GT4-RaceSeat

Hi all GT-fans!

This is a story about yet another project of mine (OH NO.. not again 💡 ).

And once again, I've told my friends about it, and their reactions (of course): yeah sure...right... well what about it?? When do you start? DO you actually plan to start??

It happens alot to me... Just can't stop dreaming!

Well the difference this time, is that, while writing this story, that project has actually materialized into the real world, and has taken up about 1,5 squaremeters of space in my livingroom.
And YES.... my girlfriend has actually APPROVED IT!!!! YES! 👍 👍 👍

----SO DON'T WORRY.. IF THE MODERATORS LET ME IN WITH THIS THREAD, I PROMISE THAT THIS THREAD WILL NOT DIE OUT, BECAUSE THE FRIGGIN MONSTER IS IN MY LIVING ROOM, AND I'VE GOT 38 PICS TO SHOW YOU ALL---

It's my very own GRAN TURISMO Racing Seat. featuring:

Solid frame on wheels
real racingseat -fully adjustable
Driving Force Pro
modified DFP-pedals featuring angled aluminum pedals with rubbergrip
real lotuslogo from a lotus super seven racecar.
fake fuelcap
aluminum plates fitted inside of cockpit
black carpet
aluminum hood
"bodyshaker" installed in back of racingseat

I will be posting pictures and descriptions of the project the next couple of days.
Until then, here are the first couple of pics.


(I have optimized the pictures, to minimize downloadtime.)
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Updates:

Update 1: 2 pics posted
Update 2: 1 pic posted
Update 3: 3 pics posted
Update 4: 4 pics posted
Update 5: 2 blueprints posted
Update 6: 9 pics posted
Update 7: 6 pics posted *the opening*
Update 8: 4 pics posted
Update 9: 4 pics posted *DFP FIX.... finally*

Best regards,
Jesper
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Update 1: 2 pics posted

It's about 1st of january. I have chased every internet news about GRAN TURISMO 4, for the last three years. And I have now decided to start my racingseat-project. I have until 9th of march. Have already invited a bunch of friends for the gran opening the 9th of March (GT4 european release), but they seem a bit skeptic. Hope I get that seat ready.


Racing seat.. bought and paid for!

Now, there is NO WAY BACK.
Invested in a real racing seat. And it's SO ****** cool! 👍
It has a sliding frame, so that you can adjust the position of the seat.
You can also change the angle of the back.
"TYPE-R" it says on the back-rest... can it get any better?

MDF... I can see it all coming alive!!!

Yep, Medium Density Fiber, nice material. But that DUST... oh my god (what happened to abbrevations jesper??? well.. just wanted to try something oldschool! hehe so here it is again) OH MY GOD!...
Two pieces of MDF and a racingseat. I'm AAALMOST there.


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Update 2: 1 pic posted

Have invested in that DFP. What a wonderful product.
A little bit worried about that issue with the risk of the pedal-potentiometers getting damaged, if pressing the pedals too hard, but hey... 2years warranty... I'll see what happens... I mean, you cannot live without that wheel, when playing gt4.

Driving wheel, and alot of MDF.

Let's just face it, they could just have sold that game bundled with DFP from the start, hehe.
You can see the beginning of the driving-shaft-wall in MDF, behind the wheel.

That's all for now. I'll provide this article to GTP, if they want it. And an article almost every day for the next couple of weeks.

So why not just post it all now you might think? Well I haven't written anymore than this, but the pics are ready!

see you all..
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Update 3: 3 pics posted

Driving seat beginning to take shape

Wheels have been fitted underneath the seatbase, so that my girlfriend can roll me into the other room, when she gets tired of the rrroooooaaring....

Sides fitted onto the racingseat-base

Cutting out the MDF-sides with a electric saw was quite easy, but again very very dusty. Dono what it's called in english, but in denmark we call that electric saw with a little blade going up and down, a "rabbits dick" hehe.

Black carpet fitted onto the floor and the whole MDF-thing painted

This was acutally one of the cheaper things in my seat-project. Only about 22 dollars. And then I got 4 meters of it. YEAH!
Decided to paint the whole thing black.
Special modding of the DFP-pedals... but more about that in next update. Have to go to bed now. I'm tired. Have been to a family birthday all day long.

Talk to you all.... sleep tight.
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Update 4: 4 pics posted

Closeup of DFP

Trying to find out how high I wanted the dashboard to be, by putting the rest of the carpet roll behind the wheel.

