Cheap direct drive wheel base

[BloodySalmonMan]

Hi
Do you guys know that a Ukraine company called Feel VR is about to launch their fist product which is direct drive wheel base in February or March and IT ONLY COST $333!!!! We don't have much information about it but I just want to know your thoughts.

 

[MegamanAT]

I don't know, but somehow, I just don't have a good feeling about this whole FeelVR stuff... Website, facebook, price changes, roadshow... No, I will not spend my money on a kickstarter campaing for FeelVR.

So I just ordered a large mige/sincos kit from simracingbay. Only to be on the safe side

 

[wajdi]

I received a new email with new pricing

Pricing Update
Hey everyone,

The last few months have been crazy for us. We've been working day and night to prepare for our Kickstarter launch, constantly making adjustments and improvements to our product. After doing a ton of testing and attending SimRacing Expo in Germany, we've received some incredible feedback. So, we implemented some new features to Feel VR, which means we had to recalculate manufacturing costs.

Our goal has always been to be affordable, but without compromising quality. So we're sticking to our motto. We want to give you guys the best possible product, for the best possible price.

We also did some more in-depth cost calculations to make sure we're not one of those Kickstarter campaigns that don't deliver the product as promised. We're in this for the long run.

The new pricing is as follows:

Pedals:

• Early Bird: $149
  
• Regular: $199

(Retail will be $299)

Wheel:

• Early Bird: $399
  
• Regular: $449

(Retail will be $669)

Wheel + Pedals:

• Early Bird: $549
  
• Regular: $599

(Retail will be $899)

In other news, we've decided not to limit the quantity of Early Birds. What does that mean? You've got a full 48 hours to purchase Feel VR at Early Bird prices once the campaign launches! To sign up for updates and to learn more, visit http://get.feelvr.game. We appreciate your support so far, and we can't wait to finally share Feel VR with you all.

Sincerely,
Feel VR Team

 

[dud]

Oh. I guess I get to put my money where my mouth is?

 

[signman]

You sir, took the words right out of my mouth.
I've spent my entire life driving, building , racing... cars, karts and anything with wheels.
I never could understand this fascination with overly-weighted, aggressive FFB in simracing.
It's one of those things that just about any driving-age simracer can check for themselves..
You just have to walk out to your car, open the door and step in.
Believe it or not, 'steering-wise'... your daily road car doesn't feel much different than a race car.
What's different, is the speed-corrective response to car reaction.
Sure!..the race car is more 'pointed' and harsh in every other way. It's loud, buzzy and can be a bit brutal on your body during heavy cornering.
On straights, it doesn't feel much different...just damn fast.

Have you driven any race car's with none assisted steering ?
I too have spent my life building, driving and racing car's, kart's and motorcycles for the past 50 year's.

I have to say car's I raced with none assisted steering like the Porsche 964 RS CS and Ralt F3 had 'very' heavy steering.

Obviously this can depend on setup, castor what down force you are running,

I choose a 53 servo for my Bodnar and glad I did.

Plenty of headroom, I do like to crank it up at time's in the older Group C and Indy car's and personally feel more information through my rim when I do so.

Some even choose the 54 servo and bigger, this is not always for more Nm.

Good example below of the weight of the steering in this Group C Merc.
Driver even having to rest his hand at times.

 

[Stacy Newcomb]

Well I'm in
As I am wheel less at the moment, this looks like a reasonable way to get back into racing.

$549 for a DD wheel and LC pedals ...... after looking at the demo video I'm fairly convinced the thing will work well enough for me, at no more cost than a half decent Thrustmaster setup.

Hope to be one of the first customers and will be posting a frank and honest account of my experience both on here and on Youtube...... watch this space.

 

[Nobkins]

New video:

First video of a prototype review kind of thing. Looks promising. I am getting a little more interested in being a backer. Quick calculations of getting wheel and pedal combo into uk is as follows:
Bundle:
Early Bird $549 = approx £390.
Delivery guestimate £25
Import duty = 12% (of all the costs, goods + delivery).
£390 + £25 * 1.12 = £464.80

So for under £500 a direct drive wheel AND pedals.

Add approx £40 to that if a backer but NOT early bird. Retail price (after kickstarter) will be $899 = £635 + £25 delivery + 12% import = £740. So approx 38% cheaper to be a early birder backer.

Hope all these calculations help some other UK interested people. I am getting tempted to look at this to upgrade my G27. I'll keep the G27 for my son to use as he is 8years old and just getting interested in sim racing.

