Finally bought a racing rig, did I make the right choice?

[acascianelli]

I broke down and finally bought a racing rig. I picked up a Bob Earl Racing frame for $200 shipped. I already have a Sparco seat sitting in my basement, so I'll be mounting that to the frame. I will be running my old trust Logitech Driving Force Pro to it for the time being, but I might upgrade to a G27 or some Fanatec wheel later one.

I wasn't looking to spend more than $200 for a rig, and the Bob Earl Racing setup was the best/cheapest one I could find that didn't already come with a seat. Do you think I made the right choice?

 

[Coxis]

Quite frankly only you can decide if it's the right choice. Use it, see if it's comfortable for long gaming sessions, see if the seating position is adequate. Me? personally I don't like it. I think the seating position is way too low to the ground, like in a Formula / Open wheeler car. I prefer more general use cockpits, where you sit as low as if you were in a sports car, but not as high as if you were driving your wife's / mom's minivan. I would've recommended an Obutto as a great compromise.

 

[Gunstar]

Good deal man, a lot of people use that rig and like it alot. Bob Earl says that it's a true Formula seating position, although as he raced in the 70's, it might be a lil dated!

 

[acascianelli]

...I would've recommended an Obutto as a great compromise.

I was looking at the Obutto Ozone too, but it cost over twice as much and had a much larger footprint than I wanted. I agree that the Bob Earl setup has a really low position, but I'm hoping to be able to modify the seat and pedal mounts enough to bring a more natural road car seating position. It arrives Friday so I guess I'll find out then.

I'll probably end up making a simple riser platform or something to get the whole rig off the ground a couple inches or so too.

 

[JogoAsobi]

Only you can decide if you made the right choice.
I do think the Bob Earl is a good rig with bang for the buck.
It was one of the rigs I considered, before I decided to build my own rig.

The Obutto oZone also seems to be good,
I have two friends that are very content with theirs.

 

[Gunstar]

I have an oZone myself, and I like it alot. It's really alot more adjustable than it looks, and quite sturdy, even with big guys in it like me and my buddies.

 

[Mayaman]

I've had one for years, its a great little chassis and the best part is that liked the VR3, if you're handy, you can make it into anything you want, its soooooo moddable.

 

[left888]

Do you think I made the right choice?

I built a custom Zalem frame and love it, I looked at purchasing a rig a few years back. The biggest turn off for me was a center post between my legs. I believe the Bob Earl has a center post. I have read about others with a Bob Earl and they say the center post doesn't bother them. If you like your rig, that's all that matters.

 

[acascianelli]

My wife surprised me with a G27 for Christmas.

 

[Mayaman]

I built a custom Zalem frame and love it, I looked at purchasing a rig a few years back. The biggest turn off for me was a center post between my legs. I believe the Bob Earl has a center post. I have read about others with a Bob Earl and they say the center post doesn't bother them. If you like your rig, that's all that matters.

Yeah I have this rig, unlike other center post designs, this one has it so high up there is no impedance when driving at all, he'll be fine. Its a super cheap and great rig you can mod the crap out of.

Get yourself some 2x4s and some 400lb springs and make a poor mans motion simulator.

 

[Ripster]

Only you can decide if you made the right choice. To each their own. But it is not easy to stay under that $200 budget. If you could have stretched a little more I would have purchased an RSeat, you can get the frame only off eBay for about $250 US and whatever they are asking for shipping. Since you already had a seat this would have been a good fit.

But as I said that is what I would have chosen.

 

[ShootDaCar]

Pictures of the rigs?

 

[acascianelli]

My office is completely blown out right now, I'll be cleaning it up this weekend so I can take some pictures that I won't be embarrassed to show.

I'm been thinking of ways to mod it lately. I want to get the whole rig off the floor a little bit, so I want to make some sort of a riser for it. Also, I started playing Asseto Corsa lately so I was thinking of adding a plate inder the shifter for a trackball base and possibly buying another shifter mount and using it on the opposite side for a keyboard mount.

 

[ONEEYEMONSTaR]

I like! Simple-low-sturdy-comfy-ingress & egress are difficult!