Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead vs ThePaddock
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.
ThePaddock
Connect with fellow track day enthusiasts and racers. Build your racing profile, log your performance, and discover events. Share your journey and learn from others to improve your lap times together.
- Build racing profile
- Showcase garage and lap times
- Log track events
- Connect with other racers
- Join leaderboards
- Learn from faster racers
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Build your profile. Find your people. Get faster together. Paddock is the home for track day enthusiasts and racers — a place to showcase your journey, connect at events, and push each other to improve. BUILD YOUR RACING PROFILE Your profile tells your story. • Showcase your garage — every machine you've taken to the track • Log your lap times and track personal bests • Share your accomplishments and experience level • Post updates and photos from your sessions • Connect with other racers through your activity feed TRACK EVENTS & CONNECT See who's at the track with you. • Log track days, races, autocross, time trials, and more • Sync your events automatically from MotorsportReg • See who else attended — and who's going next time • Follow other racers and their event schedules • Join discussions with fellow attendees • Turn track day acquaintances into lasting connections LEADERBOARDS & LEARNING Get faster by learning from others. • Join track-specific leaderboards and see where you stand • Share your lap times with the community • Learn from faster racers — see their setups, conditions, and notes • Friendly competition motivates everyone to improve Whether you're chasing your first clean lap or hunting for tenths at the top of the leaderboard, Paddock is where racers come to grow — together. Download Paddock and join the community.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: ThePaddock at Free against Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead's $19.99. ThePaddock also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.8) and in-app purchases (none vs 1). Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead's advantage is ratings volume (152 vs 1) and chart position (#59 vs unranked). On ads and device support 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
ThePaddock is free to download; Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead costs $19.99 up front. Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ThePaddock asks for nothing beyond the download.
ThePaddock holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead has 152 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead ships an update every 2 months, ThePaddock fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead | ThePaddock |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.8 (152 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 77.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 152 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #59 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 80 MB | 62 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Harald Schlangmann | OneMore Lab LLC |
Customer experience
Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead
ThePaddock
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
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- 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
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- 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
ThePaddock
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead
- Grand Prix Upgrade$9.99
ThePaddock
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead free?
Is ThePaddock free?
Which has better reviews, Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead or ThePaddock?
Do Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead or ThePaddock have ads?
Which is updated more often, Harry's LapTimer Petrolhead or ThePaddock?
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