888
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I’ve taken the dive into full Sim Racing and have put all other gaming on a basic hold. Racing for me started way back with GT on PS1 and mostly other SimCade games up to the Forza series. I had always raced with a controller except for a short stint with Forza 3 and the Xbox 360 Racing Wheel, granted that wasn’t that great of a wheel and I ended up quickly jumping back to a Controller.
Fast forward to last year, I bought a G29 to play Dirt Rally 2.0. Combined with a Thrustmaster TH8A shifter and a ghetto JoyBrake I quickly got hooked. I would spend hours running Rally Cross and Rally time trials. Getting slightly better with every hour my times kept getting better and better. But I was still involved with other games and was heavily playing COD MW until COVID.
Covid has been interesting for lots of people that I know. Finding Hobbies is very important during all of this. I work in Healthcare and when I wasn’t working, I was playing games with my Family. I decided after a long on call week to dig out my G29 and run some laps. Hours and many Spotify playlists later I took a break. My buddy called and offered to trade a Vive for a .22 that I had. I quickly took the offer and that’s when everything changed. VR Racing is the ONLY way I can race now, even with the older Vive and Super sampling the depth perception is unbeatable. You find those apexes and feel way more confident diving into corners and drifting being able to look out another window to see where you are heading.
The Sim Racing Community has grown and become more desirable during the lockdowns. Companies like Logitech, Thrustmaster and Fanatec have provided multiple grades of equipment to the masses. Youtube Channels have become more and more popular for reviews, settings and Indepth guides. Communities such as iRacing have been a hot spot between Forums, FB Groups etc.
I figured I would take this time and see who in GAF is interested in a possible Sim Community right here. Below I will list out some high-level breakdowns of important things to consider for Sim Racing at any budget.
Hardware
Cockpits: Possibly one of the most overlooked things to new racers. Everyone jumps right to the Racing Gear but overlooks one of the most important foundations. Having a sturdy cockpit is very important to stay consistent, between flex or movement when you are slamming on a brake pedal, having a solid foundation is possibly more important than a high-end wheel. Below are a few of the options for cockpits that could be used.
Desks: This is doable with low end gear but will still lead to issues, particularly if you are using a chair with wheels or are on hard floors. Pedals will slip, desks will shake knocking down your Anime Weeb statues. Desks are possibly a good start for something like a Gear driven wheel like a G29 but Pedal placement will be crucial. Mounting a Direct Drive wheel to a desk could prove catastrophic.
Wheel Stands: A much better option, usually fold able and able to be moved easily. This leaves you mostly worried about a seat that doesn’t move or flex while you are racing. Some of the downfalls of wheel stands come with higher end wheels in the Direct Drive area, they can overpower the stand and cause flex or wobble which is very bad.
Prebuilt Cockpits: Companies such as TrakRacer, GT Omega, Next Level Racing, SIMLAB offer a variation of options, from Steel tube to 8020 Aluminum rigs. These usually range from $600-$1500 but beware shipping charges and stock issues.
DIY Cockpit: This is the option I went for, I went to a local metal shop and bought 30ft of 2x2 11 GA Steel tubing, learned how to weld and went to it. With plating I spent about $200 on the frame including castors to move it and $250 on a racing seat. There are downfalls, it may not offer as many options for adjustments but if it's just built around a certain set of equipment it shouldn’t be a problem.
Wheel Tech: This is where it gets interesting and heavily influenced by your budget.
Gear Driven: This is usually the entry point for most. It is cheaper because it uses a small motor and a set of cogs to amplify the Force Feed Back. This is going to provide a cheap way to see if you even like jumping further down the Rabbit hole. The major downside is overall Torque and Detail. Detail gets lost by the time it gets to the wheel.
Belt Driven: This is going to be much smoother but a little bit more expensive than a gear set. You get much better feedback and detail vs the Gear system. You get more Torque and detail but still some is lost compared to the next option. Most racers tend to stop here at a Belt system. They are the happy medium.
Direct Drive: This would-be Tim the Tool Man Taylor’s pick. Huge amounts of power, for better or worse. This is the smoothest and most detailed system; you will have the ability to really fight the motor in turns and even feel the difference in road texture down the painted surfaces. This comes at a cost though, possible Physical harm. Thumbs can be dislocated, wrists broken, and heaven forbid you get your arm caught in the wheel. This is what I just went to. Also consider an E-Stop button by your legs just in case. At times this can feel like arm wrestling a Gorilla, but the feel is downright amazing.
Manufacturers: For this segment I am going to keep it mainstream and offer 3 of the main options on the market.