The RacingSeat! Look at that wonderful "type-R" logo. 👍


Closeup of Fuel cap

I was visiting my local carshop, and found that, for about 5 dollars, this wonderful fuel cap-sticker could be mine. Normally made for a real car, to look more racecar-like, but why not put a fake fuel-cap on a fake car! 💡

Closeup of DFP-pedals

This is my DIY-pride. Aluminum pedals (also with matching "type-R" logos incl. rubber grip, mounted on to aluminum plates, mounted onto the DFP-plastic pedals. If you look closely, you can see one of the felt-cushins under the brake pedal, just sticking out one corner. Remember to put the bolts thru one of these, and also a washer, so that you do not damage the plastic pedals. And tighten the bolts, but not too hard. If you take these precautions, you still have the warranty on the DFP!


Talk to you all.... Jesper 👍
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Update 5: 2 Blueprints posted

If you want to get the measurements for the base and sides, here they are.
Well in centimeters, that is, but should be easy to do a conversion, by searching for a conversion program on the net. Try searching "cm to inches conversion".

Blueprint without measures

Blueprint with measures

Materials: Base plate has to be thick. 2cm MDF. When screwing it onto the frame, remember to recess the screws. Its easier to put carpet on later.

Frame is made out of one long wooden supportbeam. Doesn't have to be nice, just not too crooked. Very cheap. 3,5 cm * 5,5 cm.

Sides: 0,9cm MDF.
Wheels: bought at IKEA. hehe. Nice if you buy some with "stoppers", so that you dont roll around too much, when entering or exiting the seat.

Do the frame first, then screw the base plate onto it, and then the sides, AFTER cutting them out. The sides should be screwed into the underlying frame.

I have done extra holes in the sides, so that I can unscrew four big nuts/bolts, and adjust the whole dashboard in height.

Notice, that I have put extra beams in the frame, with wheels under (don't put stoppers on these two wheels), and located closer to the seat, because thats where all the weight from my fat ass goes!

Next batch of pics will include one of my favourites of this project: ALUMINUM!!!! YEAH!!!!

C.u. later, Best regards, Jesper

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Update 6: 9 pics posted

Yep that's me!

Finally, I got my aluminum-plates, pre-cut... And that's a nice thing, because it's not that easy to cut aluminum with plate-scissors. 👎
Actually, you can also see the dashboard, with the hole for DFP-wheel.
And YES, it IS a powertool, I am holding between my legs hehehe...


Voilla! First plate gets the rubberhammer-treatment...

Remember to fasten the plate, and bend it around some CURVEY hard surface. If you want big curves, it's sometimes easier, just to grab hold of the plate with a hand in each side and bend it out in the air.

BINGO!!! yes, it looked nice, just as it were, but look at that piece of aluminum in the side... Can you imagine more plates like that?? well I can!

Here, I went for nails at first, but later I changed them to screws, it was almost imossible to hammer the nails into the MDF, when having no hard surface behind the MDF-side. Even when I pre-drilled holes for the nails, so I pulled them out, and screwed the aluminum onto the MDF-side, with a screw and a little washer. Looks Fu**** cool. Have a look at the next couple of pics. I'll post a close-up of the screws later on.
Here you can also see the dashboard more clearly.
And YES! if you have good eyes..... YES it IS actually a real Lotus Super Seven - racecar-front-hood-logo.. given generously to me, by my girlfriends mothers husband (long sentence ) , and it has actually been sitting on one of his Lotus racecars.

Close-up of first aluminum plate.

Here you can see the nails, that I then replaced.
Because I put the aluminum plates in an angle, it made the old "soapbox"-feel disappear 👍

ALUMINUM CHOCK CHOCK CHOCK!!!

Aluminum fitted plates (screwed onto with the screws and washers - looks almost better than rivetts I think...), and black bicycle-handlebar-tape in the seperations, taped onto pieces of styrofoam. For the top-piece of the shaft-tunnel (where the gearshift and handbrake will be implemented..well, these are actually still just dreams hehe...) I did a little wooden shelf first out of a piece of wooden supportbeam, like the ones I used for the base-frame. First I carved one corner, so that the aluminum could "follow" the curve of the beam. And then I screwed the aluminum plate onto the little "shelf".

Another angle... pic says it all, I guess.


Yes, this is actually an aluminum hood!

