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PC Racing Sims Thread

Megasoum

Banned
Where did you buy it from? I had a hell of a time finding one (will be here ~13th)

Amazon.com With taxes+shipping+customs it ended up costing 150$ US... And I'll most probably get the 20$ for customs back in a couple of weeks (Amazon always reserve an amount for customs and gives it back if it's not needed).

For some reason the Thrustmaster stuff is always cheaper when out of stock on Amazon. When I bought mine (a week ago) it was out of stock and shipping estimated for February but then it shipped 2 days later lol.
 
Amazon.com With taxes+shipping+customs it ended up costing 150$ US... And I'll most probably get the 20$ for customs back in a couple of weeks (Amazon always reserve an amount for customs and gives it back if it's not needed).

For some reason the Thrustmaster stuff is always cheaper when out of stock on Amazon. When I bought mine (a week ago) it was out of stock and shipping estimated for February but then it shipped 2 days later lol.

I missed the regular Amazon shipment by seconds I tell you. Would have got it for $117 but a third party seller had it for $154. I have literally been trying to find it since September so I just ate the extra cost.
 

Megasoum

Banned
A TH8A is next on my get list.

I'm a desk racer through and through which is problematic for mounting a shifter at any sort of normal height. However I came across a picture of a guy that had made an office chair platform for his HOTAS using the existing bolt holes (which attach the cushion to the frame) to attach it to the side of the chair (longer bolts). The shit was brilliant, and would be perfect for a shifter.

I need to find the picture again... no matter though, I've got the basic concept.

Yeah I'm a desk racer too and the position is not ideal. It's working but not ideal.
 
This could only be your doing :)

2hxWLkQ.jpg
Yes indeed, although I am not responsible for that lower image... I'll be contributing to the piece(s) though.
 

Shaneus

Member
This could only be your doing :)

2hxWLkQ.jpg
Oh god, I was scrolling from the bottom and I just saw the "Oculus" and "Out March 2015" before scrolling up further and seeing the "next issue".

Fuck.

Are they thinking the retail will come out this year? And have any ballpark figures been bandied around? What about lenses for bespectacled folk like me?

And do they include headphones?

God, all I do is ask questions in this thread :/
 
Those are some really impressive shots. Sonoma is must have stuff. The long layout is better, but the NASCAR layout is a hot lapping sleeper gem too.
 
Are they thinking the retail will come out this year?
Yes

And have any ballpark figures been bandied around?
Aiming to be similar to devkit ($350), possibly lower.

What about lenses for bespectacled folk like me?
You can use glasses, and they say CV1 will be more comfortable for glasses than DK2, although still unlikely to give as good an experience as being glasses-free. They haven't confirmed anything about custom lenses, but they are working on a solution.

And do they include headphones?
Yes, positional audio is going to be a big deal, so they want everyone to have at least a good starting point with the built-in headphones. They will be removable.
 

Shaneus

Member
Fantastic, thanks! I can see monitor sales taking a hit when those suckers come out. One more thing: What's the expected refresh rate of the retail SKU?
 

Zeknurn

Member
Fantastic, thanks! I can see monitor sales taking a hit when those suckers come out. One more thing: What's the expected refresh rate of the retail SKU?

It will have a 90hz AMOLED panel. Resolution is still up in the air but it's safe to assume that it will be at least 1440p.
 

Shaneus

Member
Damn. Might hold off on getting a new GPU until it's out. Hope it's the 90Hz one that comes out, I imagine much less will be a bit more headache-inducing.
 

Shaneus

Member
Hm. Any idea if it'll have that dynamic framerate tech like what's used for nVidia-sync to reduce juddering? It'd be great if it had that, but I really don't know anything of what's thought to be in the retail kit.

Apols for the OT questions too folks. But I see this as a goddamn gamechanger, moreso in PC racing sims than any other genre of gaming on any platform.
 

Megasoum

Banned
Hey guys I just realized something...On my desk right now I have 2 monitors for my PC and a TV for my DVR and consoles... So I guess I'm one HDMI cable away from having 3 monitors on my PC and potentially a triple screen setup?

The bigger issues is that those are three different screen so it wouldn't be optimal but hey whatever, worth a try.