Logitech: G29 Platform, this is the cheapest method of entry. It comes with the wheel and pedals with a Gear driven system. Probably will do most people well enough but will be easily outmatched by nicer gear. Pedals are the major weakness due to a soft inconsistent feel.
Thrustmaster: Their systems are the ones I know the least about actually, TM offers a few options and are slightly more expensive than Logitech, but they have a big following in the Market. They can also be mixed and matched if you wanted certain offerings (PC Only).
Fanatec: These guys are the big boys of the Mass market. Offering a few options and lots of compatibility between systems. They are kind of like the Apple of Sim Racing. Offering Belt driven options like the CSL Elite and CSW 2.5 up the DD1 and DD2 Direct Drive offerings. Usually, a set of their pedals are quickly mixed in with a Logitech and TM system.
Pedals, Shifters and Handbrakes Oh My!
These are usually the first things that get swapped or added. Pedals are widely known to the be best first upgrade you can do. In my case I went with a Fanatec Clubsport V3 pedal set, offering a load Cell Brake. Shifters such as the Logitech Shifter are missing a lot of feel to them and they feel loose and flappy. Going with a Thrustmaster THA8 is a much better feel but still quite dead feeling. Something like the Fanatec CS Shifter 2.5 offers a much better feel as well as a quick swap to a Sequential shifter and the pull of a toggle switch. Handbrakes can be found on Ebay for cheap or can be found from Fanatec etc. This is very important for games like Dirt.
Displays
This is going to be highly subjective but from spending enough time in the Community I can safely rate them in a general fashion.
Single Screen: This is going to be the least appealing, limited FOV and depth is going to be lacking from this.
Triple Screen: This is a much better option providing huge gains in FOV but comes at a huge price tag and performance budget.
VR: This is where racing comes alive, if you can handle it. Some people have no issues, some just can’t do it. But far and away one of the best ways to be immersed into the race.
Tactile feedback
When you drive a car, you feel all sorts of information being fed to you. When you are racing in a sim just having the wheel giving you that information sometimes isn’t enough. Pedals sometimes have built in motors that can give you info on wheel slip or locking your brakes. But the best way to get immersed is by something like a Buttkicker or other like systems. Feeling the engine, road bumps or getting the feeling of rubbing another racer in a corner is an amazing feeling and well worth the effort to set it up.
Gloves, Shoes and Helmets
Just kidding on the Helmets. But Gloves and Shoes could prove useful. Gloves provide grip and protection both for you and the wheel. Suede wheels can get nasty with oils from your skin. Other things that gloves can help with is protecting your fingers from catching a spinning paddle shifter or a sharp handbrake lever while shifting into 5th (I got a huge gash on my knuckle from that).
Shoes are just as important in my opinion Thin racing shoes allow your feet to be flexible to heel toe vs having a bulky shoe on. Racing shoes are so light you almost don’t know they are on. Barefoot with some of these pedal sets can get uncomfortable.
Software
Software and Add Ons
This is very important if you want to use all the information the sim gives you. Something like Simhub to control forcefeed back settings for Buttkickers, or Racedepartment.com to download add on tracks, cars and even engine sounds. There are all sorts of things out there but Simhub and Race department are great starts.
Now the actual Sim Software
Sim Racing has a huge community to mingle with over a few different options.
IRacing
Assetto Corsa Series
Project Cars
RFactor 2
Dirt Rally
And many more.
IRacing is probably one of the most well-known. It is a Subscription service but also requires in game payments for tracks and cars. There are leagues where you can make money on. It is a real name affair when racing on iRacing, your real name is displayed when racing based on your account that is setup. You can be banned or have your license demoted based on your driving, every Collison or off track even is an incident point. It helps keep people from being idiots.
The other games on the list support DLC and even community content to many degrees. Assetto and Rfactor 2 are heavily moddable for free but also support their own Laser Scanned tracks you can buy for the best experience.
Virtual Racing School is a new one that I’ve tried. It has free features but is mostly paid monthly. It runs while you play, analyzing your telemetry data. You log into the website and it gives a full map and graph of everything down to tire temps at a certain point. It will allow you to detect bad habits and make corrections.
Community
As mentioned before Sites like Racedepartment.com is a great option. If you prefer Youtube Boosted Media and Sim Racing Garage are perfect places to go for information. SRG has been called the Bob Ross of Sim Racing, guy is amazing in his ridiculous Indepth coverage of equipment.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT_50ZiRFWSm7oziV1OZloQ
https://www.youtube.com/user/projectbrz
I am hoping this thread can get a little movement here in GAF to hopefully build a small community of Racers right here. Who else is interested in doing some laps?
