VXR GamePod GTX #2

[phil-t]

To save spoiling Kris' thread, I've moved my build diary into here!

I was pointed in the direction of one a Gamepod GTX bare chassis on ebay (Thanks Kris8583!).

The gamepod chassis was from eBay (Thanks Kris8583!! for spotting it) and got it for £130.

OK, Step 1 for me..

Goals:
1. Assemble and check for missing items
- All pretty easy, 99.9% all there.. the previous owner only supplied 2 bolts per seat rail/pedal tray side, there are 3 holes for each, but as you'll see later on, this isn't going to be a problem! And I love the lockable cabinet, if I ever get loads of amps/other crap, I know where it can go! And I don't have the chequer board alloy pedal plate, just a glass black effort, so not sure if it's a 'VXR' gamepod or not..

- Some very light scratches (Shows up badly with camera's flash, but actually it's in excellent condition)

2. Size up Monitor
- I initially had a 'not too sure' moment looking at it bare, I had this awful feeling that you'd have to look up to see the monitor, and the steering wheel would partly obscure it.
- I also wasn't sure about the monitor size, so used some A4 paper sellotaped together to make templates for 24" and 27" screen sizes to check things out, I was initially thinking that 24" would defo be too small, I like the immersion from having most of my field of view filled with the monitor..

This is approximately the field of view I see when sat in the 'temporary' seat, I think a genuine 24" 16:9 monitor will be perfect (And cheap!)

3. Check out the steering wheel/pedal/seat rough positions
- I'm 6'0" (Well 5'11.5" ) and not having an actual bucket seat, I scouted around the house to find a chair that was low enough to act as a starting point, adding cushions to raise me up until it looked about the height I see on the gamepod site, luckily having kids has finally paid off as their old IKEA kids chairs seem a perfect stand in!

- I placed the chair so I had a comfortable stretch to the wheel, I actually sit a little closer to the wheel then ideal, a fraction more bend in my elbows then would be considered perfect, which means the chair is going to be slightly forward, and this means..


- The pedals overhang the pedal tray initially so I moved that forward to accomodate them in this quick test fit, I can either re-drill some holes inbetween the pre-drilled ones, or just leave it stuck out a bit, at least it's not a show stopper! And I won't be able to see by how much until I get a seat..

So that's the initial stuff over and done..

I think my aim is now become clear.

------------------------------------------------
The initial plan
------------------------------------------------

Already have:
A Sony HTK25 compact surround system,

Need to get:
Seat - Undecided between nice leather car seat (possibly electric) or a bucket (reclining), I want it comfortable to ideally sit in it playing FPS games as well as racing, some feedback on whether a bucket seat is uncomfortable for long durations would be appreciated. Am budgetting around £100.
Monitor - 24" Will do, can be had from £115-£130 easily for a bog standard HDMI equipped 1080p screen
Another Active HDMI Splitter (1 into 2), £35 for the same one I use for the projector.

The short term goal is to get it up and running, use it, then decide where to go (If anywhere)..

I will locate it next to my existing PC desk where I currently have the PS3/360/PC all close to each other feeding a 28" Monitor (via 3 way HDMI switch) + The Sony Amp (Optical/Coax audio connections).
This way, I can split the existing PC Monitors HDMI feed in two, to feed the Gamepod monitor as well, and keep the consoles on the desk, feeding the HTK25 using the same 3 Metre optical/Coax connections. It's not ideal having 1 HDMI, 2 Toslink and 1 Coax cable to the rig, but I'll get a HDMI audio amp + speakers at a later date.

This means I can sit at the desk and play any console/pc with HDMI audio going to the monitor (has inbuilt speakers), or pop in the gamepod and play any console/PC with 5.1 surround.


For the tldr brigade, the questions I would appreciate some feedback
- Is my 24" Monitor assessment correct? I think 27" would be too large and I wouldn't be able to see it all in my field of view
- What's the thoughts on comfort etc to help choose a bucket seat over a leather car seat?

 

[phil-t]

Update #2:

I've just bagged a pair of EP3 Civic Type R Bucket seats for £100 (Will sell the one I don't use to recoup a little money!), it looks like a bit of fettling with a hammer and I'll fashion up some small brackets to mount them to the existing Struts, or I'll make a custom subframe out of wood to get the right height..

These are the seats, Black alcantara type finish on the outside, with red insert/stiching, should colour coordinate nicely with the rig!!

I expect being car seats they'll have quite bulky runners, I've found some images of the underneath from a kit car forum, they look easily moddable, but will make a custom wooden frame if I need to mount them lower and cover the sides with some metal plate to make it look more purposeful..

