Firehuntah's DIY Sim Rig

[Firehuntah]

Hello all. Been a while since I posted, though I'm still lurking these forums almost every day.

Since GT6 is almost here I decided to start building a new sim rig. I already built a small table that I used every time I played GT5. You can see it here.

I ended up removing the pedal plate since the angle wasn't right for such a high seat position (office chair). Also painted it black but don't think I ever took a picture of it. While I did really enjoy it I always wanted something better since the table kept moving because of the force feedback of the wheel. And I already had a racing seat at that time that was just eating dust. Actually got to keep it for free. It was a wrong seat and a plastic part was broken, I didn't have to return it (so 2 seats for the price of 1 ).

I looked at some other builds and I really liked the Ricmotech RS1 after seeing the youtube video of ISR building it. But I really wanted to make my own and not just buy some plans and go easy. It is still based on the Ricmotech RS1 just a bit though.

So I started with the bottom frame.

Then I placed the base and screwed it down. Also added 2 blocks to mount my seat on. Kinda going for the seating position (wheel and pedals too) of a Nissan 100NX, my own car.

I measured the mounting holes of my seat and made a template. Made it a lot easier to know where to drill.

Drilled and placed some inserts. Can just use bolts now to mount the seat, way better than screws.

As for the pedals, I still have the DFGT so I couldn't invert them. Now I really don't mind that as I like the pedals this way, it's just that I don't like having my feet on the plastic base. So I made a small modification to the pedals.

Cleaned up a bit. This way I can easily mount them at the right angle while my feet will be on the base of my rig and not on the pedal base. Btw don't try this at home if you still have warranty.

Today I started on the side panels, clamped both of them on top of eachother while making the shape so they would both be exactly the same.

And they're now part of the rig. Will be 4 bolts on each side, definately strong enough. I still have to go get some more bolts though, forgot I needed 8 and only got 4.

So that's where I'm at right now, will keep updating this thread as I make progress.

 

[Firehuntah]

Added a plate for the pedals. It is only secured to the base, not to the sides. This way I can still take the front apart when needed. Especially when moving it down- or upstairs since it already has a lot of weight.

And for the wheel.

Wanted to see if everything was in the right place so I mounted the seat and placed the wheel and pedals.

I'm happy to say that it's just perfect. It really is very close to the positions of the seat/wheel/pedals in my Nissan 100NX. Just a smaller wheel and that the pedals aren't inverted but as I already said before this doesn't bother me. I'll probably mount the pedals more towards the right since I use my right foot for braking.

It also is very strong and stable already. But I'll add some more plates on the front so it will be even more stable. There's also plenty of space to get in and out easily. Don't even have to slide the seat back.

So still some work to do, also want to round off all edges and ofcourse paint it.

 

[Hayden]

Looks great, nice job 👍

 

[rankings18]

Looking good

 

[Carson79]

It looks great.
One thing I'd mention though is glue, did you use any? You probably won't mind a few squeaks at first, but it gets tiresome fast.

 

[djslofstra]

Nice rig. Beautifully done!
Now buy a G27 or something and you're ready to race!

 

[Firehuntah]

Thanks all! Happy to see these positive comments. Just wait till it's done, it'll look even better (I hope ).

I didn't use glue but I used so many screws everywhere that I don't think it'll be a problem. I could still do it though if it's really better, just have to take everything apart again. The danger with glueing is not being able to take it apart again if something went wrong though. But yeah since I know everything is at the right place now I might still glue everything except the sides that are bolted.

As for a G27, I've been thinking about it but to be honest I'm still happy with my DFGT. It just needs some modifications like the brake pedal spring and bigger paddle shifters which I've already ordered. I don't really need a clutch and shifter since I like using paddle shifters more anyway.
I also want to wait and see what will be available for the PS4 and GT7 and if these wheels will still be supported. I'm sure this wheel will still last untill then, or at least I hope. It still works as good as when I bought it.

 

[Carson79]

I understand I never glued mine in case I needed to make adjustments. Which I did, many lol.
But I do regret it. The seat area is the main problem and I used lots of screws. I'd glue and screw the seat risers you've made to the MDF base, that's if it does squeak.
I'd wait until next year and see what developments there are with next gen wheels. In about a year I'd went from a DFGT to a T500rs to an Elite and a CSW. When it looked like the xbone wouldn't support the Elite I put it on ebay. It's a real rip off not supporting the current wheels.
Luckily Sony aren't like that and the current line up should still work on PS4 from what I've read.
But I'd still wait before upgrading if I were you, the G27 is an old wheel now too anyway.

 

[Firehuntah]

Alright I took your advice and glued the whole base to the bottom frame, the seat risers and plate for the pedals. Even glued all inside edges and all of the screws so yeah it should be fine now. Luckily it didn't take very long to take it all apart and back together with glue again.

