Reply With QuoteG29 if you like the older G25 and G27. Don't pay more than £175 though.
Thrustmaster T500 or the cheaper T300 are better, but not as good as the Fanatec's range.
I'm sure there was a thread on this, but I can't seem to find it. I'm thinking about resurrecting an old PC or perhaps splashing out a few quid on a new one with a nice widescreen monitor to play some PC sim racing games. I used to play GTR and modded versions of F1 99-02, but I've been out of the loop for a long time so don't really know what the current state of sim racing is like? I've heard of iRacing, but never used it. I've seen some rFactor F1 mods (I particularly like the '68 Spa video), but I'm not sure how these work exactly. What are the wheels to have these days, still the Logitech G25?
G29 if you like the older G25 and G27. Don't pay more than £175 though.
Thrustmaster T500 or the cheaper T300 are better, but not as good as the Fanatec's range.
I played iRacing for quite a while. It can get a little expensive but there's a decent player base and the online pvp racing is excellent (unlike most other racing games I've played) as any trolls/crashers are swiftly dealt with. My G25 lasted me years.
What sort of spec machine is needed these days? Still keen to hear of anyones experience with rFactor mods
PC sim racing was my specialist subject 15 years ago. I ran the Legends Central forums for Grand Prix Legends for a year or so then ran Race Sim Central for a few years after that. At the end we had over 100000 members!
I've been dabbling with sim racing again since 2012 with iRacing but have only just started taking it a bit more seriously. Last year I got a new wheel, a Thrustmaster T300RS which I used with my old BRD Speed7 pedals (which were very expensive back in the day). I was sitting at my desk using a laptop and wasn't getting particularly good performance. A month or so ago I built a PC, the first I've built in 15 years, to run iRacing. This is what I came up with:
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/b/rwd6Mp
It wasn't cheap but runs iRacing like a dream. I'm getting over 200fps at 2560x1440 with the i7 6700K overclocked to 4.6GHz and my GTX 970 overclocked slightly too. Unfortunately I only have one display so can't run triples. If you wanted something cheaper you could spec a Core i5 6600K and get very near the same performance as I'm getting.
After building the PC I decided to get my BRD Race Frame set up again. It's been stored in the garage for the last 10 years. I mounted some medium duty castors on it this week so I can move it into place easily. I also added a cheap 5" HDMI display as a second screen running Z1 Dashboard. I have an EDTracker Pro mounted to my headset which connects via USB. It lets me look around the screen by tilting my head.
Here's my rig:
I chose iRacing as my sim of choice because it came from the same developer as Grand Prix Legends and NASCAR 4 both of which I raced a lot. I have friends who work for ISI on rFactor and Race Room Racing Experience but I haven't tried any of them. Assetto Corsa has a strong following too. I have been most tempted to get Dirt Rally as it offers something different from iRacing. I don't really have the time for more than one sim though so will stick to what I know.
Last edited by Phil Lee; 25th March 2016 at 00:31.
^^^ You win Phil!
That is incredible 😵
So you're solely using iracing?
I'm at the cheap end of things. You can spend £1000+ on a wheel (without the force feedback mechanism). Take a look at this rig for and idea of what's available for the home:Originally Posted by I a n
Yes. I just race iRacing now. It's all I have time for plus I have spent quite a bit of money in it to build up a selection of tracks and cars. The Nordschleife is an amazing track and the new Formula Renault 2.0 is so much fun to drive.
Last edited by Phil Lee; 25th March 2016 at 00:38.
Wow Phil, that's impressive!
Not an expert myself but both of my sons have G29 wheels and don't think there's anything better for the price. Don't last well though and always seem to fail within 1 year but replaced without question by Amazon/PC World - one was an upgrade from G27 because of this.
Both also have the Thrustmaster GT8 shifter which is apparently much better than that which can be bought with the G29.
That's a very good looking set up Phil, just need to try and get that past SWMBO as a 'necessary' expense
As with flying sims I'd be looking at 3D goggles for realism and immersive game play.
