Sim racers - what are you running?

[MoodyB]

I've just bagged a 5 month old T300 RS set on FB Marketplace for £180 and its blown me away to be honest.

If you race Formula cars or GT3's, I can highly recommend the Thrustmaster Open Wheel rim - https://www.thrustmaster.com/products/tm-open-wheel-add

It looks tacky in the pics but once you remove the gaudy stickers with a sharp knife & some patience it looks much better. I'd expect some good deals on it during Black Friday.

If you do get another rim, I also suggest getting the Thrustmaster Quick Change mod too - https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/742090319/thrustmaster-wheel-quick-change?ref=related-1&frs=1

Can be shipped from Canada quickly, or buy the 3d print file & get a friend / company in the UK do print it for you. Think it cost me £14 delivered from 3dTomorrow.

 

[AMB73]

What are you driving in iracing?
There is nothing else that matches the online experience and the heart pounding moment when you win a race.. I'm jealous that you still have top experience that!

Haha.. There is no need to spend thousands on a DD setup, I use sim-plicity DD wheel, 10Nm strength. More than does the job, you can pre-order them for a fair bit cheaper than next day price.
https://sim-pli.city/

The one thing you need is crew chief, not only spotter, but does fuelling, tyres etc etc.. Great little app..
Any advice needed, feel free to ask away.

Thanks for your advice MarkeR that's appreciated. I've just been researching the D licence requirements and will be going for that over the weekend. So far I've been in the Radical around Oulton Park I believe getting to grips with it all and adjusting settings. Been watching YouTube also to research the black boxes so feel pretty confident to go for a race at some point over the next day or so. Just grabbed Crew Chief also so will be implementing that into my sessions so thanks for the heads up.

Hadn't heard of the Sim-Plicity setups so will also take a look, always up for a bargain.

Wish me luck with my D Licence, ill be back to report on my progress.....if I make any that is

 

[AMB73]

If you race Formula cars or GT3's, I can highly recommend the Thrustmaster Open Wheel rim - https://www.thrustmaster.com/products/tm-open-wheel-add

Thanks MoodyB, i am in the market for another wheel, this eco system is pretty good tbh, its opened up a whole new level of immersion. I have been scouring all the usual market places but the 2nd hand rims are a bit ropey so I think a new rim is on the cards.

 

[steve45]

Hadn't heard of the Sim-Plicity setups so will also take a look, always up for a bargain.

Not to put you off, but whilst the initial outlay on the DD wheelbase is an absolute steal when you pre-order.
That is just the tip of the iceberg:

• A steering wheel for the wheelbase, which for something decent will cost you almost as much as the wheelbase itself.
• A cockpit/chassis rigid enough to support it.
• A seat for that cockpit.
• Decent loadcell pedal set, after all, this will make significantly more improvement to your driving than a DD wheel setup.

Costs rapidly spiral, and thats just to get you up and running. If you are careful you could probably get some sort of DD setup ~£1500-£2000, but if you want decent kit you will easily stick another grand on top of that. Thats before you start thinking about Screens, VR, shifters, handbrakes, button boxes, chassis addons, etc etc etc...

What I'm saying is, just be careful because its one hell of a deep old rabbit hole. Thats speaking from experience!!!

 

[MarkeR]

I did say he was heading for a divorce.
You’re driving the radical?
Jeez mate, deep end big style!
I didn’t even know roomies could drive the radical in a race!
I would have went with the Mazda and the skippy, especially for close racing and car control with the skippy!

 

[AMB73]

I did say he was heading for a divorce.
You’re driving the radical?
Jeez mate, deep end big style!
I didn’t even know roomies could drive the radical in a race!

Haha, no divorce, just need to wait for my teenagers to move out before i have enough room to do this properly, the way things are, that aint happening any time soon

Just practice sessions with the Radical- haven attempted a race at all yet. I believe the Mazda MX5 races are open to me at present so need to start practicing with something a bit slower.

