sbelles

I'm working on upgrading and reassembling my sim rig that I haven't used since my wife and daughter stole my monitors during Covid. The Clubsport V2 wheel base seems to be bricked again and the PC is outdated so I'm kind of starting from scratch and I'm looking for opinions on what components will get me the closest to the feel to my 997.1 Cup with no power anything.

I've decided on a Simlab cockpit so I can securely mount the Heusinkveld shifter I ordered, I'll see what I can do to get the Heusinkveld brake pedal as stiff as I can. If I can't get it stiff enough I'll look at upgrades there but I'm not sure which wheel base to go with. Unfortunately the 918 RSR wheel that I have for the Clubsport doesn't look like it works with the DD2 so I'm open to switching to SimCube but with the $1,000 + wheel on top of the Pro base it's almost 3k as opposed to 2k for Fanatec. Is it worth the difference? I have had bad luck with the current Clubsport V2 wheel base though. Every time it got left on without use for more then a couple of min it seemed to corrupt the firmware. Any other recommendations for peripherals or graphics cards? I haven't done this in about 8 years.
Thanks,

Scott

peterp

I would say definitely go with the Simucube over the DD2. The Simucube has slightly better feel than the DD2, but the biggest difference is reliability. We had issues with the DD2 just stopping working, randomly. Fanatec was fairly responsive in terms of messaging, but it took a long time to get actual answers. We did finally get one firmware version that was better, but they never fully solved it. If you are just doing hot lapping, or preparing for a track day, the DD2 might be okay, but if you are racing competitively, it's just not something to rely on. My son's team worked for more than a month preparing for a top-split 24 hours race on iRacing, and the DD2 just stopped working in the first lap of my son's first stint. It sucks when you lose a race due to hardware issues, but it sucks times 1000 when it ruins a team effort with many, many hours of setup and testing work for the race. The DD2 hardware is fine, but the firmware has issues. There were several issues that were unsolved when we abandoned the DD2 for a Simucube Pro. There have been absolutely zeros issues since switching to SimuCube two years ago.

I have no experience with it, but Moza has some extremely affordable DD wheels. I've heard they are very good, but have no experience with Moza. It might be worth checking out. I just cannot recommend Fanatec at all for serious competition, which is a shame because Fanatec's hardware is really pretty nice, and their support tries to help (but they can't, because their often isn't a solution). I don't have any info on Fanatec for the past 2 years since we have switched to SimuCube -- maybe they've gotten better, but I wouldn't risk it for competition.

This was a video I used when I was deciding to replace the DD2 with SimuCube.

Matt Romanowski

I have a Moza R16 wheel base. It seems good to me so far and I haven't had any trouble with it. You can see everything I bought here except the computer. There are so many options for computers.

ProCoach

Simucube 2 Pro is awesome. That and a set of Heusinkveld Sprint (easier to set up and adjust than the Ultimate) pedals is the easy button. If you're looking for something attractive and robust, I still like the Fanatec Rennsport Cockpit, if it's available. For value, the rSeat cockpit is quite good.

I like this wheel. Love mine. https://www.advancedsimracing.com/pr...imline-gt3-cup

mlct

The Simucube gets awesome reviews. Asetek seems popular too. You will love the Sim Lab cockpit.

Good luck.

sbelles

I ordered the SIMLAB P1x Pro cockpit and decided to go with a single curved mount. I was thinking the Samsung 49" but the LG 49" Ultragear DQHD looks pretty nice. I'm going to go with the Simcube Pro but I haven't ordered it yet. I did drop the PC off at Micro Center to let them rebuild it. Should be blazing fast.
I have the Heusinkveld Sprints. I wish I knew what happened to the additional rubbers for the brake. I guess I should get a clutch pedal as well. The manual says that max force for the sprint brake pedal is 65kg. I think that's enough?

peterp

Microcenter actually stocks a ton of sim equipment now, including Simucube and Moza. It’s pretty surprising how much they have in the store (that wasn’t the case a couple years ago). I ended up ordering the Simucube and Ascher wheel from Murray Motorsports in Ireland, it was significantly cheaper, exchange rates were vfavorable, and DHL shipping from Europe is shockingly fast (usually 2 days).

Heusinkveld came out with new elastomers/rubbers for the older production Sprint pedals (it brings them up to the latest). They are very inexpensive and are a significant improvement.

Regarding the need for a clutch -- not that many cars on iRacing work with a clutch and manual shifter, so it depends what cars you will be driving.

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ProCoach

65kg pedal force is fine. Good for your IRL (in real life) car.

peterp

While I don't have experience with that particular LG monitor, I haven't been too impressed with LG's reliability. I have the Samsung 49" 32:9 (C49HG90) and currently also have 3 LG 21:9 monitors. One of the LG monitors has failed (lower third of the panel has streaks) after only 14 months old (1-year warranty). From what I've read, seems to be a common problem with at least that model LG. I also had two different models of LG LED video projectors fail, both with very low usage hours. No complaints about picture quality with LG, but reliability has been poor in my experiences with the brand. Our Samsung 49" is 5 years old and still going strong as my desktop monitor (retired from sim use in favor of 21:9 triples).

I would recommend Samsung purely on reliability.

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peterp

This is the Heusinkveld Elastomer (rubber) kit I mentioned earlier: https://heusinkveld.com/shop/sim-pedals/elastomer-kit/

If your Sprints were built before December 2021, then they will definitely benefit from this 20 EUR upgrade. Sprint pedals built after Dec 2021 should already have them. You can tell by looking at the rubbers visually -- the new on have markings on the top indicating length and resistance, while there are no markings on the old ones.

peterp

Microcenter is great. I'm still using the PC chassis I bought from them in 2016 (everything internal has been upgraded several times). Get the fastest CPU you can. Not enough emphasis is placed upon the CPU demands for iRacing. I have a 4090 graphics, but the older i9 CPU is still sometimes overwhelmed (running three "semi-ultrawide" (21:9) monitors).

sbelles

Thanks, I'll order a set. Looks like mine was already setup with the largest OEM one but it's much older then 21. I will probably order the wheel base from Micro Center so I can pick it up in-store but they don't have any GT wheels. I guess I will go with the GT-21 wheel to take advantage of wireless but does seem extravagant even if it's 1/3 of the price of others. I only found one of my buttkickers and then I remembered that they got repurposed in the theatre while the rig was disassembled. Looks like I need different attachments for the Simlab cockpit though. I'll figure that out when it gets here. I probably will buy the Samsung but the LGs picture is enticingly pretty.
My primary goal is to replicate my Cup car as closely as possible hence the shifter and clutch but I'm sure that I will get sucked into iRacing again. Just not sure what kind of cars or where yet but with flappy paddles I should be able to reconfigure for quite a few things if I want.

TobyW

I recommend the Porsche GT3 Cup series in iRacing, it's a rewarding car to drive. I also still drive the MX-5 as it is more forgiving and allows for close racing.
Are you sure that you want to race on a single screen? Nothing beats VR for me.

sbelles

I have a VR setup here that I bought a couple years ago used and never tried. I'm hoping I like it but I want a backup. I used to do MX-5 a lot since it was the closest you could get to a spec Boxster. The Cup cars were quirky at the time but I hear a lot has changed in five or six years.

ProCoach

I really like the CRG49 Samsung, and I've been through a few iterations of Oculus, since the beta and many, MANY triple screen setups.