 

[MegamanAT]

Mhh, as expected. Probably Better than TM and Fanatec, but far away from Simucube and Bodnar. The rotational speed looks good and way better than any belt driven wheel. but I can't image that thing to be released before fall. And I also don't trust William Marsh at all. There is nothing wrong with 3d-printed parts, I also printed the button-plate/shifter paddles for my OSW. But in the comments of the video feel-vr already said, the the parts will not be 3d-printed for the non-prototype wheels.

But overall, I think this is a good product to start some competition. Thrustmaster, Logitech and Fanatec could become a problem selling belt driven plastic toys for 800 bucks and might also come out with a proper direct drive wheel sooner than expected.

But if you have the money, just buy an simucube/mige/sinco build and
don't wait. That thing will last forever and is just amazing. Love mine!

 

[Nobkins]

Yeh I can;t quite persuade myself to spend the money on the high end DD wheels. Plus I'd then need a rig for it and I don't have the space. I'm hoping the feelVR suits me as it allows me to keep using my crappy office chair and desk as hopefully it won;t try to rip the desk apart. Not ideal to not have a rig but rest of my life gets in the way of devoting a room to sim racing (unfortunately).

I also spotted the fact the company have confirmed the parts will not be 3D printed in the production run (not that it matters to me if they are printed or not).

 

[Jan Larsen]

Aside from the rattling and the excessive FFB used in the video, there's no mention of the software used?

 

[MegamanAT]

Aside from the rattling and the excessive FFB used in the video, there's no mention of the software used?

of course, it was said. standard windows ffb driver. which means nothing to adjust. they also said, they are working on their own driver, but that will take at least 2 months. I would say they would need one more for dev.

 

[Pauliuss]

One more cheap DD is coming from SIM-PLICITY. All information in their page. What you guys think about it?

 

[Nobkins]

Possibility of 2year warranty:

 

[MegamanAT]

One more cheap DD is coming from SIM-PLICITY. All information in their page. What you guys think about it?

7nm peak is not enough in my opinion. I am running my large Mige at about 30-50% of force depending on the wheel. 30% with mit qsp 30cm wheel, 35% with my 33cm wheel etc... with is between 10 and 15nm (30nm = 100%).

 

[Nobkins]

The Kickstarter for the FeelVR is live. It is already fully funded (hit it's target) in just a few hours.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/feelvr/feel-vr-the-affordable-direct-drive-racing-wheel-a

The early bird prices are available for 48 hours from start of kickstarter. Then it is slightly more if you back the kickstarter before it ends on May 25th.

Warranty has been increased to 2 years for all items.

I am very tempted.

Shipping to UK will be $60 making the early bird price $609. I'm in the UK so that is approx £431. I'll have to pay 20% VAT which brings it to £517 approx. From a little digging it seems there is no duty to be paid when importing from Ukraine to EU. If anyone knows better please advise.

My information comes from here:
https://www.simplyduty.com/import-calculator/

 

[Terry Rock]

I'm a bit surprised there isn't more reaction to the Kickstarter one way or another.
What's the general consensus?
Guys sitting on the sidelines to see what develops?

 

[Fat-Alfie]

I decided to stick with my T500, and watch how the market develops. The Feel VR price went from ''very tempting" early on, to "too much to take a risk on" for me.

 

[dud]

I don't think I will pounce in the 48 hours. I am not comfortable with some changing stories. At first they said earliest backers would get it even cheaper. Those who were going into "shut up and take my money" mode right then never got an opportunity to actually do this at the price, when the user made the decision to spend. In the second step the extra $50 off looked like they are being offered to a group that wanted to commit right then... what was it... 6 weeks ago? The web form you went through clearly indicated that. It goes without saying that the campaign as actually launched does not do that. People who learn about the whole thing today can get the same $50.

$50 is also not enough to make me pounce without further information, when the other pounce deadline is 6 weeks away.

 

[Nobkins]

Ok I backed it @dud . You can back and adjust your backing amount (including cancelling) right upto the end of the kickstarter on the 25th of May. If you are undecided why not back it now to get that extra $50 off and ask questions / mull it over for the next 6 weeks. Then you can pull out if not satisfied or save an extra $50 if you are.

I've asked a few questions and am waiting for answers.

You've got just under 24 hours to decided if you want to back now and think for 6 weeks.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Any backers got theirs yet?

 

[PsyaNyde]

Doesn't look good on the facebook page:

Benjamin Remy doesn't recommend Feel VR.
19 November ·
I backed the company during their kickstarter campaign. Too bad they stopped replying on kickstarter and indigogo months ago even though they hired a "kate" to handle questions.

Update: They planed to deliver this month. They still haven´t asked the backers for their adresses, though. Emails and direct messages are being ignored, no comment has been replied to on kickstarter for over 3 months now.

This is anything but satisfactory.