New starter to sim racing advice req'd :D

L

Lwilliams170

4
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Hi guys,

I honestly didn't know this community existed, and I'm so glad I found it!!!!

Little background info.. I'm from the UK (Wales), I currently have a track car that I have taken out a few times, now looking to prep the car to race here in the UK... I am hoping this sim will improve my skills
smile.png


I love sim games, whether its flying, driving, survival... but obviously as my hobby is cars then I am going to love racing sims even more. A quick question for you guys is sim racing big in America as I never heard of it over here, I stumbled across it sometime last week and have been researching since. I have played on forza a lot but never with a wheel, I use XO Seven Headphones to enhance my gaming experience.

Now that I have found this community I would really appreciate someone to help with what I purchase for the sim, here's a short list of things I want (please advise if I am getting something wrong etc..)

First, I was going to buy the asus g750 jm (around £850 not sure in dollars) laptop, as I wanted to be portable for going around to my brothers house, camping at track days etc... Now today I was thinking and it would be better to go for a desktop. as I have just bought a rig. and I also know you get more for your money with a desktop. I haven't had a look at any desktops yet but will do in the future... this will be purchased in the next month or so...

I also have a xbox one and forza 5, so after trawling though the unlimited options of wheel to then find xbox only accepts 2 was frustrating, so I am picking up the thrustmaster tx next weekend along with a playseat EVO.

I know the tx's pedals are pretty poor and I will be looking to update them in the future... I was hoping some one will be able to give me advice on this? Not sure what to do with the gear stick at the moment, may leave it as standard for now and upgrade that later too.

Last but not least is the screen... I know I will probably get flamed for this but I want to run a tv screen and look for very low input response time (I read a lot on this today and still don't understand exactly everything fully). I don't mind spending up to £1500 on a screen, most probably be around 50+ inches and 4k and 3D if my budget stretches
smile.png


The sim I am looking to use at the moment is iRacing as it seems the best... I will look into getting others as I love touring cars.

I am also looking to get accessories, but not sure on what I need at the moment. I know I need a button box and was hoping some one could help with this too
smile.png
also any other accessories that I need or is advised please (A)

I hope that someone took the time to read all that and please help
tongue.png
 
You're not going to get flamed by anything... in fact most people will be jealous that you get to race in the real thing! :P

Sim racing is big in the US, although the tendency is that people who sim race either do ovals or road racing and a smaller percentage enjoys both. I personally like road racing but it doesn't really matter since the equipment is mostly the same. The only variance I can think of is that oval racers like larger diameter wheels.

Ultimately it's your call to decide on what you will go with, but I strongly recommend going for a Desktop computer. You can expand it, replace components and repair it whereas a laptop you can't. Repairing them is sometimes expensive and not worth it. I'd also recommend going for a PC display and not a TV. Don't let the larger size lure you, you'll get much better image quality and response time from an adequate PC display than a TV.

Whatever you decide you'll have fun though, that's for sure. Welcome to the forums. :)
 
If you go for a tv, get in quick and find a Panasonic plasma ST60 series. Best bang for buck tv ever made, but they're disappearing fast. If monitors, you may want to consider getting triples from the outset. Be sure about what does what though, @Coxis mentioned response time, but a plasma tv will have better response time. It's input lag that will be better with a monitor as tvs do more image processing. Some of it can be turned off, some of it can't. I have around 15 different displays that I use for gaming and sim-ing (including sd and hd crts with no input lag), and my main sim rig with triple plasma does very well compared to all of the other options. Difference is noticeable but not detrimental, and image quality must include black levels when evaluating.

Pedals? https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/pst-pedals-pt-1-starting-at-319.291290/ The timing may be just about right to go straight to something that may well be very high end at an amazing price.

I think you're on the right track with switching to thinking desktop over laptop.

From what I have gleaned from talk, the TX wheel is very nice.

Good luck!!
 
If you want big, 3D, and low input lag, you might not be able to doing any better than the Oculus Rift DK2. It's a developer kit and not consumer friendly, but for sims, it's pretty amazing at putting you in the cockpit. Only LFS currently supports it, but the other major sims have all committed to supporting it. So it's just a matter of time. The graphics are low res in the Rift, and it requires significant horsepower to run, but it's amazing at making you feel like you're in the car racing on a real track. Obviously CV1 will be much better at tricking the brain.
 
Thanks for the responses guys :D those pedals look amazing :D will look at pre ording them to be honest :P

I had been researching hard for like last 2 days now and found something that I like I just need to get on overclockers forum to get a couple of questions answered before I start buying :)

Here's the spec:
http://www.techbuyersguru.com/2000build.php

A couple of videos from my car too :)
mines the gold car
 
There are many people who make button boxes but I have my eye on the DSD 2014 Track Boss, looks fantastic. He has plenty of others to look at on the website too, as well as sequential shifters - I plan on picking one of them up, too.
 

Latest Posts

Back