The ultimate guide to sim racing
[Updated: 07/18/23]
This guide is going to cover absolutely everything that you need to know in order to build the best simrig for your needs all within, or at least close to, your budget. I intentionally stray away from “How to build the best sim rig” simply because the best sim rig doesn’t exist. Everyone’s needs as a sim racer are going to be different so it’s my goal to help illustrate several options that are available at various budgets in order for you to decide what would best fit your needs.
This guide is also going to exclude any details surrounding support for game consoles, not because I dislike them, but simply because console support for sim racing and sim racing hardware is extremely limited. As a result, there aren’t many consumers that are willing to invest north of $2000 to play only 2 sim racing titles, especially without support for community made tracks and cars. Beyond the lack of available sim racing titles, consoles offer limited support for sim racing accessories, consoles cannot easily mix and match hardware, and console users are forced to use an improper field of view on a single 16:9 aspect ratio television. If you are/were interested in sim racing on a console and you want to learn more about how much better sim racing can be on a PC, you can check out our other article here.
This guide will also exclude the details of building a computer for sim racing so if you don’t already have a high-end computer that is used for gaming, you will need to factor that hefty cost in as well. More details can be found here.
I want to make a disclaimer that you don’t absolutely need to purchase a sim rig in order to enjoy sim racing. With a racing wheel and pedals, and a desk to mount the racing wheel too (a desk not made of glass), you can start your sim racing career today but your experience will be somewhat compromised. What I mean to say is that you will face several limitations that sim rigs have been designed to overcome and in longer sessions your comfort levels may suffer as a result. By using a desk you may be faced with issues like having a seat that rolls away when you push in on the pedals, dealing with pedals that aren’t properly angled for prolonged use in a desk chair, a seating position that is less than desirable as a result of trying to adjust the height and angle of a desk chair, a wheel that won’t stay mounted due to force feedback, no place to mount a shifter or handbrake, etc etc. Using a desk is a perfectly fine way to start sim racing before making a deeper investment into the hobby but if you find yourself getting frustrated with any of these aspects, just know that a proper sim rig is the best solution. Sim rigs are designed to offer a modular platform for you install the best parts for your needs, at all the correct heights an angles to best suit your preferred racing discipline(s).
This article is going to cover several of the more popular extruded aluminum cockpits.
If you would like to build a sim rig cockpit from scratch, we have another guide here.
If you would like to build a sim rig cockpit using wood, we have another guide here.
The surface area, power, and internet demands of sim racing
Before you can even pull out the credit card, you will need to find a suitable space where the sim rig will reside. Building and housing a sim rig takes commitment and outside of the lawnchair-style sim rigs offered by companies like Playseat, many of them are not something that can be folded and tucked away in a closet somewhere. At the very least, you will want to find a permanent 5’x5’ space (or 152cm x 152cm for those using the correct measurement system) to place the rig, even larger if you have the budget to go with a triple-screen setup. That’s excluding the additional room needed around the cockpit to perform maintenance, the space needed to enter the bucket seat from the left side, and additional room for the swinging arm that will hold a keyboard. As you get deeper into the hobby you may find yourself dedicating an entire room to sim racing to include steering wheel mounts that hold additional wheels for each racing discipline that you enjoy, a capable surround sound system, 3x massive monitors for the sake of immersion, and perhaps some racing memorabilia to help keep you inspired after being punted off the track repeatedly. Wherever you decide to put it, just make sure that you have enough room to work with.
Room aside, a sim rig is also not quiet. It will make a lot of clunks, thuds, squeaks, and vibrations so putting it in the baby’s room might not go over so well. If you live in an apartment, this is also something to take into consideration with roommates and with your neighbors. Even if you have a carpeted space to place your sim rig the carpeting won’t be enough to dampen the vibrations, but thankfully there are thick anti-vibration pads that can placed under the sim rig to help. By extension you will want to be mindful of the fact that the constant drone of roaring automobiles may sound off-putting to some, strange, I know! You can mitigate this by wearing headphones, but you may want to consider investing into a nice set of cans where you can actively hear where the cars are coming from (not earbuds) and I will talk more on that later. I knew my addiction to high quality audio would come in handy some day.
Okay, so now that you have decided on the ideal place to put the sim rig, you now have a few other things to take into consideration before we can even discuss the types of sim rigs that are available.
If you already have a dedicated gaming computer that you plan to repurpose for sim racing great, however if you’re planning to use your gaming computer for both gaming and sim racing, it may be best if you can find a way to keep your sim rig close to your desk so that you don’t have to move your computer back and forth. Why? Unplugging and plugging everything back in can be a royal pain the ass when it comes to sim racing because often times the various accessories that are used, including triple screen setups, will need to be setup and calibrated before each use. Properly setup, you can use your gaming computer for both sim racing and gaming.
If you don’t already have a dedicated sim racing computer or you plan to build one for sim racing, you’re in luck because you don’t have to worry about maintaining two environments. This frees you up a little bit and would allow you to place the sim rig in that ideal location, maybe…
Power needs
When it comes to powering a sim rig, you will find yourself running out of nearby outlets pretty quickly. I mean, three screens alone is going to use 3 electrical outlets and at 100W-140w each, each 120V TV or Monitor will use ~0.95-1.2 amps each on a typical 15AMP breaker. Thankfully there are power-strips where you can run power from any nearby outlet to power everything at your sim rig but you will want to make sure that you get something with 8-10+ available outlets. To add, you will want to make sure that it features a smaller gauge wire (or lower AWG) so that it can handle the heavy power demands of the sim rig (the types of power strips with a thick burly cable).
Why so many ports? Besides losing 3 sockets to the displays, the motor that drives the wheel will consume 1 socket. Your computer will need another socket. Depending on the number of USB devices your sim rig will use, you may need a 12 or 16-port USB hub which will require an external power source. Later if you decide to add bass shakers, a button box, surround sound, a DAC, or even linear actuators, you will be thankful that you purchased a power strip that was up for the challenge. In the US, a 15AMP breaker is good for about 1800 watts and a highly capable computer will only draw about 800 watts. This leaves plenty of room as the next most power hungry device will be the racing wheel with high end direct-drive wheels consuming anywhere from 450-1000 watts at peak. However, if you go deep enough into the hobby where you have to start adding up the wattage to ensure that you’re operating within the limits of a single 15AMP breaker, you might want to call an electrician just to be sure. It is possible to replace your 15 amp breaker with a 20 amp breaker if your house is using #12 wire (12-gauge), but never do that without first consulting an electrician. Also, please don’t daisy chain power strips, and if your cherish your equipment please make sure you have an active ground connection from the wall.
Internet needs.
Sim racing can be enjoyed offline but you will still want access to a steady internet connection to be able to download various simulators, drivers, firmware updates, modifications, software updates, and any additional DLC that’s required. Wherever you decide to place your sim rig, it will need to be in a place where it will have access to an Ethernet port from your router or have access to a strong and consistent wireless signal.
Now, if you want race competitively online through a service like iRacing but you’re on satellite internet, I regret to inform you that you may be SOL. This is not due to bandwidth limitations, but it’s due to latency (commonly referred to as Ping or Lag) and lack of internet stability offered by most satellite internet service providers. It’s gotten better throughout the years but many providers aren’t using the latest and greatest because their more rural clients that rely on satellite aren’t demanding it.
In sim racing, just like gaming, you want your latency to remain as low as possible at all times and this is where the quality of your home internet, and your ISP, comes into play. When it comes to gaming, latency matters more than bandwidth and unfortunately no ISP is capable of offering you latency statistics to a server. As a result, you probably won’t know what your latency to an online server will be until you’ve physically joined that server, but if your latency is 100ms or less, you should be fine (although less than 40ms is ideal).
Latency is important because the lower it is, the faster the server can relay another cars positioning to you, and your car’s positioning to other racers. Fiber internet is faster than copper and also offers lower latency but it’s not available everywhere yet so be sure to ask your local ISPs to see if fiber is available in your area. There are also ways to improve your latency to the servers that you play on. For starters, if you connect your computer directly to your home router with an Ethernet cable, that will always be faster than connecting to it wirelessly. However, if wireless is your only option, try placing your computer closer to the router or vice versa and make sure that the router’s signal is not being obstructed. If the router is far away, you will want to be connected to the 2.4GHz band and then connect to the 5GHz band if you’re close by. To add, if your house is equipped with wi-fi range extenders, just know that each hop will add some latency and in some cases, they are just another point of failure. It’s also worth mentioning that no amount of replacing your router with a “gaming” router is going to help with latency because once a packet leaves your home network to communicate to the game’s servers, that long distance it has to travel and all the hops in-between, are completely out of your control. For people with network speeds less than about 300Mbps, you can see a measurable benefit when using a router that offers QoS, or quality of service. With QoS, you can prioritize traffic to your computer so it’s not interrupted by other traffic on the network but around 500Mbps or higher, QoS actually adds a slight delay when trying to prioritize so much traffic so it’s only recommended for users that don’t have access to extremely fast internet speeds.
As for network bandwidth, a service like iRacing will only consume roughly 75MB of data per hour. By comparison, Netflix will consume 40x as much data per hour (3GB) when streaming HD video, so you shouldn’t have to worry about sim racing being the reason you hit your data cap each month.
Things to consider when building the best sim racing cockpit for you
When it comes to picking the best cockpit for you, you may want take into consideration the racing discipline that you prefer because the seating position and cockpit of an LMP or Formula car will be completely different from something like a Rally or GT car. You can still race in other cars using either of these two designs, but many people enjoy building a rig is designed to closely emulate their racing discipline of choice so when they are racing, the simulated racing experience feels more realistic.
Pictured above and to the left is the SimLab P1-X that uses what are called extruded aluminum profiles. This is an extremely popular and well built modular sim rig where everything can be adjusted to fit your exact needs. It’s incredibly sturdy, easy to build, coveted by everyone that has one, comes in black, and it’s perfect for anyone seeking a more natural GT style seating position. This sim rig starts at $730 and doesn’t include the wheel, the pedals, the seat, the shifter, or even the handbrake that is pictured. The SimLab P1-X makes for a terrific baseline if you can swing it. It offers a lot of headroom for future upgrades as you get deeper into your sim racing career. LMP and Formula seats are also available for this type of cockpit.