The problem with 3D VR in both flight and racing sims is how to deal with controls. I use a button box app on my iPad during races. I need to be able to look at it which I couldn't do in VR.
If I were buying a new wheel right now I'd consider the following:
Logitech G92/G920 - £220 - same wheel, one is for PC/PS4 and the other is for PC/XBox One.
Thrustmaster T300RS - £230
I'd buy the T300RS because of it's expandability. You can get 4 different wheels for it, a different set of pedals and an H-shifter. I have two wheels and the shifter for mine.
Beyond this you're getting into Fanatec territory where you pay €750 the wheel base on its own.
Last edited by Phil Lee; 25th March 2016 at 09:44.
Matt, if you decide to take out an iRacing sub please could you use my referrer link:
https://members.iracing.com/membersi...do?refid=85120
I get $10 if you sign up for 3 months.
Well, this is one of those threads that suddenly get you considering spending £££ on something you'd never thought about previously!
Just spotted this on HUKD
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/logi...pc-ps3-2419841
If that offer happens it's a bargain.
Good price indeed.
Of course Phil. Today I pulled out the old computer to asses its readiness. Tomorrow I'm going to PC World. More so to re familiarise with modern computers and work out what the damage is going to be. Likely budget is £4-500 for a computer and £200 for a nice widescreen monitor. Later I would like the ability to add two side screens. Do you think this is feasible?
In the mean time I might get a new monitor and set the old machine up to run Grand Prix Legends with the hi res pack. Happy days are near again 😄
Thanks for the link Royal Villa, I will definitely check that out on Monday.
GPL is hard now. iRacing has a Lotus 49 in which is also very hard to drive. Good luck!
Triples on a computer costing £500 is unlikely. My graphics card cost £280 and is only just able to run triples.
Cheaper with Gran Turismo :)
Still using my old PS3.
So when does the TZ-UK iRacing league start? :D
I haven't time for a league yet. What's your name in iRacing?
I won't shout you down, I love a bit of Gran Turismo, but the experience of a good PC/wheel set up with Grand Prix Legends or GTR was unbeatable. I can only imagine what it's like on iRacing or some of the other platforms now available.
This sounds good :)
Ah, I thought as much. When I began looking at components on the link you posted I couldn't believe I was seeing 4gb for graphics memory. When I opened the old computer this afternoon to refresh my memory of what was in there (I have no monitor at the moment) I was amazed to see the graphics card has 256mb! How things change. Cutting edge circa 2005.
I used to love GPL. Many happy hours spent around Spa :)
^
GT6 is ok for an amateur like myself.
These days my rig is mostly used to pile clothes on :)
Phil, any recommendations for monitors? Looking for a widescreen and preferably something that I can link secondary screens to later
I don't know much about monitors. Sorry. I'm using my work one which is a Dell.
Pleased to say that RoyalVilla's tip paid off! G29 being delivered tomorrow! I've seen another deal suggesting the Thrustmaster T300rs is about to drop to £120 on Amazon tomorrow. Would it be worth getting one of those and returning the Logitech?
Monitor shopping next
The T300RS is a better wheel but the G29 has better pedals. I've heard that the G29 is less reliable than the T300RS. I have a T300RS so am biased.
I'm a recent convert to iracing.
There's nothing comparable...
Used to play a lot of race07 and recently got into Assetto Corsa, iracing always sounded good but I wasn't keen enough or good enough to get into it.
For a good youtube channel try and watch Empty Box.
As for kit if you just want to enjoy it at a fairly minimal cost I'd make sure you get a good graphics card with at least 2GB RAM and an i5 processor. Second hand 3570k goes for not very much on eBay. Something 770 up to 970 would give you great performance from one if those nvidia cards.
I build my own PCs and it isn't hard. With buying separates to get the best bang for buck.
Lastly the Fanatec stuff is great. I just sold my Fanatec elite pedals and I still have the Fanatec csr wheel that I am selling soon.