Stay tuned..

 

[phil-t]

Small update:
- The seats are being picked up by the missus around 4:00PM, so they'll be waiting at home for me..
- Ordered a 24" Viewsonic VX2439WM (VESA/1080p/2ms/HDMI/DVI/VGA etc) for £138 delivered. It'll do for the time-being..

Dabs have the Iiyama E2407HDS at a bargain price of £101.16 , http://www.dabs.com/products/iiyama...onitor-with-speakers-71XW.html?refs=376750000 From the manual it is has VESA mountings (100mm) and has everything you'd need.. Just 'delayed stock'.. but that would have been my first choice, had I not been in a rush to get the rig ready ASAP (F1 2011/GT5 and hopefully FM4 next month!)

EDIT - Oops.. I forgot I need to get a HDMI Splitter (Active) - 5m HDMI and some longer optical leads!..

 

[phil-t]

Small update:

The seats arrived, and look better in the flesh then I thought! Just the tiniest mark on the bolster on the drivers seat, but the passenger seat is practically new!

The height of the runners and the distance between them means that it's not practical to attempt to make some brackets up and attach to the seat supports that the Gamepod comes with, and to be honest the seat is heavy, that with me in looks too much for the not so sturdy looking supports!

But fitting it is going to be easy enough, Once I've drilled the rivets and got an angle grinder to remove the welds, the 4 mounting brackets attached to the runners will be off (Already done 1, but need to get an angle grinder tomorrow for the others- £15), this will just leave the runners with convenient M6 holes at each end of each runner..

I'll then bolt the seat onto some 15 or 20mm thick MDF.

I've got some 47mm*150mm carcassing wood, I'll make two wooden stantions to replace the metal ones on the gamepod, bolt these to the inside of each frame leg (But have them resting on the floor to ensure all the weight is not transferred to the bolts which are M8 * 60mm), and then screw the mdf with seat to these.. If I angle the ends of them and use some tread plate or similar, it should look OK..

I'll post pics tomorrow, the camera battery died..

 

[phil-t]

Hey phil, pleased you got your seat and your happy with it. Could you not brace the existing Gamepod seat brackets with a cross section? Seems a shame to have to do away with the proper mounts because they look so good.
Funnily enough, I was thinking that this morning!! So I'd just still mount the seat to a rectangle of 20mm MDF and I can bolt that to the existing seat supports just to see how it is.

My doubts are that it'll be a little on the high side, since the runner/slide mechanism is quite bulky on a car seat and the 20mm MDF won't help, but I guess it won't harm to check..

I could as you say brace the existing supports, I could shape 2 pieces of wood to go between the frame legs front/back of the existing seat brackets to make a box with the two original metal brackets left and right, and substantial wood bracing front and back!

At least if it is too high, I have an easy diy solution to getting it lower and bracing it for the extra weight without having to modify and ruin the existing seat brackets..

I'll probably make the wooden frame up as well to compare, and see which will look better, as it's a car seat, the lower plastics don't cover much and don't look that neat, not like a nice Bucket seat which is all scuplted nicely down to it's mounting points!

Oh, and the monitor turned up at work, it should be easy to fit, it comes with small bolts for the vesa mount holes, the stand mechanism simply unscrews and the connections are downward facing and high enough inset such that the cables should be easily hidden! The funny thing is, I had it delivered to work (always someone in to sign for deliveries), but I forgot that I was on the push bike this morning, so had to talking nicely to the missus to come and pick it up..

If the cables turn up at home today, then I should have everything I need to get the rig up and running! Maybe just need some bolts to secure the seat to the MDF and MDF to the gamepod seat brackets, but B&W do packs of 10 for £3-£4 worse case..

 

[phil-t]

Update #3:

I thought (as Kris suggested), get the seat mounted and try the Gamepod seat brackets..

So, on to mounting the seat...

1. Remove the honda oem brackets from the seat runners. This will leave me with just the flat runners, ready to bolt to something..

- As you can see, there are 4 rivoted and welded brackets that need to be removed..

2. A bit of grinding later (A grinder is an awesome tool, and it made quick work of things!)

3. Cut a bit of MDF, drill some holes, and check the bolts (Using the rivot holes from the 4 removed brackets)..

5. Then drill 4 holes for the Gamepod Brackets, and using some M8 bolts, put it all together..

 

[phil-t]

Update #4

Well, two small issues,

1. The flex in the Gamepod seat brackets is a bit too much for me.. Here's a quick youtube video of it.. But I could brace it easily enough, however.. it doesn't take any real effort to get it to do this..


