My first SimRig build!

[DrRob]

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.

 

[DrRob]

All new parts are already on order or even already with me. The planned setup is:

• Sim Lab P1-X Black w. Front mount + integrated monitor mount (on order)
• SimuCube 2 Pro
• Heusinkveld Sprint 2-Pedal
• Re-use the TM Sparco 383mod with a SRC adapter
• Samsung 49" Ultrawide

I also already bought large rubber/teflon glider and a set of black M8/M6 washers. Will think about cable management as soon as I start the build.

Stay tuned for the start of the build over thenext few weeks.

 

[EsxPaul]

That's a nice list of new kit you have @DrRob and a massive upgrade in store. Looking forward to seeing the build as it goes along

Make sure to capture the moment when the missus realises the real world dimensions of a built up P1 rig

 

[DrRob]

@EsxPaul Hahaha, she knows! She saw my brothers' simrig already: RSeat S1 with Fanatec DD1, v3 Pedals and the same 49" Samung monitor on a massive stand.
Mine should have a slightly smaller footprint even, so all good...I hope.

 

[DrRob]

I am still looking at ergonomics, trying to replicate a GT-style seating position, so slightly leaning seat, pedals on bum height, steering wheel will get an extended hub, etc..

Really eager to jump into the build. A bit worried about not gettting a proper instruction manual for the build. Will in parallel look at the build videos I already found on youtube of course. But for example getting the uprights in the correct position will be lots of trial and error I guess....

Hopefully Sim Lab will send the package next week or the week after that. Fingers crossed.

The other options I went for from Sim Labs are:

• Speed1 seat + slider
  
• Adjustable pedal slider
• Keyboard tray
• Mousepad
• Caster wheels (x2)
• Sim shelf
• Steering wheel extension 120mm
• Sim holder
• Cable management clips (x20)

Will try to set up both caster wheels and the P1-X adjustable feet to be able to lower and roll around the rig for cleaning, etc. Will see how that works out.

On a side note: I noticed Batch 4 Simucubes already have a removable WiFi antenna instead of just the plastic back plate. Barry mentioned in his video on SRG that he would like to see an antenna...and...booom. They changed the hardware. Nice!

 

[M D Gourley]

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.

Fantastic news and looking forward to seeing it all up and running

 

[DrRob]

Unfortunately the Sim Labs P1-X order is delayed. Originally lead time was said to be 2-3 weeks, but now changed to 4-6 weeks realistically. The aluminium parts supplier seems to have troubles getting all the orders processed, I reckon.
Funnily the seat arrived today. Now everything is set, but the main show still missing.... cannot begin the build like this. :-/

Anyway nice seat, really like it. Although for a 6ft4 guy a bit smallish. The backrest part is a bit short for such a tall guy like me. My shoulders are a bit above the respective "ears" of the backrest and my head somewhat higher than the side impact protectorts. I will manage despite that.

Will also check for lumbar cushions, since I will need one for sure. All padding is removable and fixed with velcro.

 

[metalnwood]

Man, what a bummer! All that nice gera and the rig gets stuck.

You shouldnt need any lumbar support unless you have it too upright. Sit in it and put it up against a wall so you can lean back. I would lean 30-40 degrees back as it looks like that seat comes forward at the top. The small of your back should be nice and planted in that position and you should feel good support under your thighs.

For the sake of you body, dont have it too upright

 

[Wmacky]

While waiting, now would be a good time to build up some SFX100 motion actuators.........

 

[DrRob]

You shouldnt need any lumbar support unless you have it too upright. Sit in it and put it up against a wall so you can lean back. I would lean 30-40 degrees back as it looks like that seat comes forward at the top.

Already did some testing. As I said above I am fully aware of and focussed on ergonomics of a GT cockpit. The 30° lean back sounds like a good start and what I had in mind. Problem will most likely be, that I have hollow-back problems (as usual). Found some nice Sparco (or similar) race seat inserts, which I will keep in mind.

While waiting, now would be a good time to build up some SFX100 motion actuators.........

Woooaaaah, hold your horses, mate! Let me start building a proper rig first and we will see from there. Of course I already had a future upgrade to motion actuators in mind when choosing the P1-X. ;-)

 

[RCHeliguy]

Barry from SRG told me to set my seat around 40 degrees and raise my pedal foot plate to the level of the seat of my pants. He said my back would thank me for it.

