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How I Bought a Gran Turismo Racing Pod
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Jules_r
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- Kent, UK
- Jules_r
With the arrival of GT Sport came the need to upgrade a few things on my race pod so I thought I'd resurrect this thread and post about what I've done, and how I did it. If there is anyone else out there with a pod who wants to do the same this info. may help them out.
The original Race Pod story can be found here: https://www.gtplanet.net/bought-gran-turismo-racing-pod/
The first thing I wanted to do was change the TV screen, a job I could do before the launch of GT Sport so I went ahead. The Sony KDL-42W653A that came with the pod was very nice, and did the job perfectly well, but I wanted to see Sport at it's absolute best so that meant 4k and HDR were a must. I knew that Sony were using the 49" XE9005 on their own pods so after checking the input lag wasn't too bad I went ahead and ordered one. At the time of buying it came with a free Sony sound bar so that was an added bonus.
Fitting the new screen was easy enough. The old screen had a purpose made mount that hooked over the chassis/frame of the pod. I had to have a new mounting plate made, a simple flat metal plate with two hooks that screw to the back of the TV and then hang on the chassis in the same way the old one did.
It's important to me to keep everything looking as it was when I got it, and that any changes made are in keeping with what Sony might do so I hadn't intended using the sound bar but then figured I really should give it a go just to see what it sounds like, so I went ahead and fitted it.
I was a bit concerned about plugging more things into the internal power system not wanting to overload anything but a quick call to a pal confirmed that it would draw little so should be fine. I placed the sound bar on top of the console housing as far forward towards the screen as I could, the housing is wide enough for the sound bar to balance quite happily. The seperate sub was placed on the floor behind the pod and connects to the sound bar via Bluetooth.
That was all completed a couple of weeks before Sport was released. When the game arrived there was no time to worry about getting things set up nicely, I just wanted to play it. The console housing on the pod is designed for a slim PS3 and there is no way a PS4 Pro would ever fit, and even if it did, it just wouldn't look right so for the time being the PS4 would have to sit on the floor next to the pod, the wires were long enough to get it all working.
I got a T-GT on launch day but I hadn't intended fitting it right away, however, it soon became apparent that the T500 RS that came with the pod wasn't working quite as it should with Sport so I would have to fit the T-GT sooner than I had intended. The T500 RS is fitted to the pod with a very nicely made adapter plate, the T-GT dimensions are completely different so the plan was to have another plate made.... but for now, I would have to think of something else. It didn't take long to cobble something together, an old bit of wood, a saw and a drill had the wheel up and running in a couple of hours.
It would be almost a year before I got everything fitted as I wanted, I had hoped it would be sooner because the piece of wood really didn't look so cool. The things to figure out were fixing the T-GT nicely, fixing the sound bar a bit better than having it just balanced on the console housing, hiding the sub somewhere and doing something clever with the PS4 to get it off the floor and hopefully hidden.
For the T-GT I figured that a simple metal plate with some studs welded to it and some tubes would work, there were already holes in the pod chassis that I could use to attach it, so I sketched out a drawing measuring everything twice, and then again. I also designed a couple of simple brackets that look like little top hats, the idea with these was that they just push over a box section that runs just behind and slightly below the TV giving little shelves that would hold the sound bar on one side, up tight directly below the TV, and then the PS4 on the other side hiding it from view behind the screen.
I handed my drawings over to a friend who said he could make everything for me, I wasn't sure if it was going to work out because a couple couple of the holes needed to be very accurate, and my drawings were a bit rough. I gave him the old T500 RS mounting plate so the new parts could be made to match the finish and quality as closely as possible, and hopefully look like they had been made by the original manufacturer.
He did a brilliant job and everything fitted just fine with just a slight adjustment to a couple of the holes. So now the T-GT looks like it's been there forever, the sound bar is much neater tucked right up under the TV and as far back as possible and the PS4 is completely out of sight behind the TV. That just left the sub to tidy up and luckily there was just enough room for that under the seat, and it's plugged into the pods central power socket so no messy wires anywhere, it's all completely hidden.
There is still one thing to sort out and thats the pedals! I'm still using the T500 RS pedals, and they are OK but I would much prefer something with a load cell. Right now I don't know of a good way to get Fanatec pedals working with the T-GT and I'm told the Ricmotech kit won't work properly with GT Sport.