Their newest range of wheels and especial the clubsport pedals are superb. The elite pedals I had were excellent. Great to have a load cell brake. Works out the pressure you exert on the pedals which can be set to a different sensitivity to give a more realistic feel. Instead of just a linear response from the pedal.
Two monitors isn't ideal as you really want to have three. One big one is good enough to get you into it. Three because you don't want a big line down the middle of the steering wheel!
I'd make sure you have a 24 inch monitor minimum with a 120-144hz refresh rate so you can have a smoother experience and more responsive with no blurring so try and get a low ms response time. I use a BenQ 1ms 144hz gaming monitor and the difference it makes to fps games and sim racing was superb.
8Gb system at 1600Mhz with an i5 of some generation that's around 3ghz + with a geforce 770 would be a great spec. I use this apart from I have a gtx 970. This setup consistently gave me a stable 144 frames per second to match the monitor and the gameplay as a result is very smooth with no tearing.
I've not used logitech sim stuff apart from their mice but they make great stuff. I can recommend the Fanatec pedals and wheels but it can get very expensive. My elite pedals sold for 130 but they're worth it. You could pick them up a little cheaper if you keep your eyes peeled. A Fanatec csr wheel can go for around 80-90.
Anyway that's my view on things. Phil's spec is great and that sim pit looks superb. One of the more important things to have is a large screen and a fixed seat. The larger screen and resolution will demand more from your gpu. Ideally 4GB vram with a gtx 970 upwards.
If you want you can pm me if you'd like to have a look at the csr fanatec wheel or I'll put it on SC over the next day if anyone's interested. Lovely wheel but you'd have to keep an eye out for a good set of pedals!
Last edited by Bodo; 29th March 2016 at 01:01.
I'm a console racer ever since my PC specification started to fall by the way side. However I have the latest G920 wheel which is the Xbox equivalent of the G29 (both are compatible with PC) so I can hopefully add something useful. Having previously owned a G25 and a G27, one thing I would say about the pedals is that while they've made a noble effort to improve the brake feel it still isn't quite right, in fact it's gone too far the other way.
Potted history of Logitech pedals:
- The clutch, brake and gas all have different springs in them to give more realistic feel. The brake is obviously the stiffest of them all.
- On the G25 it was linear
- On the G27 they changed the spring so it go progressively stiffer at the back end, imitating the bite you get with a real brake
- People took to modifying the spring by inserting a rubber damper to improve the progressiveness and make it more pronounced (http://www.nixim.com/)
- On the G29/920 Logitech have had a stab at doing that themselves and in my opinion have made the brake pedal awful.
It's so stiff now that I have to bring the bottom dead zone right up to about 65% to get anything close to 100% travel, which obviously affects the "resolution" of the pedal. Without that I simply cannot stamp on the pedal hard enough to get to the end of the travel. Admittedly I'm 5'9" and weigh 57kg, but I've had a big lump sit in my rig and still struggle to use it consistently.
As a result, I am using the latest wheel and shifter, but with an old set of G27 pedals with the Nixim brake mod installed. Perfick.
Interesting Hammond. I picked up my G29 from Currys today (thanks to RoyalVilla again) and while I've only had a quick test on my old PS3, I also found the brake pedal a bit stiff. But then the last wheel I had was a Microsoft Sidewinder FF wheel and the pedals on that could be operated by your big toe. I also think that once I arrange the pedals on a firm surface instead of carpet, they'll feel better. If not I'll look out for a G27 version on ebay
I believe that the springs are the same dimensions on the G29 as the G25/G27 sets Matt, meaning if you wanted to you could purchase a Nixim set and "downgrade" your existing pedals rather than purchase a new set. The only reason I didn't do that is I have three pedal sets so there was no point in voiding the warranty on the brand new set!
