My first SimRig build!

DrRob · Oct 19, 2019

Gents,

after playing on a wheelstand setup for quite some years, I decided to upgrade to a proper rig. I was always hesitant to litter the living room witha full blown rig, so made do with a GT Omega "Classic".

The whole journey started for me with a PS3, GranTurismo 5, a 100" front projection home theater setup and a Thrustmaster T500RS with TH8A. Later I switched to a PC with R3E and AC, modified the pedals with stiffer Mardo Media springs, upgraded to a TM Sparco 383mod, added a Nextion display and braced the wheelstand including Sofa hook-up.

Now playing mostly ACC and got a taste of what it is like with a proper rig and DD wheel which left me wanting.
I guess it is time for a radical change....and even got permission from the missus.

chris82009 · Feb 28, 2022

@MarkModdy The issue with doing that is it actually still picks up your wheel and hands moving side to side and causes interference.

@DrRob Yea, I fooled with it for quite some time and just got frustrated with the constant issues that would pop up. It mainly consisted of to fix one issue another pops up or there is some sort of trade off.

I am sure the link that andrew_wot just posted has more people going into way more detail about the issues so I would say check there for a better understanding of pros to cons.

P.S. Once I am more mobile, I may tinker with it a bit more, however as for now the plan is to just put it on the other monitor.

chris82009 · Mar 13, 2022

Let me start off by saying that I am not trying to hijack your post, and if you feel like I am distracting from the primary purpose of your tread (which is discussing YOUR build and progress) please let me know.

After spending 12 hours driving/ tweaking my settings, I realized that after putting my seat like the image in the first page that I was leaning forward, and my head wasn't supported. I was able to compensate for this some by moving my seat a bit more forward (closer to the wheel) and my pedals further forward (so my arms wouldn't hit my legs). This forced me to lean back more into the seat with my head against the back, however it also forced my eye line upwards do the angle. At this point I started thinking, in the picture and in real cars, they are wearing helmets which naturally put their heads in the very position my head was wanting to rest at before tweaking.

This made me realize two possible solutions,
A) the new adjusted position I did, but also pivot my seat more upright to correct the sightline (this may have an adverse effect of more weight on spine over long periods of time as I think someone mentioned on one of your pages)
B) Use some sort of headrest/pillow insert like that comes on Secretlabs gaming chairs (I have a spare on hand) to act as a replacement gap the helmet would provide in a normal car

What are your thoughts, and have you experienced this after long stints?

Also, I don't recall you ever mentioning what sort of sound system you are using for your rig. So, this is me asking what you are using. If you aren't using one, I will mention that I just ordered the logitech z906, that seems like a decent solution, however I guess you would still need a mic. Some games I play don't require one, but I have a headset for when I'm playing a game where it is needed. Also, it is able to be wall mounted, which means I can print out some brackets with my 3d printer that will be able to attach them nicely to the rig.

DrRob · Mar 13, 2022

@chris82009 : I realized during my build and the following weeks that I am after a more tilted seat position than I saw on other rigs. That said we discussed that some other people also used a more angled seat position like I did. It is maybe very personal and it should be!

I mean you have to be in that seat for a couple of hours on some longer sessions. Therefore I also added a cushion to support my head. Like you mentioned there is no helmet to fill the space between the back of my head and the head rest. And I want my head supported for sure!
Same reason I bought two (!) lumbar support cushions to support my lower back. I always have troubles with my lower back, so I need support there.
I can say with confidence that when sat in the bucket seat in its current position I do not have to use any muscles to keep me in position, the seat is holding me in exactly that position I need to be. Same for the head and the cushion. That is exactly what you need. Took me a few tweaks to get there, but was worth it. So experiment a bit more!
I used some foam to simulate padding here and there to get a feeling where I need it before I bought the lumbar cushions for example.
Some people do not like the fixed angle bucket seats and rather use normal car seats to have a more upright seating. Again...very personal thing.

So far I am pretty happy with how I can race for several hours without any major issues. I did not experience any pain in my back because I took care of good support for back so that I can really push my lower back into the seat whilst braking for example. I do not have excessive brake pressure set, I believe it's at 35kg for 100% brake at the moment.

I do not use any sound system to be honest. While racing I use the Logitech headset as I usually communicate via discord anyway. It is on some of the pictures I guess. Nothing really special about it other than it does its job really well. The virtual surround really immerses you and it feels more natural with the Aura rocking the seat. I do have to say that after 2 hours the headset starts to feel uncomfortable, but I experience this with other headsets as well.

When hotlapping or training I occasionally I use my Teufel Radio 3sixty which I have shown in one or two pictures. It is a mono speaker setup, but really punchy, so it does its job quite nicely. But with such a speaker setup you hear more of the Aura working, which is breaking the illusion.
Other than that I want to annoy my wife and the neighbors as little as possible.

metalnwood · Mar 13, 2022

(edit, oh I see this goes back quite a way in time and I already commented.. this topic of seat position must be like iron to a magnet for me!)

I keep seeing the skoda picture appear from time to time about the best seating position and TBH it baffles me. There are some parts of it I gree on but it says something like 'seat as upright as possible' and my back hurts just reading that.

Maybe in a sim seat if I still have my seatbelt pulling me hard back in to it I could do it. Realistically I see many gt3 cars with their seats 30-40 degrees back and that works really well for sim racing as well. Its comfortable and the small of your back wants to recess in to the seat rather than come out and give you muscle issues. That skoda pic I think is really misleading with no numbers but a statement as upright as possible.

I came across this video the other day watching youtube and he has the same idea I have about seating position

DrRob · Mar 14, 2022

metalnwood said:
(edit, oh I see this goes back quite a way in time and I already commented.. this topic of seat position must be like iron to a magnet for me!)

I keep seeing the skoda picture appear from time to time about the best seating position and TBH it baffles me. There are some parts of it I gree on but it says something like 'seat as upright as possible' and my back hurts just reading that.

Maybe in a sim seat if I still have my seatbelt pulling me hard back in to it I could do it. Realistically I see many gt3 cars with their seats 30-40 degrees back and that works really well for sim racing as well. Its comfortable and the small of your back wants to recess in to the seat rather than come out and give you muscle issues. That skoda pic I think is really misleading with no numbers but a statement as upright as possible.

I came across this video the other day watching youtube and he has the same idea I have about seating position

I am not the originator of that Skoda picture, but I read that line as a guideline towards "seat as upright as possible....but as angled as necessary".

They also got the elbow angle wrong btw...

I treat all input on correct seating as valuable information towards finding my own (optimized) seating position. As I have all the possibilities on a sim rig, I will tweak everything to suit my needs, not necessarily going by the (somebody else's) book.
So, I do not see any real conflicts as there is not the one perfect one-position-fits-all seating I guess.

[EDIT] BTW one German racing driver switching from the Porsche 911 GT3 to the Audi R8 GT3 mentioned the more upright seating position in the Porker.