Pictured above and to the right is the Playseat Formula Intelligence that starts at $2500. This is the nearing the pinnacle of what’s available for F1 sim racers but after working with F1 teams for over 10 years, this is the culmination of Playseat’s efforts and it’s the same rig that professional F1 drivers Max Verstappen, Charles LeClerc, Valtteri Bottas, and Sebastian Vettel use. Just like the SimLab P1-X, everything is highly adjustable to fit your preferred seating position. Unlike the P1-X though, you can get one branded after the Mercedes, Red Bull, or even that one red F1 team (no official Ferrari license). All options include Playseat’s custom F1-style seat too. It’s worth mentioning that this kind of setup will prevent the ability to use additional accessories like shifters, handbrakes, and buttonboxes so most users will instead put that money towards a proper Formula racing wheel that has been designed to closely emulate all of the buttons, knobs, and dials found in a modern F1 car, including the two clutch paddles. Due to the more specific nature of it’s design, these rigs are better suited to hardcore fans of open wheel racing and they are not the easiest to get seated in.
Now that you have had an opportunity to see what those rigs can cost, it is worth mentioning that there are plenty of affordable options available but keep in mind that many of the less expensive rigs might compromise on the experience. If costs are a major concern as you start into this hobby, using a desk might be the best place to start and that’s not something to be ashamed of. After all, just because someone has invested more into sim racing, doesn’t mean that it’s going to make them a better driver. Before I proceed to list a few of the more common sim racing cockpits that are available, there are few points that you will want to consider before you make the purchase.
Sturdiness
When a 200lb+ (90kg) adult steps into the sim rig, it needs to not fall over, bend, snap, break, creak, or flex. This is doubly important when a user, such as a friend, tries to use the rig itself to pull themselves out of the bucket seat. This sturdiness is also important when your arms are fighting the forces of the wheel because you don’t want the rig to flex in any direction. A nice strong sturdy cockpit will hold up for life and if the “seat” is just a single sheet of canvas that is stitched around a metal frame, that will eventually give out.No wheel mount flex
Like above, users will often rely on their wheel to help pull them out of the bucket seat. If the wheel mount bends or flexes, that could create a problem in the long run. During normal day to day usage it’s important that the wheel mount doesn’t have any flex as repeatedly fighting the forces of a racing wheel could fatigue the metal or cause the mounting hardware to loosen or strip. This is less of a problem for less powerful wheels but a strong wheel mount should be high on your priority list if a high-end direct drive wheel is in your future.
No pedal mount flex
This is a pretty big one too because your feet will be constantly pushing down on the pedal deck. For a more affordable pedals that just use springs, it may not matter so much but for pneumatic or load cell driven pedals, or pedals with high durometer rubber bushings where you can push down with 200kg of braking force, a poorly designed pedal deck will flex, bend, or break eventually.
Modular and Upgrade-ability
More affordable sim rigs stick to the philosophy of “what you see is what you get” and that’s a perfectly fine place to start in order to determine if you will enjoy sim racing as hobby. However, if you have the means, I would like steer you away from those more simplistic rigs because more often than not, they are a dead end as they won’t offer any room to grow. When it comes to sim racing, the phrase “buy it once and buy it right” tends to save money in the long run so I would recommend starting with an extruded aluminum setup if it’s comfortably within your means to do so.
Seating options
More affordable rigs believe that one size fits all and that’s definitely not the case. What might work for you won’t work for that out of town friend that you’re eager to share your new toy with. Human flexibility is also something to keep in mind because unless you’re a contortionist, it’s not easy to enter a rig where there is a vertical bar in the middle of the rig that is holding the wheel in place. People come in all shapes and sizes too so it’s important that your rig offers the ability to adjust the wheel, pedals, and seating position. To add, some of the best sim rigs around don’t bother to include a bucket seat so it will be up to you, or your friend, to perform the necessary measurements in order to find the ideal seat for you. Upon placing the order for your seat, don’t forget to add a sliding rail and the seat mounting brackets. Adjustable and/or sliding pedals are nice to consider as well.
Budget
The cost of a sim racing cockpit is going to exclude the cost of everything else that you will need to build out the sim rig of your dreams. If you were planning to start with an overall budget of $1000, it’s worth mentioning that just the rig alone is going to eat up most of that budget after taxes and shipping. A direct drive wheel could add another $1000, a high-end racing wheel, $1000. A good set of pedals, another $1000. Shifter, Handbrake, and Buttonbox, $1000. A bucket seat, with sliding rail and mounting brackets, an additional $1000. 3 monitors and a stand? oof. My point here is to help illustrate that the costs of building out a complete rig will add up really quickly so before you decide what rig you want to purchase be sure to have a budget in mind because the last thing you want is a living room filled with a bunch of unopened boxes filled with parts that cannot be assembled until you can afford to order the rest of the parts that are missing.
That last bullet point might be a major disappointment to read for some of you. I mean, for that cost you could comfortably afford to buy a Mazda Miata, install some coilovers, slap on some race tires, bolt-in a half-cage, and take it to your local track. You could do that, however, as someone who has actively tracked their own car, please trust me when I say that the monetary investment between these two hobbies isn’t proportionate. An investment into sim racing provides the ability to race our favorite cars, past, present, and future, many of which are unattainable to most everyone, on any track in the world throughout history, at any time of day, under any weather condition, all from the safety of our home. Better still, these experiences can be shared with friends and family members. That’s what makes sim racing an amazing experience and while sim racing certainly cannot replace the g-forces or the adrenaline rush that is experienced when you place your life at risk in a real car, it is still racing in it’s most true form. For anyone already tracking their car, a proper sim rig can be a very powerful tool to help accelerate your abilities as a driver. For everyone else, perhaps you can use your sim rig to make the transition into a professional driver, it’s happened!
Steering wheel mounting options
You might have assumed that we would be saving this topic for another article but this is a very important choice that will determine the type of wheel mount that you will need when purchasing your sim rig. It’s not made immediately obvious by every manufacturer, but the accessories that you need to acquire at the time of purchase will depend on the type of wheel that you have, or plan to get. You could absolutely pick the sim rig you want first, but then you might find yourself unable to race when the wheel doesn’t mount properly so we might as well get this out of the way now. In general, there are three types of wheel mounts: base mounted, front mounted, and side mounted. One is not necessarily better than the other, it’s just how the manufactures decided that their wheels should be mounted. Pay close attention to this when ordering your rig because the wheel mount you need may not be included by default.
Force Feedback and Torque
I’ll talk about these two in greater detail in another article but for the sake of this article I will summarize that Force Feedback (FFB) is the ability for the wheel to translate what the virtual car is doing underneath the driver, and torque is the amount of strength that the wheel outputs in order to simulate these forces.
It’s the wheel’s job to translate the handling tendencies of the virtual car using data that is provided by the simulation software. This includes weight transfer, suspension loads, and tire impacts. How quickly those forces can be delivered in detail will depend on how much torque the wheel has to offer. That torque also provides resistance to the steering forces that are being applied and the amount of that resistance should vary from one car to the next —a detail that can be hard to capture on more affordable wheels.
A typical street car with power steering requires 5-7nm of steering torque while a GT3 car will require 8-13nm of steering torque so depending on the type of cars that you plan to drive, if you want to accurately simulate those values, you would need to acquire a strong enough wheel base.
Not every wheel manufacturer is accurate in how their torque claims are being advertised but ideally what we are looking for is called sustained torque (also called holding or constant), not peak torque. For example, if a wheel base manufacturer advertises that one of their wheel bases is capable of providing 8nm of torque, they may not be lying, but it’s possible that those 8nm forces are only available in shorter bursts. This means that when your turning a corner with 6nm worth of force, the wheel base will have the ability to push back with bursts up to 8nm in order to simulate things like 12cm tall rumble strips under your tires, but it’s not enough to accurately simulate the constant steering forces of a GT3 class car.
Stronger torque values or a higher pricetag, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be better. Take the time to read multiple reviews and see how different bases compare to one another. This is a big purchase so please make your decision wisely. It’s worth mentioning that the strongest wheels available are NEVER run at 100% FFB strength, there is no need to, it can be extremely dangerous, and it would also be unrealistic to do so. The advantage of a stronger wheel is that they offer the power to rapidly deliver bursts of stronger FFB, more often, with greater fidelity, without fatigue and that all translates to a greater sense of immersion.
How to pick the best sim racing wheel base
It might seem obvious that the budget and features will dictate what wheel base you buy, but like everything in sim racing, it goes much deeper than that.
In general, the more you spend, the more immersive the experience will feel, but it won’t necessarily make you any faster. To elaborate, more affordable hardware will do the job just fine but more expensive hardware will do a better job providing your body, your hands, and your feet with a more convincing experience that better articulates what the virtual car is doing. It’s even in the name “sim racing,” where this hobby is all about trying to simulating the experience of racing cars. Now, you can just as easily win races with a $300 setup, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but there are some people out there who swear that when presented with a better understanding of what the virtual car is doing, they can output better lap times, especially with better racing pedals. All that said, it’s worth mentioning that there are plenty of skilled sim racers out there winning championships on more affordable hardware that’s mounted to their desk so it never hurts to keep this in mind.
Like picking a sim rig based on it’s seating position, there are different wheels available depending on your preferred racing discipline, with each wheel available in budget or premium options. Higher end wheel bases offer the ability to swap rims to support multiple racing disciplines while higher end rims can be made with more exotic materials or include their own displays. I don’t have the power to cover every available option but I will do my best to share some of the more common options. My recommendation is to check out a few of the options that are around your preferred price-point so that you can compare what’s being offered at that level.
Where I will always draw the line for racing wheels, more accurately called a wheel base, is with the lack of force feedback. If it doesn’t offer any level of force feedback, I consider that a toy that’s not suitable for use in sim racing. This generally means that the more affordable the wheel is, the closer it will be to feeling more like a toy.
What is a good starting wheel for sim racing?
I like to use $300 as a starting point for a sim racing wheel because for that amount, you can buy a Logitech racing wheel, new or used. These wheels, make for a great way to dip your toes into the world of sim racing, so if you aren’t 100% certain that this is a hobby that you can see yourself investing a lot of time and money into, consider getting a Logitech racing wheel and start racing today.
