Next Level's new Traction Plus

[Hiro Abe]

Sooooo.... whose going to get one of these and report back?

 

[Cyberbug]

Barry put the JCL v4 5 DoF on top of the NLR Traction plus and is testing it. He made a custom mounting solution.
I did contact NRL about a D-box compatible solution and they said they are busy filling demand right now and when they have time they plan to provide a solution. They sent me pictures of someone who basically put a flat platform on top of the NRL TP and then just put his P1X with Dbox on it. which is not a bad idea. 1/2"-3/4" plywood would work.
The JCL surge feature is unique but very very very very expensive.

 

[YesButNoButYes]

Well, they have taken 10% of the price for black friday in Australia . I bit the bullet.

 

[Cyberbug]

My D-Box is supposed to arrive from simlab in two weeks, if on time. after that I plan on putting hte NRL underneath it.
I checked their site yesterday, didn't see a sale. but it will happen.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Have you verified that your rig will be under their weight limit.

I found that my total weight is just past my comfort zone.

 

[Cyberbug]

Have you verified that your rig will be under their weight limit.

I found that my total weight is just past my comfort zone.

Per Barry it NRL should support 600lbs, he is already testing with the full JCL v4 5-DOF. I only weight 170lbs and have P1X, so if Barry's test is successful then I know I will be fine

 

[RCHeliguy]

According to their website: Max Payload : 235Kg or 518lbs

My P1 rig with NLRv3, SC2 Pro, Pro sim H shift, handbrake, 4 transducers, Seat, brackets, pedals, button box, etc and me (190) doesn't cut it. 600lbs is a great limit and I think that extra 82 lbs makes a huge difference in terms of rigs actually meeting the weight requirements.

Where does anyone confirm that it can support 600lbs ?

 

[RCHeliguy]

OK, I suddenly feel like my my rig is completely inadequate

Barry did say that although it worked well even with drivers up to 185 lbs that he had no idea about long term reliability since this rig is well over the weight limit of the Traction control plus.

That said, this does look like the real deal and everything I would love to have in a rig other than mobility which I need and size and of course price.

 

[gmkump]

As of October 2019 (birthday gift), you could not purchase this unit in USA. I went to Europe and found it still not available. Finally went direct to NLR in Australia and found a 2.5 month waiting list. Okay, for you folks thinking too expensive, please, they can't keep up with the demand! I purchased mine and got put on a 2.5 month waiting list! Mid-January, and I'm hoping they can deliver. They can't keep up with demand in Europe, let alone make available in USA. Hopefully they can increase their output and make these platforms more easily available here locally.

So complain all you want, seems like there are enough of us "idiots" that will purchase this at the current price and be happy with it. That is the plan anyway. In a week or two, I hope to be VR racing with an extraordinary motion cockpit (testing the Platform Management VR head motion support), and laughing at the nay Sayers. But who knows, I may agree with them, but I sincerely doubt it!

 

[RCHeliguy]

Sounds exciting!

I'm very curious how the VR compensation works with it. I don't use any compensation with my NLRv3. It doesn't seem necessary since my neck seems to gimbal my head so it is fairly steady, but with all the lateral movement of the traction loss system it seems extremely important that it work well. My guess is that it is tunable and you won't want 100% compensation for small quick lateral motion since your neck will handle small amounts of motion, however for larger motion or slower motion it would need much closer to 100%. I'm very curious how well they designed the compensation.

Please keep us posted with how that works!

 

[gmkump]

I finally got my Traction Plus platform, but had to wait for a v3 motion platform replacement, another 2.5 week delay. Overall had to wait 3.5 months to get everything.

Now that I got it put together, software setup was breeze. The Platform Management software detected Project Cars 2 installed and told me I needed to configure it for shared memory. It also detected I had VR setup and asked if I wanted head motion support turned on, which of course I did. I had a lot more headaches getting all the new Fanatec peripherals setup, especially the new DD2 wheel base. But in the end, it is all working.

After some 30+ hours of racing with this cockpit, I don't know how I survived without it! Little problems are felt and corrected before they become big problems. My driving has really improved, especially in the safer driving department. You can feel wheel slippage, so you adjust for it. It is almost immediate. Not saying crashing into things isn't fun as well with this setup, it is a shock when body hits, rail hits, tires hitting a hard rim, all faithfully delivered via cockpit motion.

The VR compensation is right on. I could not believe how my head in the sim world only moved when I moved my head. They got it working really well, I don't detect any cockpit movement as it is fish tailing on a wet road as I fight to maintain control. It is surprising how well it works. So yes, this platform is perfect for VR and an excellent way to further immersion.

Time to put more hours on this setup.

 

[gmkump]

Just for grins, I am posting another shot of cockpit where I positioned it beside an Arcade Machine which has a racing game shown. Yea, that is what I was doing while waiting for cockpit to arrive. Quite a step up.

Actually, the arcade machine has 3,500 games on it, not all racing, though those are my favorite.

Lucky I'm retired, so this new toy gets to be played with a whole lot!!!

 

[isight]

Just for grins, I am posting another shot of cockpit where I positioned it beside an Arcade Machine which has a racing game shown. Yea, that is what I was doing while waiting for cockpit to arrive. Quite a step up.