 

[MarkeR]

Mazda and skippy.
I know you’ll want to jump into gt3 and gte as as sim as possible. too many people do that and end up hating it because the cars are too fast and the racing is pretty hard!
the skippy is also fantastic racing and you’ll always be around other cars.

 

[MoodyB]

Thanks MoodyB, i am in the market for another wheel, this eco system is pretty good tbh, its opened up a whole new level of immersion. I have been scouring all the usual market places but the 2nd hand rims are a bit ropey so I think a new rim is on the cards.

Grab a pair of cycling gloves while you're at it. They're usually thinner than regular racing gloves, and it'll help keep the suede on the rim in good condition.

 

[timmeh]

Haha it's a slippery slope when it comes to spending on sim stuff.

I went from wanting to spend $90 on the rear section for the GT Omega wheel stand to spending $900 on the Trak Racer TR160 + screen mount. My seat budget got out of control too when I changed my Corbeau Forza order to an FX Pro. I also bought a gaming PC, a digital dash, an Ignition Controls button box and built myself a wheel.

HE sprints are next on the list, then a Fanatec Podium and either an ultrawide or triples. It’s all getting out of hand...

I’ve got an LED strip around the bottom of my rig hooked up to SimHub. It’s limited to 150LEDs so I need to split the strip over 2 Arduinos.

Rig
SimHub Pit Limiter animation
SimHub Blue Flag
SimHub Yellow Flag - it also goes red when ABS is active and green for TC
Wheel and dash - wrapping wheel handles is hard hence one being faux suede and one being tennis grip tape
Button Box

 

[Cob]

Currently running a G29 with a MVHStudios F1 wheel, and a set of Fanatec CSR Elite pedals. Got it all hooked up to an X Rocker Chicane rig.

Not exactly a top-of-the-range setup, but it’s more than enough for plenty of fun.

 

[Brun]

Grab a pair of cycling gloves while you're at it. They're usually thinner than regular racing gloves, and it'll help keep the suede on the rim in good condition.

I bought these recently which fit the bill while feeling authentically motorsport. Am hoping I won't have to worry about the lack of fire protection.

 

[Dwaindibbly]

I used some cheap cycle gloves initially, after a few months my wheel wore a hole between the thumb and forefinger and left bits of cloth stuck to the alcantara.

Recent bought some abbruzzi sim/karting gloves hoping they last a bit better.

https://abruzzi-official.co.uk/product/standard-sim-gloves-black-and-white/

 

[Greboth]

Depends how cheap on the gloves you went, I've got a pair or Endura summer gloves that are a little over a year old and have little signs of wear other than some discolouration. As it was end of summer, they were on sale so were only (I think) £12. Still though, I'd imagine some of the gloves specifically designed for it may still last longer.

For one thing or another I had no racing for most of September but back with added kit because what better way to deal with the frustration of being unable to race then buying more gear I added a Fanatec BMW GT2 wheel basically because the plastic QR clamp of the standard CSL wheel has always gotten on my nerves and it was starting to show some worrying signs of fatigue so a proper QR round wheel will do nicely. Plus I always loved the funky switch on my formula wheel so it's nice having a round wheel with one now too. The larger diameter is more noticeable than I thought in the reduction of FFB strength but still plenty strong enough to know what's going on.

I've also added VR this month too which is a game changer. I've only used VR for racing at shows / arcade clubs so in short 2 lap races. Having used it for an evening of racing and rallying I'm definitely a convert. Using it in AC is a bit of a pain but worth it, I really can't see me using my screen again.

 

[steve45]

I've been using some Mechanix Fastfit gloves, do the job well. Simple no frills, comfortable with good dexterity. Starting to wear down on the palm area after 6 months of pretty hard use. Been thinking of splashing out on some Sparco Land gloves, might be a bit overkill though. We'll see...

I've been away from my rig all month, cant wait to get back to it at the end of the week. No upgrades at the moment, to be completely honest I dont know what else I need, I'm in a happy place with my rig, it all just works so well together. I'd love triples, but I just dont have the space.
Think I'll focus more on upgrading the PC for now, system is starting to feel its age, the 1080 has had a good run but its definitely feeling the pressure with the likes of ACC in VR.
A new PSU wouldnt go a miss and I think I'll look into a 3080 when things calm down, also might pick up a 9900kf to replace the 9600k. That should keep me going for another few years.