Logitech has been making racing wheels since 1998 and they are known for having great customer service, terrific software support, and their wheels can last upwards of 10 years if used properly. If you ever experience any issues, there is a large community of Logitech wheel owners that help each other out and it’s one of the only racing wheels with native support in Linux.
Going back in time, the Logitech G27 was released in 2010 and was replaced by their G29 in 2015 which shares guts with the newer G923 released in 2020. Each wheel is a refinement upon their previous wheel, with the G923 taking cues from the audio to simulate vibration throughout the steering wheel in a feature they call Trueforce. Otherwise, it’s exactly the same 26cm leather bound racing wheel as the Logitech G29. While the G29 and G923 are widely considered a better built and more refined version of the G27 that came before them, the G27 had the advantage of including a separate H-pattern shifter that doubled as a button box. If having a 6-speed H-pattern shifter is important to you, Logitech now sells the shifter separately for ~$60, but it no longer has the extra buttons and just like the shifter in the G27, it doesn’t includes sequential shifting that the older G25 offered. Seems like regression, what gives Logitech?
The cons of starting with Logitech and who is their direct competition?
The problem with a budget friendly Logitech wheel is that while they do offer force feedback (FFB), the delivery of that FFB is very weak at only 2nm worth of torque. It’s definitely something but just like overdriving a subwoofer, when a user decides to crank that FFB up in order to feel something more than it was designed to deliver, it introduces “noise” to the FFB. That’s not the main issue though, it’s how that feedback is delivered that can also be very off-putting. These budget Logitech wheels use gears to provide feedback to the wheel which creates an unrealistic feeling when turning, especially when making slight adjustments mid corner, where you can feel the cogging of the gears. This use of gears also adds the unwelcome sound of chatter and in order to reduce that sound, you have to lower the amount of force feedback which further dulls the experience.
Another “con” so to speak, is that these more budget friendly Logitech wheels are designed for general consumers that simply want to walk into their local Best Buy, and walk out with a racing wheel that is super easy to setup. They aren’t designed with you in mind, otherwise, you wouldn’t be 10,000 words deep into this article already. Again, they make a terrific stepping stone into the world of sim racing but you get exactly what you pay for -a budget wheel that just works. They aren’t really designed for a racing enthusiast that desires the ability to swap out the steering wheel, replace the pedals, add a handbrake, add a shifter, add a button box, add bass shakers, and race with three monitors.
All that can make Logitech wheels sound like a horrible choice but to be honest, these wheels are designed to be the most affordable option that is available. These are the same consumers that want the feeling of using a wheel to drive cars in Gran Turismo, Forza Horizon, and Need for Speed, but they just so happen to make for a terrific stepping stone onto better wheels on PC.
So what are some better wheels?
Thrustmaster is widely considered Logitech’s main competitor and they have been making racing wheels since 1994. The Thrustmaster T150 racing wheel, first released in 2015, is a direct competitor to Logitech’s offerings. It provides the same amount of FFB strength (2.0nm), but it uses a smoother belt driven motor to deliver a more realistic feeling in the hands. The downside to using a belt drive is that some of the finer details are lost to the belt itself, but it more than makes up for it with it’s silent FFB delivery. The T150 was refreshed as the much better looking Thrustmaster TMX for $200 in 2020. At this point, you might be thinking, “Wait, if it’s smoother and more affordable, why didn’t you start this discussion with the Thrustmaster TMX instead of the Logitech G29?” In it’s base form, the biggest problem with the TMX lies with the cheaper feeling rubber wheel and the extremely cheap feeling plastic pedals that do not include a clutch pedal. These pedals are a noticeable downgrade from the pedals that Logitech includes with their G29/G923. To remedy both those issues, you would have to fork over another $130 for the Thrustmaster T3PM pedals, or $250 for their T-LCM pedals which would then blow the doors off Logitech’s offering in every regard. That doesn’t include $200 for Thrustmaster’s TH8A shifter needed to take advantage of that third pedal. Now that you’ve spent at least $530 to complete your setup, this makes the $400 Thrustmaster T248 look more appealing (3.5nm of torque, gear and belt driven) but it also puts you over the price of the superior $499 Thrustmaster T300 Ferrari Integral Racing Wheel that offers much better looks, an alcantara bound wheel, and 4.4nm of torque (but no shifter).
This is where things start to spiral out of control, for better or for worse.
The Thrustmaster T300 used in the Ferrari bundle, is also sold as a separate wheel base for just $299. What this means is that the power delivery system that provides force feedback is packaged and sold separately from all of the other accessories, including the steering wheel. Here, the T300 has access to Thrustmaster’s own ecosystem where sim racers can switch between different steering wheels and buy the pedals that they want. Then, for just $50 more than the T300 base, users can instead get the servo/belt driven Thrustmaster TS-PC base which offers 6nm of torque which is absolutely the better buy, or is it? Beyond that lies Thrustmaster’s latest flagship, the direct drive T818 wheel base offering 10nm of sustained torque for $649.
Before I proceed, I want to reiterate that at these price points, every part of the steering wheel is sold separately. You pick a base, a wheel, a shifter, the pedals you want, and then make the purchase. This means what while the TS-PC can be had for as little as $350, it will end up being $749 once you add their base model pedals and a wheel. This is by design as Thrustmaster offers a $750 TS-XW bundle which is the same exact wheel base but with a red shell. Normally, a $750 investment wouldn’t seem like a bad place to start when Thrustmaster’s direct drive T818 would eclipse $1050 with the same wheel and pedal combination, but we haven’t even discussed the competition yet.
Let’s discuss Thrustmaster’s competition
Competing with Thrustmaster’s T818, we can fall back to Logitech who entered the direct drive market in 2022 with the Logitech G Pro at $999, which offers 11nm of torque compared to the 10nm found in Thrustmaster’s T818. It’s a very capable setup that includes a little display, RPM LEDs, a table clamp (not to be used on glass!), magnetic shifters, and dual clutch pedals. Both Logitech and Thrustmaster options provide the ability to swap wheels but Logitech’s G Pro wheel has USB ports that will only support proprietary devices from their own ecosystem. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, but Logitech hasn’t released a single accessory for their flagship wheel to date. To compare apples, the Logitech G Pro can be bundled with their Logitech Pro Racing Pedals that feature a 100KG loadcell for $1350. The Thrustmaster T818, paired with their P310 wheel, a quick release adapter, and their 100KG loadcell equipped T-LCM pedals bring the total to $1165. Beyond price, the advantage here is that Thrustmaster has a much larger ecosystem.
That’s not Thrustmaster’s only competition though, we still have Asetek, Cammus, Fanatec, IMMSource, LeoBodnar, Moza, Sim-plicity, Simagic, Simexperience, Simucube, and VRS to contend with.
I’m not going to cover every manufacture in great detail since they offer somewhat competitive products that can be mixed and matched. The main difference you will find is between them is availability, fit and finish, and software support as many of them use the same or similar motors but provide their own unique firmware to change how the motor delivers feedback.
Fanatec (Bavaria, Germany. Founded 1997)
Fanatec is the largest player in the direct drive market offering an extensive ecosystem worldwide. Fanatec also creates a lot of unique products that enthusiasts use on competing direct drive platforms. As an industry leader, Fanatec offers highly competitive prices like their CSL DD Race Ready P1 bundle that provides 5nm of torque for just $500. The included “CSL Pedals” leave a lot to be desired but it’s a good place to start and you can always replace them with the far more capable CSL Elite v2 pedals for $300 later on. If you ever want more power, the wheelbase can upgraded to provide 8nm of torque for $150 more, making it the only direct-drive wheel that has this ability. At $650 (without the pedal replacement but with the torque upgrade), it’s a much better buy than Thrustmaster’s TS-XW bundle ($750 for just 6nm) but unlike Thrustmaster’s offering, it does not include a desk mount so if you need one to start, that accessory is going to cost $30 more.
Fanatec also offers heavier hitting bundles like their 25nm Podium DD2 system for $2440 but I would recommend putting together your own custom Podium setup as they offer a more than capable 20nm DD1 base for just $1200. Just know that while Fanatec’s CSL Elite Pedals V2 or v3 pedals should be considered for higher-end builds, there are much better pedals on the market elsewhere. To add, you can even use 3rd party rims from OMP, Nardi, Momo, or Sparco, with the inclusion of the Fanatec Podium Hub. Fanatec even has a lineup of official Podium rims from the BMW GT3 and the Porsche 911 GT3 cars that have spared no expense to produce the most realistic replicas on the market, even using exotic materials like forged carbon fiber.
Fanatec’s wheel bases only support wireless functionality with Fanatec steering wheels.
Simucube (Tampere, Finland. Founded 2006)
Next up I want to talk about Simucube. Well before Fanatec released their Podium Direct Drive lineup (DD1 and DD2), Simucube was selling direct drive kits called the Simucube 1 on granitedevices.com. These kits used an in-house designed FFB controller to provide extremely strong and accurate FFB effects using off the shelf industrial direct drive motors. With the resounding success they achieved, they went on to found Simucube.com alongside the launch of an all new direct drive wheel base lineup called the Simucube 2, made by Granite Devices. Providing all the way up to an incredible 32nm of torque for $2950, beating out Leo Bodnar in both price and performance, Simucube has become a dominate force in the high end sim racing market. While their “budget friendly” $1200 offering only provides 17nm of torque to the 20nm offered by Fanatec’s DD1, Simucube’s wheel bases support wireless communication with 3rd party wheels from Cube Controls and Ascher Racing.
Simucube is also the innovator behind the most sophisticated pedal on the market, the Simucube ActivePedal. While everyone remains stuck in the past, content to use rubber bushings and springs, Simucube has designed a pedal that provides accurate force feedback effects that simulate the feeling of all three pedals to insane levels of detail, and even simulate a completely unique feeling for each car. These don’t come cheap at $4135 for a pair, but Simucube provides the most immersive set of pedals that the sim racing industry has ever seen and that’s something to be proud of. That steering wheel though… yikes.
Moza (Namur, Belgium. Founded 2012)
Like Fanatec, Moza offers a complete sim racing ecosystem but unlike the competition, Moza uses a naming scheme that makes sense. Whether you want 5, 9 16, or 21nm of torque, Moza’s wheel bases are named after the amount of torque they offer. They also have extremely competitive pricing.
