Hot Wheels have been a popular toy for years, especially with boys. Whether it’s collecting miniature versions of your dream cars, watching them speed along custom tracks, making them crash dramatically, or a blend of all three, there’s always something fun about them. Like most toy brands that have been around for a while, Mattel’s Hot Wheels were due for some revamping, a way to keep up with the times and revitalize a brand so it can compete with newcomers.
Their latest idea, Mattel’s Video Racer, is pure genius. A tiny video camera is placed in the front of the Hot Wheels car, allowing it to record its journey down ramps, through loop-the-loops, and into your living room wall from a first-person perspective. The bottom of the car features a miniature LCD screen, allowing children to view the playback no matter where they are. This is perfect because it allows children to experiment, to try different tracks and ideas until they get the perfect video. At that point, they can connect the car to the home computer via USB to access the raw footage. Using the special video editing software that comes with the Video Racer, they can even clip and edit the video until it’s just how they want it, and then upload it to YouTube.
No doubt, further appeal is based on another concept that has been around for years. Since the days of ordering toys from dubious ads in comic books, spy cameras have held much appeal with young boys. Since technology has progressed quite a bit since those days, boys can now have their own spy video camera implanted in their favorite toy car. Mattel’s Video Racer is scheduled to appear in the fall with a price of $60 per car, which presumably includes the USB cable and software. Watch the video below for more information and a test run. Or for more toy car fun, check out these Awesome Remote Control Vehicles and the RC Amphibian Tank.
Via: DVice
