Starting a SIM business-advice?

So what is the Newton meters of force of the base units?  

It looks like this (ish)

https://simucube.com/en-us/simucube-2-pro/

25Nm

loosecannon said:

dean1484 said:

Newton meters of force. Aka  nm.
 

Although yes I was also wondering what the cost was. I assume the 45k for all four setups?  I can see how that will make you money. What is the going rate to use a simulator?  
 

A friend and I were batting around the idea of putting together something that would both complement his driving school and could also be used for entertainment. 

LOL-no, that is per unit.  The place we are getting them from supply Formula 1 teams and Formula 1 drivers. Sebring race track just ordered 6 sims from this place and only 1 of the 6 is like the ones we're getting. The pedals alone are $1500 each then there's 2 steering wheels for each unit (one F1 style and one GT style) and those are $900 each, it all adds up fast.

Whoa.   That is a ton of $$$$.  Did you look at what it took to put one together from the best of the off the shelf suppliers?  Does the 45k cover licensing fees for the software?    What was the selling point to justify the 45k?   That is a lot of scratch. At 50/ hour that is 900 hours of seat time to brake even.  That is 37.5 weeks six days a week at 4 hours a day.  To brake even. I guess that is not that bad. It will pay for its self in less than a year if the $50/hour is what you get (I am guessing at that).  What do you charge an hour to use a simulator like that?  
 

like I said a friend of mine and I were looking at this and I am curious about the numbers because at the end of the day it is about making $$$. It is the business model that I am looking to get a peak behind the curtain at. 

In reply to dean1484 :

I've seen full motion consumer grade SIM units for well under 5 figures, but I can understand a commercial-grade unit would need to be substantially built to withstand hours-on-end use, day after day with minimal downtime for maintenance or repairs and thus cost a lot more. 

In reply to dean1484 :

Those prices are retail and in Canadian dollars. We are getting them significantly cheaper because we bought 4 of them and their crew is flying out here to set them up so that's included in the cost as well. We have been price shopping and when everything is factored in, this was the best deal for us in Canada. You may find lower prices but the stuff we ordered is top shelf and bulletproof, with after sale support that we know is going to be important.

loosecannon said:

In reply to dean1484 :

Those prices are retail and in Canadian dollars. We are getting them significantly cheaper because we bought 4 of them and their crew is flying out here to set them up so that's included in the cost as well. We have been price shopping and when everything is factored in, this was the best deal for us in Canada. You may find lower prices but the stuff we ordered is top shelf and bulletproof, with after sale support that we know is going to be important.

What do you charge per hour to use it and how long is the payback period?

Will it simulate a 1967 Camaro?

In reply to DrMikeCSI :

the 427 Cobra does a pretty accurate simulation but I'm hoping to add a 67 Camaro mod to the sim

I work for Real Street Performance which is a worldwide performance parts supplier. We just recently partnered with Podium 1 to sale and distribute their high-end turnkey simulators which I am overseeing. This is a growing industry with sim arcades opening everywhere. And sims are now the gateway to professional racing with a much lower end cost. The pricing of the turnkey's includes weeks of build time, wiring all done(think chassis harness) with labels and wrapped. All peripherals are dialed in and all software loaded and configured. All of it is tested and not to mention actual customer support. You really are getting what you paid for. We now have our showroom setup with 4 units for customers to test before buying. We currently have 9 units on the shelf in 60x60x60 crates. 

Since this has been bumped a few times recently, I'll mention I dropped into one of these sim places lately and a few things jumped out at me:

1)  They didnt serve food or beer.  Big miss in my opinion.  It makes this a very dedicated experience unlike something like Axe Throwing where you its as serious as you want it to be because you are still socializing with friends and drinking beer.  If they had some its quite possible I would've taken a beverage break between two sessions.  Instead I did a single session and left.

2)  I forget the setup they were running (I could find a pic if needed), but it was quality hardware/triples/etc.  However, no H-Pattern shifter and no clutch pedal was a bit weird.  The game was iRacing, so most of their stuff is full on "racecar" status.  I drove a formula Vee, which definitely has a shifter/clutch in real life.  A little fun-factor lost here.

3)  Also, because iRacing, - huge car choice, but all of them are full on racecars.  Nothing for a GT/Forza fanboy, or someone who really likes to hotlap E36 M3boxes in Assetto Corsa, or even someone who wants to drive something a little closer to whatever their track car is.

4)  The setup included some over the ear headphones, but by default it was set to PTT, which is something my coworker (not a sim racer) struggled, with so he was effectively on his own for the whole session which was kind of a bummer.  But he turned some respectable times for someone who's never been on track or done any sim racing!

5)  There was a large Projector pointed at the wall that would follow the leader or track cameras in some sort of spectator/TV hosting type mode**, as well as display time table (just a practice session for me, so only sector times and best of session).  This was really cool and I would hope that in some sort of local competition it would be the point of focus for everyone not currently driving.  Again, in my head this is a social experience and I would expect some non-drivers to be hanging out waiting their turn, etc.

The owner was super nice and gave us some extra time.  He did mention that he would be hosting more local competitions (great IMO), as well as participating in a few nationwide series that take place at sim-racing businesses like this.  I don't know any more about those, but that does sound kind of compelling.

Overall it was a really fun experience, but I didn't have a strong urge to go back, at least not in the current state.  I could get an iRacing sub and easily go hotlap at home.  My equipment isn't quite as good, but I can get 95% of the experience for basically no investment.

**holy E36 M3 this part of iRacing is light years ahead of AC no matter what mods you are running

i have never been to a sim racing setup but have done golf sims for years and think it's a similar experience, different sport, and all of them offer food and drinks.  Also our local indoor karting place has a 2nd floor lobby that had food, drinks, and arcades.  

In terms of food/drink; one question I have is the equipment that is used for these rigs designed to be cleaned/disinfected and have that done by employees?  I don't want to hold a sticky steering wheel and would also be disappointed if the driving experience was sub par if rigourous cleaning caused premature wear to the equipment.  

on the other hand, a reason to do leagues; group events is to bench race and hang out with like minded people after.  so I could see no food/drinks as a missed revenue opportunity.

Here is an idea, what about partnering with a local brewery?  Use their space, give them a cut of the rental fees.  Alternatively what if you found a way to set them up in a trailer and you could travel to different breweries, bars, etc.  Birthday parties, breweries, etc. think food truck / inflatable party rental experience except with sim rigs.  They used to do it with video game rigs years ago...  you could setup at any local races, large car shows, etc.  

In reply to ClearWaterMS :

All great ideas. We have rented a space across the street from the kart track and are currently going through all the permitting/planning/engineering process. The plan is to have a bar that serves alcohol, 8 sims, tables and chairs, big screen tvs and to host watch parties for Formula 1, NASCAR, MotoGP and WEC races. We really want to host sim leagues and car clubs. The thing with car clubs is they are going to want cars like theirs and currently we're having trouble adding cars and tracks that don't use Content Manager. We cannot use Content Manager because the service we use to allow our sims race against each other and send all the data to the customers cannot work with Content Manager. There is a brewery next door that we're pretty friendly with so that is convenient. We use disposable covers over the headsets and gloves for the steering wheels.