Fast forward to last year, I bought a G29 to play Dirt Rally 2.0. Combined with a Thrustmaster TH8A shifter and a ghetto JoyBrake I quickly got hooked. I would spend hours running Rally Cross and Rally time trials. Getting slightly better with every hour my times kept getting better and better. But I was still involved with other games and was heavily playing COD MW until COVID.
Covid has been interesting for lots of people that I know. Finding Hobbies is very important during all of this. I work in Healthcare and when I wasn’t working, I was playing games with my Family. I decided after a long on call week to dig out my G29 and run some laps. Hours and many Spotify playlists later I took a break. My buddy called and offered to trade a Vive for a .22 that I had. I quickly took the offer and that’s when everything changed. VR Racing is the ONLY way I can race now, even with the older Vive and Super sampling the depth perception is unbeatable. You find those apexes and feel way more confident diving into corners and drifting being able to look out another window to see where you are heading.
The Sim Racing Community has grown and become more desirable during the lockdowns. Companies like Logitech, Thrustmaster and Fanatec have provided multiple grades of equipment to the masses. Youtube Channels have become more and more popular for reviews, settings and Indepth guides. Communities such as iRacing have been a hot spot between Forums, FB Groups etc.
I figured I would take this time and see who in GAF is interested in a possible Sim Community right here. Below I will list out some high-level breakdowns of important things to consider for Sim Racing at any budget.
Hardware
Cockpits: Possibly one of the most overlooked things to new racers. Everyone jumps right to the Racing Gear but overlooks one of the most important foundations. Having a sturdy cockpit is very important to stay consistent, between flex or movement when you are slamming on a brake pedal, having a solid foundation is possibly more important than a high-end wheel. Below are a few of the options for cockpits that could be used.
Desks: This is doable with low end gear but will still lead to issues, particularly if you are using a chair with wheels or are on hard floors. Pedals will slip, desks will shake knocking down your Anime Weeb statues. Desks are possibly a good start for something like a Gear driven wheel like a G29 but Pedal placement will be crucial. Mounting a Direct Drive wheel to a desk could prove catastrophic.
Wheel Stands: A much better option, usually fold able and able to be moved easily. This leaves you mostly worried about a seat that doesn’t move or flex while you are racing. Some of the downfalls of wheel stands come with higher end wheels in the Direct Drive area, they can overpower the stand and cause flex or wobble which is very bad.
Prebuilt Cockpits: Companies such as TrakRacer, GT Omega, Next Level Racing, SIMLAB offer a variation of options, from Steel tube to 8020 Aluminum rigs. These usually range from $600-$1500 but beware shipping charges and stock issues.
DIY Cockpit: This is the option I went for, I went to a local metal shop and bought 30ft of 2x2 11 GA Steel tubing, learned how to weld and went to it. With plating I spent about $200 on the frame including castors to move it and $250 on a racing seat. There are downfalls, it may not offer as many options for adjustments but if it's just built around a certain set of equipment it shouldn’t be a problem.
Wheel Tech: This is where it gets interesting and heavily influenced by your budget.
Gear Driven: This is usually the entry point for most. It is cheaper because it uses a small motor and a set of cogs to amplify the Force Feed Back. This is going to provide a cheap way to see if you even like jumping further down the Rabbit hole. The major downside is overall Torque and Detail. Detail gets lost by the time it gets to the wheel.
Belt Driven: This is going to be much smoother but a little bit more expensive than a gear set. You get much better feedback and detail vs the Gear system. You get more Torque and detail but still some is lost compared to the next option. Most racers tend to stop here at a Belt system. They are the happy medium.
Direct Drive: This would-be Tim the Tool Man Taylor’s pick. Huge amounts of power, for better or worse. This is the smoothest and most detailed system; you will have the ability to really fight the motor in turns and even feel the difference in road texture down the painted surfaces. This comes at a cost though, possible Physical harm. Thumbs can be dislocated, wrists broken, and heaven forbid you get your arm caught in the wheel. This is what I just went to. Also consider an E-Stop button by your legs just in case. At times this can feel like arm wrestling a Gorilla, but the feel is downright amazing.
Manufacturers: For this segment I am going to keep it mainstream and offer 3 of the main options on the market.
Logitech: G29 Platform, this is the cheapest method of entry. It comes with the wheel and pedals with a Gear driven system. Probably will do most people well enough but will be easily outmatched by nicer gear. Pedals are the major weakness due to a soft inconsistent feel.
