Most important items in a racing Rig?

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solidghost

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Guys,

New to your forums as a poster but have been reading here for weeks on end.

I was wondering if any of you would take some time to answer this. All opinions respected. I assume no 100% correct answer.

In order of most to least important, list and rate the components to a good rig!
Keep in mind this is your opinion so please don't argue others. Some people play fine on a TV tray but I am building a rig in the coming months and trying to figure out where specifically i want to divert my funds.

For example: and example sakes only, not a real list.
  1. Full Cockpit (playseat, simseat, etc)
  2. Partial Cockpit (seat)
  3. Wheel
  4. Pedals
  5. Shifter
  6. Simvibe
  7. Full motion like Dbox or Geko
  8. Button Panel
  9. Triple screen setup vs single
  10. Size of triple screen monitors?

I am not going to go cheap on my rig but I do not think I will go full dbox. Wife might kill me.

I am however thinking something like this LINK to Sim RIG but add a simvibe kit with 4 buttkickers

I am thinking of T500RS for the wheel.
As for monitors three 27" LCDs

Although that GEKO motion seat has me captivated. http://www.gekosystems.com/
 
1. Wheel and pedals (spend as much as you can afford) The T500 is a fine wheel with a Derek Speare adapter and real racing wheel and comes with pedals
2. Rig, really personal preference to build it or buy one. Plus if you go the motion route you would need to consider how suitable your rig of choice would be for it
3. Triple screens (personally I wouldn't go smaller than 27's and fit them as close as possible to br realisic
4. PC/Triple consoles
5. Good surround sound (not Logitech lol)
6. Tactile
This would be the upgrade route for me as must have's. Anything after this are very welcomed additions like a shifter or button boxes that as you use your rig you'll have some idea which one's suit you best.
The Fanatec shifter might be out for July ish but may only work with Fanatec wheels. The TH8 is a great shifter and can work with the T500 and as a stand alone usb on PC.
I'll look forward to seeing your progress and finding out which products you decide to go with.
 
I'm older so I think one of the most important things when I built mine was being able to get in/out of rig. I make mine high enough that I don't fall into it:ouch: and have to use a crane to get out of it:grumpy:. Also remember at some point (wife will agree) you will have to move it.:sly:
 
Carson79
1. Wheel and pedals (spend as much as you can afford) The T500 is a fine wheel with a Derek Speare adapter and real racing wheel and comes with pedals
2. Rig, really personal preference to build it or buy one. Plus if you go the motion route you would need to consider how suitable your rig of choice would be for it
3. Triple screens (personally I wouldn't go smaller than 27's and fit them as close as possible to br realisic
4. PC/Triple consoles
5. Good surround sound (not Logitech lol)
6. Tactile
This would be the upgrade route for me as must have's. Anything after this are very welcomed additions like a shifter or button boxes that as you use your rig you'll have some idea which one's suit you best.
The Fanatec shifter might be out for July ish but may only work with Fanatec wheels. The TH8 is a great shifter and can work with the T500 and as a stand alone usb on PC.
I'll look forward to seeing your progress and finding out which products you decide to go with.
Click to expand...

Nice list, Mark. Though I like the order of... 4, 1, 2, 5, 6, 3.

4. First as you do need to have a machine capable of gaming and should run your favorite games at least at 60fps or above. Though this is beyond control with a console. Also you do hot have to go and buy 3 consoles at the start of course, but you just need a basis to work from... a gaming PC or console.

1. I agree here. Personally I would not go below a T500, CSR Elite or CSW anymore if I had to start my sim racing hobby all over again. It is not because the older/other wheels are bad, but the tech used to deliver the experience are just too out dated. One big thing is that the old wheels just do not have enough power to bring across the FFB immersion properly enough. Even the T500, CSR Elite and CSW are still massively underpowered in my opinion, but they are the best to get without selling your organs. lol

2. Rigs are important but indeed a personal thing. Some people have a spare room for their rig, while others need to hide it each time or else their wife starts to give them an ear full. Personally when I went from table clamps to a proper rig the biggest difference was the seating position. You will be seated lower with your feet pushing against the pedals, instead of stomping on them. Oh and the fact that the seat didn't swivel like the one behind my desk was a blessing under hard braking. No more rolling backwards. One thing to note is that you will probably want to lower the position of your monitor with a rig as you are seated lower, causing you to look up other wise. Some rig manufacturers like rSeat offer triple and single stands. Get the triple stand and leave the sides off until you have two extra monitors.