The positioning of the seat and the wheel work really well for me but the pedals could do with being a bit higher and further forward so when I do change them I will improve the position of them if I can.
The original Race Pod story can be found here: https://www.gtplanet.net/bought-gran-turismo-racing-pod/
The first thing I wanted to do was change the TV screen, a job I could do before the launch of GT Sport so I went ahead. The Sony KDL-42W653A that came with the pod was very nice, and did the job perfectly well, but I wanted to see Sport at it's absolute best so that meant 4k and HDR were a must. I knew that Sony were using the 49" XE9005 on their own pods so after checking the input lag wasn't too bad I went ahead and ordered one. At the time of buying it came with a free Sony sound bar so that was an added bonus.
Fitting the new screen was easy enough. The old screen had a purpose made mount that hooked over the chassis/frame of the pod. I had to have a new mounting plate made, a simple flat metal plate with two hooks that screw to the back of the TV and then hang on the chassis in the same way the old one did.
It's important to me to keep everything looking as it was when I got it, and that any changes made are in keeping with what Sony might do so I hadn't intended using the sound bar but then figured I really should give it a go just to see what it sounds like, so I went ahead and fitted it.
I was a bit concerned about plugging more things into the internal power system not wanting to overload anything but a quick call to a pal confirmed that it would draw little so should be fine. I placed the sound bar on top of the console housing as far forward towards the screen as I could, the housing is wide enough for the sound bar to balance quite happily. The seperate sub was placed on the floor behind the pod and connects to the sound bar via Bluetooth.
That was all completed a couple of weeks before Sport was released. When the game arrived there was no time to worry about getting things set up nicely, I just wanted to play it. The console housing on the pod is designed for a slim PS3 and there is no way a PS4 Pro would ever fit, and even if it did, it just wouldn't look right so for the time being the PS4 would have to sit on the floor next to the pod, the wires were long enough to get it all working.
I got a T-GT on launch day but I hadn't intended fitting it right away, however, it soon became apparent that the T500 RS that came with the pod wasn't working quite as it should with Sport so I would have to fit the T-GT sooner than I had intended. The T500 RS is fitted to the pod with a very nicely made adapter plate, the T-GT dimensions are completely different so the plan was to have another plate made.... but for now, I would have to think of something else. It didn't take long to cobble something together, an old bit of wood, a saw and a drill had the wheel up and running in a couple of hours.
It would be almost a year before I got everything fitted as I wanted, I had hoped it would be sooner because the piece of wood really didn't look so cool. The things to figure out were fixing the T-GT nicely, fixing the sound bar a bit better than having it just balanced on the console housing, hiding the sub somewhere and doing something clever with the PS4 to get it off the floor and hopefully hidden.
For the T-GT I figured that a simple metal plate with some studs welded to it and some tubes would work, there were already holes in the pod chassis that I could use to attach it, so I sketched out a drawing measuring everything twice, and then again. I also designed a couple of simple brackets that look like little top hats, the idea with these was that they just push over a box section that runs just behind and slightly below the TV giving little shelves that would hold the sound bar on one side, up tight directly below the TV, and then the PS4 on the other side hiding it from view behind the screen.
I handed my drawings over to a friend who said he could make everything for me, I wasn't sure if it was going to work out because a couple couple of the holes needed to be very accurate, and my drawings were a bit rough. I gave him the old T500 RS mounting plate so the new parts could be made to match the finish and quality as closely as possible, and hopefully look like they had been made by the original manufacturer.
He did a brilliant job and everything fitted just fine with just a slight adjustment to a couple of the holes. So now the T-GT looks like it's been there forever, the sound bar is much neater tucked right up under the TV and as far back as possible and the PS4 is completely out of sight behind the TV. That just left the sub to tidy up and luckily there was just enough room for that under the seat, and it's plugged into the pods central power socket so no messy wires anywhere, it's all completely hidden.
There is still one thing to sort out and thats the pedals! I'm still using the T500 RS pedals, and they are OK but I would much prefer something with a load cell. Right now I don't know of a good way to get Fanatec pedals working with the T-GT and I'm told the Ricmotech kit won't work properly with GT Sport.
The positioning of the seat and the wheel work really well for me but the pedals could do with being a bit higher and further forward so when I do change them I will improve the position of them if I can.
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