Competing with Fanatec’s 5nm $500 CSL DD Race Ready P1 bundle, Moza offers an R5 bundle (5.5nm) for just $30 more that includes a much nicer steering wheel, a much nicer quick release system, and even a desk mount. Bound in leather with an all aluminum quick release, Moza’s E5 steering wheel easily defeats the rubber, plastic, and faux carbon fiber used on Fanatec’s CSL Steering wheel. Unfortunately, the R5 cannot be upgraded like Fanatec’s offering. However, what Fanatec charges $150 more for, Moza’s R9 base (9nm) is only $120 more than the R5 base. This means that you can put together a much more capable setup, one that even includes a loadcell on the brake, for just $730, or $80 more than Fanatec’s offering. For most sim racers it’s a no brainer, especially when compared to Thrustmaster’s TS-XW bundle ($750, 6nm).
Moza’s high end R16 and R21 wheel bases buck the trend of selling you an industrial cube by placing their direct-drive motors inside a sleek aluminum housing. Competing with Fanatec’s $1200 DD1, Moza’s R21 is only $1100 so they have made themselves a worthy competitor.
Also, unlike the competition, all of your wheel settings are saved in the cloud and can be manually adjusted using your cell phone instead of locally installed software. This enables you to make changes on the fly without having to ALT+TAB out of software to make the adjustments. Moza’s V2 steering wheel is compatible with all MOZA bases. Their V2 wheels work on all of the R21/R16/R9 bases through wireless communication and can also work on the R5 base through slip-ring wired communication. They sell a steering wheel adapter for $60 but only the steering functions will work so I would only recommend going this route if you plan to use a more “basic” MOMO, OMP, Sparco, or Nardi aftermarket steering wheel.
Asetek (Aalborg, Denmark. Sim racing product division founded 2021)
Next is Asetek, I’ll try to keep this one short but as someone who has been building computers for over 20 years, this one caught me by surprise so I had to include it. Asetek is the leading provider of AIO liquid cooling solutions that the rest of the industry simply rebrands and then resells. They recently entered the sim racing market with their La Prima, Forte, and Invicta lineup of hardware, all using the infamous Mige motors through an official partnership. The La Prima offers a 12nm bundle for $1350, the Forte offers an 18nm bundle for $2050, and lastly the Invicta with a 27nm bundle for $2900. While those might look rather pricy, you won’t find a more generous bundle from Fanatec.
To add, they have managed to produce one of the most beautiful wheels in sim racing with the the Forte Formula Steering Wheel for $650. That might seem steep compared to Fanatec’s Clubsport Formula V2.5 X at $400, but Fanatec charges an additional $150 to add clutch paddles while Asetek charges only $45 more. Asetek’s offering also includes aRGB backlit labels for each button and it’s made using a forged Carbon Fiber exterior.
Asetek also has a partnership with Pagani where they have produced a limited number of $1000 pedals to closely emulate the driving experience of a Pagani Huayra R using a dual hydralic piston setup that accurately simulates braking forces. It’s not pretty to look at, but I doubt your foot would care.
Asetek wheel bases do not provide support for wireless steering wheels.
Simagic (Longgang Qu, China, Founded 2018)
Simmagic offers a complete ecosystem of sim racing hardware but due to their location it’s worth noting that they rely on 3rd parties like Sim-Motion and APEX Sim Racing to sell their product and handle warranty support.
Simmagic offers three wheel bases with the 10nm Alpha Mini at $540, the 15nm Alpha at $770, and the 23nm Alpha Ultimate for $1030. This makes the Alpha Mini a more appealing option than the Fanatec CSL DD but you will need to bring your own steering wheel and pedals to the party. Unlike Asetek and Simucube, Simagic uses an NRG style quick release system which makes using custom built steering wheels easier and ultimately more affordable.
Simagic was recently appointed as the official sim racing equipment supplier of Formula DRIFT. They offer some of the most affordable sim racing accessories, with many of them punching above their weight class. Their TB-1 handbrake is rally and drift ready with a 100kg loadcell for $190, about $90 less than the Heusinkveld Handbrake that it competes with. The Simagic P2000 Pedal Set is also one of the most affordable hydralic 3-pedal sets available, complete with a full 200kg loadcell for $820. This competes with Asetek’s Invicta Pedals at $1250, and Heusinkveld’s Ultimate Pedals at $1220. I will breakdown the different types of pedal technologies further into the article but I wanted to illustrate that Simagic is a solid competitor to more expensive offerings in that category.
Like Fanatec, Simmagic’s wheel bases provide wireless support but only for Simmagic’s line of steering wheels.
VRS (Grandville, Michigan. Founded 2016)
Last but not least we have VRS, a US-based company which was originally founded as a Virtual Racing School to help drivers realize their full potential. While class is still in session today, VRS saw the opportunity to release their first direct-drive wheelbase called the VRS DirectForce Pro, back in 2020. At just $799, their 20nm offering includes a Mige motor and is one of the most compelling options on the market, often performing just below Simucube’s offerings in benchmarks, at a price that can’t be beat.
Fast forward three years and numerous refinements later, VRS now offers their own set of pedals and a formula-style steering wheel. While their VRS DirectForce Pro pedals punch way above their weight class, just like their DirectForce Pro wheel, I feel that their DirectForce Pro Formula Steering Wheel is a very poor value when compared to all other aftermarket wheels on the market. Asetek’s Forte Formula Steering Wheel is a much more compelling option for a full $350 less.
With VRS’ linuep of affordable high-end products, you can build the setup of your dreams without breaking the bank, just don’t expect wireless wheel support with this one.
The best sim rigs to consider
This is it, time to have some fun! You’ve picked the wheel base that you want and now you can pick the cockpit and the accessories that are needed to mount your wheelbase.
For this to work, I’m going to present the more commonly available options in three different price tiers. As a disclaimer, I don’t own all of the rigs nor have I used them all myself so please don’t hesitate to Google search for some additional feedback before swiping your card. I have taken the liberty to exclude some rigs that I feel are poorly designed (RSeat), lacking in features (RSeat), or are overpriced (RSeat) when compared to the competition, so by no means is this list complete. I will also be excluding wheel stands and foldable designs as those setups offer too much of a compromise in functionality and while the idea behind their design sounds good on paper, once they are setup, most people never break them back down (why? because it’s a PITA). Lastly, I have also excluded the countless number of overpriced nonsensical options because at that point you’re paying for fashion and prestige, over functionality and performance.
I want to quickly reiterate that before picking your ideal sim rig, it’s important to know what type of racing wheel you plan to use as there are different ways that the wheel base can be mounted to the sim rig. If you haven’t read the previous chapter, please do so now.
D-Box actuators, motion rigs, and motion platforms, will be excluded from this list and I will cover those a little later into the article as we dig deeper into the immersion factor. If these are options you want to entertain, any of the extruded aluminum sim rigs can support them.
When picking a sim rig, I generally look for features like an adjustable pedal deck, adjustable seat mount, adjustable wheel mount, and the ability to add a shifter and/or handbrake and all of it has to be rock solid.
It’s worth noting that several of the rigs below provide options and accessories that will easily eclipse the budget category that they have been placed into and that is by design. Building the best rig for you is about having options and what you need to fit your setup may not be needed by someone else. It’s also worth mentioning that some options such as adding a seat and sliding rails at the time of purchase, may save money when compared to acquiring those items separately, so be sure to keep that in mind.
List of sim racing cockpits for less than $500. The Good.
~$250 - SimLab WS-Pro Wheel stand with seat support
~$350 - 6 Sigma 6S-Slim
~$350 - Treq One Basic
~$399 - Rig Metal Basic Sim Cockpit
~$440 - Advanced Sim Racing ASR-K without seat
~$445 - Pro Simrig PSR3
~$450 - Treq Formula
~$450 - Trak Racer TR80
~$460 - Trak Racer RS6
~$499 - 6 Sigma 6S-80
~$499 - SimLab GT1 - EVO
List of sim racing cockpits for less than $800. The Better.
~$540 - Rig Metal Plus
~$550 - Advanced Sim Racing ASR-3
~$550 - Sim-Motion 80mm chassis
~$600 - RCP Cockpit Sport
~$600 - 6 Sigma 6S-120
~$650 - Treq Ace
~$650 - Trak Racer TR80 MK5
~$670 - GT Omega Prime
~$675 - Trak Racer TR120
~$700 - Trak Racer TR8 Pro
~$700 - Next Level Racing GTElite Front & Side mount edition, available in a plate mount version($600)
~$700 - Sim-motion 160mm chassis
~$730 - Rig Metal Flagship
~$730 - SimLab P1-X
~$750 - Advanced Sim Racing ASR-4
~$799 - Next Level Racing F-GTElite Lite Front & Side mount edition, available in a plate mount version($700)
List of sim racing cockpits for more than $800. The Best.
~$875 - RCP Cockpit Pro
~$880 - Trak Racer TR160 MK4
~$1000 - Pro Simrig PSR1
~$1100 - F-GT Elite Front & Side Mount Edition, available in a plate mount version($1000)
~$1200 - Huesinkveld Sim Rig GT w/ monitor mounts
~$1300 - F-GT ELITE 160 FRONT & SIDE MOUNT EDITION, available in a plate mount version($1150)
You may nave noticed that the top-tier category looks a little light but many of the rigs in the middle category offer accessories that make them very competitive. I would recommend checking out all of the sim rigs that are around your budget in order to have an idea of the available features that you would want, to help find the best sim rig for you.
As a reminder, please don’t forget to check the correct boxes for the accessories to your new sim rig.
The best racing seats for sim racing
At this point, I am going to assume that you have decided on the perfect location to put your sim rig, you’ve picked a wheel base, and maybe you’ve even decided on the perfect cockpit for you. You’ve also decided on the type of racing discipline that you want your sim rig to simulate and by proxy that may have even determined if you’re planning to have a 2 or 3 pedal setup, a shifter, and maybe even a handbrake. What may not have been very clear up to this point is how to decide on a racing seat and how that can impact several purchasing decisions -including that cockpit you may or may not have purchased by now.
