Tag: racing sim

An Owner’s Review of Next Level Racing’s F-GT Dual Position Cockpit Simulator NLR-S010

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I have steadily upgraded my driving simulation cockpit over the years. I started out by mounting my wheel to a table. Then I upgraded to a folding wheel stand. Eventually I combined several parts into a makeshift simulator. I used this last set up for almost two years. It had a decent seat on one metal frame and the controls mounted on another. I parked it in front of a wall-mounted screen and called it good enough.

My dad testing out my first cockpit frame
TS150 based cockpit with gaming chair, first manual setup
Logitech wheel mounted to table connected to Xbox 360

The DIY simulator worked. I used it for more than a year. But… there were problems. It wasn’t very comfortable for one. The chair and wheel being on separate frames meant they didn’t line up perfectly. They weren’t quite the correct height for each other either. The wall mounted screen made achieving the ideal distance between it and the wheel a problem.

A DIY simulator built from a gaming style office chair on a floor stand, an Amazon office chair cockpit, and a wall mounted screen.

Being too aggressive on the pedals caused the two units to slide away from each other mid race. That was always fun. Oh, and there wasn’t anywhere to mount the gear shift. I was stuck using just the paddles. I had plans to fix the problems. While listing out the stuff I would need, I reconsidered. It was going to take a lot of time and effort to fix all of the issues. Not to mention materials.

Frames together as close as I can get them
Frames apart

I eventually convinced myself that I was spending enough time with the hobby to justify investing in a better setup. I had some specific requirements in mind. I wanted something that was stiff enough to not flex, move, or shake. It needed to be as small as possible since it had to fit in the spare bedroom, aka my office. Comfort and good ergonomics were high on the list too.

The solution I ended up with would also need to be very adjustable. Besides driving, I am also a MechWarrior player and space combat fan. I plan to take up fighter-jet combat and Microsoft Flight Simulator games when I have mastered my current genres. Who knows? Maybe I’ll want to give World of Tanks a shot sometime too.

I started researching options. There are so many choices! There are plans to build your own from PVC, wood, and even metal. Extreme builds use the shells and interiors of real vehicles. There are also vendors like NLR, Sim Lab, PX1, and others that manufacture ready to race products.

DIY is a popular option.

In the end, I went with Next Level Racing’s NLR-S010 model. I chose it because it is a medium weight, super adaptable, multi-role frame. It can adjust between the upright seating position of GT/sports cars and the zero-G position of a formula driver. It takes up less floor space than many other cockpits. NLR also sells a bolt-on kit that transforms the unit into a fighter jet / mech cockpit.

GT /  Sports Car Position
F1 / Fighter jet

I bought the F-GT, the HOTAS mounting kit, and the optional monitor stand. The unit includes a built-in seat. I already had the PC, monitor, wheel, pedals, and speakers.

The frame is built from all metal parts. You are responsible for all of the assembling. I highly recommend securing some assistance. You are also going to be ahead of the game if you acquire a drill with both screw driver and allen key bits. I also suggest a good wrench set.

The instructions are pretty straightforward. We didn’t have any issues putting the frame together. We didn’t screw anything down past finger tight until we had a chance to position everything to fit me.

The parts

I went through with the power tools and cranked everything as tight as it would go to lock the setup in. It took two of us ( experienced build team ) about four hours to assemble the frame and get my electronics bolted on. Everything was ready for the first run in five hours. You can speed assembly up if each person has a drill with the oposing bit. For example, one with a socket wrench and the other with the allen key.

On that first run, I was astonished by how much my sense of immersion was improved. It was obvious right off the bat. Almost every driving setup I have used to date moved in some unwanted way. The NLR-S010 didn’t. No twisting, sliding, or shaking was detected. 

Comfort was also exponentially improved over any of my previous setups. The seat and wheel were realistically positioned relative to each other. The angles and locations of the controls and screen were as they would be in many real-world vehicles.

The seat is not as bolstered or as cushioned as I would like, but it does the job. It is rail mounted and can move forward or back.

The unit fits me well. I am five feet and nine inches tall. If I were much taller, this cockpit would be too tight. This is especially true if you purchase the integrated monitor stand like I did. The stand takes up space on the frame that would otherwise be used to increase the distance between the wheel and driver.

The optional monitor stand fills the mounting rail.

The F-GT is smaller than other full cockpits, but it is still a big piece of furniture. You need a dedicated space about the size of a couch for this thing to live in. I went with a 49″ ultrawide monitor instead of a three-screen setup to save even more space. It’s still huge.