The only disadvantage you'd have is that ordinarily when people fit a Nixim mod, they take the now defunct spring from the brake pedal and put it in to the clutch pedal to make it stiffer. With the G29 you wouldn't be able to do that because you'd just transfer the problem to a different pedal. But it's a small loss.
Not exactly sim racing but it should be great!
Next week in London:
https://www.gtplanet.net/gran-turism...r-tickets-now/
I'm still racing in iRacing. I've made it to a C license and will be promoted to a B at the end of the season. I've been racing the Skippys and having fun with 3 race wins and a couple of pole positions. This week has been bad at Mid Ohio. I've qualified well but been taken out 3 times. Only once had the person properly apologised and that wasn't his fault, just a netcode glitch.
This week as well I took delivery of a 3D printed case to mount an HDMI display on my wheel. It was designed by a guy on the iRacing forum. It works really well with Z1 Dashboard.
^^^
Wow!!!!
I can't stop looking at triple monitor stands.
Resurrecting this thread. I'm thinking about buying a wheel which is compatible with Xbox one and PC. I'm more a driver than a gamer and do as many trackdays as I can spare time and money for.
Options are the Logitech G920 for £180ish, or the Thrustmaster TX leather for £320.
I think the universal opinion is that the the TX has a better more realistic feel, but I've read online that TM customer service are a bit crap when things break.
Any thoughts?
How much are you looking to spend? The TX is a better wheel. You also need to consider the pedals as this is just as important. Have you looked at Fanatec? Their new CSL wheel is getting good reviews.
Wow. When I was a lad I spent countless hours with Geoff Crammond's F1GP, an Amiga 500 (floppy drive only), a Quickshot joystick and a 14" telly.
We played entire seasons of full length races, all at single-figure FPS.
I dreamt of a future where this sort of gear wss available. Sadly, now it is here, I don't seem to have the time or inclination to invest in it.
Hi, I've gone for the TX wheel. The fanatec stuff looks superb but it's over twice the price.
Can't wait to get stuck in to some online racing now!
What do you plan on driving? I do all my racing online on the PC using iRacing. Assetto Corsa is also very popular as is Dirt Rally.
In the short term I'll be using the Xbox and forza, but I have a monster PC currently getting dust and with a ram and graphics card upgrade I'll be able to run assetto, iracing or project cars.
I would give Project Cars a miss and concentrate on Assetto Corsa and iRacing.
GT Sport finally live!
I am all set. SSD PS4 Pro and the latest T-GT wheel for my racing seat. But another week for the new monitor to arrive.
Last edited by Toshk; 19th October 2017 at 19:32.
Since my last post I've changed my rig quite a bit. I've got rid of the extra display I was using as a dashboard and I've got a new alcantara rim for my T300. I've bought a new set of Fanatec ClubSport V3 pedals which include a load cell brake pedal. This means after the first inch of movement you break by pressure, much like you do in a car. Finally I've upgraded by graphics card to a GTX 1070. I did this because I've got an Oculus Rift VR headset.
VR is brilliant for sim racing. The 3D really helps judge distance. It's great to be able to look into the corner as you drive. It's so much more immersive. If anyone is interested, I had a go at streaming my VR view. It only shows the left eye so the FOV is less than I can see. It does give a great idea of what it is like to race iRacing in VR. You can see it here: https://go.twitch.tv/videos/171405370
Thanks for sharing. Looks great!
I’ve got LG 32UD99 on order. Want to experience 4K HDR before maybe trying VR.
Last edited by Toshk; 19th October 2017 at 22:26.
Monitor arrived at last.
Not exactly PC sim, but this new Gran Turismo is the best I’ve ever played. Cost a lot to upgrade from my old setup, but worth it.
Not that I'm looking to be on the level of any of you guys yet, but long term I will be joining the club. I'm building a games room in my house. Current stage is the bar! I already have an Xbox One set up with Forza, and will be looking to build a seat set up for it. Eventually though long term I want to build a decent spec PC and have that solely for sim racing. Good to see the set ups your are all using though, really does give inspiration and motivation to get there myself!
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