Hi guys,
I don't post much on here but thought you might be interested in a beta that I was very lucky to get involved with. I don't really do reviews, so apologies if this ends up with me just rambling!
The product is the Bakos Simracing Active H-Shifter, designed and built by Márton Bakos. It's a new H-pattern shifter that has built in gate blocking, so the stick won't go into gear properly if you mis-shift. It's still in development and the version I received is very much a beta/prototype version. For disclosure, I paid full price for this, and was under no obligation to write a review, my main job was to just test it and see if any issues arose.
I'll start with a couple of pictures. This first shows what you receive:
The first thing that jumped out at me is how small it is. It's really neat and compact compared to the Fanatec 1.5 shifter, which is probably twice the width! Despite it's size, it's a solid piece of kit. The casing is powder-coated metal with a really nice finish, and then the electronics are housed in a 3D printed box that is screwed onto the back.
The more eagle-eyed of you may have noticed something missing. No knob! The shifter itself doesn't come with a knob so you can add pretty much any that you want on it. Fortunately I had an old one from my Monaro, which I replaced because it was pretty scratched up. So I fitted that:
Mounting was a little tricky, because there were some bolts sticking out of the bottom, but it was easily solved with some M5 spacers. I think this has since been revised so the final version won't have this issue. The silver box it's mounted to was just a quick solution I came up with to fit it to my 8020 rig, I'm sure I'll come up with something more attractive at some point.
On to the shifter itself. It connects to the PC via a braided USB cable, and uses SimHub to control the gate-blocking from the telemetry of the sim. Setup is really easy, boot up SimHub, find the Arduino device and copy a few lines of code from the instruction manual. I love that this uses SimHub, because it's an awesome bit of software. Very intuitive to use and it supports most sim titles.
The shifter has several different modes depending on the sim and the user's preference. For SimHub compatible games, in one mode it reads the clutch position and only allow shifts when the clutch is engaged. In another, it does this, but also allows shifting without the clutch if you rev-match correctly. The game has to support this so it works in sims, but doesn't in more arcadey titles like Forza Horizon.
There are also a couple of other settings, called 'normal mode' and 'fast mode'. Fast mode opens the gate-block as soon as the clutch is engaged, so the gears can be changed really quickly. Normal mode requires feedback from the SimHub telemetry before the gate-block is opened, so there's a very small delay before the stick slots into the gear.
Both modes feel really great. In a competitive situation where every millisecond counts on track, then fast mode is the one you'd go for. It allows you to plow through the gears really quickly. However, if you're cruising round the Canyons or driving a 1960's GT40 and want the realistic feedback in every gearshift, then normal mode is incredibly satisfying.
There's a third mode which acts as a sequential shifter. I think this was really created for bug-testing, and whilst it feels okay, the version I have doesn't lock the lateral movement so it can still move to the side. I'm not sure I'd use it in this mode much, but I get the impression it wasn't really intended for serious use.
Compared to the Fanatec ClubSport 1.5 shifter, the H-pattern difference is night and day. Even if the Bakos shifter didn't have the gate-blocking and SimHub feedback loop, it would still feel so much more satisfying changing gear with it. It's got a much more solid 'clunk' to the gear engagement, and the spring to center has a nice weight to it. I still use my Fanatec shifter as a sequential, but I can't imagine going back to the H-pattern on it now. I'll admit, I've not tried the Pro Sim H-pattern shifter, which seems to be the go-to high-end shifter, so I can't compare it to that. Though the shifting of the Bakos shifter in normal mode feels remarkably similar to the quick-shifter I have fitted to my Monaro so I'm not sure how much more 'realistic' it could get.
So onto the price. As I said, mine is just a beta version, but I think the final version will cost in the region of 350 Euros. Though it´s currently just being developed and made by Márton himself and when I asked him what his future plans were, he said he´s planning on keeping production to a very low volume (batches of 10 or so) to ensure quality is right, rather than having it produced in bulk in China. Personally I think this is definitely the right approach.
I did have a couple of issues from the start. The usb port on the arduino broke in transit, but Márton sent me a new one out really quick, and I think he's revised the design so that it's less likely to happen in the future. And there was a slight issue with the code in the manual (which may well have been me failing to copy and paste correctly!)
I'm not sure when the final version will be ready for release, I imagine Covid-19 has slowed things down somewhat. But Márton is on RD so I'm sure you could PM him for details if you're interested.
I'm afraid I can't do a video review of it, but Márton has some videos on Youtube showing earlier prototypes in action:
I ended up writing far more than I planned to! Hope you guys find this interesting, I just wanted to share it because I think we should have a really cool new shifter coming soon. I'm definitely loving mine.
