Wheel-ing Into The Future

With all this talk of discontinuing, warranties, reliability, stock purging, hydraulics [cough] and just plain doom-and-gloom, I started to ponder where all this is going...

I want there to be strong future to sim racing. With the software at the existing point and communities with as much passion for our hobby as us crazy folks, I believe in the potential. But we also have to live in the reality of tough financial times. People with less disposable income means it is more difficult to get in at the mid levels of simulation. Pedals, shifters and button/dash interfaces seem quite healthy, but what about the heart: the wheel base?

To see where we are, I looked into the some of the really high end sim toys. FrexGP is mind-boggling in price (and you need a donor G27 ) and ECCI doesn't seem so extraordinary any more compared to modded Fanatec and T500 wheels.

We argue back and forth about "who is best" between Fanatec-Logitech-Thrustmaster (in alphabetical order to avoid any favouritism ), but we might soon be looking at "who is left"!

There seems to be some nice rims coming out, but what about the wheel bases to attach them to?

Where are we going?

On a side note (and quite on topic I think), who has tried a Frex and/or ECCI wheel? I'm intrigued to see what the "other" side has to offer above and beyond our toys

I know for a fact that you don't need high end gear to be successful in Sim racing. I have mostly mid range products with a couple high end stuff. Then again my high end stuff might be low end stuff for you.

The future is bright, there are billions of dollars in sales each year in the game industry, although racing is a side branch there's still a fortune to make and spend.

Luckily for me I am retired and have some disposable income to spend on toys. If I need it, if it is quality and if I can afford it, I will buy it.

pilmat

With all this talk of discontinuing, warranties, reliability, stock purging, hydraulics [cough] and just plain doom-and-gloom, I started to ponder where all this is going...

I want there to be strong future to sim racing. With the software at the existing point and communities with as much passion for our hobby as us crazy folks, I believe in the potential. But we also have to live in the reality of tough financial times. People with less disposable income means it is more difficult to get in at the mid levels of simulation. Pedals, shifters and button/dash interfaces seem quite healthy, but what about the heart: the wheel base?

To see where we are, I looked into the some of the really high end sim toys. FrexGP is mind-boggling in price (and you need a donor G27 ) and ECCI doesn't seem so extraordinary any more compared to modded Fanatec and T500 wheels.

We argue back and forth about "who is best" between Fanatec-Logitech-Thrustmaster (in alphabetical order to avoid any favouritism ), but we might soon be looking at "who is left"!

There seems to be some nice rims coming out, but what about the wheel bases to attach them to?

Where are we going?

On a side note (and quite on topic I think), who has tried a Frex and/or ECCI wheel? I'm intrigued to see what the "other" side has to offer above and beyond our toys

Click to expand...

Interesting information between the ECCI and the T500RS starts at 25' 30"

kikie

YOUTUBE

Interesting information between the ECCI and the T500RS starts at 25' 30"

Click to expand...

Ah, I see! So the ECCI 6000 is NOT force feedback Then I edit what I said that it is close to modded wheel in price...

The ECCI Trackstar 6000 is not a FFB wheel and only 360°.

The ECCI 7000 is the FFB wheel and 900°. But it seems, according the insidesimracing video, that the T500RS is very close to the ECCI 7000 for a lot less money.

ECCI 7000 is their direct drive ffb wheel. Look at ECCIS home page you will see it listed.
There is also the Leo bodnar wheel. High end of ffb wheels look brighter then ever. We have DIY making their own ffb controllers like Leo Bodnar and some are also making their own wheels. Generally performance rather then cheapass budget oriented though.

So we will see more DIY efforts though mostly PC oriented I imagine as it´s the most adaptable platform.

Yep, pax7 and Mizooo are making their own FFB controller. Mizoo is also developing firmware for everybody to download. It's on a "donate" basis.