As for the wheel, you're right. I will just wait and see what they will offer for the PS4. Already have this DFGT since GT5 came out and still happy with it, so why change now.

Before glueing all the other things I also added another plate on the front. There will still be more, want the front to be closed. Will be a lot more stable like that as well. And before someone asks, there's a reason why I didn't make this plate larger. You'll see soon.

 

[Carson79]

Well done. I'm sure it was a pain but you'll benefit from it down the line.
The rig is looking great, I'll look forward to your progress

 

[Firehuntah]

Yeah, better be safe than sorry. Won't be able to take it apart anymore to fix anything after paiting it.


I've changed the wheel deck a bit to make it look better. Also made a cut out for the cables.

Added another plate to help support the wheel deck and make everything more stable. It definately made a big difference, a lot less wobble. Still not completely wobble free though. I also made a hole for the cables to pass through and rounded off all edges of this plate already since I won't be able to get to it anymore when I'll place the next plate (which will hopefully make it completely wobble free ).

That's it for today, more tomorrow.

 

[Carson79]

It's coming along nicely, very clean and tidy looking!
I added a few more screws to my own rig yesterday to see if it would help with the squeaking and it did. Taking it apart and gluing everything isn't a option now.
What is the name of those bolts your attaching your seat with into the wood? The next time I change or update mine I'd like to use that as opposed screws.

 

[Firehuntah]

Thanks again.

Good to hear you got rid of the squeaking, maybe all it needed was a few more screws at the right places.

I used insert nuts (for wood) in the seat risers. Had to use socket screws/bolts with my seat, hex bolts were too big to be able to fasten them.



Today I added the big front plate.

Was pretty annoying to get it to fit properly and couldn't get the right angle at the top. Will have to use some sort of filler to close that gap. But it really made a huge difference, it's almost completely wobble free now. There's still a tiny bit of wobble but it's acceptable for me. Don't think it can get any better without sacrificing looks.

Also made small plates for on the back and sides to make it look better but didn't have time to attach them. So yeah, that will come tomorrow.

 

[Firehuntah]

Bought some MDF filler to fill up the gap on top of the big front plate. It should look better after sanding.

Also attached the small plates on the sides and rear. Made them a bit higher than the base since I'll be using some sort of carpet on the base. The plates should be around the same height then or just a tiny bit higher.

Almost done building it now. Just still have that gap on the front that I will probably close tomorrow, should be fun. Also still have to make something to attach the pedals.

After that it's just filing, sanding and painting.

 

[Firehuntah]

Made a block that fits very tight in the DFGT pedals.

Attached it to the plate for the pedals.

This is all it needs, need a lot of force to get the pedals on there. There's no movement at all, even after modifying both of the brake pedal springs. It also takes a lot of force to get the pedals off again so I think this should be fine. If not I can always still glue some tabs on the pedals and screw them down.

Also rounded off most of the edges already and filled up all screw holes.

Was planning to close that big gap on the front yesterday but the thing I wanted to place there didn't fit so it will have to wait a bit, maybe tomorrow.

But I can almost start painting it, really curious how it will look like with the colors I've chosen.

 

[Carson79]

Very meticulous great work, looking forward to seeing your paint job!
I'd of had my seat and wheel connected and playing by now lol

 

[Firehuntah]

Yeah it's pretty hard to resist, I really want to know how it feels like to race in this rig. But I really want the rig to look good as well so yeah.. Still plenty of time till GT6 releases anyway.


Now something else I just couldn't resist. Made the last plate today to fill up that gap I left on the front. The headlights are from a bicycle, think they look pretty cool. I will just glue them in once I've painted everything.

Added the plate to the rig here, used some more MDF filler to fill up some of the small gaps. And used some more on the screw holes again to make sure these can't be seen anymore after painting.

Tomorrow I will sand everything and round off the last few edges. Can start with putting some primer on it after that.

 

[Carson79]

That's awesome!

 

[Firehuntah]

Glad you like it as well.


Unfortunately I couldn't start painting it just yet, had a bit of a problem. The MDF filler at the top of the headlight plate was coming off so the small gap there was visible again. This plate isn't angled against the big plate so I was unable to fill it enough to really form a good connection from the outside. So I had to redo that again, this time I just filled up the whole area on the inside as well, should be a lot better. Don't know why I didn't do this the first time.

For the rest it's all ready to get painted. Rounded off the last few edges, sanded everything a bit more and made a hole on the right side for the cables to come out since the wall will be on that side. Just still have to let that filler dry again and sand those parts tomorrow. After that it's definately done and I can start painting.

 

[Firehuntah]

Sanded the filled up parts again and everything stayed in place now. So the build is actually done now.

So, on to the painting. Unlike the building process I'm having some help with painting to get some better results. The first layer of primer is on it now.

