SimXperience GS-5 Seat

[Turvey]

Finally can get a price on shipping. Including all duties (estimated) and GST (10% on total import value, including shipping) us Aussie's are looking at around the $6K AUD mark for a GS5.

Can build 2 SFX-100's for that......

Ouch ,oz lotto didn't go off last night so i guess i can dream for another week

 

[spooky0815]

One question to the GS5 owners... I'm using a Frex Hexapod system and I need to know if the pure weight of the GS5 is really about 85lbs = 40 kg?? Or is it the total weight including package, etc.

So what about the weight of the GS-5 seat?

 

[schmitzna]

85lbs is the shipping weight. It's about 70lbs according to the SimXperience guys. The Kirkey shell is powder coated aluminum which adds a lot of weight and the motors are substantial. I didn't weigh mine, but its got to be >60lbs.

 

[spooky0815]

wow... 30kg ... quite heavy ... my actual seat is about 8kilos...so I pay for each additional gram ))

 

[HoiHman]

Actually hurt my back this week from lifting it on and off the rig for mounting purposes.

This thing is really heavy. Build like a tank.

 

[HoiHman]

 

[HoiHman]

The video shows either how big the GS-5 really is, or how small Shawn is

 

[RCHeliguy]

The video shows either how big the GS-5 really is, or how small Shawn is

Both!

He mentions that this chair is not as comfortable as many other chairs even after he added a cushion so he wouldn't feel wedged between the bottom seat panels. He also mentioned that it would take time to train your brain to decipher the information it was giving you.

For me both of those issues are deal breakers right off the bat. I have a very comfortable chair and when I added the NLRv3 there was no training period needed. Everything felt much more real to me immediately. I tweaked the settings to preference, but it was obvious what it was doing and in VR, it made all the difference in the world making me feel like I was there!

What I heard from this video was that this product is a new source of input that isn't obvious or natural. I understand that it is supposed to be giving you G forces and I'm sure it succeeds in a way, but color me very skeptical.

 

[BenKay]

Both!

He mentions that this chair is not as comfortable as many other chairs even after he added a cushion so he wouldn't feel wedged between the bottom seat panels. He also mentioned that it would take time to train your brain to decipher the information it was giving you.

For me both of those issues are deal breakers right off the bat. I have a very comfortable chair and when I added the NLRv3 there was no training period needed. Everything felt much more real to me immediately. I tweaked the settings to preference, but it was obvious what it was doing and in VR, it made all the difference in the world making me feel like I was there!

What I heard from this video was that this product is a new source of input that isn't obvious or natural. I understand that it is supposed to be giving you G forces and I'm sure it succeeds in a way, but color me very skeptical.

I wouldn't read too much into "teaching your brain" anything....it feels pretty natural to me. Mine's "on top" of a d-box system, and I've turned bumps/vertical G off in the settings, as the D-box handles that bit, but it all feels very natural to me, and nicely supplemental to the d-box motion.

Also, a comment above implied the Kirkey seat is steel instead of aluminium...it isn't, it's black powdercoated/painted aluminium, as you'd expect.

 

[BenKay]

I wouldn't read too much into "teaching your brain" anything....it feels pretty natural to me. Mine's "on top" of a d-box system, and I've turned bumps/vertical G off in the settings, as the D-box handles that bit, but it all feels very natural to me, and nicely supplemental to the d-box motion.

Also, a comment above implied the Kirkey seat is steel instead of aluminium...it isn't, it's black powdercoated/painted aluminium, as you'd expect.

In terms of comfort, I've found if you're pushed into the seat properly, then actually it's pretty comfortable, certainly no less comfortable than my OMP bucket seat (to which I had to add a lumbar support cushion). If you tend to slouch or shift your ass forwards in the seat, then yes you end up sat a bit uncomfortably, I find not because of the paddles per-se, but because of a slit opening in the cover (I'm not really sure what it's for either) as there is nothing obvious beneath it (think it might be for crotch harness straps maybe).

 

[RCHeliguy]

That does sound like a synergistic combination. I'm glad to hear it is working well for you.

 

[schmitzna]

Also, a comment above implied the Kirkey seat is steel instead of aluminium...it isn't, it's black powdercoated/painted aluminium, as you'd expect.

Thanks, I updated my comments. I had Kirkey Intermediate Road Race seats in my track car and the powder coating must add a lot of weight and thickness to the seat if it's aluminum underneath.

 

[BenKay]

Thanks, I updated my comments. I had Kirkey Intermediate Road Race seats in my track car and the powder coating must add a lot of weight and thickness to the seat if it's aluminum underneath.

Defo. aluminium as I held magnet to it, and nothing.

Most of the weight is coming from the motors/gearboxes I believe....also the formed "housings" for the motors, and the moving brackets that the paddles mount to etc. are bent steel.

