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.

If you’ve been watching the evolution of GT5 at various game shows and events over the past few years, you probably noticed these circular “racing pods” used to show off the game. Made of steel and glass, they’re certainly impressive looking and are now being sold to the public.

When GTPlanet reviewed the VisionRacer VR3 earlier this year, we really loved what we saw. Anyone dedicated to their sim-racing hobby would be hard-pressed to find something to match the VisonRacer’s ergonomics, beauty, or quality of construction. Craftsmanship is not cheap, though, and the VR3 is still a significant investment for most gamers. To help out, the VisionRacer guys are offering a special price just for GTPlanet readers: $999 with free shipping to the U.S..

Since steering wheels first became popular accessories for racing games, the search to find the best way to use them has been ongoing.  Over the years, we’ve seen lots of creative solutions from just about everyone (including Sony!), and lots of different products have attempted to fill this niche market with varying degrees of success.  While everyone else was making noise, though, one company has spent the last 5 years quietly developing and refining their own high-end racing seat.  So, does the VisionRacer VR3 take the lead?  Read our full review to find out…

Sim racers love their hobby, and we’ve seen some pretty impressive setups over the years (see our Racing Cockpits forum for more).  This, however, raises the bar to a completely new level – it’s a full size replica of a Ferrari F1 car wired up for video gaming, and it can be yours for £13,500 ($18,944 USD).  The mysterious model is actually listed for sale on a website where ‘real’ F1 cars can be bought and sold, but this one substitutes a PlayStation 2 in place of a V10.  Yes, that’s right – more than $18,000 and you don’t even get a PlayStation 3!

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something comes along which pushes the envelope of racing pod construction even further.  GTPlanet member GTP_joeninety has built a fully-enclosed driving simulator for his living room.  No corners were cut, with the ‘box’ featuring everything from interior sound proofing to forced-air ventilation.  It also includes…

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!