Late January I finally got all the pieces in to complete my ultimate home sim racing cockpit setup. My rig setup includes a decent mid level gaming PC, an Oculus Rift S, Fanatec CSL Elite Wheel and Pedals and the aforementioned DOF Reality H3 motion platform.
The experience has been overall amazing the effect in VR is fantastic. You won't replicate all the g-forces a driver feels but you understand so much more of whats going on and just the pure joy of bringing yourself that much closer to bombing down the jumps of Finland in Dirt Rally or taking the dipper in Bathhurst is amazing.
I will say this level of equipment is not really consumer ready. Everything is fiddly and I require 3-4 programs running to support what is going on and be able to control windows. I have a background in IT and have been gaming on PC since the late 80s so I have a leg up. I can imagine someone not so patient with emergent technologies to quickly throw their hands up or to have an overall frustrating experience.
For those curious the total cost to replicate this rig from nothing is about $4500 so it's not absurd but it also isn't an impulse buy. For context this is about the same amount of money I have in my rallycross MR2. *edit* I should clarify when I say total cost for the rig means everything. The total of $4500 includes the cost of the gaming PC, VR Headset, Fanatect Wheel and Pedals, and the DOF motion platform although you do have to supply your own seat.
Ohhh if any of the GRM folks want to do a piece on sim rigs or try it out I live in Central FL south of Orlando and can schedule a time for a visit if ya'll would like.
Maniac0301 said:
I will say this level of equipment is not really consumer ready. Everything is fiddly
So you are saying the motion platform fits right in with steering wheels & VR? :)
Do you have pics of the motion setup? Edit: Ooops too slow.
In reply to ProDarwin :
Yeah its all niche items and they pretty much all take a bunch of fiddling around to get really right. The sim cockpit adds in a bunch of tweaking for ergonomics but its nice to have the ability to customize it for comfort compared to my old strapped to a desk setup. For myself I've been using VR for a couple years and I've got most of the kinks worked out although that usually involves a round of checking connections and waking up USB devices before I race and adapting when some update comes and changes everything or adds some new issue to the mix.
It's also a pretty amazing setup for flight stuff I run MS Flight Sim 2020 on it as well as Elite Dangerous and it's incredible even with a basic xbox controller.
So 3DOF, means it can tilt in each direction, correct? The 4+DOF setups laterally translate?
How far does it tilt? How much force can it simulate? How quick does it happen?
The 3DOF is pitch, roll, and yaw. I believe it tilts 10 degrees in each of the directions. They do have a 6 axis setup that can translate and there is an upgrade path from the 3dof to the 6dof.
How much force it simulates depends a lot on what type of force especially in VR. It doesn't do the best job of pushing you into the door handle in high g turns. It does fantastic with pushing you back during acceleration, the little surge when you shift, and diving under braking. The best by far though is the yaw, it feels so much like you are sliding and you can instinctively tell how much the back end is coming loose by how quickly its moving and you can tell exactly when you catch the slide the backend gives that tiny little wiggle that happens when the rear hooks. The movement is incredibly fast when it needs to be to the point of being slightly too fast for comfort sometimes when all hell is breaking loose.
A lot of this nuance is down to the sim though. The motion rig relies on telemetry data being sent out by the sim and how clean that data is will have an effect on how good the simulated motion is. iRacing's telemetry is supposedly some of the best, Dirt Rally 2.0 is pretty decent as well. Other sims may be pretty hit or miss.
Ah. 10 degrees is really low. But I guess its more about the sensation than the actual force replicated? I'd love to try one of these out.
I can't justify this kind of $ on a sim setup though... said the guy who recently purchased a $3k bicycle.
In reply to ProDarwin :
10 degrees is pretty effective for most things but even at best the most you could replicate is 1g of force. Amount and severity of movement is where most of the info comes from. On sims with good telemetry the movement mostly fades away your brain just kind of accepts it as just another input of whats going on especially in VR where you don't have your eyes telling your brain its fake. I have forgotten to turn on the motors a couple times and I immediately miss the movement when that happens so its registering somewhere just not at a higher conscious level.
In reply to Maniac0301 :
Hey, sorry to drag up an old thread, but I wanted to see if you're still satisfied with your purchase? I'm on the edge of buying an H3/P3 and saw your post and thought I'd ask how you feel about it almost a year later.
That is a great looking rig, I definitely want to stop by and take some notes. I currently clamp my wheel (fanatec CSL elite) to a desk and would like to upgrade to a dedicated sim platform.
Also, is you MR2 the white, yellow and red one? I'm in your region and rallycross a blue 350z.......
In reply to CPTStarDog :
Sorry I missed your inquiry. Yup I'm still satisfied its held up well with no required maintenance by me although I do periodically check that everything is still tight. Nothing has loosened so far. I've driven at least a couple hundred hours in it including some pretty aggressive movement in Dirt Rally 2. I've since added a couple bass transducers screwed into a piece of plywood at the bottom of the seat and that has added quite a bit to the overall experience although it takes a pretty serious amp to drive them.
@cmcmillin31 Yup thats me and my MR2 good to see ya and I look forward to the 2022 season. Bunch of events at The FIRM this year for ya to join us. I used the wheel clamped to the desk method for years this was a very nice upgrade in feel and driving ergonomics along with the motion and because I didn't have to keep on changing my desk back and forth between desktop and sim mode I find I use it more.
