mikew968

So I have had a basic sim for a while and never really been able to "get into" all that well. I attribute most of that to not having quite the right stuff. As I'm going back to try to upgrade I find my computer is on the edge, I can't get the extra frame pieces for my Obutto to make it a 3 screen, and I don't think the Logitech wheel and pedals are all that great. On top of all of this I am hesitant to spend the money if I don't know the gain will be there.

Thoughts, insights, experience shares???


Thanks,

grega99

I've been having a great time with sim racing. Originally got into it to stay sharp in the off season and learn new tracks. I've had a blast in some of the races as well and even some oval races. I went fairly high end with a solid PC (specs below), rig, wheel and pedals. Build info below if that helps. Very happy at this point. We'll see what it translate to this year on the track with being my first year in a 991.2 Cup racing.

PC
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor
GeForce RTX 3080 12GB video card
Triple 27" monitors (ASUS VG278QR 27” Gaming Monitor 165Hz Full HD)

Rig
Advance Sim Racing ASR 6

Wheel Base
Simucube 2 Pro with Simucube Tahko GT-21 wheel

Pedals
Heusinkveld Sim Pedals Ultimate+

Cyclman

I was similarly frustrated. Have a VR headset now, I think that will be a big improvement in “feel” vs a single monitor…

ProCoach

One of the biggest impediments is how "floppy" the pedals feel, no correlation to real pedal "feel."

You can upgrade the Logitech pedals using stiffer springs, sponges (composite plugs to stiffen the movement) or adding a load cell kit from Richmotech.

When the pedal gets harder to press, the set will have to be connected firmly to the seat so it doesn't move in relation to you.

I find that taking the time to calibrate the pedals and wheel so it's not too lazy or too sharp in response helps a great deal.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), setting up and learning how to drive the sim properly and well is as hard as in real life. Start slowly and add speed gently.

I've had $20K static and motion rigs for fifteen years and decided recently to downsize, since I am not working with drivers on the sim at the track nor remotely in private hosted sessions (plenty of other good alternatives to that).

Sold al the good stuff (Simucube 2 Pro/Heusinkveld Ultimates/D-Box, etc) and went back to a Fanatec Rennsport Cockpit, simple hydraulic load cell logitech setup, single widescreeen Samsung G9, goods speakers and Buttkickers. All is well for how much I still use it.

Start slowly and add speed gently... Try someone elses VR before committing that route.

boxer-11

Biggest improvement for me?? A brake pedal that I can set up like an unboosted race car pedal (Heusinkveld Ultimate+). Close second: SimuCube2 pro direct drive wheel and well calibrated force feedback for it _and_ a good profile in the SC software to make it feel like a real race car (had a TM belt drive wheel before that...yeah: night and day).

Both those upgrades had me frustrated with flex in the chassis I was using (Obutto R3volution). Have an ASR6 now. Less flexy than real race cars -- which is good

I went from single to triple monitors and eventually to VR. At $300 recently on sale, an HP Reverb G2 is even cheaper than decent triples -- by a LOT. One thing about VR...I tend to motion sickness when driving race cars -- scopalomine patches rescue that for me. When I started with VR 10 minutes was all I could take before I needed to lie down to stop my head swimming. For me it took building up tolerance to get comfy with it. Now I can run for...well longest I've tried is just short of two hours...no problem. Maybe a month to acclimate?? Something to bear in mind if you try someone else's set up quickly...think about the value assessing by the first couple of minutes not the last few at which point your ears started to beg for mercy The pay off?? I'm unquestionably faster with VR for the depth perception alone (it's not for the quality of the visuals because that's actually worse than good monitors at decent frame rates).

Best splurge, on advice of a co-driver who has one, I added a D-BOX to the ASR6 rig frame. Only 3 degrees of freedom of movement. You really don't get G or "seat of pants" feel like in a real car but what you do get is the sense of the four corners having suspension and the shifting of the weight as the car moves around. I have found this to help me a lot when it comes to working on technique to deliberately control balance. iRacing is notoriously snappy but after adding the D-BOX I started to notice incipient slides much earlier and there's a certain feel to it such that I can push the car toward the limit more gradually (as opposed to dialing in the input and seeing if that was too much or not ).

I'm having a very fun time with the sim world. And I am able to see transferable benefit to real world into the bargain. Everyone is different but that's my take.

mj951

Good headphones and a dark room help, even with inexpensive sim gear.

AngeloGTS

Best purchases for me in this order were:
1. VR (Oculus Rift). I don't get to use the sim much, so it took me months to get over my motion sickness.
2. Heusinkveld Sprint pedals
3. 80-20 rig (Sim Labs)

Next on my list is to upgrade my wheel base. I'm still using my Logitech g920 wheel but want to get a VRS unit. Although I'm very happy with my current situation.

I probably would've given up without #2 by now, as I really hated the g920 pedals.

ajcjr

I just upgraded my pedals and wheel, but the best upgrade i made was a real seat that holds you in. It may not sound like something you need since most sims are static, but it def helped with my stability while braking.

Rich.