Tomorrow a 2nd layer of primer and then 2 more layers of the real color. Will most likely be done in the weekend. Will post the final update then.

 

[Dean]

👍 for the front-design...

 

[Belamiejus]

Nice work there..
Looking at the front grill for some reason this picture pops in to my head...

It's VAZ-21011

 

[Firehuntah]

That actually looks a lot like it with the shaped grill around the round headlights. Pretty cool car also. Wasn't even trying to make it look like any existing car.

And thanks Dean J, guess it really does look a lot better with those headlights and grill. Wasn't sure at first how it would turn out but I'm glad I took the extra time to make this.


Anyway paint isn't done yet, though I can show the actual color already. Still have to paint another layer with this color though. But then it isn't done yet, should still take a few days to show the end result.

Had to move it to a bit warmer room though as the paint wasn't really drying fast.

 

[Ferrari458Italia]

now just upgrade that wheel and your good!

 

[MrDavid5465]

Will the lights turn on? Might be useful for when you need to look for a game or do something with wires (depending on how the rest of your hardware is set up) without having to turn on the light in the cave

 

[Firehuntah]

I could and probably will add a switch to turn them on yeah. I just need to find an adapter for 230V to 3 or 6V.

Upgrading the wheel won't be happening on the PS3, I'll be waiting to see what wheels will be available for the next Gran Turismo on the PS4. I modified the DFGT though so it should be a whole new experience for me. Ordered paddles from GranTurGismo and adjusted the brake pedal spring, feels pretty good now. Just haven't been able to test it much since the rig isn't done yet.

So.. while the rig isn't completely done yet, I do have one part that's done already which is the base. Not much to see except for the colors I used and that I added some carpet to the floor.

Still working on some finishing touches on the other part so should be able to show it when it's completely done within a few days.

 

[Firehuntah]

The rig is all done now. Really happy how it turned out. It looks and fits great in my room/cave. I also wired up the lights already. I just soldered an usb cable onto the lights' wires and using an usb charger (meant for phones), 5V is more than enough to get some light.

Takes night racing to a whole new level.

So after a few Nurburgring runs I must say that I really enjoy this rig already. It's very stable, no movement anywhere at all. And it seems that the force feedback isn't just on the wheel now (as with my old table) but through the whole rig, especially when driving over kerbs I even feel it in the seat. I did always have force feedback on 10 already, but never knew it was capable of doing this. It's really great.
And I love the new paddle shifters very much. Even on my first run it already felt very natural to use them even though I've used those small shift buttons for a very long time.
Also I'm really amazed at how close I got all the positions of this rig to my Nissan 100NX. I went to sit in my car after taking those few Nurburgring runs and it really felt as if I was still sitting in my rig. Just the pedals being differently mounted ofcourse, but the position is still right.

I do have to make some modifications already. One is the brake pedal spring that I made a lot stiffer, it is a bit too stiff now and doesn't feel right. So I'll have to loosen this up a bit again.
The other thing is the carpet. While it feels great and looks very nice it isn't so great for the pedals. Every time I floor the gas pedal my foot/shoe also moves slightly towards it. After a few times of doing this my foot is right up against the pedal which gets annoying fast. I placed some rubber sheet on the carpet and it was perfectly fine again so I'll have to cut out a small piece and attach it to the carpet or floor somehow.

After those 2 things are fixed though I'll be really happy with the rig. Just waiting for GT6 now!

 

[Gunstar]

Nice rig man. Love the headlights.

 

[Carson79]

Looks brilliant, well done on such a well finished rig! 👍👍
You should look into Tactile if you think the FFB is good! Your rig raised off the floor on rubber castors with a few Buttkickers fitted underneath would be awesome

 

[Firehuntah]

Thanks!

Buttkickers seem pretty nice, the price on the other hand isn't so nice.. I'm just using the rig to play Gran Turismo so I don't really want to spend that much. Feeling the force feedback of the wheel through the whole rig now is enough for me.

Also I rather spend that money on a G27 right now since today I was unable to fix the problem I have with the DFGT pedals. I did adjust the brake spring again and that's fine now but whatever I do my foot still keeps sliding towards the pedals every time I floor the gas pedal. I need to keep moving my foot backwards, never had to do this before with my old table and doesn't happen in my car either so..
I just found out what's really causing it though, the pedals are sitting too high. I can't really make any adjustments to that sadly. Only thing I could do is add another angled plate on top of the pedal base and the rig's base. But I would lose the nice seating position I have now..

Or I still have to find a way to invert these pedals somehow, I'm sure it can be done. Or maybe buy a 2nd hand G27, but I'd have to make quite a few modifications again.. It really sucks though. The rig and the DFGT wheel is just perfect, but the pedals I'm not happy with anymore, even though I never had any problems with them before building this rig.