 

[RaceNut]

I'm working on a more basic DIY G-seat that provides more direct side G-forces from side-mounted paddles so it will be interesting to see how effective that approach is vs the GS-5's. So far, my investment is about 20% of the cost of the GS-5 and some time so, if it turns out to be 30-40% as effective, I'm still doing okay.

 

[Mascot]

I'm working on a more basic DIY G-seat that provides more direct side G-forces from side-mounted paddles so it will be interesting to see how effective that approach is vs the GS-5's. So far, my investment is about 20% of the cost of the GS-5 and some time so, if it turns out to be 30-40% as effective, I'm still doing okay.

Does yours also create surge forces for acceleration and braking?

 

[RaceNut]

Does yours also create surge forces for acceleration and braking?

No, my focus is on cornering G-forces and certainly not as comprehensive as what the GS-5 can achieve. I'd like to get a GS-5 some day but, until then . . .

 

[Mascot]

No, my focus is on cornering G-forces and certainly not as comprehensive as what the GS-5 can achieve. I'd like to get a GS-5 some day but, until then . . .

Damn..! It's mainly those that are missing from the SFX100.

 

[sfdmalex]

Both!

He mentions that this chair is not as comfortable as many other chairs even after he added a cushion so he wouldn't feel wedged between the bottom seat panels. He also mentioned that it would take time to train your brain to decipher the information it was giving you.

For me both of those issues are deal breakers right off the bat. I have a very comfortable chair and when I added the NLRv3 there was no training period needed. Everything felt much more real to me immediately. I tweaked the settings to preference, but it was obvious what it was doing and in VR, it made all the difference in the world making me feel like I was there!

What I heard from this video was that this product is a new source of input that isn't obvious or natural. I understand that it is supposed to be giving you G forces and I'm sure it succeeds in a way, but color me very skeptical.

Actually its a terrible review, I have the seat but I was fortunate enough to receive Assetto Corsa profiles from my friend who received the seat a few weeks before me and spent a lot of times preparing profiles for different types of cars.

Looks like Shawn just did the autotune and set about his ways with testing the seat, and this will just not work. The "default" profiles are just too noisy, there is way too much output. Just a poor review and poor understanding of what to do. Not to offend, but when someone says and I paraphrase "the point of all these devices is to make us faster" I have no interest in hearing what that person has to say. The point of sim racing is to simulate, to the best of our ability, the act of driving a car.

His whole approach "having to reprogram your brain" is wrong right off the bat. You shouldn't need to reprogram anything at all. Things should be intuitive and this can be achieved by properly tuning the seat and setting the appropriate effects on either the bottom or back panels.

Think of the seat as an output device which through the Simcommander software can be fed a ton of information. First thing to do is kill most of the "effects" and start tuning things. Bumps are overdone on the default setup, bumps are the result of suspension travel and that can overwhelm the whole seat if you don't turn it down, smooth it out etc. But, I do agree with my friend when he says that the lateral G simulation alone is worth the seat. But without a doubt, straight out of the box with autotune there is too much going on, because they are feeding the seat too much telemetry forcing it to do things that maybe it shouldn't, or at the very least need to be turned way down, all of which you can do. For example, feeling bumps with the back paddles as well as the bottom just doesn't feel right, kill the bumps coming through the back paddles and things get much better.

The feeling of pulling lateral Gs in the corners is phenomenal, no motion sim can replicate this. I don't know what it is, but now I can really feel that pesky 911 about to do a 360 on me long before I get any cues from my steering wheel. You can feel the load transferring and the body loading up in a corner like a spring.

After 3 laps of Spa with this thing, I could never go back. Trying to drive with the seat off now just takes all the thrill out of it. You go from feeling (VR helps here) that you are actually in the car driving through corners to feeling that you are just sitting stationary.

I found myself not even thinking about the cues from the steering wheel but getting them from the seat instead.

You will need to create a few profiles for different types of cars based on the G they can pull unless you want the seat to pull max G (pressure/travel from the seat panels) in all cars, which would be very unrealistic because I've never ever felt the kind of G from a road car that this seat can pull on you.

Oh and get a harness, that really amplifies things.

But ultimately, like everything else, this needs hours of work to get right, that or getting lucky and getting some profiles from someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[sfdmalex]

Also as to the comfort of the seat. I had a knockoff Sparco F200 style seat and this is much more comfortable. I was concerned about it being too wide from the pictures, but you really "fall" into the seat, it has nice curves to where your body parts fit.

I'm 6" 100kg (220lb) 32" waist and it suites me well, however I could see how for someone more slender the seat might feel big, but then again, I don't see it as a problem as adding any extra padding is very easy.

 

[Magiashkii]

What harness are most using? 4 point or 5 point?