F1 Sim Rig - Advice Please!

[durbster]

I know this is too late for the OP but for anyone else reading, I got back into sim-racing this year after a long break and treated myself to a Trak Racer TR8 Mach 3 and have been very happy with it.
https://www.trakracer.co.uk/product/trak-racer-tr8...

Looks smart, doesn't take up too much room and after a few weeks feels nice and solid. The only issue I had was the monitor mounting plate not being suitable for the monitor. My fault really, I hadn't appreciated the position of the connections.

I bought mine from Upshift - upshiftstore.co.uk - who I would definitely recommend. I had a bunch of questions that were all answered in an online chat and on top of the excellent customer service, the kit came two days earlier than expected. I have no affiliation whatsoever, just a happy customer and I like to give credit to smaller companies that do a good job.

[nickpan]

CSL Elites and Load Cell Kit built and installed today. A good used purchased on eBay at 80% of RRP and in excellent condition. The residual value on Fanatec equipment is unbelievable for anybody debating whether the premium over Thrustmaster and Logitech is justified.

[skinny]

That looks awesome but also a pain to get in and out especially with a wheel on there. Tho I guess the CSL has a removable rim. I guess another layer of authenticity to F1!
Also I'm not sure how long I could spend in that position before the blood starts to drain out of my feet...

[nickpan]

skinny said:

That looks awesome but also a pain to get in and out especially with a wheel on there. Tho I guess the CSL has a removable rim. I guess another layer of authenticity to F1!
Also I'm not sure how long I could spend in that position before the blood starts to drain out of my feet...

It’s a fair point. The wheel base is actually on a sliding rail so when you need to haul yourself out, you slide the base forward to make way for your knees.

That being said, when you’re sat in it, your feet do feel like they’re in the sky.

More photos to follow once the base is installed.

[RichTT]

I've been watching far more than a healthy amount of Jimmy Broadbent streams on YouTube recently which is feeding my desire for a rig. I like to put his really long endurance races on in the background while I work. Find it more relaxing than music actually. Nothing more soothing than the sound of an Lmp1 car at full chat.

[nickpan]

Built the Trak Race single screen monitor stand yesterday and mounted the Asus 43 inch monitor this afternoon.

Very pleased with the sturdiness of the Trak Racer unit and the fact I was able to get the monitor sitting at the right height.

HP Omen gaming PC has also been put in situ. Aiming to do all of the cabling this evening.

Patiently waiting for the Fanatec CS 2.5 base...

[WhisperingWasp]

That looks awesome. Has a real “classy” look to it.

[nickpan]

F1 sim rig complete! I’ve not had an opportunity to use it yet but the initial impressions having sat in it are the seating position is spot on, especially in relation to where you hold the wheel, and the build quality of every single component is really good. Hoping to undertake a first “test drive” this evening.

[CorradoTDI]

Nick - looks awesome!

Any chance of a breakdown of parts and costs?

I want to build something along these lines hopefully next year.

[evo97]

My little set up

[nickpan]

CorradoTDI said:

Nick - looks awesome!

Any chance of a breakdown of parts and costs?

I want to build something along these lines hopefully next year.

[nickpan]

evo97 said:

My little set up

Great man cave

[Jester27]

Looking great Nickpan, well done 👍

[thatsprettyshady]

Here's my little setup, started out as a PS4 rig for Gran Turismo and just kind of...grew.

I have just today changed the monitor to a 27" (to save some space) so if anybody needs an LG 34GK950 34" curved ultrawide monitor (144hz,1440p) let me know as I have one spare...perfect condition.

Someone mentioned earlier that their sim lab integrated monitor mount came loose over time, that doesn't sound right at all but they do have to be mounted correctly to stay put.

Edited by thatsprettyshady on Wednesday 30th December 22:12

[RichTT]

evo97 said:

My little set up

What monitor is that? It's a beast!

[RichTT]

So, spent a bit of time reading, as I always do before spunking money. Setting an initial budget of 5k for the lot. I've sort of settled on the below setup.

Next Level Racing F-GT - cockpit
Next Level Racing Free Standing Single Monitor Stand

Fanatec V2.5 bundle
Samsung Odyssey G9 monitor

That should leave about 1500-1800 for a new gaming PC as I've decided my old one is not worth upgrading to the level that is needed. This will be a dedicated gaming PC and my old one will get kept for general PC use.

Any suggestions on a future-proof (ish) gaming PC for that price range? I'm well out of touch, last PC I bought was 2014.

[nickpan]

RichTT said:

So, spent a bit of time reading, as I always do before spunking money. Setting an initial budget of 5k for the lot. I've sort of settled on the below setup.

Next Level Racing F-GT - cockpit
Next Level Racing Free Standing Single Monitor Stand

Fanatec V2.5 bundle
Samsung Odyssey G9 monitor

That should leave about 1500-1800 for a new gaming PC as I've decided my old one is not worth upgrading to the level that is needed. This will be a dedicated gaming PC and my old one will get kept for general PC use.

Any suggestions on a future-proof (ish) gaming PC for that price range? I'm well out of touch, last PC I bought was 2014.

Welcome to the fold! Nice set up.

I was totally out of touch with PCs having not had one for 20 years. I wanted to buy a gaming machine from a recognised brand with upgrade potential so went for a HP Omen. It has the 6gb 2060 GPU which is running AC, F1 2020 and iRacing with no issues and they look great.

[RichTT]

nickpan said:

Welcome to the fold! Nice set up.

I was totally out of touch with PCs having not had one for 20 years. I wanted to buy a gaming machine from a recognised brand with upgrade potential so went for a HP Omen. It has the 6gb 2060 GPU which is running AC, F1 2020 and iRacing with no issues and they look great.

What sort of settings are you running the games on? Max? or tempered down a little. Any idea what sort of FPS your getting?

I'm probably over stressing on the PC side as it doesn't look like iRacing is too intensive to run and probably anything in my budget would work well.

[nickpan]

Mid to high settings and am getting 100FPS + on iRacing.

For the record - most of these sims are getting on now. I think iRacing is 13 years old? AC was released in 2014. They’re no Cyberpunk!

I use the custom shaders patch in AC which is an absolute must have for this sim. It adds a whole lot of depth to the GFX in respect of shadows, lighting etc amongst other things. If you turn up the detail on “grass” for example to max, I think you may suffer FPS issues but like I said, I’m running everything on mid to night and on my 43 inch Asus gaming monitor (which is a beast), everything looks crystal clear.

[thatsprettyshady]

Chillblast do really good gaming PCs, this one will run everything you need and be relatively future proof:

https://www.chillblast.com/chillblast-first-office...

Latest Intel chip with latest CPU socket type, decent ram, Latest GFX card and a fast hard drive - it’s the one I’d go for at your budget.

I had a chillblast PC when I started my build last April and was very happy with the service and quality, the preloaded software was everything needed and no unnecessary bloat.