5. Sound is an important sense we use in sim racing. We get all kinds of queues from it, from stress on/slipping of tired to where our opponents are positioned in a heated battle. However, many amplifiers and speakers have their own sound 'color' and our ears differ from each other as well. So personally I would like to advise here that you get a sound system that supports attaching an equalizer. The reason you'd want an equalizer (with as many frequency bands/sliders as possible) is because with it you can dial in the sound coming out of your speakers to your two ears, so you can hear everything clearly that you want to hear. Because no matter what system you will buy, any amp and speaker combination will have an area that you think should have presence, like the mids... extreme lows or that very high sound within the range of a drummer's high-hat. So equalization is very important.

6. Next up is tactile (with SimXperience Simvibe). This for me has become so important now that when I turn it off, my sim is off (like Darin and Sean at ISR said). I would recommend getting a Behringer iNuke NU1000DSP with two Buttkicker Mini LFE speakers. Do not buy a amp and tactile speaker combo from Buttkicker because the amplifiers that come with it are heavily underpowered for the job. The BKG2 for example has a speaker rated at 75 watt minimum (so when it starts to move) and a maximum of 400 watts. However, the amp is only 90 watts max. Which means the amp will clip when the speaker just got going, giving out a distorted sound in return and having no power left to move the speaker properly (which I found causes bottoming out). Those iNuke amps have enough power and the build in DSP has a limiter so you can't blow the speaker up, a delay to mimic placement of the suspension/axle, two equalizers to further tweak your sound, and most of all a crossover that lets you set high and low pass filters which work really well.

3. Last for me would be going triples. Though I am still undecided over triples or a rift. With the rift I would be troubled not seeing my buttons and other beautiful gear in front or to the side of me. So that is my biggest complaint. Personally I am now in between 6 and 3 I think. :)

7. Getting a GS4 gaming seat to mimic G force pressure.

8. Getting a SimXperience Motion to mimic the G force movement.
 
Here's my list as I am currently going to build a rig.

Wheel/Pedal combo. Personally I want a G27 with ClubSport V2's. Can use both together on iRacing.

Rig: Well I'm gonna build my own, hard mount pedals/wheel/shifter. Maybe get a seat on eBay if I'm lucky.

Computer/Console: Got a PS3 and good PC which can run iRacing on near max graphics at 80ish FPS.

TV: got a single 43" plasma.

Sound: Can't justify spending money on this one when my Turtle beach headset does the trick just fine.

Extras: Maybe buttkickers down the line but none for now.
 
1. Good Wheel - Logitech G27 is the best bang for the buck;

2. Pressure Based Brake Pedal System - Fanatec Clubsport V2 Pedals or Emery Emond's Hydraulic pedal (those are the best you can get);

3. Three Screens - The bigger, the bigger the better;

4. DSD Button Box - the DSD site has all you'd want;

5. Comfortable Seat - Playseats are good or Sim-Seats.net - I use an aftermarket racing seat from Summit Racing

This list presumes you have a stout PC to use :)
 
The rig itself. Everything else is replaceable (and probably will be in the future) or can be added afterwards (buttkicker, button box, etc.).

That means do not cheap out on it. In the end it's furniture, which is timeless instead of disposable and prone to obsolescence (technology).
 
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avens
The rig itself. Everything else is replaceable (and probably will be in the future) or can be added afterwards (buttkicker, button box, etc.).

That means do not cheap out on it. In the end it's furniture, which is timeless instead of disposable and prone to obsolescence (technology).
Click to expand...

Disagree. I am currently already reaching the limits of the rSeat when it comes to mounting stuff to it. So in the future I will have to chuck it out of the window most likely and go for something like an 80/20 rig, to which I can add and add without end... like building with Lego! :)

So yeah, I think it's with any 'ready to race' rig you can buy that you are pretty limited in terms of expansion options. Even those companies will refresh their product line instead of updating the old, just to accomodate new products on the market and new ideas on how to do things.
That said, there are many cool looking ready to race rigs out there. Though some pretty awesome home build solutions by members of GTP and other fora around the web as well.

