{"id":8581,"date":"2018-03-26T04:31:28","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T11:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/?p=8581"},"modified":"2024-11-28T07:46:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T15:46:03","slug":"q-recommend-a-driving-simulator-setup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/q-recommend-a-driving-simulator-setup\/","title":{"rendered":"Q: Can you recommend a driving simulator setup?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q<\/strong>: \u201cYou are a big proponent of simulators. I have a sim seat at home and use it to learn tracks, but my seat, wheels, and pedals just don\u2019t feel right for learning habits.\u00a0Can you recommend a sim setup (as in actual parts) that will work for most people? I think it is the biggest barrier to entry since there are so many options.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong>: I\u2019m not an expert on the best sim hardware (or software), but I\u2019ll take a stab at answering this.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s most challenging is that the best setup depends on the budget you have and what you\u2019re trying to achieve with it. Personally, the feel from a simulator is not super-important to me because I use mine more for training the mental game. If I was looking to set the fastest lap times, win sim races, or learn how to drive a specific car, then I think the sim setup would become more important (although I know a couple of world-class sim racers who have simple setups that provide almost no feel feedback).<\/p>\n

In issue #173 of Speed Secrets Weekly<\/a><\/em> (past issues available at http:\/\/speedsecretsweekly.com\/products-page<\/a>) had an article by Ryan Selsor<\/a> (he\u2019s a serious sim racer) about hardware and software choices. I also had him and another sim racer, Glenn Magee<\/a>, on my podcast, so listen to both of those episodes at Podcast.SpeedSecrets.com<\/a>, number 14<\/a> and 24<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I feel that having a good frame\/chassis to mount your steering wheel and pedals on is as important as anything. I use a Playseat chassis (https:\/\/www.playseatamerica.com<\/a>), and I\u2019ve not seen one better for the price. Of course, you can step up to the multi-thousand-dollar chassis, but that\u2019s a whole other story. Check out Crimson Simulation (https:\/\/crimsonsimulation.com<\/a>) for options in that range.<\/p>\n

The Fanatec (https:\/\/www.fanatec.com\/us-en\/<\/a>) and Thrustmaster (http:\/\/www.thrustmaster.com\/en_US<\/a>) steering wheel and pedals are good cost-effective systems (the former probably a little better than that latter). Both of these provide a distance- or position-sensitive brake pedal, meaning that the further you push it, the more brake application you\u2019re providing. Obviously, that\u2019s not how a real car is, as it\u2019s pressure-sensitive. And that\u2019s why many drivers struggle with the feel of braking on a sim. You can simulate some of the real feel by adding a cone-shaped rubber stopper in behind the brake pedal so that it gets increasingly harder to push the further you go with it. If you Google that, you\u2019ll find a few recommendations.<\/p>\n

A better option is to purchase a pressure-sensitive brake pedal, such as the one by Perfect Pedal (http:\/\/perfectpedal.com<\/a>). Many drivers swear by these. At the same time, the next step up is a better quality force feedback steering wheel assembly, but you\u2019re talking a few thousand dollars for this alone.<\/p>\n

Setting a budget, and understanding how far you want to go with a sim rig is a challenge. It\u2019s no different from setting a budget for preparing a real car. You usually start off with modest goals and plans, and then get sucked into spending more and more and more\u2026<\/p>\n

In racing there\u2019s a saying, \u201cHow fast do you want to go? How much do you have to spend?\u201d Sim rigs are no different, but it\u2019s more \u201cHow realistic do you want it to feel? How much are you willing to spend?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou are a big proponent of simulators. I have a sim seat at home and use it to learn tracks, but my seat, wheels, and pedals just don\u2019t feel right for learning habits.\u00a0Can you recommend a sim setup (as in actual parts) that will work for most people? I think it is the biggest barrier to entry since there are so many options.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-ross"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8581"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8585,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8581\/revisions\/8585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}