Anybody else here do any sim driving/racing? I was NEVER a video game guy but we ordered and received a super fancy SimCraft multi-axis motion rig here at work and holy cow was it cool. It was also $100k, so yikes!

So decided to see what I could do in my basement for reasonable cost.

Most of the fancier ones are PC based (like the SimCraft), but I found a PS4 Pro used for $120 which will run GranTurismo 7 and the PS4 version of Assetto Corsa. iRacing is a no go, but for $120 it seemed like a good start for me and my kid. The BIG score was an expired Recaro seat from a work demo many years ago with mounting rails and sider - bingo (but FBook marketplace around here is always ripe with cast off racing seats of some sort). Then I bought some used stuff off marketplace, the wheel and pedal stand for $40, used belt drive Thrustmaster T300. The stock pedals (potentiometer based) were terrible so I tracked down a lightly used T-LCM load cell pedal box which is AMAZING.

I then discovered that having the driving stand and the seat not connected was sub-optimal (you can really gank on the brake pedal with the load cell, especially after I spent hours experimenting with different spring combos), so I built myself a platform out of extra wood in the garage to lock everything together.

sim photo.jpg

wow - so much better than sitting on an office chair with the wheel clamped to a desk! You can really stomp on the brakes now!

My dad visited last week and had a blast on it too:

dad driving.jpg

Added a shifter from eBay over the weekend which feels terrible out of the box, but have a 3D printed magnet mod kit on the way from Italy:

shifter small.jpg

Next thing to fiddle with is peda spacing so that heel and toe works reasonably well, but this pedalbox is pretty adjustable (position, spacers and even dead space and stroke).

Anyway, I'm pretty thrilled with how it turned out, especially running on that old platform. And it's been a good father/son bonding experience with my 14 year old - which has been the best part. The Gran Turismo "licensing system" has been great fun to help coach him though and he's interested to watch racing more now since he's "raced" on many of the tracks in the game.

Anyone else into this stuff? Show your rigs! Ask questions (although I'm still a newb)!

RP