Gravity Industries has announced the world's first jet suit race is happening in less than a month.

They say the first motorcycle race happened the day the second motorcycle was built. It's taken a little longer for jet suits – we first covered Gravity founder Richard Browning's early forays into Iron-Man-style jet suits nearly seven years ago.

But Gravity has done a solid job advancing its unique take on turbine-powered personal flight. Where Mayman Aerospace has specialized in traditional-looking jetpacks and flying motorcycles, and Zapata has gone for jetboards and high-speed flying go-karts, and the Jetman team has created lightning-quick jet wings, Gravity's jet suit runs a single jet turbine integrated with its fuel tank backpack, and places four more turbines on the pilot's arms.

Having the turbines on your arms makes this a very physical machine to fly – not that the others aren't, but here you're supporting most of your body weight through your shoulders and arms, and using them to maneuver as well. So if you can hold an iron cross on the ol' gymnastics rings, you'll probably find the Gravity suit incredibly agile and fun to fly.

You can buy one of these 1,050-horsepower, 27-kg (60-lb) contraptions yourself for about US$483,000, plus tax – or plonk down a more accessible $3,500 to go fly one on a tethered training rig for a day.