Buying advice please - Next Level v3 Motion Platform

[MarkR]

I'm looking for some advice and thoughts of other owners or people with good knowledge of the product, please.

I always said I'd buy myself a motion simulator if I could afford one and had the room available. Well, that day may have arrived. I'm impressed by what I've seen of the Next Level v3 Motion Platform

This seems to meet all my criteria:

+ Limited space requirements, I don't have room for a huge sim rig but this seems compact enough to work.
+ Works with Oculus Rift VR, that fixed head position setting solution is impressive
+ Great support and regular updates from the developers
+ Available in the UK
+ Works with my current Thrustmaster wheel and accessories.
+ Sub £3k for the full setup, I'm not a pro racer I'm not looking for a practice simulator this is just for fun so the cost/fun balance has to be right.

So help me do the man maths! Is it worth it?

Is there another similar product I should also look at? It would need to be reasonably compact, work with VR, available in the UK without too much hassle and in the same £3-5K price range.

Is there anywhere I can try one or even better several of the systems in the UK?

 

[anton_Chez]

Yeah I just went to the forums for some updates and found the NDA lifted. I'll have a look.

 

[anton_Chez]

The whole state of tech has got me super disillusioned. I am pretty close to going back to triples and calling it a day. Grab a pair of Vega 56's, 3 x Freesync screens and ridding my existance of the cancer that is Nvidia.

 

[Mascot]

The whole state of tech has got me super disillusioned. I am pretty close to going back to triples and calling it a day. Grab a pair of Vega 56's, 3 x Freesync screens and ridding my existance of the cancer that is Nvidia.

Three pancakes are still as flat as one pancake, buddy. Could you really go back to 2D racing and lose that immersion, stereoscopic vision, freedom of view, sense of presence? I know I can't. I've tried. The Rift, Vive and Odyssey may have their resolution and FoV limitations but I reckon they have perfect synergy with current GPU and CPU offerings. Don't get me wrong, I was as excited about the Pimax as any sim racer but I always had my doubts about the power needed to push all those extra pixels. The 2080ti doesn't seem to offer the brute force that a lot of people expected it to before the specs were revealed, and maybe Pimax also assumed it'd have more raw grunt than it ended up having.
Anyway, if you do decide that the sim world isn't ready for Pimax then there's a good chance you'll be able to offload yours for more than you paid.

 

[anton_Chez]

I'm super mad man. Like SUPER mad. At everything. Pimax should have KNOWN how much power these things needed. A year later and people are having to choose between downgrading their pledge so they can actually run the thing (on the lastest Ti variant, no less) or run their HMD's at half the refresh rate. AND NOW, since we need so much power, it's the perfect storm for Nvidia to justify you selling your house justt to use VR. The whole thing is absolutely insane.

My downstairs feels like a salt mine. If I did the things to my customers that these companies do to theirs, I'd be hung and then shot. But everyone eats it up. It's disgusting and I've had it with it all.

Oh, and on the topic of being able to switch back. I've tried Oculus again this week for the first time since Christmas. I have come across ALL of my old posts regarding the absolute horrid time I had with it back then, and the piss-poor performance I am still getting with it now. For me, screens are absolutely the best way to go. VR has its perks but the amount of frustration I've had with stutter, ASW not doing what it's told, fogging, heat, poor image quality, etc etc are to me not worth it. That's why I still have a single screen and haven't gone screenless. I like VR but my screen doesn't make me want to run it over. Can't say the same about Oculus.

 

[Mascot]

4k/90 per eye with 200° FoV will come mate, it just might take longer than we want. In the meantime kick back with your kit (that 95% of sim racers would kill for..!) and enjoy it all. It's still pretty awesome, yes?

 

[anton_Chez]

I am happy with my kit. SimRacingBay don't advertise that my direct drive wheel will wash my car, so I am happy. They sell me a product honestly and truthfully, for a fair price with great customer service. Just as I do with my customers.