If I continue like this, I will have my very own fake lotus super seven, hehehe...
Notice, that you get the aluminum pieces with white plastic on one side. Remember to use the white side, as the one, that should be seen, and then take the plastic of last, and you will have an amazing finish.
This piece, I actually bendt by holding it in the air, with one hand on each end of the plate, and then just bending it. When bending aluminum plates over a hard surface, you will easilly get the underlying sharp edges to show thru, that's why I bend this in the air, because, i did not want any sharp edges, just a nice curve.

A piece of plastic tubing attached with plastic strips, and later on, some bicycle-handlebar-tape, to cover it, gives a nice rough finish between the dashboard and hood.

Remember to always have your vaacum cleaner within two meters. All the sawdust, is only from the holes drilled in the dashboard, for the plastic-strips. But if you have some assisting you, do like the dentist: One drills or cuts, and the other one holds the vaacumcleaner tubing close to the action 💡

The RaceSeat with all the aluminum attached.

Watch the table. This gets messy, so clear the mess up once every day, or else you will surelly drown
Check that hood with the fuel cap on, and the lotus logo in the far end, and that aluminumside!!!
Well, I just love it. And I do not think it's a wooden soapbox painted black, anymore. 👍 👍 👍

Enjoy, and post comments or questions, until next time
Next update will cover: The final 9.march-setup, the opening party, the TACTILE-TRANSDUCER 👍 👍 👍 EVERYBODYS FAVOURITE, and other secrets, incl. how to secure lifetime of your DFP-pedals.

So some of the best is still to come.

But for now, I say "sov godt", and that means sleep well in danish.
Have to go to bed now. Gotta get up early and get some GT4 practice.

Best regards, Jesper

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Update 7: 6 pics posted *THE OPENING*

--9th of March 2005--

The final setup. I have just been on my bike, getting the game, I've been waiting for, for years. Funny thing, when I went a quarter to opening of the stores, I saw this funny sight in front of some computer-stores. Men between the age of 16 - 30 years, were standing there, trying to look as if they were NOT WAITING FOR A COMPUTER GAME! No queues, just men scattered around. hehehe....


I borrowed a tv-projector and a canvas from one of my friends. WOW... gotta save money up for getting that too. That's the best way of playing this game, I think


-More of the same kind, just without the flash.

My brother as test driver.

-And my girlfriend, cheering.

My sisters husband also testing the setup. Gives it a big smile 👍



The welcome-drinks -70's style! btw.check our funky wallpaper. Either you hate it, or you love it to death hehe...


And more friends came, we were about 14 people, driving into the night.


Big Success!
And my god, a special course I have been waiting to see in the GT-series for the last 5 years, was Le Sarthe, and WOW that's for me, one of the best moments in my long gaming history. Doing 350 km/h down the Mulsanne, with tha DFP shaking so much, you had to hold on really tight, and the "bodyshaker" doing it's work, sending vibrations into your body, getting stronger, the faster you went!!!

This was it.... NO ONE... I repeat, NO ONE who sat in that seat that night, could hold back their enthusiasm, trying that. Even not my girlfriend!

I went to bed really late on the 9th of March.

Talk to you all... Feel free to drop comments, or Q's
Next post, covers the DFP-fix, closeups n stuff.
Jesper
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Update 8: 4 pics posted

Its "Close up's" -time

Those screws, washers n aluminum


That Lotus Super Seven logo...


That Fuel cap... Wicked... and for only 5 dollars 👍


That sliding thing (included, with the seat)


That marvellous thingy, giving you the ride of your life!

If you don't own one, go get one, find an old amp, and hook it up to one of the speaker outputs, set the treble to half, the bass to 75%, and crank up the vol slowly, until you forget about food n sex!

Find out more about how to implement a bodyshaker, or likewise in some of my additional posts to this thread.

Over and out for this time,
Jesper
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Update 9: 4 pics posted *DFP FIX*

Finally I got time for explaining what I have done, to try prolonging the lifetime of my DFP-pedals.

Inside the pedals, there are a rubber-cushin for each pedal, but after some time, those rubber-cushins can get a bit worn, which means, that they get compressed a bit, and therefore there is a larger risk of the pedals travelling too far, thus ruining the potentiometers inside the pedal-base.

This is a precaution, that is cheap, effecient, and does NOT ruin the warranty.

1. Needed:

Some Duct tape, a couple of washers, and two felt-cushins(adhesion on one side).

2. Assembly:

Take the washer and put on a piece of duct tape, that covers the washer, and leave a good bit of tape on both sides of the washer.

3. Assembly:

Put on the felt cushin on top of the duct tape, and washer.

