[Title is temporary, I have no idea how to get it catchy]
Last Sunday I got an invitation to join a local European RX driver at a simulation center called Drammen Racing Senter. I didn't need much time to think about it, I knew about the place. I just hadn't found a good enough excuse to go down and spend money. After all, I do have the games and equipment at home. After just one stint with a motion rig and VR, I realized how much I miss out on at home, and also how games that feel somewhat off at home, feels very much right with a big rig.
The Equipment
The motion rigs are Force Dynamics 301, with some home made modifcations - e.g putting the computer on the top, behind on the actual rig (the case can be seen with #5 here).
Steering wheel, gearing, pedals and handbrake are all Fanatec, but again with home made modifications, both to make them stronger and more practical to use. The brake-pedal is a pressure sensitive load cell, which works extremely well.
5 of the rigs are also connected to VR with Oculus Rift. This is in turn synced with the motion rig, to avoid clipping when you move with the rig. I was given a test with a stock setting, if you just buy a motion rig and VR and try it out without syncing it together. And that was rather awful - the camera just jumped around seemingly at random.
In addition, all 8 motion rigs at the center are connected, so you can have a proper race online against each other. Everything is controlled from a remote computer, serving as race control, with an additional user serving as broadcaster and connected to a big screen in the room. This way if more than 8 friends are there, the ones not racing can watch the others. As far as we are aware, this is the only place in the world, where this amount of motion rigs are connected together in this way, so it is possible to race each other.
To finish off, the motion rigs are slightly exaggerated, this is intentional, as it is meant to simulate the forces put on the driver when driving - and it doesn't feel as major as it looks.
The feeling
But as we all know, the most important thing isn't how fancy things are, or how cool they look (at least to a degree). But how it feels when you are driving. Does it feel plausible, does it feel real. Do the cars and the rig behave like you would expect, or does give a feeling of being a tiny bit off?
To my surprise, it felt extremely good. First of all, this was not my first experience with a motion rig, I also used a combined rig and VR on the Assetto Corsa press launch and I spent a good amount of time at iZone Driver Performance at Silverstone,- a place co-founded by Andy Prilaux and is a leading simulator and driver training facility in Europe - getting personal guiding and training. And with all that in mind, this still felt extremely good.
The simulator of choice for this days event (remember, it was hosted by a Euro RX driver) was pCARS 2. And I must admit, I was slightly skeptical for this, as I've tried it at home, and it did not feel good at all. First out, we tried a BMW 1M, which didn't feel amazing, it felt like thing worked like they should when I was on the throttle, but not always when I was off. However, with the pressure-brake it was easy to get the feel for the braking. Similar issue with the Radical SR8RX, it felt slightly off when off the throttle, and the motion rig didn't help. However, both the MINI RX, Radical SR3 and Lotus 49C felt very good. And for a guy who personally do not like pCARS 2 at all when playing at home - most of it felt absolutely right when I was in the rig with VR. It was surprisingly enough easier to handle the cars there than at home, even though you get thrown around like a toy between to overly eager dogs!
After some chatting about RaceDepartment, I was able to test out one of the few sims I've never tried before, Live for Speed while the others on the event was on a break. And I must admit, it was a very nice feeling. You do get a better feel for a game with the whole rig setup, it is easier to feel and notice if things are off or not with a game!
The Verdict
While I've always known that different equipment does make a difference when it comes to how games feel and how enjoyable they are to play. I honestly did not expect to find that a game I find rather bland and not very good at home, would come alive and show me that it does indeed work good as a simulator when it comes to how the cars behave.
The place itself is also a great place to hang out with friends, do some racing against each other on different games and generally spend some hours with friendly competition. As always with places like this, there are consoles and non-video games as well, so it is more than possible to forget the time when you are there.
For sim-racers, I feel it is worth the time and money spent. While it is true that you might have the same games, a wheel and some pedals at home. Most of us won't get close to the feeling of a major rig, and it is worth to check out how the different games can feel with more forces induced and not just through the steering wheel.
For real racers, we all know that sim racing is a helpful tool. It's not the same as being in the actual car, but it is to some help. To spend time at a place with a serious setup will only be to a bigger benefit, as all the motions makes it a more physical experience.