It all comes down to what is available to someone in one's country when it comes to building materials, and the biggest point... what are the shipping costs of either the ready to race rig, or the building materials.
After that personal preference comes in.
 
If he buys or makes a high quality rig then it won't be that much of a hassle to upgrade the rig itself, instead of replacing it entirely.

In other words, lets say he buys a standard playseat: he'll replace it in one or two years, because it's not that great to begin with and it doesn't have enough features/space. Same goes with furniture, house buying and so on: it's not the greatest idea to cheap out on something that has the potential of lasting decades and that will retain its value. Sure most probably all of them will be replaced, just not as fast and dramatically depreciated as his cellphone or his monitors.

edit: Actually and on the same note, physical space for the whole thing should be considered a top priority as well. It won't be fun spending $2000 on hardware just to not have a dedicated place where to put it, plus in the end this is an experience so it should have an special feel to it, meaning a dedicated room is quite nice for every hobby really.
 
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LogiForce
It all comes down to what is available to someone in one's country when it comes to building materials, and the biggest point... what are the shipping costs of either the ready to race rig, or the building materials.
After that personal preference comes in.
Click to expand...

Totally agree Logi, I was able to do my rig at the cost I did only because I am in the USA.
From what I have gathered from friends in EU, and AU, and forums posts as well...
...it would cost quite a bit more to to do build my rig in those regions than it did here in the USA.

OP author is in USA, so this doesn't really apply to his situation, but its very relevant to many in other countries.
 
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1. Wheel & Pedals
2. Rig - Comfortable & Stiff Frame
3. Shifter
4. Surround Sound System OR Surround Sound Headphones
4. Buttkicker
5. Button Box (if PC racing only)
6. Triple Screen (if PC Racing, min 27" & 120hz or greater)
7. SLI-Pro (or equivalent - for PC Racing)
8. MOTION (either D-Box, SimX, GS-4 Seat)
 
Hey guys, all those items listed are great but ya left out two very important things.
1- 120 v ac
2- a good pilot
:) peace
 
runfast1
Hey guys, all those items listed are great but ya left out two very important things.
1- 120 v ac
2- a good pilot
:) peace
Click to expand...

Why would I need to convert my 230v AC to 120v AC? Really odd.
As for the OP. I think he would have made sure he can pay his electric bills prior to putting together his rig. lol

Also if you leave the racing to someone else, get a different hobby I'd say and spend cash on that. Weird choice.
 
LogiForce
Why would I need to convert my 230v AC to 120v AC? Really odd.
As for the OP. I think he would have made sure he can pay his electric bills prior to putting together his rig. lol

Also if you leave the racing to someone else, get a different hobby I'd say and spend cash on that. Weird choice.
Click to expand...

Sorry i forgot ya'll have 230 v ac. here in the USA we have 120 v ac.
 
Oooh, good question!

I've been building a rig (for years it feels like) and of course budget is always a concern. So I start with the basics...

The machine to run the software needs to be first, of course... It's the brains of the outfit. After that, display is certainly a necessity, and while it doesn't necessarily have to be triples, the right size and especially the right placement relative to your seating position are most important. That's really the difference between having a wheel in front of your TV and having a "drig".

So now assuming you have a console/PC and a TV/monitor, how do you make it a "rig"? Well, controls and seat. Starting with wheel and pedals... what you buy depends on what you want to do... but if you're serious enough to be building a "rig" then something pretty good is probably in order... G27 or CSR w/CSR Pedals are good starters, and maybe as far as you'll ever need to go. Hand in hand with the wheel goes your seating situation. Something you can get right up to your display with, sit in comfortably and puts all your controls in the right spot. You can do a wheelstand + seat solution, or a fixed rig, depending on what works for you.

1 - Hardware
2 - Display
3 - Controls
4 - Seat

SO that's what you NEED. Now you need to decide how insane you want to go. =D

Obviously, triples is the single biggest upgrade you can make, and it REALLY changes the experience for the better. If you are planning to build a new hardware solution ENTIRELY and you're going to do triples tho, pretty much throw GT and Forza out the window... unless you are down to buy 3 consoles and 3 games and basically have 1 title you can use. Build a PC with triples in mind.

Sound is huge, TV speakers suck, anything is better. Surround if you can swing it, good stereo if you can't, and a sub is always nice.

After that, accessories to fit your racing needs. Shifters, F1 wheels, upgraded pedals, and button boxes are all great fun.