Supposedly, this thing is compatible with Next Level Racing’s motion modules. I don’t know if I’ll ever take it that far. I did pick up one of their H8A haptic chair add-ons. It uses a bunch of vibrating pads sown into a chair cushion to further simulate a car. There will be a full review of it published soon.

The NLR-S010 is compatible with the v3 motion platform.

I’ve had the F-GT set up for several months and have spent a lot of hours in the seat. I practiced for and raced in the Logitech racing series in Forza Motorsport.  I had a lot of fun learning to drive that McLaren to the edge of my abilities. I’m happy with my purchase. I expect to be using this thing for the next several years.

Links:

NLR-S010: https://nextlevelracing.com/products/next-level-racing-f1gt-formula-1-and-gt-simulator-cockpit/

Flight Pack: https://www.microcenter.com/product/683816/Combat_Flight_Pack_for_GT_Track

F-GT Monitor mount: https://nextlevelracing.com/products/f1gt-monitor-stand/

Thrustmaster T-LCM Loadcell Sim-Racing Pedal Set Is A Steal at $200.00

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I’ve been racing with wheel and pedal sets on PC, Xbox, and Playstation systems for as long as I can remember. I started out with simple spring based wheel and pedal sets from the likes of Mad Catz. Eventually, I worked my way up to advanced force feedback based wheels that use embedded motors to simulate some of the physical experiences of driving.

During my early years with the hobby, I had not devoted much attention to the pedals. I was always more focused on the graphics, wheel, and display. I used the basic gas and brake set that came with the wheel and decided that was good enough.

Spring-loaded wheels were all the rage in the PS2/360 era.

A few years back, the gas pedal snapped on the Logitech setup I had been using at the time. I purchased a set of Thrustmaster T3PA pedals because they used the same connecter. Also, the addition of a clutch pedal would be a big upgrade. I’ve preferred them up over those included with my various wheels ever since. Until recently, that is. 

The T3PA  was a significant upgrade.

My lovely wife had decided the best Father’s Day gift would be a trip to our local computer and electronics store to pick out a new toy for my inner child. While we were wandering around the store, we eventually found ourselves in the sim-racing section. It was there that I discovered the T-LCM pedal set. It was the first time I had run into loadcell based pedals in a brick-and-mortar store. It was also the first time I had seen the tech offered for less than three hundred dollars.

Loadcell sensors measure the amount of pressure being applied at any given time in near real time. They’re far more accurate and faster than the more common potentiometer sensors. The older tech measures the distance the pedal’s shaft travels, and the software translates that to pedal pressure.

Thrustmaster T-LCM

The upgraded censor allows engineers to design pedals that are focused on replicating the real-car experience. Potentiometer based pedal designs are forced to consider shaft travel over other attributes. On the Thrustmaster T-LCM model, the loadcell is utilized by the brake. Combined with some adjustable spring sets, the feeling of braking is closer to meat-space vehicles.

It took me about two hours to get the T3PAs removed and the new set installed and ready to drive. In that time, I updated the firmware on my TS-300 wheel because it was required. The installation steps also included downloading the tuning software to adjust the sensor’s sensitivity . Then, it was on to the hard part mapping the new pedals to the controls of my various driving games.

In each of the driving games I play, there is a particular car and track that I use to test new setups of my computer hardware and software. I loaded one of these benchmarks, Project Cars 2’s Azure Coast in the 2004 Porsche Carrera GT and hit the road.

I could tell by the time I had turned into the first corner that the new load cell technology was worth the cost and time. I won’t go as far as saying that braking feels exactly as it would in any particular car. I will say that it feels like a realistically generic brake system.

The improvement in car control due to the more nuanced feel of the braking was immediate for me. I beat my personal best lap time for the track and car in my first test run. The brake engages and applies stopping power in a manner that is more like the real thing. The adjustable resistance provided by the various spring sets lets you adjust the feeling to match your expectations.

The Microcenter store we had purchased the new set from had them priced at a reasonable $249.00. I happen to know that the store will price-match Amazon, so I checked. Sure enough, Amazon had them for $201.00. At that price I think these make sense as an upgrade to my sim-racing setup. If you’re looking to inch closer to a more realistic driving experience, you might want to check them out too.

Don’t Be Bored, Go Racing

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In our new normal, one of the complaints that I hear most often is how bored people are when there’s nowhere to go. Shops, stores, movie theatres, and restaurants are all closed. Baseball and most other sports are on hold for who knows how long? A lot of our free time was spent “going”. Now that you have all of that time on your hands, what do you do with it?

This is the perfect time to find a hobby. For years one of my favorite pastimes has been racing. While I have been lucky enough to own and drive some fantastic cars, I am not referring to racing real vehicles. I’m talking about digital racing, not in the form of Mario Kart or any other button masher, but racing simulations.