Actually, the arcade machine has 3,500 games on it, not all racing, though those are my favorite.

Lucky I'm retired, so this new toy gets to be played with a whole lot!!!View attachment 355950

Awesome setup! Thinking of getting the same (GT Track + NLRV3 + Traction Plus). Any issues with the pedals being too low? Th NLRV3 moves the seat up by 6 inches I believe? Wish NLR would have added a cockpit adjustment for the pedals when using the V3 since they are supposed to be all compatible/plug and play.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Awesome setup! Thinking of getting the same (GT Track + NLRV3 + Traction Plus). Any issues with the pedals being too low? Th NLRV3 moves the seat up by 6 inches I believe? Wish NLR would have added a cockpit adjustment for the pedals when using the V3 since they are supposed to be all compatible/plug and play.

Did you see the Barry's setup? It looked like he jacked his pedals up from the stock pedal deck and that was without a properly reclined racing seat which would require more lift.

 

[gmkump]

Awesome setup! Thinking of getting the same (GT Track + NLRV3 + Traction Plus). Any issues with the pedals being too low? Th NLRV3 moves the seat up by 6 inches I believe? Wish NLR would have added a cockpit adjustment for the pedals when using the V3 since they are supposed to be all compatible/plug and play.

As RCHeliguy noted, the seat is raised 6 inches so you really do need to raise the floor pedals. He also noted that with a bucket seat reclined, you might need more. I got by with putting more angle on the foot pedals and that did the trick.

Traction Plus Review

The review above made me realize that with the v3 motions platform addition to the GTtrack cockpit, raising pedals is necessary. I took the reviewers advice and got some series 10 and 20 extrusions and raised it 6 inches.

PS: I agree with you, don't know why NLR did not have some method to address the pedal height if you attached V3 Motion platform to cockpit. Guess they wanted to leave it to the user, though it would have been nice if they supplied a solution for it.

 

[gmkump]

@ "isight", Oh, and one more thing. The GTtrack seat is okay, but with it's adjustments for back seat angle and forward/back adjustments, it had too much flex for me and the back was not padded well. At least for this retired guy. So I took "RCHeliguy" recommendation and replaced the seat with a fixed bucket seat. I actually find it more comfortable and absolutely no flex, plus a lot less noise since it doesn't have all the adjustments to shake and rattle. Obviously, my friends will hate me because they may not be able to adjust for their size, but I'm the number one user, so it is adjusted just for me. Plus I wanted a 6 point harness setup, couldn't do that with the GTtrack stock seat, which only supports a 4 point setup.

 

[RCHeliguy]

A number of my friends can't fit in my seat now, but yeah the back support is much better.

I realize my Sim-Lab P1 adds a chunk of weight, but I love having the versatility of an 8020 erector set style of frame.

@gmkump It looks like the low point of your seat is directly over or just in front of the sliding bar where the frame attaches to the Platform Plus. Could you measure the offset you have using the NLR frame?

 

[gmkump]

@gmkump It looks like the low point of your seat is directly over or just in front of the sliding bar where the frame attaches to the Platform Plus. Could you measure the offset you have using the NLR frame?

Old picture, I've already moved the seat adjustment, several times. Trying to get that center point on V3 motion platform. Had to adjust steering wheel, pedals, etc., after each seat move. Never seems to end, though I think I got it finally adjusted to my size with everything being perfect.

The GTtrack cockpit is actually attached to the Traction Plus via 8 screws in "floor" panels of cockpit, not the actual frame. The V3 attaches to the cockpit frame itself.

Yes, the low point of seat is above the rear sliding point of the Traction Plus, maybe a little more forward, depending on seat placement. It is a little bit forward of it's center point. Go by the bolts you see that attach the V3 motion platform to the GTtrack frame and you see the center bolt is more forward, not centered.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Sadly I weighed my rig incorrectly and it is 60lbs heavier than I thought putting me about 14lbs over. By the time I add what I need to attach my frame, I'll be at least another 10lbs more and I need a floor.

So I need to put my rig on a weight loss program if I want to make this work.

BTW the reason I was off was that I didn't retract the front casters and they acted like a fulcrum dropping my rear weight measurement. I had to weigh the front and back separately.

 

[gmkump]

@RCHeliguy, I finally realized you are right again. The bottom of my legs were getting too much pressure in the Prisma seat and realized I needed to raise my pedals even higher. Ordered additional 10 and 20 series to raise an additional one to two inches.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I've been putting my rig on a diet. and so far I've removed 17.5 lbs from the weight and I think by the time I make a few other changes I might be able to get an other 5 lbs off of it. So looks like I should be good to go.

Ideally I would lose another 10lbs as well

I have engineered a very solid means of attaching my frame to the Traction Plus that I'm completely comfortable will have no problem with the forces involved.

I'm still figuring out how to make the whole thing mobile. I do sort of like the idea of using a sheet of UHMW under a sheet of plywood and then having lock downs holding structure into the carpet so it doesn't move on me when it is in use. Still thinking about how the locking down will work..

BTW pulled out Dirt Rally 2.0 for the first time in a while an had a blast today. That NLRv3 does such a great job in that game. I can only imagine what it would be like being slung sideways!