I can't stand disengenuous business practices and I'll call it out when I see it.

 

[Furnace Inferno]

Don’t worry I’m sure the real next-gen headsets with eye tracking and foveated rendering will actually be useable. There is a good reason Oculus aren’t releasing anything because they know full well there’s no point if the vast majority of people can’t use it. Whenever they release you can be sure the minimum spec will at worst be a mid-range card.

Like you i was pretty pissed with Nvidia and Intel for that matter for price gouging and/or not releasing anything new so I just said screw this and upgraded everything else instead. It’s not even like they are all that expensive in the grand scheme of things compared to what I’ve spent, it’s just the principle of getting ****ed.

 

[bluey]

I am happy with my kit. SimRacingBay don't advertise that my direct drive wheel will wash my car, so I am happy. They sell me a product honestly and truthfully, for a fair price with great customer service. Just as I do with my customers.

I can't stand disengenuous business practices and I'll call it out when I see it.

HI ANTON .I think Star VR 1 IS THE WAY TO GO as that has foveated rendering and 220 fov and 90 hz check out there web site has a short vid showing PC2 AT 90FPS looks great and they say that is with a 1080ti....but i think it will be VERY expensive

 

[Steve D]

The whole state of tech has got me super disillusioned. I am pretty close to going back to triples and calling it a day. Grab a pair of Vega 56's, 3 x Freesync screens and ridding my existance of the cancer that is Nvidia.

I'm super mad man. Like SUPER mad. At everything. Pimax should have KNOWN how much power these things needed. A year later and people are having to choose between downgrading their pledge so they can actually run the thing (on the lastest Ti variant, no less) or run their HMD's at half the refresh rate. AND NOW, since we need so much power, it's the perfect storm for Nvidia to justify you selling your house justt to use VR. The whole thing is absolutely insane.

My downstairs feels like a salt mine. If I did the things to my customers that these companies do to theirs, I'd be hung and then shot. But everyone eats it up. It's disgusting and I've had it with it all.

Oh, and on the topic of being able to switch back. I've tried Oculus again this week for the first time since Christmas. I have come across ALL of my old posts regarding the absolute horrid time I had with it back then, and the piss-poor performance I am still getting with it now. For me, screens are absolutely the best way to go. VR has its perks but the amount of frustration I've had with stutter, ASW not doing what it's told, fogging, heat, poor image quality, etc etc are to me not worth it. That's why I still have a single screen and haven't gone screenless. I like VR but my screen doesn't make me want to run it over. Can't say the same about Oculus.

Calm down 'me ole Antipodean buddy!' You've certainly been 'on it' today! Most uncharacteristic of you Sir!

 

[Mascot]

HI ANTON .I think Star VR 1 IS THE WAY TO GO as that has foveated rendering and 220 fov and 90 hz check out there web site has a short vid showing PC2 AT 90FPS looks great and they say that is with a 1080ti....but i think it will be VERY expensive

You mean the video on this page? https://www.starvr.com/products/

 

[bluey]

You mean the video on this page? https://www.starvr.com/products/

Hi MASCOT. Yes that is the vid.. looks good

 

[Furnace Inferno]

Just looked at the specs, looks hot, wouldn’t get a Pimax because LCDs suck balls in all forms so those RGB OLED panels, yes please.

What’s considered expensive?

 

[bluey]

Just looked at the specs, looks hot, wouldn’t get a Pimax because LCDs suck balls in all forms so those RGB OLED panels, yes please.

What’s considered expensive?

Not sure how much it will be but my guess $2500 to $3500...hope i am wrong and that it will be under $2000....guess we have to wait until it is available to find out

 

[Furnace Inferno]

Not sure how much it will be but my guess $2500 to $3500...hope i am wrong and that it will be under $2000....guess we have to wait until it is available to find out

That’s not too bad for early adoption considering what’s in it. That would put it a lot cheaper than those Nvidia BFG 65” LCDs that are about to hit, prices on those are going to be hilarious considering a tiny 27” version is already way overpriced at £2300/$2000 or more than 1/2 the cost of a 65” high end TV....

