How Driving Empire Is Fueling My Kid's Car Obsession
Earlier this year, I attended my very first Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. It's the biggest gaming event of the year, and big gaming companies go all out creating really impressive activations. I walked the show floor with my 10-year-old son, Nate, to see it through his eyes. What I saw in his face was mostly confusion and a lack of awareness, because he didn't know most of the games being promoted.
The one thing that did catch his eye was EA Sports FC, and that makes sense. Nate's games reflect his life as a kid. In real life he plays soccer, basketball, and baseball, and he plays football during recess. On Xbox, he plays EA Sports FC, NBA 2K, MLB The Show, and Madden. Most of what Gamescom promoted had no connection to his life, so it didn't land.
It would have been a different story if he'd gotten to see the games he's really into right now. About a month and a half ago, Nate got interested in cars, and since then he's played Driving Empire on Roblox nearly every day. So I sat down with him to walk through how he thinks about and plays his favorite game: what brings him back, what he spends on, and how he experiences the brands and ads placed throughout the map.
Analytics are great because they give you data on what's happening and what players are responding to. But there's a lot of personal context that motivates players that never shows up in a dashboard. For Roblox developers, and for brands like NASCAR that have built integrations into games, here's what that context looks like from one kid's perspective.
How Did a Car Obsession Find Its Way to Roblox?
Nate started noticing cars around town and asking what makes and models they were. The first one that made him go wow was a Porsche. Personally I don’t know much about cars, but I wanted to foster my kid’s newfound interest. So I got him a stack of library books about sports cars, including one about the Aston Martin Valkyrie (which is now his dream car).
He already spends time on Roblox, so he looked for cool cars there. "I was looking up fun car games," he told me, and Driving Empire was the first one that popped up.
Roblox didn't create Nate's interest in cars. When kids have an interest, Roblox is a natural place for them to extend it and pursue it further. In Nate's case, he landed on a game that is both popular and remarkably deep.
Driving Empire, made by Voldex, launched in June 2019 and has 3.39 billion lifetime visits, according to RoMonitor Stats. It averages about 23,700 concurrent players, holds a 93% user rating, and Voldex calls it the number one driving game on Roblox. It offers more than 300 cars and boats, including licensed brands such as Lamborghini, McLaren, Porsche, and Audi.
A couple of years ago, I worked on a Lamborghini Roblox game with Sawhorse, and Lamborghini had a partnership with Driving Empire that included a portal that drove a lot of traffic to that game. With so many real-life brands in the game, Driving Empire has always stood out to me as one of the best examples of licensing within the Roblox space.
What Does Driving Empire Teach Kids About Car Brands?
When I asked Nate what he's learned from Driving Empire, his answer was car brands. "Most of the brands on here I've never heard of," he said, scrolling past Arash, Gordon Murray Automotive, Koenigsegg, and Polaris. He says really wants a De Tomaso, a brand he discovered in the game.
The game has entered our family conversations too. Nate asked his mom what her dream car would be, and she said Rivian. Now he points out the Rivians he sees at school and has tied them back to the game, where Rivian made its debut in a recent September update.
But Nate doesn't own a Rivian in the game anymore. He sold it, along with most of his other cars, to save up for a 2010 Lamborghini, which is his pride and joy. Why did trade in all of his other cars, including the Rivian, for this Lambo? "One, it costs the most. Two, it looks the coolest. And three, it goes very fast." For brands, that's a reminder that being in the game gets you noticed, but you're still competing with every other car in the garage.
What Keeps Him Playing?
When I asked whether owning a car in Driving Empire feels like owning one for real, he said, "I am not old enough to drive, so this is the closest I get to driving. These are my cars."
That sense of ownership is what keeps him coming back. Driving Empire organizes cars into brand collections, and Nate bought every car in the Alfa Romeo collection, which earned him an expensive bonus car. When I asked what would make him stop playing, he didn't mention rewards. He said, "If the game deleted all the good cars."
Friends matter too. Nate usually races solo because strangers are better than him, but when he plays with his friend, they talk on the phone and race each other.
I also asked whether he'd lose interest once he had all the cars he wanted. He said no, because he could start a YouTube channel where he grades cars and does crazy things with them. He doesn't even want every car. He wants new ones so he can test them out, find his favorites, and upgrade their engines.
That surprised me. Getting the cars isn't the end of the game for Nate. It's the start of the next one: testing, tuning, and making content. When a 10-year-old imagines running out of things to collect, his first instinct is to become a creator. That's how Roblox and social video feed each other.
Why Did He Spend Robux?
