Scalextric ARC Pro Platinum GT - is it worth it? - Printable Version

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Scalextric ARC Pro Platinum GT - is it worth it? - woodcote - 25th-Oct-23

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Scalextric C1436M ARC Pro Platinum GT Set - RRP £649.99

Announced in the 2022 catalogue, but delayed for 11 months due to component shortages, the top-of-the-range Scalextric digital set is now available - priced with a RRP of £649.99. The ARC Pro Platinum GT follows on from previous Scalextric digital Platinum sets by offering all the kit you need to enjoy digital slot car racing with a group of people - in this case, four drivers racing at the same time. The new ARC Pro version upholds the tradition of a fully-featured set-up for those who want multi-car racing, overtaking and pit stop action at home...

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What's in the box?

In the box you get four Scalextric GT cars fitted with C8515 digital chips, four ARC Pro wireless controllers (batteries not included), six controller ribbons, the all important ARC Pro powerbase, two Scalextric digital power supplies, two straight lane changers, a right-handed pit lane, track to make up a 9.18 metre (31 foot) circuit and enough of the new clip-on barriers to cover the outside of every corner. There's also a stand for a smart device - a compatible tablet or smartphone is required to run the official Scalextric ARC app or the independent Magic ARC app. There's also the ARC Pro Quick Start Guide - which is absolutely essential reading to understand the basics of how the system works.

Three of the four cars - the Mustang GT4, Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and Corvette C8R GTE - have already been released in these liveries, but are no longer available as individual cars. The Mercedes AMG Evo GT3 is a set-only car, exclusive to this ARC Pro set. The cars have different handling characteristics - the Corvette and Mercedes are superb performers, with the Aston and Mustang a little more of a challenge. All four cars are high-detail and fitted with working headlights and rear lights. Spare braid plates are included in the box.

Is that good value?

I worked out that buying the contents (or equivalent) at RRP, the total would be a few pennies shy of a grand. Even if you shopped around carefully for the components - for example, Scalextric have a track promotion at the moment - the £649.99 is still looking like very good value. And you know everything is ready to work out of the box. If you buy the set from the Scalextric website, you'll get £65 back in Hobby Rewards Points (£97.50 if you're a Scalextric Club member) to go towards future purchases. Other retailers are permitted to discount by up to 10% - for example, The Model Centre in Whitby are bang on the 10% discount at £584.99 here, whereas Gaugemaster are selling the set here for £589.95. Jadlams have the set at £599.99 here and they'll offer you £37 of rewards to go towards future purchases. So maybe we should think of the price of the set as £600 or a little under. And you could always sell that exclusive Mercedes to a collector - just remember to remove the valuable digital plug first.

How about second-hand? 

My mantra with second-hand digital slot car equipment is 'don't do it'. If you're new to digital, there's a lot to learn and a lot to go wrong. Throw in some faulty second-hand gear and digital suddenly becomes an unfathomable nightmare. Buy new and you're covered... Everything should work nicely out of the box and if it doesn't, you can return, exchange or ask for a repair under warranty. The Scalextric service department are known to repair - free of charge - digital powerbases that are long past their warranty expiry date. Second-hand track and cars might seem less of a gamble - but everything will need to be in tip-top condition. Digital chips do not like loose or dirty track and neither do they like cars that have dodgy wiring, frayed braid or half a ton of pet hair gumming up the gears. At £21 each, frying a car's chip is expensive. Second-hand chips? A couple of us foolishly bought six used chips from a reputable dealer after a bit of 'bartering' at the Havant swap meet - and only four worked. It turned out no cheaper than buying new. Caveat emptor and all that...

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If the price is good, are the contents of the ARC Pro Platinum GT set worth buying?

As a whole, I really like ARC Pro as a system - it's as simple to use as digital slot car racing gets, yet has a remarkable amount of complexity via the ARC and Magic apps. As you can see from my ARC Pro Guide and introduction to the Magic ARC App, you can use elements of the software to recreate almost any form of racing - including using fuel, tyre, KERS and weather simulations. Plus there are easy in-app settings to limit power and change throttle curves to run different types of car or accommodate learner drivers. An analogue mode can be selected via a physical switch on the side of the powerbase, turning the system into the one-car-per-lane ARC Air system - ideal if you have non-digital cars to run or don't want the cut and thrust of digital racing.

Here's an ARC Pro layout in action, entertaining a group of Triumph TR owners...

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ARC Pro doesn't quite have the versatility of the older Scalextric C7042 Six-car Advanced Powerbase - although that needs hundreds of pounds spent on add-ons (see thread here) - but it's not far off and comes in much cheaper. We use the older system at our WHO/digital club, but are starting to use ARC Pro on our travels as it's much easier to transport, set up and use - plus there's less to go wrong. More of that travelling layout later, but it's the one in the picture above. For WHO racers looking for a digital set-up at home, the investment in the Platinum GT set would be a good one. You can test your race cars before going to the club, practice digital race craft and use the apps to have lots of racing fun that's very similar to our WHO/digital formats.

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The track - and potential additional costs

The supplied 31 feet of track fits into a 13 x 5 foot space. There are ten more suggested layouts using the track supplied - but all take up at least as much space. That is quite huge for a modern European home, but a digital layout with a pit lane and up to six cars on track needs to be big. If fact, I think including only four cars in the set is sensible for the track length - six cars and the track would feel very congested. I also think the two lane changers and pit lane are essential for an enjoyable ARC Pro home layout. At £58.99 each for the lane changers and £93.97 for the pit lane (including single-lane straights), it's nice not to have to add these to your shopping list.

