs, allowing anyone to drop into the driver's seat without even needing a helmet.

Under the Hood: Powered by ABS

At the heart of every Gamer Zone sim rig is an ABS gaming PC. ABS, short for Advanced Battlestations, is Newegg's in-house line of gaming PCs, designed and built by Newegg and assembled and tested right here in California. Sim racing is one of the most demanding ways to put a PC to work. It takes smooth, consistent frame rates across wide displays, responsive force feedback through the wheel, and no room for a stutter mid-corner. At GRIDLIFE, ABS systems delivered all of that session after session and driver after driver, in the middle of an outdoor festival. Best of all, these weren't show-only builds. The machines fans raced on are the same kind of ABS gaming PCs anyone can find on Newegg, making it easy to take the Gamer Zone experience home.

More Than a Booth

The Gamer Zone experience is a fully interactive space blurring the line between real-world motorsport and sim racing. We want to give people a taste of competitive racing powered by the same technology enthusiasts use to build their own rigs at home. GRIDLIFE describes the collaboration as a way of "bridging technology and enthusiast culture.” This description captures exactly what we set out to do: meet people where their passions already overlap.

Building with GRIDLIFE

This partnership is also part of a larger narrative GRIDLIFE conveys about its 2026 lineup. As the organization put it, this year's group of partners is "easily our largest and most meaningful group to date," made up of brands GRIDLIFE doesn't just work with, but builds with. That distinction is significant. Newegg isn't showing up as a logo on a banner. We're showing up as an active part of the experience, with our own ABS hardware under the hood, shaping how fans engage and connect with the sport.

Crossing the Finish Line at Laguna Seca

The season came to a close at the GRIDLIFE Laguna Festival at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and it was a fitting place to cross the finish line. Set up right beside the NOS Energy Main Stage, the Gamer Zone experience lived under a clear-top tent that kept the real track in view the entire time. Inside, fans slid into Kinetic sim rigs with MOZA Racing wheels, all powered by ABS gaming PCs, surrounded by a Forza Horizon 6–inspired build complete with cherry blossoms, paper lanterns, and retro arcade cabinets. Attendees could watch cars fly through the legendary Corkscrew, then walk over and chase a lap of their own. It was the clearest example all season of what the Gamer Zone experience is built to do: put real-world motorsport and sim racing side by side and let people experience both.

The Road Ahead

Looking ahead, we're continuing to invest in the racing and sim racing communities that have welcomed us in. For a lot of drivers, sim racing isn't just a hobby. It's a lifestyle that blends car culture, gaming, and the thrill of shaving tenths off a lap. We want to support that at every stage, from bringing hands-on Gamer Zone experiences to events like GRIDLIFE to making the first steps a little less intimidating. One of the most common questions we hear at events is where to even start with a rig, which is a big part of why we created our sim builder tool. It walks aspiring drivers through the pieces that make up a setup, from wheels and pedals to cockpits and the PC powering it all, so they can figure out what works for them. Whether someone leaves a GRIDLIFE event with a new personal best or just a newfound appreciation for what a great PC build can do behind the wheel, that's the finish line we're speeding toward. One event, one driver, and one Gamer Zone experience at a time.

By Abigail Gorrity, Newegg Marketing