Best keep those quiet though might tip Anton over the edge!

 

[Mascot]

Is Star VR going to be available for Joe Public? I always had the impression it was corporate only.

Hope I'm wrong!

 

[anton_Chez]

Haha guys. I've been simmering on this whole Nvidia thing for ages, even back when I bought my SLI 970's in 2015. The VRAM episode was unacceptable, as is the rest of their shady practices. But whatever, at least the price to performance was relatively good and customers could generally feel good about their upgrades. Now I just feel like everyone is saying it's OK for these things to happen and to not complain in the future, because hey, we did it before and you didn't complain, right?

The same thing with Pimax is happening. There is no way that their $4M+ Kickstarter would have been so successful if they told everyone that the MINIMUM card you would need isn't even released yet and when it does, prepare to part with $1899 AUD if you can find any in the first 6 months that aren't above 2 grande. It's disgusting. It's like the guys in here that bought the V3, only Next Level told you AFTER you bought it that now to run it, you need to completely rewire you homes electrical system, because it won't run on anything you currently have.

Absolutely appalling. The thing that makes it even worse is now all the enthusiasts are so worried about being able to use their new toy that they are oblivious to this fact. That after this generation is done, they will have helped pave the way for future xx80 series cards to never make their way under one thousand USD again. The timing is just so perfectly Nvidia. The Pimax 8K requires a nuclear plant to achieve acceptable frame rates and it just so happens that team green can sell you one for a cool 2 grande.

Anyway. I'm just as furious at Pimax as I am at Nvidia and any other company / corporation that acts the way that they do. The way that thing was marketed from the beginning was disingenuous. I would have backed the 5K if I knew what I did now. Now, I have to downgrade my pledge to an 5K+ with accessories, accessories I have ALREADY paid for in my initial pledge. So I end up with useless vouchers because no money will make it's way back to backers. I suspect they would have ended up with half the funding should the news that is now available was available back then.

Guys let's get back to the V3 topic at hand. I know I'm on a massive rant here but in the end the more people that see it from a different point of view, the better. People have pre-ordered the 2080Ti over on Pimax forums. They don't even know if it performs any better than the current Ti variant without RTX enabled and they are already feeding into the hype.

I am absolutely happy with my sim gear and overall experience and I know most would kill to have a similar setup. Those that are interested in our hobby, anyway. Just because I can and choose to spend money on high end gear doesn't mean that I can't call it what it is. Just as with the expected retail price of the Motion+. Can't say that that is an intentional attempt at taking the piss or just poorly researched and marketed based on current offerings, we'll have to wait and see.

I've done well. I've said all I needed to without swearing once. At least I tried.

 

[Steve D]

I've done well. I've said all I needed to without swearing once. At least I tried.

 

[bluey]

Is Star VR going to be available for Joe Public? I always had the impression it was corporate only.

Hope I'm wrong!

HI Mascot there is a vid on YouTube by MRTV and a review of the StarVR 1..and he says that it will be available for the general market.But there main market is corporate. That is why i think very expensive.

 

[BrainsBush]

Hopefully ok to post this over here? If not let meknow and I will delete.
It's completely off topic because no NLR v3 in this vid. But for comparison purposes and to share what is available on the market it gives a good overview.

Someone some spare coins @17:58....

 

[dhmotor]

I've been following this thread waiting to justify the funds for a V3 (I don't get enough seat time to justify my P1 let alone adding the V3. Having said that I bought the aluminum angle so It's basically a done deal.) I have to say that the traction loss from NL looks more extreme than it needs to be if it's like the V3 where a little motion goes a long way. Maybe they can come up with a toned down (read narrower) version that is a less expensive option and fits more spaces. ALSO, while I like being able to sim all different cars, I am trying to figure out how to wedge one of those Porsche RSR mock ups from the video above in my basement - that looks awesome!