Likewise, with two power supplies included - costing £54.99 each -  you're already sorted for powering six cars. To run six cars, you'll need two more ARC Pro wireless controllers which you connect to the powerbase using the instructions on pages 8 & 9 of the Quick Start Guide. The controllers are £29.99 each. Additional Digital Plug Ready (DPR) cars need a C8515 digital plug fitted (C8516 for Formula E cars). Non DPR cars require the C7005 retro-fit chip to be soldered in and a 3mm hole drilled behind the guide for the LED. Each chip now costs £20.99.

All the curves in the layout are Radius Two corners. These are the standard radius corner for Scalextric and work well with standard cars fitted with magnets. Having the clip-on barriers means the car on the outside won't spin out and will be able to ride the barriers with extra speed. I have no problem with this for a home layout. However, if you run cars non-magnet - as we do at our club - it is a huge advantage to the car on the outside! Whether running with or without magnets, you should consider purchasing C8228 Radius 2 Outer Borders for all twelve corner pieces. These come in packs of 4 and Scalextric are selling a pack for £9.10 in their current promotion. Some C8233 Lead in / Lead Out Borders (£8.04 for a pair) or C8223 Half Straight Borders (£8.04 for four) are worth getting for run-off at the end of a corner. The borders and barriers allow the car on the outside to drift out in the same way as the car on the inside of the corner. These are essential for non-magnet racing.

One more additional cost is batteries to power the wireless controllers. Each controller takes two AA batteries - and good-quality alkalines are considered most reliable. If the controllers are routinely switched off after use, the batteries do last a long time.

Smart device compatibility & choices

This has always been a bone of contention about ARC... and pretty much all Bluetooth-controlled devices. Requirements on the box are simple: Bluetooth v4.0 and either Android 4.4.2 KitKat (and above) or iOS 5.0 (and above). These are the specs the ARC system was designed around and using an older device can often be more reliable than the latest shiny new thing from Samsung or Apple. Having said that, some (but not all) of these new devices work too. The problems arise with different manufacturers using different architecture and software in their devices' Bluetooth systems. The consensus is that Apple products are more reliably compatible with ARC powerbases and the Scalextric and Magic apps. One thing that all Android users must remember is to turn the GPS/location setting to 'on'.

I successfully use four devices with the current Scalextric ARC app - a 2011 iPhone 4S, a 2016 iPhone SE, a 2017 iPad (5th Generation) and a 2017 Amazon Fire 7 tablet (using an old Fire-compatible version of the app). I also use that 2017 iPad with the Magic ARC app.

A tablet is definitely a better bet when racing digital. Info for four or six cars is hard to see on phone screen - although it can easily be mirrored to a monitor or TV via a phone to HDMI adapter. The Scalextric app screen will sit as a narrow vertical box on a landscape monitor or TV, but the Magic app is landscape and fills the screen nicely if using a tablet - as you can see here...

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Beyond the set - possible non-mag upgrades

If you want to run cars without magnets - and I personally think Scalextric digital racing is better paced and offers more extensive gameplay that way - then adding Radius 2 borders is an essential first step. A further non-mag-focused upgrade would be to use larger radius corners. The Scalextric Radius 3 and Radius 4 track pieces allow a better flow through the corners and interesting compound curves of the R2, R3 and R4 pieces can add real variety to the layout. However, a bigger radius means more space is needed - or less features can be squeezed into the same space. However, the challenges of the track are secondary to the overtaking, strategy and pit stops that are fundamental to ARC Pro digital racing - so a simple track can work very well.

The WHO/digital travelling ARC Pro layout contains just two Radius 2 pieces (top right), plus ten Radius 3 and ten Radius 4 pieces - and outer borders for each, of course. It fills a 14 x 5 foot space, very slightly longer than the main layout in the ARC Pro Platinum GT set. It uses the same two lane changers and the right-hand pit lane - and we limit it to four cars...

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Some of the other track from the set can be used too, although the cost for the extras is significant - around £185-200. However, starting absolutely from scratch - and using prices from the Scalextric track promotion, plus extension packs - the same 4-controller, 2-psu set-up but with the WHO/digital track design would cost around £715 without cars and chips - or just under £1,000 with four digital cars. At RRP it would be more. Again, buying the set and eventually upgrading with the wider radius corners, borders and extra pit lane length works out cheaper.

The Verdict

Whatever your long-term plans, my verdict is that the ARC Pro Platinum GT set is the best way to immerse yourself - and your racing pals - into the world of Scalextric digital at home. The big layout, four cars, wireless controllers, pit lane and two lane change pieces - plus the clip-on barriers - are everything you need to get the most from the ARC and Magic apps. And it will work straight out of the box - easing that steep learning curve faced by new digital racers. If you buy from Scalextric, you then have reward points in the bank to buy the Radius 2 borders (£27.30 for twelve in the current promotion) and half-straight borders (£16.08 for eight) - a good first upgrade. If you decide on that second upgrade to a similar-sized layout with wider corners, the outlay is not massive.

More details about the new ARC Pro Platinum GT set can be found on the Scalextric website here: https://uk.scalextric.com/products/scalextric-arc-pro-pro-platinum-c1436m

The SlotRacer Online ARC Pro Guide to the Scalextric ARC app is here: https://slotracer.online/arc-pro-guide/index.php

An introduction to the Magic ARC app, looking at a GT Endurance format is here: https://slotracer.online/community/showthread.php?tid=2811

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