Finally, tactile. Vibration adds alot of immersion. And if you're just MAD, motion.

At least, that's how I've been operating. YMMV of course. =)

If I was building a rig TODAY, money a concern but not a "budget build" like mine is, I would go:

Controls - Fanatec CSW w/BMW rim and CSPv2.
Rig - Obutto R3volution w/triple monitor stand.
Displays - Triple monitors, nothing specific, 27"-32".
PC - UNLIMITED POWAA!! Something that will run triples with little compromise. =)
Sound - Again, nothing specific. I do like those Logitech THX speakers they had a few years back.
Tactile/Motion - I don't really know alot about these things.

Anyhow, good luck and happy building!
 
If we are talking the basics of a RESPECTABLE setup, IMO, you should spend the most on these three in this order:
1)Wheel and pedals-----$600+ (either Clubsport, Elite, or T500RS, plus pedals and shifter)
2)Display-----------------$1500+ (decent HT projector, or tripple small bezel flatscreens)
3)Computer--------------$700-$1000

These are best places to save money by DIY vs buying
4)Rig (DIY)---------------$150-$300
5)Tactile------------------$200

Not going to mention motion, because that is in another $ category all together...
 
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1. Pedals
2 Wheel
3 Triple monitors
4 Cockpit includes gauges button box etc ..
5 Decent PC
6 Sound
7 Tactile immersion

Pedals and a Good Wheel. Bang for buck the T500 is the winner here. Triple monitors, most of you know I run triple 55" and they are simply awesome. Cockpit, depends if you are causal or serious, mine is getting an update with real analog gauges set into a grungy dash. I will put a shifter, button box and shift light in this as well.

A good PC, we can't play games on consoles all our career can we? Sound is the real immersion winner here, add a great tactile program and your buddies will think they are in a real race car.



Even the T500, CSR Elite and CSW are still massively underpowered in my opinion
Click to expand...
It's not the wheel that's under powered, it's the games you play. In iRacing and Assetto Corsa I can set my T500 so the FFB will rip my arms off

Last for me would be going triples. Though I am still undecided over triples or a rift.
Click to expand...
This is the opinion of a very causal racer, perhaps a console type racer, Forza, GT5, Mario Cart etc..

Any serious racer understands the importance of Triples, good luck with the Rift, actually I think Mario Cart would be awesome with the Rift.
 
Arm you mean I reckon, as you only have one.

It is not about sheer power to be honest. But to have enough power in the motors and quick response, that all the track nuances get felled at all time without being overwhelmed by the constant forces in corners.

Oh, about the triples I agree. You will need some form of being able to look to the side as to not bang into our push out your opponent. Especially in iRacing where you get pushed down the ranks immediately.
The rift will be troublesome in competition as well as you can't see the buttons on your button boxes. Also your precious gauges can't be seen anymore. So I can see your hate for the thing, after all the gear you have is expensive enough.

I am indeed only a casual racer, but I like my experience to be as real as possible. It's a different set of demands from a competition racer like yourself.

So with that said... what kind of racer is the OP? Casual or competitive?
 
So with that said... what kind of racer is the OP? Casual or competitive?
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A mixture of causal and competitive. In other words not just sim racing like iracing but I like need for speed type games too.

A good PC, we can't play games on consoles all our career can we? Sound is the real immersion winner here, add a great tactile program and your buddies will think they are in a real race car.
Click to expand...

My PC is pretty decent so shouldn't have to juice that yet. At least I think

Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Processor: AMD FX(tm)-8150 Eight-Core Processor (8 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
Memory: 16GB RAM
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680

As for sound. I think headphones like Turtle Beach or Triton would give you all you need including a mic. No?

As for tactile feedback I plan on mounting my rig to a platform with 4 Buttkickers.

I wanted to go motion but its really expensive. Although the Geko seat is fairly inexpensive but I have yet to catch anyone online that has actually used it and gives a legitimate review of it. One of the more active members in the forums posted a thread about it on here but I never saw where anyone picked one up because its not a racing seat per say.
 
solidghost
A mixture of causal and competitive. In other words not just sim racing like iracing but I like need for speed type games too.

My PC is pretty decent so shouldn't have to juice that yet. At least I think

Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Processor: AMD FX(tm)-8150 Eight-Core Processor (8 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
Memory: 16GB RAM
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680

As for sound. I think headphones like Turtle Beach or Triton would give you all you need including a mic. No?