Racing isn’t about mashing the gas as hard as you can and hoping for the best. It’s an exercise of surgical precision, superb timing, and a personal relationship with Newton’s laws of motion. Driving is a ubiquitous skill for Americans, so perfecting it has a smaller learning curve than other simulated experiences. Racing simulations are available on nearly every type of computing device. Below are some of my favorites (pics link to the web sites).

Real Racing 3 is an excellent simulation for Apple, Android, and Amazon mobile systems. I highly recommend the in-car view and tilt controls to get the most realistic experience.
People have been burning up the track in Sony’s PlayStation exclusive Gran Turismo since 1997. Always a leader in innovation, GT was the first console game to support 3-D.
With cars so detailed you can almost smell the gasoline, the Forza series is the premiere Xbox exclusive racer.
Get your race on anywhere with Grid AutoSport on the Nintendo Switch

Racing games have been in development for nearly fifty years . Gran Trak 10 was released by Atari in 1974 and featured a steering wheel and pedals control interface. It wasn’t much to look at but was entertaining. People flocked to it in the arcades and bowling alleys of the time. This encouraged the investment and development we are able to experience today.

Gran Trak 10 is the Granddaddy of Racing Simulators. The arcade cabinet had a real wood steering wheel and pedal controls.

When you flip on ESPN and see a vehicle race during the Covid pandemic you are most likely watching an iRacing event. iRacing is a subscription based virtual experience that is renowned for its ability to accurately portray the minutia of racing a car or truck. From Trophy Trucks to F1, every type of race and track is available. Tire wear, fuel consumption, track degradation and weather conditions all occur as they would in the real world.

Race with the pros on iRacing.

iRacing supports Virtual Reality, motion simulators, advanced control kits, and nearly every other type of advanced equipment the sport has to offer. Make no bones about it, this is a sport; people spend thousands of hours practicing and honing their skills here. Spend the $6.50 for a one-month membership and see how you stack up.

Project Cars 2 is the game I spend most of my time playing right now. It features almost every type of car and track laser modeled to the most exquisite detail. Day and night driving in the sun, rain, snow, and ice are all represented. There are pro events, on-line matchmaking, and everything in between. It’s available on the Xbox and PlayStation but really shines on a PC with a high end GPU.

Project Cars 2 has nailed PC racing simulation

No article about racing simulations would be complete without mentioning the astounding amount of hardware designed to push the experience from something you see and hear, to something you feel as well. Most people start their rigs with a wheel and pedal set. From inexpensive spring loaded wheels to servo controlled force feedback sets, there’s an option for almost everyone. You can get gear shifters, hand brakes, gauge clusters, eye trackers, cockpit stands, and even full motion systems to take your racing to next level.

For me, nothing beats a force feedback wheel. Using small electric motors in combination with gears, or belts these wheels go far beyond the buzzing you get from gamepads. Pushing back on your hands in corners, the slip of traction loss, bumps in the road, a lot of driving is done through your sense of touch. A good kit to start with is the Thrustmaster TS150, designed for the PlayStation it is a little known fact that this wheel works great for PCs too; there’s a switch on the back and drivers available on their web site.

An excellent add-on for any driving kit, is a gear shift. Most of the wheel combos sold today come with a 3-pedal setup but don’t include a manual gear shift. You can add one from Logitech or Thrustmaster in a snap and be rowing your way through 6 gears in no time.

You can try to clamp your wheel and shifter to a desk and put the pedals underneath. They usually include clamps made for this purpose. You’ll have a hard time getting everything to line up where it would in a real car’s cockpit. Most of us end up getting a purpose made wheel stand. There are lots of makes and models, search Amazon to get an idea. The best ones let you mount the shifter on either side. When you run European races you can make your setup match the car.

You might be tempted to think that after you’ve got a wheel, stand, pedals, a shifter, a seat, and a cockpit that you’ve reached the end of racing simulation hardware. Nope, you’re just in the beginning phases of the addiction. After you’ve had a the stand for a while, a lot of people make the jump to a full cockpit. If you’re going to dedicate that much space and money to your setup, you might as well go all in and get the motion simulation too.

With prices ranging from $800 to $10,000, or more, full motion cockpits are the apex of racing simulation. Working in conjunction with your force feedback wheel and VR headset the seat will lean and pitch to make you feel the torque of acceleration, throw you forward on hard braking, and push you to the sides in the corners. I haven’t purchased one of these yet, rest assured that if I do you’ll be able to read about it here. Now I that I’m done writing, I think I’ll go run a few laps.