Scott's thread about fancy steering wheels got me thinking about doing a build thread for my new sim rig. It is more or less complete now, but I did take pictures along the way.

It all started by playing Project Cars and Assetto Corsa at a friend's place. He has a Thrustmaster T500 with the upgraded pedals & shifter mounted on a driver stand. It was fun and I decided to give it a go myself. I wasn't sure if I'd stick with it long term, so I bought a Logitech G27 wheel on sale and just mounted it to my desk.

Myself and a couple friends played a few sessions of Project Cars online and I was hooked. After a while I got tired of the wheel coming off the desk and the office chair rolling backwards when I hit the brake. So I went all-in and bought the following:

1) New PC with a Geforce 980 Ti GPU. Full specs can be seen here
2) Triple Dell S2715H monitors. These are 27" IPS panels with a 6mm bezel and were onsale. I was hoping to find some 1440 resolution monitors, but they were just too much money
3) Obutto R3volution gaming cockpit / workstation from simulation1.ca with the triple monitor stand

Pictures of the build along with a few videos (don't judge my driving) can be seen here

Here is the final product (before I finished aligning the monitors and did proper cable management)

Overall I am very happy with it. It is very solidly built, the box the frame came in weighed over 100lbs. It took me about 5-6 hours to put it together by myself. The only help I had was getting someone to hold the monitors while I screwed them into the vesa mounts. When I want to go sim racing, I just slide the seat up and the driving position is perfect. When I want to use the PC for non sim stuff, I slide the seat back and there is plenty of room for the keyboard tray over my lap and my feet in front of the pedals.

Pros:
- Provides a much more immersive experience
- Articulating keyboard/mouse tray is very easy to move in/out and get in the proper position
- This thing is built like a tank
- Monitor stand is separate from the cockpit so it doesn't shake when I'm bouncing around in the seat
- Extremely adjustable! Seat slides back/forth and reclines. Can mount the seat in a few different positions. Pedal tray is adjustable for angle and position.
- Works well as a normal PC workstation for doing none driving stuff also.
- It has a cupholder!!

Cons:
- Aligning the monitors is a pain in the butt! But it has to be that way for maximum adjustability
- Keyboard tray sags a bit due to the weight and it is only mounted on one side. There is an adjustable plate to compensate for this, but I haven't taken the time to get it quite right
- The printed instructions that come with it suck! But they have some good videos posted on the Obutto site.

I think I will get the articulating acrylic tabletops. I wasn't sure if I'd need them so I didn't order them originally. But I can see how they will be useful. After that I will probably get 4 mini LFEs and setup SimVibe.

That is all I plan to do in the near future. However, if I am being honest with myself I will probably grow tired of the G27 quickly and get something better.

Damn! You really did go all-in. That's a great setup you have there Steve!

The G27 really is a great wheel. Definitely the best value for the money. To get something truly better, you'll find yourself in the $1K+ segment.

Some people say that belt drive wheels are better, like the Thrustmaster and Fanatec wheels, but those wheels lack the immediate raw feedback a gear driven Logitech has. One of my teammates has the $600 Fanatec Clubsport wheelbase and he actually switched back to his old G27 because the belt-driven Fanatec was too numb. YMMV

The ultimate wheel setup is a direct drive servo wheel like the $2K AccuForce or $5K Bodnar wheels, but there are DIY servo kits available for about $1K which perform just as well.

Anyway, I'm rambling.

Hope you can join us in the Regulars league sometime!

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

That is a sweet setup. Careful though, you start eliminating excuses if you have really good gear.

Hope the kids don't see this. They've been using AC from a while now and they've been bugging me to build something like the obutto for them.

I really wish you hadn't shown me those, now you have me thinking about it. What do people run for pedals with those? What I really like about my friend's Thrustmaster setup is they feel more like a real wheel/pedals. The G27 is a bit like a toy. I won't be upgrading in the near future. I want to make sure I really stick with this before spending too much more money.


I thought of trying out iRacing. I have played it once, but I had a really hard time with it and the graphics are not quite as good. I may give it a go over the winter when I have more spare time for this. But I'd be too afraid to ruin someone's race. I'd have to have a neon orange car and when ever anyone is approaching yell out they are coming up on me and I'd pull over. Also I play board games with friends every Tuesday night, so I probably can't make it anyway.


Interestingly, it has made me faster. Not having to consciously keep my left foot on the floor to stop the chair from rolling to far back alone has probably helped shave 1 second off lap times. One of the guys I play (race?) with was consistently 3-4 seconds faster than me in qualifying, now he is only 1.5 seconds ahead. But I will never be that good and I am fine with that. I don't tweak setup etc (mostly because I have no idea what I am doing). I just do it for fun and as long as I don't crash too much it is fun.

Good equipment will certainly help, but only up to a point. The rest has to come from the nut behind the wheel.

iRacing's strong point is its multiplayer and organized series. If you get a Tuesday night free and want to jump into a Regulars race just let me know (or send a request to join the league through iracing). Just the fact that you are worried about ruining someones race makes me think you'll fit in. We're not an uber serious league, we just race for fun as well.

There is also the Logitech G920 out if you want a minor upgrade from the G27. They did some tweaking with the motors and pedals to make them better, or so they say.

And when it comes to iRacing, you will have to practice and practice a lot. Don't worry about ruining someone else's race; you will not be the least experienced person on your grid. We have all wrecked each other or others at one time or another. Mistakes happen, tempers flare and then everyone remember it's a game.

I was seriously considering an AccuForce wheel at one point, but then I learned about the DIY kits which can be had for half the cost. Plus they're arguably better than the AccuForce.

The Bodnar wheel is ridiculous. $5,000 for a sim racing wheel! But for someone with the means, it's THE best wheel available in the market.


There are many options available. The $300 Fanatech Clubsport pedals are a popular choice. Personally, I'm going with the $420 ProtoSimTech PT-1 pedals. Another excellent choice is the Heusinkveld Engineering Pro Sim pedals, but they are nearly twice the price. Then there are hydraulic pedals sets which approach $1K, like these MainPerformance SimPedals. I'm just scratching the surface, there are so many out there.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Now we know what you are building the garage for ...to house all this nice new equipment

Pm me and I'll send you my iRacing login info (as long as you stick to ghosting or non-competition practice ) as I just don't have time to use it. I've even got a fancy BMW like yours but with a roof on it for you to try out.

BTW +1 for the G27 as it takes much more abuse than my Fanatec (and yes, better equipment does help ...but practice, practice and patience is what this sim needs of which I've got time for neither lately)

Stacy

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The fricton circle for my 911 Porsche resembles more of an oblong... I'm either trailbraking or accelerating while trying to get it to turn!