Now, if you happened to pick a cockpit that includes a seat or you’re planning to purchase their seat as an accessory, you can skip ahead to the next section. But for everyone else, please stick around and hopefully we can find a nice place to park your ass.
F1 or GT style seat?
If you skipped ahead to this section, please note that there are very few rigs that support F1 style seats by default, but there are a few companies that offer seat mounting brackets that you can use to add an F1 style seat to any extruded aluminum cockpit. However, before you go picking an F1 seat, it’s important to note that you will need a cockpit that offers a raised or adjustable pedal deck to accommodate this unique seating position. You will also want to keep this in mind when I discuss the types of pedals that are available as some pedals manufactures provide the ability to adjust the angle of the pedals.
GT style seating is much easier to build for. It doesn’t matter if you’re racing a Toyota GR86 or a Ferrari 296 GT3. The same seating position can be used to accurately emulate the seating experience with the only difference being that you will use a 6-speed shifter when driving the GR86 and just two pedals when driving the 296 GT3. With extruded aluminum, you can easily mount a seat pulled from the junkyard or even a proper bucket seat. Just make sure that whatever you decide upon is wide enough to fit you comfortably for an extended period of time. A typical bucket seat is designed to be uncomfortably tight in order to help secure the driver when turning but because we aren’t experiencing G-forces, we can place a greater emphasis on comfort.
Avoid getting a seat with a containment system. A wrap around head containment system is designed to protect a helmet from side-impacts at high rates of speed. These styles of seat are designed for professional drivers that have a racing harness but don’t have a window net. You’re at no risk of tank slapping your way into a wall, off a cliff, or into a tree so when it comes to sim racing this style of seat is completely unnecessary.
Always take into consideration the angle that the shoulder bolsters have. The more aggressive the angle, the more pressure it will place on your shoulders which can add discomfort or even resistance when shifting or pulling the hand brake.
Shipping availability and costs.
Seats can be awkward to ship so don’t be surprised to see when the shipping cost of a brand new seat is nearly 1/3 the cost of the seat itself. To add, there are quite a few seats that are only available in Europe by companies that do not ship their seats to the US. Those that do ship within the US often have leads times posted if they aren’t sitting on inventory so be mindful of that when placing your order.
Quite of the few of the manufactures are not opposed to using custom materials, padding, and stitching options so if you want to order a unique seat that matches the stitching color found in your favorite car, or even your steering wheel, don’t hesitate to call them and see if they offer custom options. It never hurts to ask!
Save for Sparco, there are very few seats that are made exclusively for use in sim racing. A lot of the seats that you will find are designed as aftermarket replacements for street cars or a track cars, and so the higher costs associated with these seats can be attributed to safety features that are required by law or to meet safety approval ratings under the FIA. None of these ratings will mean anything to a sim rig but it is something to keep in mind as meeting certain requirements can help with resale value should the next owner want to use your seat in their car.
Lastly, pay close attention to what you’re purchasing. I almost feel like it shouldn’t have to be said but seat selections can be more confusing than they should be. If you want real leather, make sure it says that it’s made with real leather. If you want a certain color, make sure you have selected those colors as the picture may not reflect the default colors that the site has selected. Pay attention to how many seats will arrive because even if it appears as just 1 item in the cart, the manufacture might be selling that seat as a pair.
F1 seat options
$540 - Sim Lab SF1
$620 - Advanced Formula seat
$850 - Sparco GP
$940 - RCC Formula
$1300 - Tillet B4
GT style seat options
Advanced Sim Racing
Bride
Corbeau
Momo
Next Level Racing
NRG
OMP
Recaro
Sabelt
Simlab
Sparco
Status Racing
Trak Racer
Expect to see more seats like this on the future:
The best steering wheels for sim racing
If you’ve decided to build an F1 style cockpit, you will need to pick F1 style steering wheel. Aside from the shape, the main difference here is that all of the controls are built into the wheel and with the cockpit that you have chosen, you most likely won’t have the ability to add a button box, shifter, or clutch pedal so the rim has to include all of these features in the form of buttons, paddle shifters, and clutch paddles. These rims might seem costly at first but in truth these wheels can be more affordable compared to buying a clutch pedal, button box, and shifter separately.
F1 cars also have a 360 degree turning radius compared to the 900-1080 found a typical automobile. As a result, the hand positions will be on the left(9 o’clock) and right(3 o’clock) only, where there is no hand-over-hand turning. Depending on the size of your meathooks, some F1 style rims will be better suited for you so be sure to check the included diagrams or posted measurements. The size of the grip can make a big deal when it comes to long term comfort.
Like a real F1 car, some of the more expensive wheels include backlit buttons and even LCD displays. If you find yourself racing with the lights out, or your stuck in a dark closet, having illuminated buttons is a cost worth considering. If your wheel does not include an LCD display (i.e. dashboard), there are several options that can be purchased later if you deem it necessary. This is important to note because it’s always recommended to disable the steering wheel that the software renders on-screen since there is no need to see two wheels in front of you (your wheel + virtual wheel) but doing so can sometimes remove valuable information such as the shift lights, gear indicator, and various other settings that the virtual wheel has. The LCD display gives you back this lost information but if you find yourself swapping rims often, you may want to consider getting a separate sim racing dashboard instead. I’ll include those below as well.
If you’ve decided to build a GT style cockpit, but you also plan on racing in F1 style cars, you can pick up one of these rims at any time if you value the immersive feeling of a properly shaped wheel but that’s completely up to you. As you get deeper into the hobby, you may even find yourself owning several steering wheels but you will only need one to start.
If you purchased a wheelbase bundle that included a steering wheel, you may not need to view these options but it’s nice to know that they exist.
F1 style Rims
~$270 - Fanatec ClubSport Steering Wheel F1 ESports V2
~$390 - Fanatec ClubSport Formula wheel V2.5
~$400 - Thrustmaster Ferrari SF1000 Edition (Thrustmaster T-series only)
~$400 - Fanatec ClubSport Formula wheel V2.5 X
~$470 - Moza GS GT
~$500 - Cube Controls F-Core
~$500 - Simagic GT4 wheel
~$520 - Asetek Forte Formula
~$530 - Simagic FX Formula
~$600 - Derek Speare Designs DSD LMS Bluetooth Sim Racing Rim
~$640 - Moza FSR Formula Wheel
~$650 - Gomez X-29
~$780 - Simagic FX Pro Formula
~$800 - Ascher-Racing F28-SC V2
~$875 - Gomez GXL Pro
~$930 - P1-Eau Rouge Evo
~$950 - Cube Controls F-Pro
~$1000 - VRS DirectForce Pro
~$1035 - Gomez GSI GXL Pro Prime
~$1050 - Grid MPX
~$1080 - P1Sim Formula - Eau Rouge Plus
~$1175 - Ascher-Racing F64-USB v3
~$1350 - BavarianSimTec Omega One
~$1390 - Cube Controls CSX-3
~$1395 - Gomez GSI Formula Pro Elite
~$1395 - Rexing Formula Mayaris v1.1
~$1400 - Esportsim Formula Series 2
~$1500 - Gomez FPS “Simucube” Edition
~$1500 - Sim-Motion P-RSR
~$1700 - BavarianSimTec Omega Formula Pro
~$2000 - Precision Sim Engineering LM-Pro
~$2150 - VPG V-PF1 Pro
~$3700 - Precision Sim Engineering GPX Steering Wheel
GT style Rims
~$250 - MOZA CS
~$340 - Simagic GTS Round
~$400 - Simagic GT1S Round/D-Shape
~$440 - MOZA RS V2
~$600 - Cube Controls GT Sport
~$650 - Apex Downforce Carbon
~$700 - Cube Controls GT Pro
~$820 - Simucube Tahko GT-21 Wireless Wheel
~$1385 - Gomez GT-MAX32
~$1650 - Hyper P1
~$1760 - Rexing GT wheel
Custom Rims
Wheel adapters, button modules, and paddle shifters may be needed. Buttonplates are another option where most functions are already included.
$150 - Turn Racing R305
$150 - Turn Racing R320
Fanatec Clubsport Paddle Module
Fanatec Podium Advanced Paddle Module
Fanatec Clubsport Button Cluster Pack
Sim-Lab XERO-PLAY Steering Wheel Quick Release
Sim-Lab Push Pull Rally Shifter
Buttonplates
For use with custom rims, various manufacturers offer all-in-one button plates that can be paired with almost any wheel.
~$150 - Fanatec CSL Universal Hub
~$200 - Fanatec Podium Button Module Endurance
~$510 - Ricmotech RealGear WHEELpro Small Button Box with Paddles
~$510 - Ricmotech RealGear WHEELpro Large Button Box with Paddles
~$600 - Ascher-Racing B16L
~$650 - Ascher-RacingB24-SC
Pedals
If you purchased a wheel base bundle that included pedals, you may already be good to go, at least for now. In most cases, the pedals that are included with bundles tend to be “good enough” which are perfectly fine for controlling what you want the virtual car to do, but due to their more affordable construction, they can leave a lot of room for improvement. When it comes to the cost of pedals, it’s not just about metal vs plastic either, this rabbit hole goes much deeper than that.
Comparable to buying a stronger wheel base that can provide a greater level of detail into your palms, a nice set of pedals will generally do more to improve lap times due to the amount of fidelity they can offer when modulating the pedals consistently throughout practice, qualifying, and the race. To summarize, a good set of pedals are more important than the quality of the wheelbase.
Today’s higher end pedals use a mix of high durometer rubber bushings, metal washers, springs, and solid aluminum endlinks to simulate the feel of real pedals to a very convincing degree. Taking things a step further, these pedals will use what is called a loadcell, which is a unique type of sensor that can recognize pressure (i.e. force) with a high degree of accuracy and transmit those values in the form of an electric signal. Very affordable pedals will use a simple spring and a potentiometer, or a magnetic sensor, to detect how far a pedal is being pressed but these types of pedals don’t provide a realistic resistance to the underside of your feet to simulate the forces that it takes for a pedal to “feel” like it’s being pressed. These forces make a huge difference in how much your feet are able to control the forces being applied consistently. I don’t have a better way to describe how important a nice set of pedals are for your sim racing career be but once you’ve tried a nicer set of pedals, at least ones with a loadcell, there is no going back.