 

[MarkeR]

Just bought a 43 inch curved Samsung ultrawide to tak eplace of my 34 inch flat one. Arrives Tuesday hopefully!

Resoution is slighty down 1200 against 1440, might save me from buying a new graphics card.

 

[Petrolhead]

 

[geekyadz]

I'm just starting out, so no pictures from me for a while but I could probably use some advice.

Current wheel and pedals: Logitech G923 Xbox version, currently using that on my PC and plan to also use it on my Xbox (not that I've gotten around to it yet). Toying of the idea of getting the h shifter (from older gens of logitech wheels)

Games:

PC:
Assetto Corsa with Content Manager
RaceRoom Racing Experince
Maybe Forza Motorsport 7 (if it decides to play nicely on my PC - I keep getting stuttering issues and cannot work out why when my PC seems fine in other games, I'm coming to the conclusion that it is a bad port of the Xbox game?)

Xbox:
F1 2020
Forza Motorsport 7

No "dedicated" frame/rig like most setups here; my steering wheel is clamped to my desk and everything is a little awkward to get comfy with (to say the least, however things have improved slightly now that I now have some bell glides for my gaming chair that are not causing me to move everytime I hit the brakes), pedals are on the floor under my desk but it is possible to make them slide a little (the joys of vinal flooring I guess).

Looking for something a little more better than my current setup but I don't exactly have a lot of space, however something similar to rjk's setup would be good (ie monitor on a mount - in my case it would be my 32 inch TV, and moving a speaker to my stereo) but I'm not convinced that it'll work for me.

Any suggestions?

 

[BaueruTc]

Final parts arrived for my Sim Labs rig came today, only took 3 months!! Keyboard tray and Button box holder.

Had to strip the rig down and move it to another location, still putting it back together. Triple monitors to refit and a bit of cable management, oh and a good hoover, these things are dust magnets!!

Congrats on the sim lab rig. A tip for you if you wish to use it is that you can get a couple of sticky pads and stick them below the button box and the stream deck will fit perfectly below your button box.

 

[unKle]

Congrats on the sim lab rig. A tip for you if you wish to use it is that you can get a couple of sticky pads and stick them below the button box and the stream deck will fit perfectly below your button box.

Cheers I like what you've done with your stream deck, is that your own buttons or is there a mod to add these?

 

[Jay85]

I'm just starting out, so no pictures from me for a while but I could probably use some advice.

Current wheel and pedals: Logitech G923 Xbox version, currently using that on my PC and plan to also use it on my Xbox (not that I've gotten around to it yet). Toying of the idea of getting the h shifter (from older gens of logitech wheels)

Games:

PC:
Assetto Corsa with Content Manager
RaceRoom Racing Experince
Maybe Forza Motorsport 7 (if it decides to play nicely on my PC - I keep getting stuttering issues and cannot work out why when my PC seems fine in other games, I'm coming to the conclusion that it is a bad port of the Xbox game?)

Xbox:
F1 2020
Forza Motorsport 7

No "dedicated" frame/rig like most setups here; my steering wheel is clamped to my desk and everything is a little awkward to get comfy with (to say the least, however things have improved slightly now that I now have some bell glides for my gaming chair that are not causing me to move everytime I hit the brakes), pedals are on the floor under my desk but it is possible to make them slide a little (the joys of vinal flooring I guess).

Looking for something a little more better than my current setup but I don't exactly have a lot of space, however something similar to rjk's setup would be good (ie monitor on a mount - in my case it would be my 32 inch TV, and moving a speaker to my stereo) but I'm not convinced that it'll work for me.

Any suggestions?

Whats the G923 like compared to the G920? I'm contemplating cancelling my G920 and getting the G923, is it worth the extra buck? Total novice to this kind of stuff so i have no experience with sim gear at all but wanna start somewhere.