How do games handle doing triple screen setup if the screens are not using the same resolutions? My main monitor and my TV support 1080p but my second pc screen is an old 20 inc that does 1680*1050.
 
I'm not a triple user, but I believe they all need to be run at the same resolution. Which is a shame, as I've always wanted to try 4k in the centre and 480p to the side.
 
Hm. Any idea if it'll have that dynamic framerate tech like what's used for nVidia-sync to reduce juddering? It'd be great if it had that, but I really don't know anything of what's thought to be in the retail kit.

Apols for the OT questions too folks. But I see this as a goddamn gamechanger, moreso in PC racing sims than any other genre of gaming on any platform.

I think it may be possible to do something similar, and they could in fact be looking to do that (tied in closely with timewarp, etc), but it may be a lot easier initially to just provide several refresh rate options. For example, 90, 75 and 60Hz, and just lock it down to that.

I think the window is probably too small to need it to be variable. On a traditional monitor, with traditional games, the highs are higher (144Hz), and the lows are lower (30Hz). An Oculus screen won't go that high, and 75Hz will be the baseline for smooth gaming.

We'll see though. Google search tells me Carmack is interested in screens that could do that, so we'll see what becomes of it.
 
It doesn't combine easily with their other techniques for reducing latency and judder. A variable refresh cause problems for low persistence as you'll get variable brightness. G-sync/Freesync is more suited to full persistence monitors where framerates as low as 35fps look pretty smooth when timed with the refresh, allowing you to crank up the graphics and have hugely variable framerate with no discomfort. Such framerate variability (and going so low) would not be comfortable in VR, no matter what you do with the refresh.

It's almost a different philosophy - G-sync/Freesync encourages you to push eye candy higher and higher, sacrificing framerate that would look bad on a conventional monitor. Whereas in VR, it will always be about maintaining a high framerate, sacrificing detail if necessary. If you're able to keep the framerate high, then asynchronous timewarp should be enough to deal with the odd drop here and there, while keeping the refresh (and the low persistence) perfectly consistent. Perhaps it can work together, but it's not a big win like it is for monitors.
 

Shaneus

Member
This is such interesting stuff, guys. I can't think of anything that I want to know, other than just how much the simracing community is going to blow the fuck up once the Rift hits. That it doesn't really matter where you put your wheel (as long as the cables reach the PC) is pretty insane.
 
This is such interesting stuff, guys. I can't think of anything that I want to know, other than just how much the simracing community is going to blow the fuck up once the Rift hits. That it doesn't really matter where you put your wheel (as long as the cables reach the PC) is pretty insane.
Exciting times indeed. While it does remove the need (or should I say 'desire') for an enormous triple screen setup, you're still going to want a well set-up environment in which to drive. You need a good amount of clearance for the camera, and you'll get the best experience in a dedicated rig where the seat, wheel and pedals all line up perfectly with the virtual car you're sitting in. However, for a desk user (like myself), it is an enormous transformation just by itself, and despite a less-than-optimal seating position, I have no doubt that with the DK2, I'm feeling more engaged with the sim sitting in an office chair than people sitting in high-end rigs on triple monitors.

In other news... iRacing is on Steam!
 

Shaneus

Member
I have a wheelstand and an Ikea chair that's perfect for it, so I'm all set as far as that particular setup goes :) Camera mount point is really the only thing I need to worry about. Could probably find a way to affix it to the wheelstand somehow.
 
I have a wheelstand and an Ikea chair that's perfect for it, so I'm all set as far as that particular setup goes :) Camera mount point is really the only thing I need to worry about. Could probably find a way to affix it to the wheelstand somehow.
You definitely don't want to do that. :) Those wheelstands are sturdy, but not that sturdy! The camera needs to be absolutely rock solid otherwise the head tracking skips. Mine was doing ok on top of the monitor while I tested stuff with a gamepad, but as soon as I started fighting my wheel, it messed everything up. Taping it to the wall was the solution.
 

bj00rn_

Banned
People are indeed going to have their minds blown when they realize that VR is _literally_ perfect for car/racing-games. I even dare say that's no exaggeration. Within a year of the CV1 release there aren't going to be many racing sim enthusiasts without one, I think it's going to blow up the scene big time.