~$250 - Thrustmaster T-LCM Pedals
~$300 - Fanatec CSL Elite Pedals V2
~$350 - Logitech G Pro Racing Pedals
~$400 - Asetek La Prima Brake & Throttle
~$400 - Fanatec Clubsport Pedals V3
~$450 - Sim-Lab Pedal Set XP1 Loadcell
~$500 - Moza CRP Pedals
~$520 - Meca EVO1 - LC
~$585 - Sim-Lab Pedal Set XP1 Loadcell with clutch
~$600 - Fanatec Clubsport Pedals V3 Inverted
~$630 - Alien Peals Racing
~$640 - VNM Simulation Pedal Set
~$650 - SG Racing 2 Pedal Set
~$650 - VRS Throttle & Brake
~$700 - Huesinkveld Sim Pedals Sprint
~$700 - Meca EVO1 - Hydaulic
~$750 - SG Racing 3 Pedal Set
~$810 - Simagic P2000 Pedal Set
~$855 - Asetek Invicta S-Series Brake & Throttle
~$900 - Asetek SimSports Pagani Huayra R Sim Racing Pedals
~$960 - Augury Simulations AP-21
~$1050 - Frex Sim3pedal
~$1080 - Asetek Ultimate Invicta (includes sim racing shoes)
~$1200 - Cube Controls Pedals Set SP01
~$1280 - Simracing-Pro SRP-GT-R (inverted option available)
~$1300 - Augury Simulations AP-121
~$1285 - Huesinkveld Sim Pedals Ultimate+
~$1560 - Simworx Pro GT V3.1 LC Pedal set
~$2350 - Simtag Ashley Hydraulic 3 Pedal Set
~$2890 - Simucube Pedals (Accelerator + Active Pedal Brake + Baseplate)
~$4740 - Simucube Pedals (Accelerator + Active Pedal Brake + Active Pedal Accelerator + Baseplate)
Shifters
Not needed for an F1 style cockpit, shifters are needed to simulate rowing through gears in your favorite street cars or even classic race cars. You can purchase a 6 or 7 speed shifter and a separate sequential shifter that can be used to simulate shifting in a rally car, or you can find a shifter that it capable of pulling double duty in order to reduce clutter on your rig. This choice is very personal so be sure to check all of the options in great detail to find the right setup for you.
Many of the shifters will allow you to dial in the resistance that is needed to row through the gears so you can better simulate the feeling depending on how “notchy” you want the shifts to feel.
~$50 - Logitech G Pro shifter
~$150 - MOZA HGP
~$180 - Aiologs Shifter Sequential
~$160 - DSD Pro Sequential
~$180 - DSD Bent Rod GT
~$220 - Huesinkveld Sim Shifter Sequential
~$230 - Thrustmaster TH8A 7-Speed Shifter
~$250 - Meca EVO SQ
~$260 - Fanatec Clubsport Shifter SQ V 1.5
~$260 - Simagic - Q1S Sequential Shifter
~$280 - SG Racing Sequential Shifter Pro
~$285 - VNM Simulation Shifter
~$300 - Derek Speare Designs Pro Sequential Shifter
~$325 - Thrustmaster TSS+ Sequential Shifter and Handbrake Sparco Edition
~$390 - Simagic - DS-8X Shifter
~$400 - Simagic Q1 Sequential Shifter with Gear Counter
~$465 - Pro-Sim Lite simulator sequential gear shifter V2
~$1280 - SimWorx Supercar Sequential Shifter
~$1880 - Pro-Sim Professional H-Pattern Shifter with Handle Extension
Handbrakes
Handbrakes are only needed for those that plan to drift or rally race as they have no place in GT or F1 racing. If you’ve ever watched Formula Drift, D1GP, or the WRC, you would know just how critical a handbrake can be to the success of a race. There are several handbrake options available and just like a nice set of pedals, its the load cell modes that you want if you can comfortably afford it.
~$130 - Fanatec Clubsport Handbrake v1.5
~$180 - Aiologs Handbrake
~$180 - Sim-Lab XB1 Loadcell
~$220 - SG Racing Handbrake
~$250 - Meca EVO Handbrake
~$270 - VNM Simulation Handbrake v1.5
~$280 - Huesinkveld Sim Handbrake
~$440 - SimWorx Pro Series Handbrake
Button boxes
Button boxes aren’t 100% necessary but they can be very helpful if you want to make on-the-fly adjustments without having to return to the pits, they can also help quite a bit with immersion. Some racers may only ever make a few adjustments during a race so if you have enough buttons on your wheel, a button box may not be needed. However, if you’re the kind of racer that wants to control the starter, the ignition, indicators, boost pressures, brake bias, pit speed limiters, windsheild wipers, headlights, etc etc, button boxes are designed to make these tasks easier so you can stay focused on the race.
While there are a few companies that have designed button boxes that are ready to go, it’s not uncommon to see people that have designed and built their own custom button boxes. This is a not a route that everyone can take as it takes a certain degree of familiarity with a dremel tool, 3D design, 3D printing, circuitry, and soldering but if the thought of making a button box excites you, have at it! Several of the companies below also supply parts specifically for the creation of your own button box so I will be sure to link those below.
Dashboards
Unique to the world of sim racing, most simracers will drive without a steering wheel being rendered on the screen because they already have a physical wheel in their hands. In many cases, when the steering wheel is turned off, a lot of valuable information can disappear with it. To counter that, several different companies offer displays that connect to Simhub software that can display information from within any simulator.
~$160 - MOZA CM 5” Racing Dashboard (MOZA R5 / R9 only)
~$270 - Simlab SD43-LED Display 4.3” dashboard
~$300 - MOZA RM 5” Racing Dashboard (MOZA R16 / R21 only)
~$315 - GRID Display DDU-5 5" dashboard
~$400 - Ascher-Racing 4” dashboard
~$460 - Ascher-Racing 5” dashboard
Before you jump at your wallet at the sight of that dashboard, you might also want to consider using your cellphone as a dashboard using Simhub. This is especially easy if you’ve got an old cellphone laying around as you can find a place to simi-permanently affix it to your rig. Simhub provide several themes to choose from and it’s incredibly easy to configure.
Racing Gloves
Racing gloves are something that I would highly recommend using and encouraging others to use as well. When racing gets intense, your palms will start to sweat so racing gloves make for a nice way to protect your rim, especially if it’s alcantara. Also, gloves add a nice layer of padding between your palm and the wheel which extends your ability to fight stronger steering forces over a longer duration without having to worry about cramping in your palms, it happens.
Racing gloves tend to be an expendable item as they might only last for a few years with heavy use but even with that in mind, make sure you measure the dimensions of your hands to ensure that you’re buying gloves that will feel comfortable for years to come. Even with the correct measurements, gloves are designed with a break-in-period where they may feel a little tight at first but they will stretch to accommodate your hands with use. You can tell when a glove will be too snug if you can just barely fit your hand, or the base of your palm, all the way into the glove or you can feel your fingers getting cold as circulation is being restricted. If you experience either of these, you will want to go up a size and most retailers will understand this.
When picking a set of gloves, be sure to check the item description, as well as the reviews, because most stores will indicate if the size of the gloves tend to run smaller or larger than their intended size.
Racing Shoes and sim racing socks
Racing shoes or sim racing socks are completely optional but depending on the strength of the loadcell you’re pushing against, a decent set of racing shoes can be a real blessing. Deciding what to get is ultimately up to you but if you find your socks slipping off steel pedals or you find your fat feet accidentally stabbing at more than one pedal, having options is always nice. Thankfully, you won’t have to worry about meeting some sort of SFI 3.3/5 fire retardant rating so any sort of shoe (or non-slip sock) that is flat and has a nice roll on the heel should do the trick.
Puma used to make an pair of “Active Gaming Footwear” marketed towards gamers and esports, but I think the ridicule they received from targeting the wrong audience caused that segment to crater. For some reason, it was hard to understand how active gaming footwear could improve the K:D ratio of a Counter-Strike player. Thankfully, there are other less expensive options available, including legit racing shoes from companies like Sparco and Racequip.
There are also plenty of more expensive options available from Alpinestars and Piloti, but since these are not generally made for walking, and internet style points don’t win races, I would recommend you break the bank on other sim racing accessories, like a nice set of pedals.
Asetek Invicta Sim racing Shoes
Immersion accessories (VR, Wind, shakers, belt-tensioners, motion kits)
Part of the enjoyment that comes with sim racing is how close the hardware can emulate the experience of driving in an actual race car at speed. At the end of the day, we are really just investing into this hobby so that it feels more realistic than having to use a game controller or keyboard, but thanks to a burgeoning community there have been several innovations throughout the years that can help take realism to that next level.
VR
One of the more common accessories used in sim racing is a VR headset. They can be more affordable than triple screen setups, they can be easier to configure, they consume less power, and they take up a lot less room. Now, if you have ever experienced VR before and felt that it wasn’t for you, please spare me a few minutes to see if we can change your mind because there are a few parts to VR that can ruin the experience if your VR sherpa didn’t know any better.
This isn’t to say that VR is the best way to experience sim racing, but for that feeling of immersion that VR provides, that sense of presence to truly feel like you’re sitting in the cockpit of a 1966 Brabham BT20 Formula One car, VR just cannot be beat when it’s setup right.
Part 1. VR Legs.
