Next Level Racing unveils the HF8 Haptic Feedback Gaming Pad

HF8.jpg
Are buttkickers about to become obsolete? That is a good question to ask ourselves with Next Level Racing's new product announcement.

The HF8 Haptic Feedback Gaming pad is a cushion that can be fitted on a chair or on a racing seat which features 8 vibrating pads: 4 behind your back, 2 under your butt and 2 under your thighs. The product is said to work with any application on any platform, including consoles, with PC allowing for more in-depth software profile customization. Among other uses likes FPS shooters or flying sims, the product is also heavily marketed towards simracing.

The concept itself seems very interesting and, if executed properly and supported by racing simulations, could very well be a good alternative to try giving body feedback to people who are used to feel lateral Gs and other things in a real car without having to resort to cumbersome, complex and extremely expensive motion rigs.


Global retailers should be selling it this month already, with MSRP being 249 EUR for Europe, 229 USD for North America, 399 AUD for Australia and 229 GBP for UK. Considering the advertized versatility of the HF8, this looks like pretty good value. We hope to be able to test it and provide a review soon!
About author
GT-Alex
Global motorsports enjoyer, long time simracer, Gran Turismo veteran, I've been driving alongside top drivers since the dawn of online pro leagues on Gran Turismo, and qualified for the only cancelled FIA GTC World Tour. I've left aside competitive driving in 2020 to dedicate myself to IGTL, a simracing organisation hosting high quality events for pro racers and customers, to create with friends the kind of events we wished we could have had. We strive to provide the best events for drivers and the best content for viewers, and want to help the simracing scene grow and shine further in the global esports scene.

Comments

The product just got unveiled a day or two ago and yet somehow so many people have it or are about to receive it already...weird.
 
Premium
Some of the youtube reviewers have mentioned they have had the device for a couple of months. So they have had plenty of time to get stock into shops before lifting the review embargo, so the timing in this case was well coordinated.
 
Some of the youtube reviewers have mentioned they have had the device for a couple of months. So they have had plenty of time to get stock into shops before lifting the review embargo, so the timing in this case was well coordinated.
Ya, I suspected something like that. I'll have to wait for truly independent reviews, not reviews from people who are sponsored and/or were sent the product.
 
Premium
Righto, I'm going to suggest its not a great purchase.

Its fine if you just want to blow some money, make your seat less comfortable and have it buzz while you sit on it.

Having to put serial numbers in to get the software package is just a pian in the arse, as is having to create a user account and verify it through emails just to open the shitty software.

Pointless secret squirrel nonsense. Who do they think they are hiding it from?

Once I got the software installed, It has almost no functionality. There are only 4 sliders under AMS 2. and two of them are the engine revs. I also enabled the "brake" but due to the seat "revving" the entire time, I have no idea when that effect came in, if it did.

Adjustment wise you can't tune each vibration motor, you can turn them off and on but the vibration strength applies to all of them under that effect. Now that I think of it maybe that's not required but its something I thought I would be able to do.

That aside, the engine rev effect was pretty cool, but not $400 cool.
 
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Premium
That seems to match what this guy said.

He said he complained to NLR that there were not enough sliders for Dirt Rally and then the Dirt Rally support just disappeared.

He also said that it doesn't compare well with a tactile system.

 
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Premium
Yeah, I watched his video just before I unpacked my item so I already had a check on my enthusiasm. Also noted that Dirt Rally was also missing from my available games.

I like the concept, and even though the hardware is a bit crap I think it would be much better with a better software suite. I probably shouldn't have mentally mapped out how I wanted to set up the effects before firing it up.
 
That seems to match what this guy said.

He said he complained to NLR that there were not enough sliders for Dirt Rally and then the Dirt Rally support just disappeared.

He also said that it doesn't compare well with a tactile system.

This guy is always worth watching by the way. His reviews are always honest and realistic. Great channel and great bloke.
 
Righto, I'm going to suggest its not a great purchase.

Its fine if you just want to blow some money, make your seat less comfortable and have it buzz while you sit on it.

Having to put serial numbers in to get the software package is just a pian in the arse, as is having to create a user account and verify it through emails just to open the shitty software.

Pointless secret squirrel nonsense. Who do they think they are hiding it from?

Once I got the software installed, It has almost no functionality. There are only 4 sliders under AMS 2. and two of them are the engine revs. I also enabled the "brake" but due to the seat "revving" the entire time, I have no idea when that effect came in, if it did.

Adjustment wise you can't tune each vibration motor, you can turn them off and on but the vibration strength applies to all of them under that effect. Now that I think of it maybe that's not required but its something I thought I would be able to do.

That aside, the engine rev effect was pretty cool, but not $400 cool.
TY. Your review plus Karl Gosling and Dan Suzuki vids have talked me out of this buy.
 
Premium
I've now watched a lot of reviews and I'm still undecided. Does anyone know if this works with Simhub or do you have to use their software?
 
Premium
Simhub is on my list of things to try today, as well as a few more titles, and to see excluding some of the pads from the engine rev effect allows for some more detail from the others.
 
I've now watched a lot of reviews and I'm still undecided. Does anyone know if this works with Simhub or do you have to use their software?
You can use the SimShaker JetPad / Gametrix JetSeat with SimHub so I'm guessing the NLR HF8 does or will as well.

I was playing around with my JetPad in SimHub assigning different vibration motors to lateral and longitudinal acceleration, the Gs-to-rumble-strength curves, and the amount of Gs where 100% rumble-strength occurs.I also did something similar with engine revs along with bumps, road noise, etc.

