HOT DAMN, racing fans check these out!

There are several options out there, including building your own. If you're serious at all, I would definately recommend investing in a good rig. I've intended to build my own race wheel and pedal rig, but haven't had the time to do so, let alone play the sims in the first place. I have two Thrustmasters though, and the pots (potentiameters) are shot in one; an older model with wheel and paddles only. The other is way too flimsy IMO, but it is digital, making it more reliable (calibration wise) and has pedals. I actually busted the brake pedal within the first couple weeks.

A nice rig will be far more sturdy and realistic. It should also prove to be much more servicable, with pots easily found from the manufacturer (and probably elsewhere) and relatively easy to replace yourself.

My problem is, I don't have the money for a nice rig, but I want one with a clutch and 6 speed shifter.

Check out the Race Sim Central and Blackhole Motorsports forums for some first hand information about custom setups, you'll probably find a lot more information over there.

http://www.rscnet.org

http://www.bhmotorsports.com/

BTW, what was wrong with the other thread?

Two words:

1.) Hardcore

2.) Overkill

But sweet stuff nonetheless.

For the price of a lot of this stuff you should just buy a car.

Sure, but where are you going to race it?

With those sit in units do they give you the carpet that has a road on it and then give you wall sized wallpaper of an actual race. I mean you go that far you almost have to have the rest, no?

very cool. i love the yellow.
just to let you know the shifter is located right behind the wheel on the right and left. think formula 1.

I got to use an ECCI about 12 years ago at a Champ Car race in Portland, OR. They had two of them setup side by side with the hottest game at that time, IndyCar Racing 2. Fans got to race head-to-head against actual Indycar drivers. Whichever non-professional racer set the fastest time each hour got a free copy of the game.

I raced against Jimmy Vasser on the PIR circuit. He beat me pretty handily, but I did set the fastest time of the hour so I got a free copy. Personally, I think Jimmy had an unfair advantage due to PIR being his home circuit and all

I have the ECCI 6000GTS and it is by far the best wheel/pedal setup on the market. I am a huge sim racer and have used this wheel for almost 2 years. It is rock solid and I have yet to need to replace the pots. There is no comparision between it and the logitech and microsoft wheels........ Here is a pic of my simulator setup, it was sitting in the dining room when I took the pics, hence the chairs right behind it... I built the frame but have yet to paint it.

anyone tried the new Logitech G25? Looks like a nice wheel for $300. I'm building a frame and looking for a wheel to make a DIY simulator now that I have a projector.

That you could...

People would be suprised what they can get for $1500 or less!

Memebership to SCCA isn't that much and Autocrossing while not my favorite thing to do, is still fun.

Also $1,500 can make just about any car pretty darn fast in less than a weekend in most cases.

As to where you would race, unless you live completely in the middle of nowhere, then I'm sure there's a drag strip or road course less than 100 miles from you.

http://chasinracin.com/track-locator/

In some cases you can actually WIN money racing for real. It seems they only have paid contest for FPS's not Racing Games, though Game Spot did give out $600 gift cards to Best Buy for beating the developers from Need For Speed: Carbon (its on the site if you wanna watch it), that is hardly the regular thing in the game competition world.

I think somewhere there's a point that vitural racing is not the replacement for the real thing and I don't have any grand dreams of driving an F1 car or a Ferrari 430 GTC. If I had done what I needed to do in life, then I can be like Rob Dyson, build my company and go racing at a high level later in life. I didn't do that, so Im happy with just going down to the drag strip once in awhile and attending races in person or on TV.

I think there's a time where overkill it just that and it applies in the electronics world more than anything else. Does a $100 DAC really sound worst than a $1500 and just excatly what are you paying for with the $1400 price difference??

I dunno, my eye sight is bad I need lasik, my hearing is still pretty good, but Im not an audiofile. Theres just some things I rather spend money on and a gaming cockpit just isn't one of them.

This argument has no validity.

Ok, so lets be generous and say an initial investment of $3000 for a decent gaming PC along with the seat, pedals, and wheel.

Ok, so lets say you find a decent little car to AutoX (the cheapest form of racing). Alright, so lets say you get the car for $2000. This car probably won't be up to pass safety inspection, but we'll assume it is. You gotta figure every few races, you are going to replace tires, pads, fluids, and the clutch once or twice a year. There goes the price difference right there. This isn't even factoring in catastrophic breakdowns.

Don't think I don't know what I'm talking about, I've been road-racing since I was seven years old, both motorcycles and open wheelers. I started in go-karts and moved up to AutoX in a Formula Ford, and now road racing in Formula Continentals. I remember years when I was a kid when my parents spent easily $15k on me to race an entire season, and that wasn't even considered spending alot compared to some people out there.

With a PC racing simulated cockpit, you don't get anywhere near the same amount of enjoyment, but it's ALOT cheaper. You can race in online leagues and get that same competitive feeling as real life. Also you'll be on equal grounds because unlike real life, the little guy isn't going up against the big sponsored guys.

I say a ~$1500 investment for a PC racing sim setup is cheap compared to what some people do.

Fire, I wasn't really being serious. I know $1500 doesn't get you much real car. However, check this out from force dynamics. The unofficial price that I heard was $30,000. For that you could get a car, but then again you couldn't crash it.

Yeah, now for $30k, I'd rather pick up a Formula Ford and race it for a full season or two than buy that thing. But, if I had the money to spend, sure I'd buy something like that, looks like pretty much the ultimate setup.

There are videos on their website of the simulator in action. It is crazy. If I had a million dollars...
One thing that I am curious about is the projector that is strapped to the back of it. It gets the crap shaken out it. I was always under the impression that shaking a hot projector was a great way to blow a bulb?

I have a G25. It's a sweet wheel. The wheel itself is more solid than other wheels I've used and the pedlas have a nice smooth and stiff feel to them. I don't have $1000 to plop down on the wheel alone so I got this setup and I am loving it.

I recently had a problem with the x axis with the wheel and Logitech gave me no crap about it at all. They are going to replace it.

I use the G25 with TrackIR4 and I have a joystick (MS Sidewinder Precision Pro) mounted to my desk (for rally games). the G25 is a great controller, no doubt about it. Sure an ECCI would be better, but until I hit the lottery I'll stay with Logitech.

You have to add the triplehead2go system from Matrox to any of this setup. That 3x1280 X 1024 setup is a must have for simulator fans. I'm currently on the fence for that system. Peripheral vision stimulation adds to immersion, imo.