Most VR games are designed with room scale VR in mind. This means that the game has been designed to deliver to the player a virtual world that they can interact with by walking around in a physical space (i.e. your living room). Normally this would be fine if the game’s experience was restricted to a single room at a time but in most cases, games are still trying to adhere to the principles of a traditional first-person title where they want the player to navigate throughout a level. The problem with traversing across a level is that when the player is standing still in their living room and they issue a movement command in a particular direction, this forces the camera view to move or snap that direction while the VR wearer is standing perfectly still. I could go into much greater detail about the specifics surrounding locomotion in VR but no matter how you slice it, this disconnect between movement causes motion sickness for most users. The same cannot be said for the use of a VR headset when it comes to sim racing, at least in most cases. VR in Sim racing is a completely different beast as it’s one of the only forms of VR that translates well due to the lack of locomotion since the user remains in a seated position. While seated, the sim racer can turn their head to look at their mirrors in real-time while the world is passing by and it all translates very well provided you have the computational horsepower for it
Part 2. Computational horsepower
VR is extremely demanding, even more demanding that gaming on a 4k monitor. When consumer VR was first coming into fruition, John Carmack, the pioneer on three-dimensional game design and founder of id games (Doom, Quake), put together several research papers that concluded that the human brain requires at least 90 frames per second in VR to avoid feeling motion sick or disconnected from the camera’s perspective. This means that the VR headset needs to include LCD displays that can operate with a refresh rate of 90Hz and the user’s graphics card(GPU) needs to be powerful enough to render the scene at or above 90 frames per second. If you’ve ever had a bad experience in VR before, it’s likely that you had a bad sherpa that introduced you to VR without having a powerful enough computer to meet that 90FPS requirement, and so you may have felt motion sick, perhaps enough to deter you from ever wanting to try VR again.
Part 3. FOV police strike again!
Even the best VR headsets around don’t offer a true 220-degree field of view to closely match what the human eyes can see from a fixed position. Hell, even a proper triple-screen setup might only offer around 150-degrees of view. However, more affordable VR headsets can be extremely limiting which then feels like you’re viewing the world through a cardboard box. Depending on the headset that you use, the FOV could be as narrow as 90-degrees or as high as 160-degrees if you have the money for it. In general, VR headsets can make up for their lower FOV with the ability to look in any direction while seated. This means that when you’re racing, you can look down at your lap belt, shifter, and pedals, you can look to the car at your left as you brake late to enter the corner, you can lock your view on the apex of that next corner, or glance at the underside of the Dunlop bridge as your race over the Dunlop Curve at Le Mans. A VR headset offers a level of immersion that cannot exist with a triple screen setup.
While I would love to argue that the best VR headsets use a wire and rely on basestations for accuracy, I will happily admit that having a cord and trying to mount basestations can provide a less than ideal experience that will hopefully be solved within the next few years. You also won’t catch me recommending anything from Meta so anything from their proprietary ecosysm is out of the question.
Vive XR Elite
All of this is to say that with the proper hardware, you can produce a very immersive experience, and outside of G-forces, the only thing missing that can add to that level of immersion, is vibration.
Vibration can be added to any cockpit with the addition of bass shakers or tactile transducers as they are more accurately called. You can affix any number of them to different parts of the rig and these can be used to produce vibrations, not sound, that can emulate engine vibrations, road vibrations, the tires over rumble strips, or even the ker-thud that occurs when shifting gears. The most popular among them is the Buttkicker which comes in several different variants but there are other options available from companies like Sim Racing Studio as well.
Buttkicker 4-corners bundle - Plus
Buttkicker 4-corners bunble - Pro
Sim Racing Studio also provides what are called wind kits. These use powerful fans and ducts that can emulate the feeling of wind as it hits you at varying speeds depending on how fast the car is cutting through the wind. These are more suited for use in open wheel cockpits as these vehicles have no windscreen but it’s not uncommon to see wind vents in GT3 cars either, especially now that almost every GT3 car comes equipped with air conditioning.
Sim Racing Studio Hurricane "Tube Edition" Power Wind Package
Next are head trackers. If you don’t want VR, a head tracking device is the next best thing. TrackIR and Tobii own this space by both offering devices that can be paired with your monitor(s) to add a subtle amount of camera movement when you turn your head. This is to say that the tracking device recognizes when you have pitched your head in a certain direction, so it then shifts the camera position the direction that your have turned, to subtly emulate your ability to look around without having a VR headset on. These devices tend to work really well with 49” monitors as they can afford the ability to see your side mirrors, when before you would have to use an incorrect FOV to include the side mirrors on-screen.
Next up on the immersion pipeline we have what is called an active belt tension system. While most people have no need to install a 5-point or a 6-point harness to a cockpit that never moves, a belt tension system uses motors to pull down on the seatbelts, from just behind your seating position, in order to emulate the pressure that would be experienced when braking hard in a real car. Better still, when you first get seated and turn on the ignition of your car, you can feel the system tighten down on one belt at a time, just as you would in a real car.
Lastly, we have the holy grail of sim racing immersion. At north of $2400, you too can install a linear actuator on each corner of your sim rig to emulate acceleration, deceleration, turning, bumps, body roll, shunts, and off-roading. There are quite a few companies competing for your dollar here but latency is the biggest killer here where some systems produce the intended effect too far after it was supposed to be experienced, which breaks the feeling of immersion. If this is the route that you wish to take, be sure to check the reviews and the response times because this is a big purchase. The costs for linear actuators increases as the range of their movement increases. The higher the actuators are, the more they can raise and lower to produce a more realistic feeling. Pick and choose from any of the above options and you will have one of the most immersive sim racing experiences available.
~$1365 - SimXperience 150mm SCN5 Motion Starter Kit
~$2400 - RS Mega+
~$7200 - DBox Gen5 4250i
Displays (Triples and Fourty-Nines)
Sure to be a highly contentious topic, it’s time to discuss displays.
First off, I do not recommend having a single 27” or 34” monitor or even a single 48”+ television, as those have no place in a proper sim rig. This isn’t about being some sim racing snob or even about producing a greater sense of realism, it’s about racing safely, respecting other drivers, and ensuring that you’re not kneecapping your own sim racing career. A single monitor makes for an okay place to start but ultimately having a single 16:9 or 21:9 aspect ratio display is the wrong choice for a sim rig. This isn’t about resolution either, it’s all about having the right amount of screen real estate to produce an accurate field of view.
Seeing the difference laid out in flat image doesn’t quite do it justice either as the left and right monitors are wrapped around your seating position, equidistant to your eyes, which closely emulates the feeling of being in a real car. This wrap arround effect, coupled with the ability to see beyond your side mirrors, allows drivers to track the apexes of upcoming corners. As a result, you don’t have to worry about accientally turning into another driver when you’re racing into a corner.
When buying triples, it is recommended that all three monitors are the same exact model. While some users have reported success with mixing different sized monitors, it’s the resolutions and refresh rates that can really cause havoc with different game engines and Nvidia Surround/AMD Eyefinity configurations. To help reduce the amount of troubleshooting and maintenance that’s required, I highly recommend acquiring three monitors of the same type. It won’t matter if you buy 3x27” or 3x34”, as long as all three have the same specifications and use the same input cable (i.e. DisplayPort), they will be considerably easier to setup. The input cable is important because the color output to HDMI isn’t the same as it is for DisplayPort and there are no modern graphics cards that include 3x HDMI ports. The use of triple screen introduces big black bezels between the monitors but this can be countered with a bezel free film that practically makes them disappear when seated.
Pictured: 3 monitors with a bezel free film covering the gap and bezels between each display.
49” monitors are the most convenient, affordable, and most space saving option. They can mount directly to the rig, they don’t require a separate extruded aluminum monitor stand, you don’t have to configure the displays with each title, and there is no bezel to worry about. Samsung’s Odyssey G9 Neo is the current flagship display offering a 1000R curvature, 240Hz refresh rate, NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro Support, with 1440 vertical pixels, and around 1200 nits of measurable peak brightness (3x the brightness of your average display). At $1500 it doesn’t come cheap but it doesn’t have any real competition in that space. If you’re looking to save money, the Samsung CRG can be had for $900. It has a less agressive 1800R curvature, a 120Hz refresh rate (plenty!), NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync support, with 1440 vertical pixels (ideal), with around 1000 nits of measurable peak brightness (still plenty bright).
If you can swing it, I would recommend that you avoid any 49” panels that have a 1080 vertical resolution. Having a 1440 vertical brings so much more to the screen and it no longer feels like your seeing the world through window blinds.
The better the monitor is, the better the graphics card you will need. There is no sense paying for a 240Hz monitor if your GPU can only run your software at 120FPS.
Keep this mind when configuring your software too. Just because you can max out the graphics doesn’t mean that you should. Outside of resolution, Framerate should be your #1 priority. Just like professional eSports players, you will want to configure your graphics settings until you’re able to get a smooth consistant framerate at the max refresh rate that your monitor is capable of. If this means setting everything to low so you can play at 240Hz, then please considering doing so and you will see how much smoother the experience feels, almost as if you were sitting in the car.
Oddly enough, after enough laps your brain is pretty easily tricked into believing the scene that’s be represented on-screen, even if the graphics have been set to potato. That said, graphics are part of the immersion process so I cannot really fault anyone for wanting to crank all the settings to the max but just know that any experience above 96/120FPS is going to play so much better.
These same rules apply to VR users.
Display Mounts
Depending the type of sim rig that you have decided upon, the manufacturer will offer single, triple, or even quad monitor mounting solutions. If you happen upon one that does not, check out the competition and pick up one of their offerings instead.
Single monitor mounts are often affixed to the rig itself while triple or quad monitor mounting solutions usually have their own seperate base that the entire sim rig slides between. Just be sure to pay attention to the max weight and max monitor size that the mount can support.
You can expect to spent around $400 for a quality triple/quad screen mount which is pretty fair considering that single monitor mount for a desktop can easily eclipse north of $200.
Lighting
Philips Hue. Nuff said. What an amazingly easy way to add immersion to any setup. Add a Philips Hue hub to your network, install the lights (in-ceiling or behind the monitor, or even projecting on the nearby walls), use the phone app to position the lights within the room, install the Hue Sync app on your PC and you’re done! Now when you’re racing on the Nürburgring and driving along a tree line with the sun’s rays piercing through the foliage, the entire room will flicker to accurately illustrate the light as it passes through the trees. The lighting will even shift to match the color as it appears on-screen to so the color of the German sun will be different from the scorching sun at Sebring.
This works with everything from games, to music, to sim racing but for that added touch of immersion, *chef’s kiss*
Audio (DAC and/or volume controller, Headphone setup, and surround sound options)
Like cars, computers, movies, Warhammer 40K, and games, audio is another big passion of mine. I know enough to know what I enjoy and I know enough to not buy into the marketing BS that is often associated with high-end audio equipment. As humans, we have touch, sight, and hearing that should all be stimulated in order to be fully immersed in sim racing. While some audio setups can certainly break the bank, I want to instead present you with a few options worth considering for that extra level of immersion. Afterall, there is nothing quite like hearing the rocks kick up at the underside of the chassis, the belts clanking against the rollcage, or the roar of an flat-plane V8 as it roars by you at the inside of the corner.
