Cockpits

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a guest review from a former member of staff here at GTPlanet. Jerome purchased the RSeat himself and offered to share his review with the community.

If there’s one thing that rings true about the sim racing rig market, it’s that it can become oversaturated. How does one stand out from the crowd? Next Level Racing is hoping its latest creation can do just that.

The world of sim racing rigs can be a challenging one to navigate. Products come in all shapes and sizes — and prices can easily stretch into the four digits. If you’re looking to get into a full-on chassis, but are concerned about affordability and ease of use, GranStand has an offering you won’t want to overlook.

Sim-racing accessory manufacturer Next Level Racing has announced their latest competitor on the market of versatile rigs — the F1GT Simulator Cockpit. By allowing highly adjustable settings for both Formula 1 and GT style of racing, drivers will be able to find the best setup for immersion, regardless of what and where they drive.

If you were a rally car, what kind of life would you like to live after your pavement-punishing career finishes? Would you cruise around local sales auctions, hoping some driver will take you for another exciting motorsport adventure, or would you give yourself over to peaceful days of dust collecting in automotive museums, to the joy and happiness of all the visitors? Our friends over at InsideSimRacing found an even better solution: full-size simulator.

This is the result of putting together five Playstation 3s, five 80″ LED HDTVs, and five copies of GT5. The builders of this rig put it together as a “test” of a new line of screens for a University, combining students’ resources together for the temporary build. They noted playing GT5 with this rig was quite surreal, from the reddit post:

The last 12 months have been a busy year for Fanatec, who have been steadily updating their line of products aimed towards the more demanding sim racer.

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.

Hardly a day passes in our Gran Turismo 5 Prologue forum, when someone does not lament the lack of skill that plagues many online competitors in the game.  Today, we may just have discovered the reason…  Logitech G25 steering wheels can now be purchased with a very special feature: a beer keg.  The new racing cockpit, created by Dream Arcades, include a tap conveniently placed above the cup holder.  Of course, you’ll probably want to drink after you pay for this thing: $7,000.  Of course, that includes a 120-inch projector, 5.1 surround sound system, PC, and a new G25 wheel.  Looks like the official GT Pod finally has some competition!