4. Final Assembly:

Look underneath the "elbows" of the pedals. There you will notice the wide rubber-cushins. Take the homemade cushin, and use a pair of pliers, or something else to grab a good hold with, and put it on top of the rubber-cushins, but remember to let the tape ends go on each side of the rubber-cushin (meaning, that one tape end is on the same side as the driver, and the other on the side further away from the driver).
The homemade cushin should therefore go ACROSS the rubber-cushin, not along it. And Voilla! you have NOT destroyed the warranty.

Well, now, you might think: WHAT about the pedal-travel?

💡
Well, if you notice, you can see the pedal travel in the "virtual dashboard" of GT4, next to the speedometer, and tachometer. And I have noticed, that from pressing the pedals down 90%-100%, it still makes the car go 100%. So the washer and felt cushin only "steals" a bit of the last 10% of travel, so you still get to drive 100%. And with time passing, the rubber-cushin will, as mentioned, get lower, so everything should be A-ok.


I hope this fix will prolong the lifetime of those sensitive pots inside your DFP-pedals.

Next update will cover some additional style shots of the modded pedals, and the whole RacingSeat!

Best regards,
Jesper
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Looks good, man!

instead of putting the pedals on liek u did...is there away to just take the pedals off tand just replace them instead of putting them like that

Look's wicked!

It seem comfortable to sit in it.

I love it!

What was the total cost?

hey do u have blueprints. It looks really good and might be something i can make for under the 70 dollars to make a metal one.

That looks pretty damn kickass man!👍

Nice, we need more pics!

I would make the seat adjustable just incase someone else ever uses it. Other then that it looks good 👍

BlazinXtreme

I would make the seat adjustable just incase someone else ever uses it. Other then that it looks good 👍

Click to expand...

he said the seat came with sliders so i would think it is adjustable. looks real nice, i like it a lot. guess im going to invest in a dfp and build one myself. any chance of you having blueprints??

Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

That's just about exactly what I was wanting to build myself. My wife thinks it's a silly idea. I need to do what you did and just invest in a seat first off. Having that sunk cost would push me to actually finish it.

very nice cockpit you have there. Very pro looking. I want to know more about the pedals. I see that the pedals are silver. They are the DFP pedals right? I'm building my DIY setup currently as well. I thought that my better half would freak out but she gets the basement cleaned . I would like to invest into a racing seat, but I don't know what kind of cost that would be. I would like to hear some numbers.

Very nice project. Will continue to follow. 👍

Twenty_Se7en

very nice cockpit you have there. Very pro looking. I want to know more about the pedals. I see that the pedals are silver. They are the DFP pedals right? I'm building my DIY setup currently as well. I thought that my better half would freak out but she gets the basement cleaned . I would like to invest into a racing seat, but I don't know what kind of cost that would be. I would like to hear some numbers.

Very nice project. Will continue to follow. 👍

Click to expand...

No, if you look closely he put another set of pedals on the DFP pedals. I'm guessing this is either because he's either going to recess the pedal platform, or so the pedals feel more like automotive pedals when depressed.

Teh_Loserer

No, if you look closely he put another set of pedals on the DFP pedals. I'm guessing this is either because he's either going to recess the pedal platform, or so the pedals feel more like automotive pedals when depressed.

Click to expand...

You're right. Can't wait to see what he has done with it. I can barely see it right now.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=299-027
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=299-028

I wish i had time to do something like that, since i already own a leather 99' bmw seat that i sit to play aroung how much for the materials, and would theyre be any other way to make this a bit smaller for a smaller room.

First of all, thanks all you guys, for the nice comments. I'll try to cover your q's:

devilman2075: There is a reason for putting add-ons onto the DFP-pedals. In this way you will not break the warranty

Fragmatic: total cost? pheew... yes it has been a bit expensive, I have to say. I calculated, that the whole thing woul cost about 800 u.s. dollars, and that is without the wheel and game. On the other hand, this includes a seat costing 180 dollars, and 160 dollars worth of aluminum plates (not on yet on the pictures posted.... just wait and see hehe), so those things deducted, 460 dollars worth of raw materials. For that you get a lot of wood, aluminum pedals, screws, metal anglejoints, carpet, tactile transducer (vibration), and a whole lot of work

Lamboracer: Blueprints? no, no blueprints, but I can tell you the following:
The base is 160 meters long, and 60 centimeters wide. The base has a frame, made out of one wooden beam cut into smaller pieces, and assembled. Well, I will do a blueprint soon.