If you’re in a garage or shed, or have a really isolated room, surround sound is the way to go. Place the subwoofer close to your seat and the rear channels by your ears for a good time. They make proper speaker mounts for extruded aluminum rigs too. This setup can utilize an affordable 5.1 PC speaker setup or a crazy setup worthy of being used in a home theater, the skies the limit with this one. Just know that because we’re not taking advantage of Dolby Atmos, HDMI 2.1, or even female vocals here, you don’t need to spend over $1000 on a pitch-perfect Yamaha receiver. A full setup shouldn’t cost more than $1500 tops and the default Realtek ALC1220 soundcard that’s built into your motherboard is more than capable.
If noise is an issue but you still want to hear the reverberations inside a carbon fiber monocoque, a nice pair of cans will do you wonders. For this, I highly recommend open-back headphones for sim racing because sitting in a bucket seat is already hot enough as is. You won’t want leather or alcantara pads pressed against your ears too, especially if they are closed back. To add, the clamping force should be rather minimal (i.e. not Sennheiser) and the headband should be suspended to reduce pressure. The cable needs to be long enough to reach your PC and 3.5mm capable (using an adapter is fine). With all these factors in mind, a somewhat affordable option to consider would be the award winning AKG K712 Pro. With these more neutral sounding cans, you will get a decent base, positional accuracy, and accurate staging that doesn’t fatigue your ears in the slightest. The headset can also withstand years of abuse, drops, and thuds unlike cheaper headphones. The K712’s are not going to sound like some flagship that came from a cherrywood box but they are more than capable of wowing anyone that’s never heard an accurate presentation before, especially when comfort is a major factor. It helps that they weigh so little compared to other similarly priced headsets too. Occasionally DROP will sell an AKG 7XX version for a little less, which tends to be a little more bass heavy, but I prefer the more accurate sound stage of the AKG K712 myself, enough to warrant the extra cost at least. If a mic is necessary for racing with friends, Antlion’s Mod Mic is a stellar addition to any headset.
In addition to using a headset, whichever headset you prefer, I would also recommend getting a DAC to pair with it. Again, we’re not trying to put together a crazy audiophile’s dream but a touch of extra fidelity, complete with a tactile volume knob for on-the-fly adjustments for each car you drive, certainly doesn’t hurt. For this I would recommend either the Scarlett Solo or the Schitt Magni+. With these, you should hear a slight sonic difference, but really I use my Schitt unit as a glorified volume knob.
Software (Simhub, Crewchief)
The simulator isn’t the only software you should be using. As a companion to your racing career, online or offline, I would highly recommend using Crewchief. Best part? It’s 100% Free, but once you see how amazing this app is, please consider donating to support the project. Maybe one day they can add some AI to further enhance the usefulness of this app.
With Crewchief, you get your very own race engineer that will speak to you throughout the race, just like the pros. It allows you to focus entirely on the race, while getting valuable feedback along the way. It will let you know when a car is next to you so your don’t accidentally run them off the road and it will let you know when your temps are getting a little out of control. The voice of your Crewchief can be changed and you can even select from an impossibly large list of names so that it will occasionally direct a message to you. You can even enable sweary messages so when you really fuck up, it will let you know.
You should not be sim racing without Crewchief, it’s just that good. Give it a try and see just how much more immersion it can add to your racing experience.
Next up, we have Simhub and what an incredible tool this is. It’s like a swiss army knife for simracers. You can use it as a dedicated launcher for all your sim racing titles, you can use it to project a dashboard to your mobile device, you can use it to control your bass shakers, your fans, and even Arduino additions like shift lights or RGB strips. Like Crewchief, Simhub is free but the paid version unlocks some additional functionality and stops the Winzip-like nagging that appears every time you open it. The free version is limited to a visual output of just 10FPS while the paid version brings it up to 60FPS but in most cases, it should be enough for anyone trying to remain frugal. That said, a Simhub license is good for life and can be had for as little as $5. As your rig continues to evolve Simhub will only become more useful as you can configure individual uses/effects for each title in your library.
Computer accessories
Depending on how deep you want to go, you may find yourself running low on USB ports, or in rare cases you may find that your motherboard is not content to power every USB device that you have plugged in. In this case, I would recommend finding a nice 12 or 16-port powered USB hub, that can be affixed to your rig so that you can cleanly plug in additional accessories. I highly recommend the following two models as they don’t use a soft-touch rubber/plastic housing that degrades when exposed to oxygen (pointing at Anker) and they don’t pull apart should you ever decide to relocate the hub (also directed at Anker). Both these units feature an aluminum housing and they have a perfectly flat backside where you can use a single long strip of heavy-duty double-sided tape (from 3M or Gorilla) to secure it to that ideal place on your rig (where it’s not easily visible but all the USB cables can reach it). If the ideal mounting position is out of reach for a few of your USB cables, there is no harm in using some quality USB extension cables.
Both Acasis and Sabrent offer the same rebranded model 16-port powered USB hub for around $75.
Acasis model
Sabrent model
Plug in the power cord, plug the hub’s USB cable into your computer, and then you can power everything you will ever have installed at your computer. As an added bonus, each USB port can turned off at the press of a button to save power when the rig is not in use (or the computer is turned off).
For keyboards you can use your current one, a spare, or even a smaller 65%/75% keyboard, but I recommend getting a wireless keyboard with a built in trackpad since mousepads are not generally a feature that simrigs have. For this, the Logitech K830 is the perfect companion, if you can find one. Similar to the more affordable Logitech K400+, the K830 includes backlit keys. They appear to be difficult to find at the moment, but if you manage to secure one, it’s a great keyboard for use on your simrigs swingout keyboard tray, and I’ve yet to find anything better. Battery life on the K830 is about 10 days but if you keep a spare charging cable plugged into the USB hub above, that becomes non-issue. For anyone out there who is a snob when it comes to mechanical switches (like me), you will be undoubtedly be disappointed by the mushy feeling of both options, but it’s a sacrifice for the sake of having access to a wireless trackpad when you’re in the hot seat.
Disclaimers, advice, and recommendations (Heat, Maintenance, Firmware, Trial and Error)
Any recommendations above are my own. Who the hell am I?
I’ve been a sim racing enthusiast since 2012, helping others to get into this amazing hobby ever since. Every mistake and misstep that I have made along the way has cost me a lot of time and money so it’s my hope that this detailed guide can save you both. Research, research, research, and then make your purchases with 100% confidence knowing that you’ve made the right decision. We don’t have many opportunities in life to build something that is uniquely designed to fit our every need, so take that red pill, and don’t be afraid to see how deep this rabbit hole goes.
If you’re solo, this disclaimer isn’t needed so go treat yourself, but if you have a partner, please heed the following advice. Be honest with your partner. As a car guy and sim racing enthusiast, I’ve interacted with way too many people that brazenly discuss how they hide their car part and sim racing purchases or even lie about their spending habits, and that’s not healthy for any relationship. When I bought my Volk TE37 wheels back in 2012 for $4200, I discussed the purchase with my wife and bought her a really nice set of heels as thanks. My car got new shoes, my wife got new shoes, and everyone was happy. Be responsible and discuss your finances, you would be surprised how much these open discussions can strengthen your relationship. Honesty goes both ways too so don’t be too surprised when you learn how much their spending on things that make them happy.
Don’t over extend yourself while trying to get into this hobby. This shit is expensive, I am not going to lie. This is a very expensive hobby to get into but with that said, it doesn’t have to be. Buy only what you can comfortably afford so you can start enjoying it without having to worry about debt. Then over time, as you find yourself enjoying the hobby more, you can always upgrade.
Sim racing is a workout and bucket seats get really hot so be sure to keep hydrated and cool. Sure, you’re sitting down, but you might be surprised to learn that there are a lot of arm, shoulder, core, and leg muscles that get worked out lap after lap. I like to add a tablespoon of maple syrup to my water bottle to keep my muscles relaxed, it’s the same drink I use when cycling. Maple syrup contains amino acids and when you’re racing hard, your muscles get beat up. The Amino acids in maple syrup help repair that damage and prevent muscle deterioration. Maple syrup is water soluble making it easy to digest and quick to absorb. I highly recommend it!
Take a break between races to help calm your nerves. Until you become a more experienced sim racer, the adrenaline of a good race can excite your nerves beyond control.
Study your tracks by watching others. Be it the person in front of you or YouTube videos, studying what to do will make you a faster racer much sooner than performing hotlaps over and over again. Until you have mastered the racing line, repeating hotlaps just means that you will continue to make the same mistakes every time. Learn to appreciate the downtime in order to hone your racecraft.
Consider stepping away after race incidents to help clear your mind. This career is supposed to be fun so don’t let racing incidents get to you. Even the pros crash from time to time. If you find that you keep making the same mistakes over and over, check your calibrations to ensure that none of your settings have changed. You would be surprised by how much more control you have with a properly calibrated set of pedals and this is typically where the most time can be found, it can also prevent accidents.
Just because you built it doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a flawless experience. Being a sim racer requires basic maintenance and advanced troubleshooting knowledge for both hardware and software. Building it yourself and following any of our helpful guides can help to reduce the time spent in the pits, but issues do happen so try not to get too upset if you miss a race or lose en entire evening trying to figure out an issue.
Hardware and Firmware updates are completely normal. Do them often but don’t be surprised to find that you have lost a configuration or need to re-calibrate something. For this, I highly recommend taking notes on the setup and configuration of all your hardware and software so that you can get back in the cockpit as quickly as possible. You would be surprised how easy it is to forget a simple step when you haven’t had to perform that process in over a year. If your computer ever fails or needs to be replaced, you will be thankful that you had everything thoroughly documented.
Sim racing requires a lot of trial and error. You will need to learn how to setup your car, how to install add-ons, how much fuel to put into the tank, how an FOV impacts your driving, etc, etc. Don’t hesitate to tinker and find what works best for you.
Getting into this hobby is a time and resource commitment but if you enjoy cars, motorsports, and racing games, you will not find a more enjoyable experience at home with your pants on.
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