You really need a settings adjustment system - wether using a motion cockpit, bass shakers / tactile transducers, or rumble motor seats - to be highly tweakable and not just with A) the amount of different effects and B) being able to assign them to specific motors/transducers, but also with C) being able to define the minimum and maximum points of that effect (eg. effect starts @ 30 km/h, reaches 100% strength @ 250 km/h), and D) being able to apply and adjust the linearity (ie. curve) or even being able to define multiple points throughout the range so that you're not limited to any curve shape but this might be going overboard,, just a general linearity adjustment should be good enough.

You need all 4 of those to get the best out if the equipment.


P.S. I can't speak for the NLR HF8 but the rumble motors on my SimShaker JetSeat shocked me with their strength the first time I tried them. I thought they were just going to remind me of a buzzing videogame controller but a touch stronger but they're much stronger, defined, and different than that. It's not so much of a light buzz but more of a grabbing, thumping, massage like feeling. It's actually pretty darn impressive and immersive especially if you don't have a motion cockpit or a set of bass shakers / transducers.

For any one who doesn't have a motion cockpit/seat or a multiple tactile transducer (ie. bass shaker) setup, I'd highly, highly recommend a tactile transducer seat or rumble motor seat to the point that I'd consider it an essential part of my enjoyment. I'd go with a tactile transducer seat first - the SRS U-Shake6 comes to mind - but if that's out of your budget then get a rumble motor seat like the JetPad or HF8. You can use them in audio mode too for other games, movies, music, etc. even non-PC games (at least with the JetPad, not sure about the HF8).
 
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Righto, I like it a lot more, however, its still just a buzzing pad with poor software and limited functions.

Reconfiguring the effects in regards to which pads get triggered makes a huge difference, But the lack of tunability is killing it. I would love to have a response curve so the rev effect just disappeared when off throttle, and really increased as I got near the limiter. (which it soft of does, Just want to be able to tune it)

Also the brake effect, I like it, but it kicks in quite early, I'd want to tune it up near abs or wheel lock.

The gear effect is useless, nothing like the clunk from a buttkicker, in fact I confused it with some sort of clutch effect on the revs when I was changing gear.

Have looked at it under simhub, which does list a couple of seat shaker pads in its device list but it didn't have a way to select the HF8 via USB from what I could see.

Switched over to audio input, All the tunability I could ever want, But it only recognizes 2 channels so that again limited the functions to just firing left or right. Pointless with 8 pads...

I'm sure some smarter people will dig deeper so I'll keep an eye out to see what gets achieved, and hopefully SIMHUB will get USB support for the HF8.

Looking at the games, the only one with a good range of options looks to be iracing which is no doubt why its being concentrated on in the Youtube reviews.

That aside, even with its current limitations I do like it, and will continue to run it.
 
Premium
Well, this is disappointing, Going downhill in a rapid fashion.

Seems its not possible to run the seat pad and my motion device at the same time in AMS2. Sure as hell hope this gets looked at as this was my main intent.

Also can't get a single shake out of it in AC or ACC.
ffs.jpg
 
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And the saga continues...

I emailed simhub and asked about future support for the HF8, and was advised that its already there as the HF8 uses the same electronics as the forcefeel pad which is listed under devices. And sure enough, it connects right to it and purrs away.

So, its just a repackaged version of this seat pad https://www.realteus.com/products/forcefeel
legend.jpg
 
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Did NLR contact every Sim Racing Review site and content developer and tell them to release a review at XX o'clock today?

This is the 5th review for this product I've seen this morning lol

I've been interested in this type of product for a while now but having multiple buttkickers I never pulled the trigger.

Not really sure what extra advantages it would hold, nor can I think of any advantages of Back feedback in RL other than back pain....which I naturally have.

There was one seat I saw back in the day before motion Sims became popular that had moving pieces on the back to simulate cornering g forces for stationary rigs.


(Not because I am a reviewer who shills for products sent to me for free and can resell them to friends, I am not), I cheer for this product,
but because (unlike what old-schoolers or Esports aliens who remember driving by-heart and don't care about realism will tell you), any added level of immersion is great.
 
Another quick note about the article, "Butt-kickers" is only one name of a variant of bass shakers. so why give a free ad for only one brand.
 
Righto, I'm going to suggest its not a great purchase.

Its fine if you just want to blow some money, make your seat less comfortable and have it buzz while you sit on it.

Having to put serial numbers in to get the software package is just a pian in the arse, as is having to create a user account and verify it through emails just to open the shitty software.

Pointless secret squirrel nonsense. Who do they think they are hiding it from?

Once I got the software installed, It has almost no functionality. There are only 4 sliders under AMS 2. and two of them are the engine revs. I also enabled the "brake" but due to the seat "revving" the entire time, I have no idea when that effect came in, if it did.

Adjustment wise you can't tune each vibration motor, you can turn them off and on but the vibration strength applies to all of them under that effect. Now that I think of it maybe that's not required but its something I thought I would be able to do.

That aside, the engine rev effect was pretty cool, but not $400 cool.
U mean 400 Australlian Dollras? or u mean the retailers MSRP mentioned in before the retailer comissions and taxes.. etc, I'm confused. I can't find this feedback pad in the European markets yet.
 
Premium
Another quick note about the article, "Butt-kickers" is only one name of a variant of bass shakers. so why give a free ad for only one brand.

I think some people use the term like "Kleenex" for tissues. But I have just as many Clark Sythesis TST transducers as BK's, and some Dayton exciters on my rig. They are not exclusive and BK's and TST's actually work well together in pairs
 
And the saga continues...

I emailed simhub and asked about future support for the HF8, and was advised that its already there as the HF8 uses the same electronics as the forcefeel pad which is listed under devices. And sure enough, it connects right to it and purrs away.

So, its just a repackaged version of this seat pad https://www.realteus.com/products/forcefeelView attachment 631187
You made my day! Gonna try this as soon as it arrives tonight.
 

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