BlazinXtreme: The seat is fully adjustable, slide it back and fourth, and angle the back. The sliders came with the seat. That's great.

h0ss: True man... true

Twenty_Se7en: Thanks.. Yes the pedals are tuning-parts from a car-store specializing in those things. But you can get those in almost any carshop today, I guess. They are meant to be tightened onto your normal pedals in your real car. And I found some metal anglejoints (dono what you call them) to mount them onto, and then a piece of aluminum, as an extension rod, and then some more metal-anglejoints to mount the whole thing onto the DFP-pedals. There are some holes in the DFP-pedals, that you can fit some nuts and bolts thru. Just remember to put some kind of felt-cushin underneath the plasticpedals, and put the bolt thru that, so that when you tighten the whole thing, you wont stress the plastic too much. Well, in a day or two, I'll post pics of that. Also of my way of securing the pedals don't get their potentiometers broken, when the pedals get worn. I'll cover that soon also.
Concerning the seat, as I wrote earlier in this post, I got this beautiful seat with this "type-R"-logo on the backrest for about 180 dollars. Before I bought it, I was coaming the net for cheap racing seats, and found that most of them acutally start around 270 dollars, if it had to be SPARCO, or something like that. But take a look at your local car-tuning store, they sometimes have very good offers on a sportscar seat.

Teh_Loserer: Here is the reason for putting the extra pedals on top.

The DFP is actually made for driving, when sitting by a normal table, so you sit straight up in about 90 degrees position, more than lying down, like in a formula 1 car. In this way most people can enjoy driving the DFP, when sitting by their dinnertable or likewise, and therefore, the actual pedals have an angle, that fits this kind of driving. You press the pedals downwards, but in a real car, you press the pedals more horizontally, away from your body.

Solution1:
So my first idea, was, to angle the whole DFP-pedal-base, so that you would get the pedals to mimic the angle from a real car. I put some books underneath the far end of the base, so that the pedals would lean more towards me, and in this way, I would not have to strain my footwrists so much.
Problem:
The DFP-base is actually quite long, and this means, when you tilt it towards you, the pedals are lifted to high up into the air, so I had to choices: 1. create a big hole in the racingseat-base thru the carpet, and by that, recess the DFP-base, so that the pedals would have, both the right angle, AND the right position, for the feet. or, 2. FIND ANOTHER SOLUTION!

I went for another solution:
After a lot of trial and error, it suddenly hit me, that I just needed to angle the pedals, not the base neccessarily. So why not make a kind of extension. And now I have both seat and pedals with the "type-R" logo on it... YEAH!!!
I'll post closeups of the pedals soon.
Just remember one important thing concerning the pedals: the "new" pedals HAVE to sit aprox. in a position just over the axis of the original pedals. Or else, your foot will have to slide back and fourth on the new pedals. I'll post pics of this also.

Best regards,
Jesper

Wooowwwwwww!! What a great seat is that. 👍 👍 👍 👍

i am considering doing somehting liek ur pedal work, since i go to school for machining iwith metals i can fab up my own bracket and what not and maybe even my own pedal so it wont be a problem...just needed that push to get me going

NICE!
can u upload ur blueprint for it?
i'd love to build one! 👍

ASOME!!!!!!!!!!!!veary well done

njesper

Lamboracer: Blueprints? no, no blueprints, but I can tell you the following:
The base is 160 meters long, and 60 centimeters wide.

Click to expand...

Man - You've got some SERIOUSLY long legs

Nice job Jesper - Wish I had the space for a piece like that !... Awesome !...

For all those, who are looking for blueprints, check Update 5!

Best regards,
jesper

Flerbizky: Thanks for nice comments.
Hehe, yep, long legs that is! I am 1,87 meters high, and a lot of my friends are also tall, so I had to make enough room for everybody. But the nice thing is, that I can slide the seat, so it fits anybody.

Best regards,
Jesper

Wow, that's insane. I have a REAL racing seat in my room too. It's body is made of CF so it's very light. It's made of square pipes. It doesn't look as cool as yours but it works very well for me. And it has one thing your project doesn't have: Six-point safety harnesses!

SkylineGoes: hehe cool... nice going, but I'm ahead of you! My girlfriends mothers new husband had actually been so kind to sponsor me with a real racing H-harness.

Well, yours sounds cool anyway Congrats

njesper

Flerbizky: Thanks for nice comments.

Click to expand...

Hey - Credit's given where credits due !.. And that setup is very very nice !...

Btw.. Gotta love T. Hansen