Accessories

Coming hot off their DB9 adapter allowing non-Thrustmaster pedals to be paired alongside a competent wheel from the company, they’ve now released an adapter that further opens up the hardware ecosystem, allowing owners of the T3PA and T3PA-PRO 3 pedals to use them as standalone products.

While the seeds have been planted for quite some time now, Slightly Mad Studios have now made it official: announcing that the critically-acclaimed WMD-powered racer will be an Oculus Rift launch title.

Sony took the opportunity to lay out more details for its virtual reality headset at the Game Developers Conference earlier today. While the fall release date is later than originally planned, prospective buyers will be happy to see that PS VR undercuts rivals from both Oculus and HTC… though not by as much as you’d think (more on that in a bit). Pricing for the following territories was announced:

Derek Speare Designs is one of the sonorous brands of the sim-racing components market. It crafted its popularity by producing various button boxes, pedals, shifters and other accessories of high quality. It seems that the company has no intentions of resting on its laurels, as DSD recently revealed components for what appears to be a new rig for eager driving enthusiasts.

Hardcore driving enthusiasts should be able to tell how comfortable a good rig must be to push the thrill of virtual driving to higher level. rSeat is responding to the market by releasing the newest N1 rig hardware.

PlayStation VR, otherwise known as Project Morpheus, has been something of a hot topic for the GTPlanet community upon discovering Shuhei Yoshida, President of SCE Worldwide Studios, would like the platform to support Gran Turismo.

(EDITOR NOTE: The majority of the links below will only show the sale price starting at 00:01 Friday. eBay UK Lightning Deal links may change and/or expire at any time.)

After teasing us last week, Fanatec has shown off their newest product in full, the CSL Steering Wheel P1. Compatible with the Club Sport Wheel Bases (the original as well as V2), the CSL wheel is unique among the existing lineup, as it doesn’t require the Universal Wheel Hub to perform on the XBox One.

Sim racers on Microsoft’s system look set to get a new option in the increasingly-crowded affordable wheel market. Fanatec released the above image on Facebook yesterday, showing a leather-clad wheel with an integrated information panel and centre-line. Visible behind the wheel are the expected flappy-paddles, but beyond that, there isn’t much more info available in the original image Fanatec supplied.

In what has already proven itself to be one of the most active years yet for sim racers, the commotion continues with Fanatec’s recent announcement of their newest product made in cooperation with Turn 10 Studios and tailor-made for Forza Motorsport 6, an official Forza Motorsport-branded ClubSport Wheel Rim GT.

The core of a customized configuration:

Fanatec, the manufacturer of many high-end sim racing accessories, has announced a special limited-time sale to celebrate “Black Friday” weekend. The deals focus on their “CSL Seat” and the two of their detachable wheels, the BMW M3 GT2 and “Formula Black” rims.

The Logitech G27 remains one of the most popular and widely used wheels in sim racing, thanks to its sturdy construction and nearly ubiquitous compatibility with console and PC racing games. Although it can’t quite offer the same range of features or technology that today’s high-end wheels provide, it is still one of the most affordable ways to upgrade from a controller.

The new T300RS introduces full compatibility with the PlayStation 4 with the addition of the console’s new “Share” button, while retaining PS3 and PC compatibility as well. Angle rotation of up to 1080-degrees is supported, and the wheel is interchangeable with Thrustmaster’s Ferrari F1 Wheel, Ferrari GTE Wheel, and T500RS GT Wheels.

The future of Logitech’s sim-racing steering wheel products has come under question since the company announced they “plan to discontinue other non-strategic products, such as speaker docks and console gaming peripherals, by the end of Calendar Year 2013,” in their latest quarterly earnings report.

As expected, no new Gran Turismo games were announced at E3 2012, which is being held this week in Los Angeles.

For many GT players a driving wheel is a must but, no matter what wheel you choose, you need a sturdy place to mount it. While there remains plenty of choice in the commercial driving rig market from such names as rSeat, Wheel Stand Pro and VisionRacer, many gamers also enjoy creating their own, often cheaper, and there are many threads in our Sim Racing Hardware forum of such builds.

The new “official” GT5 steering wheel, the Thrustmaster T500 RS, releases this Wednesday, and InsideSimRacing got their hands on an early unit to provide us with some much-needed details and first impressions.

One of the most frequent complaints about the popular Logitech Driving Force GT is the pedals. The brake, in particular, can be quite “squishy”, making it more difficult to accurately gauge the force being applied. Since the DFGT was released, several popular DIY mods have been shared in our forums, but this one is probably my favorite: simply wrap a small bungie cord around the brake pedal and hook it around the base of the unit, as YouTuber megadarren demonstrates above (thanks, TRC_Hunk).