Sim Racing Expo 2017 - 11 Days to Go!

Paul Jeffrey · Sep 5, 2017

With just 11 days to go until the 2017 Sim Racing Expo, check out this new trailer and learn more about the event in Germany.

Featuring the latest and greatest of the sim racing industry, the Sim Racing Expo at the Nürburgring GP-Strecke circuit has now firmly established itself as a yearly highlight in the sim racing industry.

Open to industry insiders, members of the press and the general public alike, the 2017 running of the Expo once again looks set to take centre stage at the upcoming Blancpain Sprint Series Nürburgring round this 16th and 17th September.

Situated in an ideal location just inside the entrance to the German Grand Prix hosting circuit, many of the biggest names in the sim racing industry will be on hand to display their various pieces of hardware and software to the general public.

Entrance is free of charge to those attending the Blancpain Sprint Series race held over the same weekend, and the Expo is often the scene of some pretty sizeable announcements in sim racing.

Check out the 2017 trailer below:

2016 saw the very first public airing of the trailer for the upcoming new rFactor film 'Closing the Gap' - a documentary video from up and coming film maker Ed Trevelyan-Johnson, based on the relationship between a group of teammates driving in an endurance league using rFactor 2.

Alongside the trailer reveal rFactor 2 would continue to hold centre stage last year, publically revealing a massive announcement that sim racer and developer @Marcel Offermans and his Studio 397 team would be taking over the ongoing development of rFactor 2 with immediate effect, breathing a considerable amount of new life into the highly detailed simulation.

RaceDepartment will be on hand throughout the weekend bringing you all the news and discussion as it happens. Through live streams, video diary blogs and written word, we aim to give you the best insights from the biggest sim racing event of the year.

2016 was a big year for the Sim Racing Expo, in just 11 short days we get to find out if 2017 can be even bigger and better still...

Will you be attending the expo this year? Fancy popping in and saying hi to your friendly RD team? Excited for the future of sim racing? Let us know in the comments section below!

FeltHat · Sep 5, 2017

#reiza18trailerconfirmed

alongside r3e ue4 one

Andrew Harper · Sep 6, 2017

I'm happy with the v2.5 wheelbase I treated myself to but I wonder if the DD Fanatec wheel will be unveiled too? Will be interesting to see the specs for it.

randMracer · Sep 6, 2017

Man...I would love to go, but me so poor.

If I start a gofundme, will everyone pitch in?

RustyDriver00 · Sep 6, 2017

Andrew Harper said:
I'm happy with the v2.5 wheelbase I treated myself to but I wonder if the DD Fanatec wheel will be unveiled too? Will be interesting to see the specs for it.

That's what I'm keen to see too, so close to ordering a 2.5 but I'm really curious to hear more about the Fanatec DD and in particular expected price point.

OZ67 · Sep 6, 2017

No VR No Go

Andrew Harper · Sep 6, 2017

Shawn Jacobs said:
That's what I'm keen to see too, so close to ordering a 2.5 but I'm really curious to hear more about the Fanatec DD and in particular expected price point.

My guess is that it will be around the 950/1000 Euro mark? Judging by what I've read they are developing their own motor, own software, obviously all the casing as well. There was an interesting blog post about what type of software people would like and it seems they are leaning towards an Accuforce type piece of configuration software which would be really nice. Less complex though as I understand the Accuforce software can be a bit overwhelming to use.

I know the plan is you can transfer over your existing wheels which is great so that will maybe save some costs but we'll see.

Like you say, it would be cool to see the prototype maybe, even if they can't confirm costs just yet.

I'm happy with the V2.5 though. Lovely piece of kit and worlds away from what I had before.

dzk76 · Sep 6, 2017

ISI - we are waiting

Bram Hengeveld · Sep 6, 2017

For those who are going. Do we setup a meeting point somewhere during the weekend for a meet & currywurst & beer & greet?

Ricardo Edelmann · Sep 6, 2017

@Bram You can find me in the streaming department in the backoffice as we are doing the german stream

TobiasR · Sep 6, 2017

We'll be there both days with TDR and friends. Guess I'll have to make a nametag or something

leseb64 · Sep 6, 2017

new ads from studio 397? laser scan? licenses?

Marc Hennerici · Sep 6, 2017

Hi guys, we really looking forward to welcome simracers from all over Europe next week at the SimRacing Expo 2017. This year we will face a massive grid of almost 30 simulators on sunday in the ADAC GT500. At saturday, there will be race action all day while the Top40 simracers will fight for the ADAC Simracing Trophy. At the end, on real track, the Blancpain GT Series Stars will fight for the title in the final race. You will find the latest news on our fb channel.

Cu on track, Marc

signman · Sep 6, 2017

New H shifter from HE ?

Stanislas · Sep 6, 2017

@leseb64 Just for fun... and maybe S397 is finally going to announce... the content of the (already solded for a month) "Mysterious GT3 Pack"? Or another rebranded modder (old) track... like Zandvoort!

P.S.: Please, don't misunderstand my purpose, for me (... of course), rf2 (and AMS) is/are still the best... by far!

Patrik Marek · Sep 7, 2017

seeing all those games, and then it switches to real life GT3 series, .. games still have quite some ways to go to get real - at least from visual point of view

Miwwa · Sep 7, 2017

Andrew Harper said:
I'm happy with the v2.5 wheelbase I treated myself to but I wonder if the DD Fanatec wheel will be unveiled too? Will be interesting to see the specs for it.

Taken from the Iracing forums "We will show our DD at Simracing Expo at the end of next week so if you want to make a significant upgrade then I suggest to wait a bit.

But we expect that the CSWB V2.5 will still be our best selling wheel base even after we introduced our DD because of an unmatched price-performance value." Thomas Jackermeier Fanatec CEO

Andrew Harper · Sep 7, 2017

Miwwa said:
Taken from the Iracing forums "We will show our DD at Simracing Expo at the end of next week so if you want to make a significant upgrade then I suggest to wait a bit.

But we expect that the CSWB V2.5 will still be our best selling wheel base even after we introduced our DD because of an unmatched price-performance value." Thomas Jackermeier Fanatec CEO

Yeah that was it for me really. When they did the price drop that made my mind up for me and I went for the CSWB 2.5 with the F1 Carbon Wheel. Can always upgrade in a few years time if I want to. Until then I'm very happy with the wheel I've got. Lovely piece of kit.

That last comment is interesting. If they end up pricing more towards the the Leo Bodnar type of price range that could hurt peoples wallets quite a bit. haha. Depends on how you read the comment but thanks for the post I'll be looking with interest

Alex Townsend · Sep 8, 2017

Any hope at all of Sim bin being there to show or update about GTR3?

I'd love to be there at the weekend. but very hard to convince the wife of the need for a very expensive trip for a long weekend away from Malaysia...

Hope all that attend have a great weekend!

Ernie · Sep 8, 2017

Miwwa said:
Taken from the Iracing forums "We will show our DD at Simracing Expo at the end of next week so if you want to make a significant upgrade then I suggest to wait a bit.

But we expect that the CSWB V2.5 will still be our best selling wheel base even after we introduced our DD because of an unmatched price-performance value." Thomas Jackermeier Fanatec CEO

My wallet is almost ready.