Garage 61, one of the sim racing community’s most beloved data and performance tools, has announced a major milestone — and an even bigger expansion.
In a new update posted this week, founder Ruben revealed that Garage 61 has surpassed 100,000 users and now stores more than 700 million laps of telemetry. But the big news is what’s next: Garage 61 is officially teaming up with iTelemetry and iRacePlan, two other respected projects in the sim racing space, to build a unified platform that aims to redefine how drivers prepare, race, and analyze their performance.
From a Garage Project to a Global Tool
Garage 61 began humbly at the end of 2019, written by Ruben and two friends as a small experiment. What started as a side project “run out of a garage” has quietly grown into one of the largest telemetry ecosystems in sim racing.
Despite the massive growth, Ruben says the project has stayed true to its roots — a passion-driven effort, not a venture-backed startup chasing investors. The focus remains the same: help drivers improve every stage of their racing journey, from preparation to post-race analysis.
“Garage 61 has always been a passion project, built out of love for motorsport and the desire to make sim racing just a little bit better,” Ruben explained.
That philosophy now extends to Garage 61’s new partners.
The Merger: iTelemetry + iRacePlan + Garage 61
Garage 61’s next phase will unite three projects that each serve a different part of the racing lifecycle:
- iTelemetry, developed by Harry and Alex (UK & Germany), is a live timing tool designed to help teams track race progress and monitor performance in real time. Known for its excellent engineering and precision, it shares much of the same technology foundation as Garage 61.
- iRacePlan, created by Guillaume and Simon (France), focuses on the organizational side of racing — helping teams plan events, manage schedules, and coordinate endurance lineups. Its clean interface and usability have made it a favorite for league organizers and multi-driver teams.
Each project has built a loyal following, but their creators share one clear goal: making racing workflows smarter and more connected. By merging, they’ll accelerate development and integrate their strengths into a single, intuitive ecosystem under the Garage 61 banner.
“Each project tackles a different part of the racing lifecycle, but our goals have always been aligned,” the announcement explained. “Together, we can move faster and build something truly exceptional.”
What This Means for Users
In the coming months, users can expect to see features from both iTelemetry and iRacePlan appear directly inside Garage 61.
This means one platform could soon handle:
- Pre-race preparation and scheduling (from iRacePlan)
- Live timing and strategy tools (from iTelemetry)
- Telemetry, setups, and performance analysis (from Garage 61 itself)
The end goal is to create a complete sim racing ecosystem that connects every stage of the driver experience — whether you’re a solo racer learning your first telemetry traces or part of an endurance team managing stints and pit windows.
Importantly, both iTelemetry and iRacePlan will remain operational for now. The Garage 61 team plans to keep them running until the new platform fully replaces their functionality — and surpasses it.
Passion Over Profit
One theme that continues to define Garage 61 is its independent, community-first approach.
Ruben made it clear that while outside funding could accelerate growth, it’s not the direction they want to take. “Outside funding might speed things up, but it would also fundamentally change how the project is run,” he wrote. “We want to stay focused on user experience — building great software that makes racing better.”
That philosophy has resonated with the community from day one. Garage 61’s growth has been entirely organic, driven by word of mouth, transparency, and a steady stream of meaningful updates.
Meet the Team
The new combined Garage 61 family brings together a diverse and passionate group of developers and racers from across Europe:
- Ruben (Belgium): Founder of Garage 61, open-source veteran, and chocolate addict.
- Harry (UK): Creator of iTelemetry, enjoys real-world track days and long tech chats.
- Alex (Germany): Joined iTelemetry to help expand development; real racer when budget allows.
- Guillaume (France): Co-founder of iRacePlan, lifelong McLaren fan and motorsport devotee.
- Simon (France): Developer and simracer who helped design iRacePlan’s smooth user experience.
Together, they form a small but highly motivated international team united by a single mission: make sim racing better through great software.
What’s Next
Garage 61 will begin integrating features from both partner projects step by step. This process will take time, as merging different systems into one unified tool is no small feat. However, the team says the end result will be worth the wait.
The developers will also be attending the Sim Racing Expo this weekend, where they’ll be available to meet users and answer questions. Beta testing for the new integrated platform is expected to open in the future — with details coming #soon.
Garage 61’s closing words summed it up perfectly:
“Garage 61 is not slowing down — in fact, we’re pressing the throttle pedal harder than ever.”