I'll know more later. My seat doesn't ship until Friday.

 

[DrRob]

Good advice from Barry there! Please report back, when you set yours up!

Been collecting all kinds of pictures of real world GT cars seating position to get a feel for how I want to set it up. Will mount the pedals in a way, that my heels will be the same height as my bum. There is a pic I borrowed from Skoda (Rally not GT mind you), but it captures really well the seating position I want.

 

[metalnwood]

Barry from SRG told me to set my seat around 40 degrees and raise my pedal foot plate to the level of the seat of my pants. He said my back would thank me for it.

I'll know more later. My seat doesn't ship until Friday.

Mine is exactly around 40 degrees. So many people this this is wrong and the pic above has an angle saying 'backrest as upright as possible. This probably gets people far too upright which will hurt you with a bucket seat because it will curl your shoulders over, you will use your lower back to support you and you wont have the proper leg support as it if fixed to the position of the back.

I also think a lot of bucket seats look deceptive in the cars with people in them. They may look more upright than they actually are. Mine is at 40 degrees but it doesnt look like you are really leaning back when you are in it. The support for your legs and back is great though. I have posted this picture a few times from a gt3 car that gets a good view of the angle which is about 40 degrees

 

[DrRob]

I also think a lot of bucket seats look deceptive in the cars with people in them. They may look more upright than they actually are. Mine is at 40 degrees but it doesnt look like you are really leaning back when you are in it. The support for your legs and back is great though. I have posted this picture a few times from a gt3 car that gets a good view of the angle which is about 40 degrees

I know that picture, reposted it even.
I completely agree with your point. I have made the same observation and felt the back pain of wrongly installed bucket seats. After 5 minutes my back was already sore.
Did some more mock-up testing with the SPEED1 from sim labs yesterday. I would think 35-45° will be the sweet spot. Have to see how the holes of the seat will line up to the brackets/slider. I could immediately feel from my seating position if I've dealt in the correct angle. So, really worthwhile testing before installing!

 

[DrRob]

Did a mock-up how I would like to have the seat mounted. Quite the angled setup, but feels comfy. Might be a tad more than in my above Skoda-Pic though...

 

[RCHeliguy]

Looks about 30 degrees to me. In Photoshop I got about 33 degrees for the back and 27 for the seat.

Do you have an electronic level?

I have 3 of them. 1 magnetic for my table saw blade and two for measuring blade pitch for my RC Helicopters. I think my Table saw level will be the easiest to use for this assuming I have a flat surface to put it against that is a reasonable angle.

 

[DrRob]

Did a quick check in CorelDraw myself and also came up with 33° for the back rest.

Don't have an electronic level, but I think I will engineer it to feel correct rather than be correct angle wise.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Mine is exactly around 40 degrees

Is that 40 degrees for the seat bottom or back ?

When I get my seat I'm going to measure the delta between the bottom and back to make sure this even matters.

One of the reasons I didn't get a vertical mount for my SC2 is the height that I need with my current car seat on an NLRv3 + 1.57"( a width 40 series profile ). I never took the angle of my back into account and the more upright profile of my seat has a definite impact as well.

So when I drop my seat by at least 1.57". Likely at least 2" because I'm using a regular car seat and increase the back angle dropping my shoulders possibly another inch, I'll have plenty of room to make the Sim-Lab vertical mount work. Thanks again @Wmacky !

 

[metalnwood]

That was measuring the seat back from a picture with software. Using my phone it also says the same thing. Here is a picture, it is hard to tell because the back doesnt match any lines on the side of the seat. It is a few degrees further back than the angled aluminium profile on the back of the seat.

I dont think on the seat mount I could get it that far back but mounting it directly in to the P1

frame I had better options.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Interesting. So I may be limited using the mount that comes with my seat. I have a piece of aluminum angle mounted to both sides of the NLRv3 mount point. I could easily get some more aluminum angle and add and extra 10-15 degrees of angle.

BTW are those 3" wide belts? I have 2" wide Takama's right now and needed padding for the shoulder belts because they dug in. Are the wider belts comfortable without padding?

The profile at the top will go away, but as you can see I could easily drill another piece of angle holes adding some angle. I could possibly even modify the existing piece.