I have found that pedals and setting up a proper FOV (or just going VR) can significantly improve the experience. I would recommend seeing if there are any full system builders within driving distance that would let you rent some time on one of their rigs. More and more full system builders have been popping up over the last 3 years. I would love to invite you to try one of my rigs but you are a few states away Let me know if you need any guidance. I have helped countless guys/gals get going from scratch and very few of them have gotten out of the sim racing world. So many guys/gals spend their hard earned cash and get bored or just dont have the patience to set things up properly. Happy to offer whatever emotional support and guidance I can.

Mikelly

My system isn't overly exceptional, by any means, but it's helped my driving immensely in the four years I've been running it. I use headphones and a mic with push to talk to keep the family happy. I run a single curved 32 inch monitor (Spend time setting it up properly and adjusting FOV properly), and a cheap frame from amazon or Ebay. Adjustable platform for wheel/pedals and seat mount. I used one of my race seats for it and it's been perfect. I run a Logitech 920 wheel and just upgraded the pedals to Fanatec Clubsport V3s I bought used from another guy. My wheel has an upgraded rim and paddles.

All that said, I've been beat by kids with game controllers. Brent Mossing spent about 3 hours remotely with me (during the pandemic) setting up my system and walking me through fine tuning the controls and THAT was the best three hours anyone of his caliber has ever donated to a punk like me. The setup of your equipment is where I'd start. I ran on the Logitech 920 for 2 years before I upgraded the stock pedals to a loadcell and swapped springs around on the stock setup and only swapped to the Fanatec pedals in the last 3 weeks. Realism is all in the wheel and pedal setup, so bear that in mind. You'll need to adjust brake pressure, bias, wheel turning radius and the like if you're bouncing platform to platform (car to car). A 911 RSR won't have the same turning radius or brake bias as something like a Miata or a Radical;.

The last bit of advice I'll give is join Virtual Racing School (VRS). You can download their files for setup (huge help) and learn to properly drive the circuits in the cars you're interested in and you'll inadvertently learn how to READ DATA along the way. I"ve turned a number of guys who don't understand data onto VRS to help explain squiggly lines when my Hillbilly English fails them.

Good luck and I'd be happy to help offline as I coach a few guys using Iracing. Mike Kelly2 on the sim.

Zhao

Bit late to comment but I'll give my opinion. I ran about as crappy a setup as possible with iracing. logitech geforce GT w/ a single flat monitor and I was competitive (top 100 lap time at limerock in the spec miata overall of about 35000 at that time (I had top 100 times on other tracks, as well as in other cars too). When I ran my first full season (GT2) I placed top 5 overall (i think it was 3rd or 4th) and first in my division. My record was I won around 25% of my races and around a 3500 irating), so I was far from struggling. If I can do that with a terrible setup, good equipment isn't necessary IMO, only being able to adapt and having hte required driver skill.

IMO I do know it takes some time to adapt to a less than ideal setup, but with seat time at sim racing you should be able to adapt and find a way to make it work provided the wheel range is correct and you at least have wheel feedback. IMO if there is problems adapting in sim racing that probably indicates a problem in real life also so I wouldn't be quick to blame the equipment and try to see if you can make what you have work. You probably just need more seat time to adapt yourself to the way you get data from sim racing vs what you're used to in real life. IMO sim racing, at least for me, relies on pulling data from what is going on visually and then what's going on in the audio. I would not rush out and buy a new setup, but plug away at figuring out what's holding you back in sim racing. You could be relying too much on butt feel in real life and not enough on other forms of data to drive fast.

IMO one thing that backs this up is the pro drivers. It's amazing that some of them have jumped on sim racing for high profile races without having done it before and have been right there with the pack of other pro drivers; they instantly adapted and had no problems being competitive in sim racing.



I also tried a no expense spared full motion rig, built out of a real formula star mazda cockpit (owned by a formula mazda driver). I honestly did not see any advantage to using such a device for myself over my current setup.

MasonTench

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ShakeNBake

moving to VR is big jump in GPU needs to maintain 90-120fps, which you need in order not to get sick. You head is constantly moving a little, and if the screen does not move with you - you get sick. For ACC, a poorly optimized game, for me, this took a 4090. I'm still running a 12400 processor. With 3 screens a 3090ti with the same processor worked great, though the frame rate is in the 60s.
My son has an older 10600 CPU on his rig and for games, there is a huge difference in frame rates (half) even with the same GPU I'm running. OP, if you don't have a modern CPU and motherboard, you might have a bottleneck limiting you from getting to most out of your system. The 12400 is a bottom of the barrel CPU, but it's modern. Also, a direct drive, higher quality wheel, pedals and seat made a very big tactile feel difference. I have a Fanatec low end DD setup with their high end pedals (though low end by connoisseur standards), it's transformative compared my old top of the line logitec.

kgorman

IMHO getting the FOV setup correctly is the big key. Until then everything was off. Once I got it right then turn in, braking, etc all came together.

Dennis C

Interesting thread. For my setup and my experience, upgraded pedals made the biggest difference. Pedals that utilize a load cell as opposed to a potentiometer are important, and setting them up properly is critical for a good experience.