AlexL's Cheap Very Much DIY Cockpit

[alexleighton]

Hey all,

I'm a fairly new member here, but I have been lurking for quite some time now, especially in this forum, so I figured I would post what I am working on right now.

Basically, my situation is as follows: I don't have a screen that I am willing to devote just to racing games, so my cockpit needs to be something that can move around easily. The other main thing right now, is that it has to be cheap.. And I mean junk I find around the house cheap. Looks aren't too important to me either, as you will clearly see in the photos.

So I figured the best way to go was using wood, since I have plenty of that, and for a seat I originally was using a car seat I found behind a car wash. It is clean, however it kills my back for some reason. I decided then to use my regular office chair, since it is comfy and supportive, and just rig up a stand for the wheel and pedals that could attach to the chair. Then when I'm done racing, I just undo the 2 bolts in the side of the chair and tuck the wheelstand away.

Anyways here's pics of what I've done:

About the only mod I've done to the G27 is the horrible looking shift knob, which I picked up from Wal-Mart for 10 bucks. Of course, it immediately fell apart when I opened the package, but I glued it back together and attached it. It feels suprisingly good, a huge improvement over the original at least.

I'm thinking of inverting the pedals next, but otherwise I dunno. What do you guys think?

 

[UK-Gamer]

Hey all,

I'm thinking of inverting the pedals next, but otherwise I dunno. What do you guys think?

I would advise you to invert. I see you've got the Logitech X-540 speakers, is the sound a much better improvement to normal TVMonitor speakers? (Apart from volume of course)

 

[Rotard12a]

Nice job making that all fit in under your desk. Looks solid. Can you get out of it without removing the seat bolts? Maybe angling the left steering wheel support down and forward instead of just straight down? Would give a nice space to get your legs out when you have to, say, run and use the bathroom after a couple hours of online racing and you know you only have seconds before the next race begins

shift knob, which I picked up from Wal-Mart for 10 bucks. Of course, it immediately fell apart when I opened the package

Haha, nice work fixing it though. All fine and good for a sim cockpit, but can you believe people actually drive around on the road items like that shifter that might fall apart? Scary

 

[JDMJim]

AlexL's cheap cockpit is still better than Jim's nonexistent cokpit, so keep up the good work! haha

Edit: is that a Wacom Bamboo tablet? I'm a comic book artist and I use the Intous 4

 

[alexleighton]

Nice job making that all fit in under your desk. Looks solid. Can you get out of it without removing the seat bolts? Maybe angling the left steering wheel support down and forward instead of just straight down? Would give a nice space to get your legs out when you have to, say, run and use the bathroom after a couple hours of online racing and you know you only have seconds before the next race begins



Haha, nice work fixing it though. All fine and good for a sim cockpit, but can you believe people actually drive around on the road items like that shifter that might fall apart? Scary

You can get out without undoing the seat, although it's not the easiest thing in the world. The only thing I worry about if I start putting things on angles is the stability, although it would probably work since I have the metal bars along the sides.

The stuff people buy for their cars at Wal-Mart just amazes me, I actually felt really embarassed being in that aisle.

I would advise you to invert. I see you've got the Logitech X-540 speakers, is the sound a much better improvement to normal TVMonitor speakers? (Apart from volume of course)

The sound is definately better, especially compared to the speakers in my LCD. I'm sure they're not as good as some speakers you could get, but for the price I think they're a good buy.

@JDMJim- It is, I bought it for my first year of college, I'm doing video game design. I'm gunna see how generous my parents are feeling this x-mas, maybe get something a bit nicer like the Intous, although it definately does the job.