Thrustmaster: Their systems are the ones I know the least about actually, TM offers a few options and are slightly more expensive than Logitech, but they have a big following in the Market. They can also be mixed and matched if you wanted certain offerings (PC Only).
Fanatec: These guys are the big boys of the Mass market. Offering a few options and lots of compatibility between systems. They are kind of like the Apple of Sim Racing. Offering Belt driven options like the CSL Elite and CSW 2.5 up the DD1 and DD2 Direct Drive offerings. Usually, a set of their pedals are quickly mixed in with a Logitech and TM system.
Pedals, Shifters and Handbrakes Oh My!
These are usually the first things that get swapped or added. Pedals are widely known to the be best first upgrade you can do. In my case I went with a Fanatec Clubsport V3 pedal set, offering a load Cell Brake. Shifters such as the Logitech Shifter are missing a lot of feel to them and they feel loose and flappy. Going with a Thrustmaster THA8 is a much better feel but still quite dead feeling. Something like the Fanatec CS Shifter 2.5 offers a much better feel as well as a quick swap to a Sequential shifter and the pull of a toggle switch. Handbrakes can be found on Ebay for cheap or can be found from Fanatec etc. This is very important for games like Dirt.
Displays
This is going to be highly subjective but from spending enough time in the Community I can safely rate them in a general fashion.
Single Screen: This is going to be the least appealing, limited FOV and depth is going to be lacking from this.
Triple Screen: This is a much better option providing huge gains in FOV but comes at a huge price tag and performance budget.
VR: This is where racing comes alive, if you can handle it. Some people have no issues, some just can’t do it. But far and away one of the best ways to be immersed into the race.
Tactile feedback
When you drive a car, you feel all sorts of information being fed to you. When you are racing in a sim just having the wheel giving you that information sometimes isn’t enough. Pedals sometimes have built in motors that can give you info on wheel slip or locking your brakes. But the best way to get immersed is by something like a Buttkicker or other like systems. Feeling the engine, road bumps or getting the feeling of rubbing another racer in a corner is an amazing feeling and well worth the effort to set it up.
Gloves, Shoes and Helmets
Just kidding on the Helmets. But Gloves and Shoes could prove useful. Gloves provide grip and protection both for you and the wheel. Suede wheels can get nasty with oils from your skin. Other things that gloves can help with is protecting your fingers from catching a spinning paddle shifter or a sharp handbrake lever while shifting into 5th (I got a huge gash on my knuckle from that).
Shoes are just as important in my opinion Thin racing shoes allow your feet to be flexible to heel toe vs having a bulky shoe on. Racing shoes are so light you almost don’t know they are on. Barefoot with some of these pedal sets can get uncomfortable.
Software
Software and Add Ons
This is very important if you want to use all the information the sim gives you. Something like Simhub to control forcefeed back settings for Buttkickers, or Racedepartment.com to download add on tracks, cars and even engine sounds. There are all sorts of things out there but Simhub and Race department are great starts.
Now the actual Sim Software
Sim Racing has a huge community to mingle with over a few different options.
IRacing
Assetto Corsa Series
Project Cars
RFactor 2
Dirt Rally
And many more.
IRacing is probably one of the most well-known. It is a Subscription service but also requires in game payments for tracks and cars. There are leagues where you can make money on. It is a real name affair when racing on iRacing, your real name is displayed when racing based on your account that is setup. You can be banned or have your license demoted based on your driving, every Collison or off track even is an incident point. It helps keep people from being idiots.
The other games on the list support DLC and even community content to many degrees. Assetto and Rfactor 2 are heavily moddable for free but also support their own Laser Scanned tracks you can buy for the best experience.
Virtual Racing School is a new one that I’ve tried. It has free features but is mostly paid monthly. It runs while you play, analyzing your telemetry data. You log into the website and it gives a full map and graph of everything down to tire temps at a certain point. It will allow you to detect bad habits and make corrections.
Community
As mentioned before Sites like Racedepartment.com is a great option. If you prefer Youtube Boosted Media and Sim Racing Garage are perfect places to go for information. SRG has been called the Bob Ross of Sim Racing, guy is amazing in his ridiculous Indepth coverage of equipment.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT_50ZiRFWSm7oziV1OZloQ
https://www.youtube.com/user/projectbrz
I am hoping this thread can get a little movement here in GAF to hopefully build a small community of Racers right here. Who else is interested in doing some laps?
Last edited:
very nice. Mine resonates thru the steel frame so much I haven’t thought about adding more yet.