2. The seat really needs mounting slightly lower and slightly further back, I only just fit in with the seat slid all the way back, as the last image in the previous post shows, this is with the seat slid all the way back..

I think I'll quickly cut up some 'sturdy' wood and make some more sturdy seat brackets/frame that will sit inside the gamepod frame legs, I can then see which fits better, and if it is the wooden framing, I'll cover it in treadplate or vinyl wrap it in carbon fibre look wrap or something to make it look sporty!

 

[Mr Latte]

Nice seat phil, looks comfy too.
I see you extended the pedal base, thats one thing about Gamepods, they are far too close even at max extension if using their normal positioning.

As mentioned in the other thread do consider the "Gamepod Buttkicker Platform"
IIRC it comes with stronger seat uprisers which wouldnt flex. IIRC I posted spare ones to VINCE earlier this year that I had.


I found the Fanatec wheel clamp was handy for getting a bit of angle for the wheel if you find the standard flat surface not to your taste.

Going to be real nice when finished...

 

[phil-t]

Thanks Mr L!

I'll just quickly try a custom wooden frame in place of the seat brackets, it won't take more then an hour to do, and it'll allow me to see what a lower seat height feels like and allow me to move the seat further back and see what effect that has..

If it doesn't feel right, I'll stick with the standard brackets and do as you suggest, get the buttkicker plate/stronger brackets from Gamepod, maybe even brace it a bit more (the Civic seat is very heavy)..

 

[phil-t]

Small Update:

- I just mounted the monitor, and using the highest VESA holes on the gamepod chassis, it's too low

Luckily it needs to be about 2" higher, and there is enough height on the gamepod monitor mounting box to just drill some new holes higher up!!!..


I'll have to balance this with the seat height and wheel angle, I think I'm going to be very busy tomorrow trying a lower seat height, monitor height and wheel angle!!! Once I get a good 'fit' I'll see the best ways of making it all permanent and thanks for all the advice so far, at least I know there are 'options'!

 

[Mr Latte]

I just noticed that your uprights are different, instead of having a long flat top they only seem to have support at the corners.

 

[kris8583]

hey phil looking good! any news on the monitor performance i was looking at ordering mine tonight?

 

[phil-t]

hey phil looking good! any news on the monitor performance i was looking at ordering mine tonight?

Hi Kris, we had some family arrive today, and thought I'd not get anything done, but luckily I persuaded them to hold some stuff while I quickly made the trial wooden frame for the seat, which is perfect! The seat is perfectly positioned and very sturdy!


Regarding the monitor, I've tried it on my PC, and its better then my 28" monitor, nice and fast and bright... it looks nice, but will require me drilling some higher holes in the cabinet to raise it 2 inches soon the wheel doesn't obscure it.. I probably won't get to really try it until tomorrow utility our guests leave, but I know it works finding the PC.

 

[phil-t]

Update #5:

- Added small MDF plate under the steering wheel shelf, this is to allow the inbuilt fanatec clamp work.. Just a small piece of MDF, and drilled/screwed in 4 places, all hidden under the wheel. With the Velcro securing the rear of the wheel, this is a very stable clamping method, plus you can remove the wheel in 10 seconds.

Monitor Mounting
- With the seat in place, wheel in place, I put the Monitor on the highest mounting holes on the frame, but as before it was a good 1.5 Inches too low (The wheel obscures the view, and your eye level is above the monitor..
- I drilled 4 new holes as high as is possible on the frame, since there is a nice 'column' of existing holes, marking and drilling accurately is made quite easy.

With the monitor as high as possible, it's got about 0.5" of visible clearance above the wheel rim from my normal seating position, and my eyes are at about 90-95% of the heigh of the screen, which is almost perfect for the optimal viewing angle.

So with the basics in place, I had to fire up a game to just check things out! Unfortunately my PS3 was all unplugged as I'm relocating it to the study, but I flashed up the 360 and FM3 to check the monitor viewing angles and response rates...

I'm pleased to say that the monitor has settings for 'response rate'.. so it's set to ultra fast, the viewing angles work well at the distance you are sat, and despite any reservations, the monitor fills your field of view very well indeed, if anything you could get away with a 22" Monitor, but I do like the slightly increased immersion.

So all is good, I'm very happy with the monitor, it does the job well, and actually looks very good, the very small rounded bump underneath the screen for the power doesn't look out of place, but I will need to enlarge one of the holes behind the monitor to allow the HDMI cable to go through, the larger slots you would normally use are visible now the monitor is higher up, so they can't be used..

Next step is to probably look at mounting the surround sound speakers/amp/sub.. I'd like to try and get the sub under the seat somehow, but the ultra-beefed up wooden mounting frame may make this a little harder!