The resolution is kind of an issue on the DK2, because "looking ahead" hits the worst low res spot right now. But I'm pretty sure the CV1 will solve this with a higher res panel and better optics.
 

Watevaman

Member
I was looking forward to the OR, but it's look right now that it's gonna take a lot more power than I was hoping to get it running at a speed that's good for VR, especially if they're gonna up the res on the consumer release. I know the unit itself is planning on being as cheap as they can get it, but it also sounds like you'll need a top of the line GPU or even SLI/Crossfire for it to be what I'm expecting.

It's still gonna be awesome, though, and I always welcome new tech that gets us closer to reality.
 
I was looking forward to the OR, but it's look right now that it's gonna take a lot more power than I was hoping to get it running at a speed that's good for VR, especially if they're gonna up the res on the consumer release. I know the unit itself is planning on being as cheap as they can get it, but it also sounds like you'll need a top of the line GPU or even SLI/Crossfire for it to be what I'm expecting.

It's still gonna be awesome, though, and I always welcome new tech that gets us closer to reality.
It is going to be demanding, no doubt about it. However PC sims tend to be already fairly well-optimised for triple screens and high framerates, so it might not be quite as bad as you imagine. Live For Speed for example has one of the best VR modes of any game, and that is very easy on requirements. I had no problem running it through DK2 on my old i7 870 with a GTX 670, and there was room for higher res and higher framerate. If we imagine CV1 is 1440p at 90Hz, I reckon it might have just managed that. iRacing is more CPU-bound - upping the resolution doesn't seem to have a dramatic effect on framerate, so I'm expecting that to also be fine. AC is a bit variable, hitting the GPU hard with a few of its effects, but it is scalable and can run very fast with stuff turned down while still looking very good. Even Project CARS is not out of the question, although high settings can bring any system to its knees, and it doesn't look that pretty if you turn it down too low.

The other point is - there is often a big difference between running solo on a track and running with a pack of cars. Ideally you'd be able to maintain performance with many cars around you, but if not, you might still get enough performance running solo, and frankly it is still worth it for that (I mean, that's what I mostly do in sims outside of iRacing anyway).
 

Megasoum

Banned
Ahh, my entertainment for the day :) I love me some mass confusion.

I bet the iracing forums are hilarious to read today.

I learned a long time ago that hardcore sim communities (racing, flying, or other) can't deal with modern computers and the magical thing called "Steam". They are literally afraid of it.

Ugh...

Anyway the steam page is really not clear about what you get with your sub (aka nothing you see in those screenshots lol)
 
It's not too bad actually. I wasn't as entertained as I would have liked to have been! There are a few of those people, but I think the majority understand that, like all businesses, you have to continue to cast the net. Polling is 5:1 in favor.

The Steam community's reception isn't going as well from what I can gather. I blame iRacing for that. They're calling it a soft launch, I'm calling it half finished. They need to do a better job of getting their ducks in a row.
 

RaceManIak

Neo Member
Anyway the steam page is really not clear about what you get with your sub (aka nothing you see in those screenshots lol)
Yep, the page really need to say that for 40$ you pay to have the possibility of buying for $1000+ of DLCs and play with them for 6 months.
 

TJP

Member
Anyway the steam page is really not clear about what you get with your sub (aka nothing you see in those screenshots lol)
One is required to read the entire 'About This Game' section to understand what you're buying into. This info should be front and centre on the store page. I hope the 'soft launch' onto Steam is a success for the people at iRacing.
 

Shaneus

Member
I bet the iracing forums are hilarious to read today.

I learned a long time ago that hardcore sim communities (racing, flying, or other) can't deal with modern computers and the magical thing called "Steam". They are literally afraid of it.

Ugh...
I remember the backlash on Greenlight when something was about to get approved... I think it might've been AC? I'm yet to hear any people get riled up on GSC or Formula Truck (though that might be coming).
 

Spookie

Member
While not exactly VR, I've just picked up that little home made head tracking device made by Elite Dangerous fans.

Ohyes.gif

It's made such a diffrence to traversing hairpins on a single monitor haha no more being t-boned while getting around corners! It was only £33 too! You can, if you like, also fake TrackIR inputs too.
 