As for tactile feedback I plan on mounting my rig to a platform with 4 Buttkickers.

I wanted to go motion but its really expensive. Although the Geko seat is fairly inexpensive but I have yet to catch anyone online that has actually used it and gives a legitimate review of it. One of the more active members in the forums posted a thread about it on here but I never saw where anyone picked one up because its not a racing seat per say.
Click to expand...

I am more the type that stays away from arcades like NFS. Will play Dirt 2 and 3 and other styles of racing in that genre. If possible with realistic physics. So more sim than cade, but without the competition stuff of iRacing. I guess I just want to play when I want to play, not when something or someone dictates that I should play.

That PC still seems decent. Better than mine even, at least the videocard.
You will have to go SLI though, if you want a comfortable frame rate with upcoming games on triples. Though someone with triples can better explain that. Left888 for example.

As for sound. Please stay clearly away from anything that has a gaming label on it. I tried Steelseries, Triton, Turtlebeach and so on. The sound from those cans are dull and boomy. There is not enough clarity in my opinion, nor are they even close from having a flat frequency range.
In the end I went with a Sennheiser PC-360 personally, and I have not felt the need to even think about something else. The microphone is so clear that friends have always asked what I was using for mic or headset. And we all know how poor we can understand someone else.
Sennheiser now makes the U-320 which works on all platforms. PC, Mac, 360, PS3 and so on.
Link: http://en-de.sennheiser.com/gaming-headset-xbox-ps3-pc-mac-stereo-u-320

Be sure to buy a good quality amp with the speakers which have at the very least 10% headroom in terms of watts it can out put. I personally recommend the Behringer iNuke amps with DSP as they are powerful, light and power efficient. The DSP will give you tons of customization options if you wish to go in depth (though it is up to you how far you wish to go into that depth).
For mini LFE's the 1000 series amps would be enough. However, a Buttkicker LFE would need at least the 6000 series.
 
LogiForce
Arm you mean I reckon, as you only have one.
Click to expand...

Just to clear this up (again) I am a B/E amputee, so it's more 1 1/2 arms :). I'm willing to bet I have more strength in my B/E stump then you do in both of your arms.
 
left888
Just to clear this up (again) I am a B/E amputee, so it's more 1 1/2 arms :). I'm willing to bet I have more strength in my B/E stump then you do in both of your arms.
Click to expand...

I am sure you do, as do all other amputees most likely. But I don't see the point in you comparing your strength to mine.
I think you failed the point I tried to make of how motors response is effected the closer it gets to its maximum power output. It's something I picked up from the SMS devs.
Maybe as a fellow native English speaker either eKretz or RacerXX would be able to explain it more properly to you. They have more knowledge in their pinky about this matter than myself as a whole.


mrbasher
The most important part of a rig? The driver of course... :P
Click to expand...

Some robot builders tend to disagree. :P
 
Several people have made good lists already...

I find it depends on the user and their own interests.

Some will have a desire for increased realism and some will be swayed more towards entertainment factors. Great variation in ways each individual budget what and how they spend more on various components?

Triple screens, for sure are a given but what type, what size?
Good wheel and pedals, but how realistic to a real car is required?
Seats are another example, a good one adds to the immersion and comfort is important. Your average playseat is a far cry from a proper racing seat. Will a person settle for a junk yard special out of an old car or is style important too and they want something high quality yet fancy?


Audio and tactile is often the biggest overlooked area that I see regards immersion and like pedals for example. How real do you want it to feel will have a big influence on what and how much you spend to achieve that personal target.

I gave Mr Carson a brief example recently in the performance difference between a single 150watt yet still high end $550 tactile unit compared to my own unique combination (currently in testing). This is now close to 2000 watts (just on 1 tactile channel). Their is a massive difference in the performance and immersion in what can be achieved if you go with something specialized. As an example again, just like a set of T500RS pedals would feel nowhere close to say what a $1000 professional purpose built set of pedals would offer. They both do the same type of thing but in a vastly different level.

I guess some will want added realism and performance in their own areas of interest.
My advice would be limit what you buy to start with and buy better than try to build your ideal system in one go.

Although don't be like me and gather parts etc for 3 years and continually push your goalposts.
 
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