This is unlikely to be my last visit to Drammen Racing Senter as it nearby where I live, and I will very likely ask to try different games in the future, like R3E, AC etc. but for this Euro RX Sponsor event, it was pCARS2 and LfS only for me.
The Equipment
The motion rigs are Force Dynamics 301, with some home made modifcations - e.g putting the computer on the top, behind on the actual rig (the case can be seen with #5 here).
Steering wheel, gearing, pedals and handbrake are all Fanatec, but again with home made modifications, both to make them stronger and more practical to use. The brake-pedal is a pressure sensitive load cell, which works extremely well.
5 of the rigs are also connected to VR with Oculus Rift. This is in turn synced with the motion rig, to avoid clipping when you move with the rig. I was given a test with a stock setting, if you just buy a motion rig and VR and try it out without syncing it together. And that was rather awful - the camera just jumped around seemingly at random.
In addition, all 8 motion rigs at the center are connected, so you can have a proper race online against each other. Everything is controlled from a remote computer, serving as race control, with an additional user serving as broadcaster and connected to a big screen in the room. This way if more than 8 friends are there, the ones not racing can watch the others. As far as we are aware, this is the only place in the world, where this amount of motion rigs are connected together in this way, so it is possible to race each other.
To finish off, the motion rigs are slightly exaggerated, this is intentional, as it is meant to simulate the forces put on the driver when driving - and it doesn't feel as major as it looks.
The feeling
But as we all know, the most important thing isn't how fancy things are, or how cool they look (at least to a degree). But how it feels when you are driving. Does it feel plausible, does it feel real. Do the cars and the rig behave like you would expect, or does give a feeling of being a tiny bit off?
To my surprise, it felt extremely good. First of all, this was not my first experience with a motion rig, I also used a combined rig and VR on the Assetto Corsa press launch and I spent a good amount of time at iZone Driver Performance at Silverstone,- a place co-founded by Andy Prilaux and is a leading simulator and driver training facility in Europe - getting personal guiding and training. And with all that in mind, this still felt extremely good.
The simulator of choice for this days event (remember, it was hosted by a Euro RX driver) was pCARS 2. And I must admit, I was slightly skeptical for this, as I've tried it at home, and it did not feel good at all. First out, we tried a BMW 1M, which didn't feel amazing, it felt like thing worked like they should when I was on the throttle, but not always when I was off. However, with the pressure-brake it was easy to get the feel for the braking. Similar issue with the Radical SR8RX, it felt slightly off when off the throttle, and the motion rig didn't help. However, both the MINI RX, Radical SR3 and Lotus 49C felt very good. And for a guy who personally do not like pCARS 2 at all when playing at home - most of it felt absolutely right when I was in the rig with VR. It was surprisingly enough easier to handle the cars there than at home, even though you get thrown around like a toy between to overly eager dogs!
After some chatting about RaceDepartment, I was able to test out one of the few sims I've never tried before, Live for Speed while the others on the event was on a break. And I must admit, it was a very nice feeling. You do get a better feel for a game with the whole rig setup, it is easier to feel and notice if things are off or not with a game!
The Verdict
While I've always known that different equipment does make a difference when it comes to how games feel and how enjoyable they are to play. I honestly did not expect to find that a game I find rather bland and not very good at home, would come alive and show me that it does indeed work good as a simulator when it comes to how the cars behave.
The place itself is also a great place to hang out with friends, do some racing against each other on different games and generally spend some hours with friendly competition. As always with places like this, there are consoles and non-video games as well, so it is more than possible to forget the time when you are there.
For sim-racers, I feel it is worth the time and money spent. While it is true that you might have the same games, a wheel and some pedals at home. Most of us won't get close to the feeling of a major rig, and it is worth to check out how the different games can feel with more forces induced and not just through the steering wheel.
For real racers, we all know that sim racing is a helpful tool. It's not the same as being in the actual car, but it is to some help. To spend time at a place with a serious setup will only be to a bigger benefit, as all the motions makes it a more physical experience.
This is unlikely to be my last visit to Drammen Racing Senter as it nearby where I live, and I will very likely ask to try different games in the future, like R3E, AC etc. but for this Euro RX Sponsor event, it was pCARS2 and LfS only for me.
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