Driving Empire is also effective at monetizing. It has been in Roblox's top 50 earning games over the past two weeks, according to RoMonitor Stats.
Its prices span a wide range. Here's roughly what each item would cost a player to purchase:
Car radio pass, the cheapest item: 15 Robux, about $0.19
VIP pass: 500 Robux, about $6.25
Limited 2017 Ford GT: 3,000 Robux, about $33.30
Hennessey Roadster: 4,000 Robux, about $44.40
Nate has spent 45 Robux in Driving Empire, about $0.56, on a pink underglow for his Lamborghini. He bought it while playing with his friend, and he told me he usually only buys things when his friend is around "because it makes it more special." When I asked if he was trying to look cool for his friend, he said, "I guess." For Nate, spending is social and tied to flexing, whether he realizes it or not.
Can a Game Make a Kid a Sports Fan?
I was really interested in finding out how much Nate knew about NASCAR, since NASCAR is featured throughout Driving Empire and Nate doesn't watch the sport. The auto racing organization and Voldex partnered in 2024 and built a dedicated NASCAR World inside the game, and the collaboration won two Roblox Innovation Awards. Within the game Nate drives past NASCAR billboards and races on NASCAR tracks regularly.
But it hasn't made him a NASCAR fan yet. "I kind of knew about NASCAR already," he said. What Nate is a fan of is F1. His uncle gave him a Ferrari hat, which got him watching F1 races and Drive to Survive on Netflix. Now Ferrari is his team and Charles Leclerc is his driver. When I asked what NASCAR could do in Driving Empire to win him over, he said it would help if the game taught him more about the drivers and the sport.
A game can absolutely pull a kid into a real sport. Nate recently got into the NBA, partly through NBA 2K, and now we're watching the start of the season together. I believe NBA 2K works because it puts him in control of real players he can then follow on TV. That's the piece Nate says is missing for NASCAR in Driving Empire: the people.
Do Kids Notice In-Game Video Ads?
While watching Nate play, I was surprised by how many video ads were displayed throughout the map. These aren't rewarded videos, but rather standard display video ads. They run in the background on billboards and screens, including while players browse cars in the shop, which is a smart, high-traffic place to put them.
The ads also changed depending on whose account he was on. During our first session, Nate was playing on my 18+ account, and the billboards ran ads for Google Gemini. On his own Roblox Select account, he saw ads for Toy Story 5 toys, which were much more relevant to him. It's a small sample, but it suggests Roblox's age targeting is doing what it should, serving adult advertisers to adult accounts and family brands to kids.
Nate doesn't mind the ads. "They're just in the background," he said. He has clicked on one once, just to see what it was, but now he ignores them.
Rewarded video is the format he'd actually pay attention to, but they aren’t shown to kids under 13. When I asked if he'd watch an ad for a free car or cash, he said yes, so he could get cooler cars for his collection.
What This Means for Developers and Brands
Here's what stood out to me:
Real life drives play. Nate's interest in cars started on the street and in library books. Roblox is where he took it further.
Games teach brands, but presence isn't enough. Driving Empire introduced Nate to car brands he'd never heard of, and the Rivian still lost out to the Lamborghini.
Collections drive retention. The only thing that would make Nate quit is losing his cars.
Spending is social. His only purchase happened with a friend, because it made it more special.
People build fandom. NASCAR's presence made him aware. Learning about the drivers is what would make him a fan, which is what Drive to Survive and NBA 2K did for F1 and the NBA.
Background ads are easy to tune out. Rewarded video is the format he'd lean into.
None of this shows up in a dashboard, which is why it's worth sitting down with players and hearing it in their own words.
Nate's Message to the Driving Empire Developers
I asked Nate what he'd tell the people who make the game. "I'd tell them they've made a great game," he said, "and they should maybe add F1 stuff, because they don't have F1." He'd also add more cars and a mode where cars can crash and break.
And if the developers could give him one special thing? "One of the race car or sports car packs, because those cost Robux."
So, Voldex team, if you're reading this: the packs won't end Nate's interest. They'll give him something to make videos about.
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Stephen Dypiangco is one the world’s leading experts on the topic of Roblox and brands. He has advised global companies on their Roblox strategies, including BBC Studios, Paramount, and Takara Tomy.
With 120+ articles published about Roblox and a following of over 14,000 across LinkedIn and his industry leading Max Power Gaming newsletter, he is widely regarded by gaming industry executives and investors as a trusted resource.
Stephen is building the premiere network of Roblox professionals to help this emerging sector connect and scale through his unique blend of relevant content and community events.
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