I don't post much on here but thought you might be interested in a beta that I was very lucky to get involved with. I don't really do reviews, so apologies if this ends up with me just rambling!
The product is the Bakos Simracing Active H-Shifter, designed and built by Márton Bakos. It's a new H-pattern shifter that has built in gate blocking, so the stick won't go into gear properly if you mis-shift. It's still in development and the version I received is very much a beta/prototype version. For disclosure, I paid full price for this, and was under no obligation to write a review, my main job was to just test it and see if any issues arose.
I'll start with a couple of pictures. This first shows what you receive:
The first thing that jumped out at me is how small it is. It's really neat and compact compared to the Fanatec 1.5 shifter, which is probably twice the width! Despite it's size, it's a solid piece of kit. The casing is powder-coated metal with a really nice finish, and then the electronics are housed in a 3D printed box that is screwed onto the back.
The more eagle-eyed of you may have noticed something missing. No knob! The shifter itself doesn't come with a knob so you can add pretty much any that you want on it. Fortunately I had an old one from my Monaro, which I replaced because it was pretty scratched up. So I fitted that:
Mounting was a little tricky, because there were some bolts sticking out of the bottom, but it was easily solved with some M5 spacers. I think this has since been revised so the final version won't have this issue. The silver box it's mounted to was just a quick solution I came up with to fit it to my 8020 rig, I'm sure I'll come up with something more attractive at some point.
On to the shifter itself. It connects to the PC via a braided USB cable, and uses SimHub to control the gate-blocking from the telemetry of the sim. Setup is really easy, boot up SimHub, find the Arduino device and copy a few lines of code from the instruction manual. I love that this uses SimHub, because it's an awesome bit of software. Very intuitive to use and it supports most sim titles.
The shifter has several different modes depending on the sim and the user's preference. For SimHub compatible games, in one mode it reads the clutch position and only allow shifts when the clutch is engaged. In another, it does this, but also allows shifting without the clutch if you rev-match correctly. The game has to support this so it works in sims, but doesn't in more arcadey titles like Forza Horizon.
There are also a couple of other settings, called 'normal mode' and 'fast mode'. Fast mode opens the gate-block as soon as the clutch is engaged, so the gears can be changed really quickly. Normal mode requires feedback from the SimHub telemetry before the gate-block is opened, so there's a very small delay before the stick slots into the gear.
Both modes feel really great. In a competitive situation where every millisecond counts on track, then fast mode is the one you'd go for. It allows you to plow through the gears really quickly. However, if you're cruising round the Canyons or driving a 1960's GT40 and want the realistic feedback in every gearshift, then normal mode is incredibly satisfying.
There's a third mode which acts as a sequential shifter. I think this was really created for bug-testing, and whilst it feels okay, the version I have doesn't lock the lateral movement so it can still move to the side. I'm not sure I'd use it in this mode much, but I get the impression it wasn't really intended for serious use.
Compared to the Fanatec ClubSport 1.5 shifter, the H-pattern difference is night and day. Even if the Bakos shifter didn't have the gate-blocking and SimHub feedback loop, it would still feel so much more satisfying changing gear with it. It's got a much more solid 'clunk' to the gear engagement, and the spring to center has a nice weight to it. I still use my Fanatec shifter as a sequential, but I can't imagine going back to the H-pattern on it now. I'll admit, I've not tried the Pro Sim H-pattern shifter, which seems to be the go-to high-end shifter, so I can't compare it to that. Though the shifting of the Bakos shifter in normal mode feels remarkably similar to the quick-shifter I have fitted to my Monaro so I'm not sure how much more 'realistic' it could get.
So onto the price. As I said, mine is just a beta version, but I think the final version will cost in the region of 350 Euros. Though it´s currently just being developed and made by Márton himself and when I asked him what his future plans were, he said he´s planning on keeping production to a very low volume (batches of 10 or so) to ensure quality is right, rather than having it produced in bulk in China. Personally I think this is definitely the right approach.
I did have a couple of issues from the start. The usb port on the arduino broke in transit, but Márton sent me a new one out really quick, and I think he's revised the design so that it's less likely to happen in the future. And there was a slight issue with the code in the manual (which may well have been me failing to copy and paste correctly!)
I'm not sure when the final version will be ready for release, I imagine Covid-19 has slowed things down somewhat. But Márton is on RD so I'm sure you could PM him for details if you're interested.
I'm afraid I can't do a video review of it, but Márton has some videos on Youtube showing earlier prototypes in action:
I ended up writing far more than I planned to! Hope you guys find this interesting, I just wanted to share it because I think we should have a really cool new shifter coming soon. I'm definitely loving mine.