Pics to follow!

 

[phil-t]

Small Update:

- My plans to put the subwoofer/amp unit from my 5.1 surround under the seat are just too ambitious, it's too large a unit, and I'd have to have the seat far too high.. so that is something that will have to be placed off-board..

- I've ordered some cheap 3D Carbon wrap vinyl stuff from Ebay, this is to cover the wooden seat frame elements, and should look reasonable once done!

- After much headscratching about the amp, I'm going to look at mounting the 5 surround satellite speakers tomorrow, since the rig will be more 'permanently' placed in the study, I may put the back of the rig against the wall, I can then mount the two rear speakers at a good height and a perfect distance apart, the front 3 can be mounted around the monitor using small brackets bolted to the monitor plate..

 

[zr1chris]

Sorry this is a bit off topic but what is that orange box beside the fire place that looks like a subwoofer. Forgive me if that's what it is, I have just never seen one that looked quite like that.

 

[phil-t]

Sorry this is a bit off topic but what is that orange box beside the fire place that looks like a subwoofer. Forgive me if that's what it is, I have just never seen one that looked quite like that.

No problems, it is indeed a sub, a Mission M5AS.. I got it years ago as it could just about be left on show without upsetting the missus! And its actually not too bad performance wise!

 

[zr1chris]

Thanks. 👍 Its pretty big for that style of sub and the box was not your typical color. Never heard of that brand before either. It's funny to see one where the sub is actually on the bottom facing straight down.

 

[phil-t]

Another small update

- Cleared out part of the study so I can put the Gamepod in it's final resting place

- Attached all 3 front speakers, I needed to make up some brackets for the L/R so they sit either side of the monitor, the centre speaker is easy, that just bolts to the monitor stand, there was enough room between monitor and the wheel for it to fit! Phew!!!

- After seeing Kris' awesomely neat cabling, I spent a while whittling the overmoulding of the bulky HDMI cable ends and using some wire and fishing line drawn through the frame, right from the seat end leg up to the monitor housing, I have managed to get my 5M HDMI cable through.. I'm 90% there with the thick mains cable down the same leg, but will need a hand tomorrow from the missus to help pull it all through as it's quite tight indeed!

I've basically just got to draw the 3 speaker cables down the other leg, exiting behind the seat, and that will be the installation side complete...

After that, I need to mount the rear speakers on the wall behind the gamepod, and cover the brackets and wooden seat frame in Carbon fibre wrap when it turns up..

Will post pics at a later date..

 

[kris8583]

Another small update

- After seeing Kris' awesomely neat cabling, I spent a while whittling the overmoulding of the bulky HDMI cable ends and using some wire and fishing line drawn through the frame, right from the seat end leg up to the monitor housing, I have managed to get my 5M HDMI cable through.. I'm 90% there with the thick mains cable down the same leg, but will need a hand tomorrow from the missus to help pull it all through as it's quite tight indeed!

Will post pics at a later date..

If you slacken off the 10mm bolts that hold the wheel mount and cupboard to the frame leg it makes it loads easier to get your cables through. The threads take up more room in the frame than you may think. Once I had slackened them off mine went straight through and past the welded mounting threads.

Hope it helps

 

[phil-t]

If you slacken off the 10mm bolts that hold the wheel mount and cupboard to the frame leg it makes it loads easier to get your cables through. The threads take up more room in the frame than you may think. Once I had slackened them off mine went straight through and past the welded mounting threads.

Hope it helps

Thanks Kris, that part of the frame seemed OK, I have fed the Mains/HDMI and front speaker cables down the entire length of the frame, from the monitor cabinet to the ends of each leg, I was struggling with the speaker cables as they have plastic plugs on the end and kept fouling on the seat mount bolts.. I remembered you mentioning you may need to slacken bolts, and that did the job!!

Small update:
- All cables now in place, I've used lots of cable ties and those sticky backed cable tie mount things to neaten all cables, it's pretty much like Kris', all hidden, just the cables that exit at the very rear of the frame behind the seat..

Tomorrow, I just need to cut some small brackets to mount the two rear speakers on the wall behind the rig, and rig up some easy way to allow the pedals to be placed in two positions, one for the kids, one for me.. I might use some small bits of wood as end stops bolts in two places, there is a nice arched space halfway down the CSP's so I might get away with this, I don't think I need to bolt the pedals, just have some small stops to stop them sliding.. I'll see if it works, or I'll bolt them and the kids will have to use the controller..

 

[kris8583]

Hey Phil, hows the rig doing fella?

 

[Mayaman]

Those are great seats, good job!