Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead vs Hotlap
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead
This app is an advanced tool for car enthusiasts to record and analyze sensor data for optimizing driving performance. It offers automated lap timing, video recording with data overlays, and real-time online racing competition features.
- Records sensor data (GPS, OBD II)
- Automated lap timing with 1300+ predefined tracks
- In-car video recording with data overlays
- Real-time online racing and competition
- Driving performance analysis and optimization
- Step-by-step sensor integration
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Harry's LapTimer is the advanced tool for car enthusiast. It records all types of sensor data provided by your iPhone/iPod/iPad (or external sensors), combines them, and makes them available to optimize your drive. Over time, you will get insights on your car and in your driving, not known before. LapTimer offers more than 1300 predefined tracks world wide. With its assistants, it is extremely easy to setup - just click your track and drive. It fully automates your lap timing using GPS, and presents the results to all kinds of media. You are not limited to track driving only. For example, you may define your home and working locations as a 'track', collect statistics on different ways chosen, and analyze / optimize the time used every day. Want to show your drive to your friends? LapTimer Petrolhead and above generates beautiful in car video recordings with all kinds of data overlaid, ready to be presented - e.g. on youtube. Even without video, recorded data can be analyzed using purpose designed views, making it easy to analyze and improve your driving performance. Using online racing, you can use LapTimer in competition. LapTimer offers a Hall of Fame, allows watching you and your friends on track - all in real time. Compare your sector times, braking / acceleration points, and learn from each other. You can start with your plain iPhone in the beginning and add external GPS and OBD II sensors later, step by step, and as you need it. LapTimer itself comes in three different editions: LapTimer Rookie is the entry level with all you need for lap timing; LapTimer Petrolhead is the advanced version including lots of video features, and LapTimer Grand Prix is the edition for professionals including Multi Cam recording, Health Kit integration, and advanced sensor and analytics functionality. Please note that functionality depends on your device, the LapTimer edition chosen, and sometimes even external sensors added (like OBD II). Please visit our web page to get the full story. All edition can be upgraded later, all editions come with native iPhone and iPad support. There are quite expensive stand alone solutions for track days available. Be smart and own the leading edge tool simply by using your iPhone and LapTimer. Besides the professional area, there is no known solution that offers more functionality than LapTimer does - across the market. As our ambition is to offer the best tool, LapTimer is enhanced continuously. Please visit http://www.gps-laptimer.de for detailed information on versions, FAQs / documentation, in depth technology background information, online racing, and supported device configurations. Join our user community on http://www.gps-laptimer-forum.de to be involved in future development - all with first class support.
Hotlap
This app offers GPS lap timing and data logging for track day enthusiasts. Compare your performance with others in a community setting to improve your personal bests.
- GPS lap timing
- Data logging
- Performance comparison
- Community features
- Personal best tracking
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Experience the competitive spirit and camaraderie of track days from anywhere. Hotlap is an exciting new community for track day enthusiasts. With intuitive GPS lap timing and data logging you can ealiy compare your performance with fellow drivers to achieve your next personal best.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Hotlap at Free against Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead's $19.99. Hotlap also leads on rating (4.3 vs 3.8) and update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead's advantage is chart position (#90 vs unranked) and device support (4 vs 2). On review sentiment, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Hotlap is free to download; Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead costs $19.99 up front. Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Hotlap sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Hotlap holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 153 and 79 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 77% of Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead's written reviews are positive against 69% of Hotlap's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead ships an update every 2 months, Hotlap monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead | Hotlap |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.8 (153 ratings) | 4.3 (79 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 77.0% of reviews — better | 69.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 153 — better | 79 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #90 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 80 MB | 118 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Harald Schlangmann | Extravehicular Activity, Inc. |
Customer experience
Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead
Hotlap
User reviews
Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead
From 153 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📊 Comprehensive data logging and telemetry analysis
- 🎥 Excellent video overlay capabilities with telemetry
- 💰 Affordable alternative to expensive professional systems
- 🛠️ Highly responsive developer with active support
- 🏁 Accurate lap timing when properly configured
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes
- 🎮 Confusing and unintuitive user interface
- 📍 Unreliable GPS tracking without external devices
- 🔌 Poor Bluetooth connectivity with accessories
- 📹 Video export causes app malfunction
Hotlap
From 79 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and easy to use
- 🏎️ Great for track days
- 🤝 Good for comparing with friends
- 💰 Free to use
- 🏎️ Accurate lap times
Room to improve
- 🐛 Lost profile/data after phone transfer
- 🐛 App is buggy and doesn't always work
- 🐛 Photo upload feature broken
- 🐛 OBD2 recording feature not working
- 🐛 Live delta time not working
Bugs and requests
Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead
Reported bugs
14 issues- App crashes when overlaying videos
- Video playback fails in Photos app until phone reboot
- Lap data not recording at certain tracks
- GPS location not recognized at specific venues
- Timer fails to start or record laps inconsistently
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Screen freezes during lap analysis
- Video recording stops mid-session
- App locks up entire phone requiring hard restart
- Inaccurate speed and elevation data
- Inability to delete laps without app hanging
- Track loading failures and truncated track names
- Overlay settings reset after each use
- Incompatibility with newer iOS versions
- External GPS and OBD2 connection drops
Requested features
10 requests- Ability to pause timer between sessions
- Automatic video overlay for all laps without manual processing
- Better track variant identification in database
- Improved nearby track suggestions based on location
- Dark mode option
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Call blocking during track sessions
- More Canadian track coverage
- Custom vehicle profile support for newer models
- Simplified user interface redesign
- Better export format compatibility for Mac users
Hotlap
Reported bugs
10 issues- Data lost after phone transfer
- App not working/updating
- Photo upload stops at 90%
- App is very buggy and slow
- OBD2 recording feature broken
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Live delta time feature broken
- Cannot select custom car
- Sessions not being recorded
- OBD2 adapters not recognized
- App not functioning as expected
Requested features
7 requests- Record times while screen is off
- CarPlay support
- Update profile picture setting
- Make app work in background
- More accurate track layouts
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Support for 'other' car type
- Improve telemetry graph readability
In-app purchases
Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead
- Grand Prix Upgrade$9.99
Hotlap
- Hotlap Plus Monthly$2.991 Month
- Hotlap Plus Annual$23.991 Year
Questions
Is Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead free?
Is Hotlap free?
Which has better reviews, Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead or Hotlap?
Do Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead or Hotlap have ads?
Which is updated more often, Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead or Hotlap?
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