Shaneus

Member
While not exactly VR, I've just picked up that little home made head tracking device made by Elite Dangerous fans.

Ohyes.gif

It's made such a diffrence to traversing hairpins on a single monitor haha no more being t-boned while getting around corners! It was only £33 too! You can, if you like, also fake TrackIR inputs too.
Link?
 
One is required to read the entire 'About This Game' section to understand what you're buying into. This info should be front and centre on the store page. I hope the 'soft launch' onto Steam is a success for the people at iRacing.

They're going to do a launch proper in the coming weeks, but wanted a page up so they could work on it. There's a lot of complexity to shoehorning a service like iRacing into Steam, so I'll give them a pass, but I would have rather seen them work out more details first.

Anybody interested in Group 5/Group A racing?

Yes please on the 935!

While not exactly VR, I've just picked up that little home made head tracking device made by Elite Dangerous fans.

Ohyes.gif

It's made such a diffrence to traversing hairpins on a single monitor haha no more being t-boned while getting around corners! It was only £33 too! You can, if you like, also fake TrackIR inputs too.

That's a great idea to just have it mapped to a joystick. Wonderfully simple.
 

Spookie

Member
That's a great idea to just have it mapped to a joystick. Wonderfully simple.

Someone said that AC is accepting native inputs and raceroom, iRacing all accept tIR. No idea about rFactor (probably tIR) and ProjectCARS though.

For literally looking left and right on a single monitor with a low FoV it's incredibly helpful.
 

Megasoum

Banned
Basically yeah, it imitates track ir.

Looking at the site, there's not really info about shipping and considering the price is in pounds I assume they are in the UK.

Hopefully they ship to Canada.

Also what's the difference between the two chips? They offer an option to upgrade for 10pounds more.
 
Someone said that AC is accepting native inputs and raceroom, iRacing all accept tIR. No idea about rFactor (probably tIR) and ProjectCARS though.

For literally looking left and right on a single monitor with a low FoV it's incredibly helpful.

It's compelling for sure. As stop-gap, or for non-Oculus games, it's attractive at that price. Turning your head, but keeping your eyes straight is obviously deeply flawed which is why I never considered spending the money on TrackIR, but for a fraction of the price it may be worthwhile.

I think I'll order myself one too. I need to chart the best course first, so not to overspend. Magnetometer? I take it you didn't go for that one?
 

Megasoum

Banned
It's compelling for sure. As stop-gap, or for non-Oculus games, it's attractive at that price. Turning your head, but keeping your eyes straight is obviously deeply flawed which is why I never considered spending the money on TrackIR, but for a fraction of the price it may be worthwhile.

I think I'll order myself one too. I need to chart the best course first, so not to overspend. Magnetometer? I take it you didn't go for that one?

From what I gathered in the Elite thread it looks like the upgrade reduce the yaw drift that comes with the standard version so probably worth the 10 pounds more.
 
From what I gathered in the Elite thread it looks like the upgrade reduce the yaw drift that comes with the standard version so probably worth the 10 pounds more.

OK yep, seeing your posts. I'll do my own soldering, and like was said, the difference in cost between the boards in a paltry £3. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something else entirely.
 

Megasoum

Banned
OK yep, seeing your posts. I'll do my own soldering, and like was said, the difference in cost between the boards in a paltry £3. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something else entirely.

Yeah... I wish I could do the soldering myself. Would probably be a lot cheaper.
 

Shaneus

Member
I like the idea with that EDTracker, looks pretty sweet! I also remember reading about getting headtracking working with an OG Kinect, but after a little bit of tinkering I kinda gave up. Was supposed to be compatible with TrackIR as well, but I can't remember if you needed to wear headgear or not.
 

Megasoum

Banned
I like the idea with that EDTracker, looks pretty sweet! I also remember reading about getting headtracking working with an OG Kinect, but after a little bit of tinkering I kinda gave up. Was supposed to be compatible with TrackIR as well, but I can't remember if you needed to wear headgear or not.

Yeah Kinect headtracking always sucks.


I'm really tempted in the EDTracker.
 
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