Buri's Rig

[Michal Burisin]

Hi,

last month I bought my first wheel Thrustmaster T-GT and got hooked up in no time , then I figured I would need a rig, so I started with Next Level Racing GTUltimate V2. Despite good reviews, I haven’t liked it, the seat had a lot of flex and weird shape for me, so I returned it. Ever since I’m reading through the forums figuring out how to improve my setup, which is desk and wooden chair right now .

I have just ordered rseat N1 and HPP 3P-PRX-SE pedals as T-GT pedals were lacking, now I have some time meanwhile the orders arrives, so I’m figuring what to do next and tactile seems to be next best upgrade, so driving doesn’t feel so “dead”, although even without tactile this is most fun I had on PC ever .

As for the plans, I will be keeping T-GT steering wheel for now. Currently I’m building DYI handbrake, I have some parts ordered, so when I have some progress, I will put some photos up, maybe with little step by step tutorial if it will be interesting for anyone (I’m total beginner so I will be figuring everything out as I go). It will be simple load cell handbrake.

So far I ordered Handbrake, Load Cell, Controller Board, I hope it all fits together. I will solve mechanical part when I get my hands on the handbrake. I was thinking about hydraulics, but it seems lot more complicated and expensive. Especially when for example HE are using also just load cells in their top of the line pedals, so I figured it must be good enough for DYI handbrake as well .

For now I’m running laptop with CORE I7 and Geforce 1060 6GB and 24’’ monitor. This will be my next goal after tactile, but I will probably wait until summer or later when new graphic cards arrive and TVs with HDMI 2.1 with VRR (variable refresh rate) and possibly VR, this will be long wait, but I will at least have some time to gather some finances .

Then I would like to get DD wheel and in more distant future I would like to get seat mover, probably Next Level Racing Motion Platform V3 as it integrates with rseat N1 quite nicely. My inspiration is Diablo2112 rig, it looks absolutely fantastic!

I will be eternally grateful for any help / advice anyone can give. Many thanks!

 

[Michal Burisin]

Did some more driving in PC2 and think I'm close to finding a good setting in SSW.

Road Bumps

• gain 24% (will probably go lower since I did get a couple piston pangs at Spa)
• threshold 45

Road Surface

• gain 65%
• threshold 0

Bumpy Terrain/Kerbs

• gain 48%

I'm reporting on the above from memory but the numbers should be pretty close. What I found last night is that the PC specific setting of Bumpy Terrain/Kerbs is the key. Those are getting sent to my LFE and because they are low impact, I can really bump up the gain without causing piston pang. Now when I go over kerbs I'm getting awesome feedback from my LFE. I have to say, PC2 is feeling quite nice!

Thanks, will definitely try out your settings! I found out, I had wrong hold / release values in amps setting, so that might have been causing delays, I will try it out. I don't know how the settings 200 and 400 ms got there, as I can't remember messing with these settings as I don't know what they mean yet

Effect for Bumpy Terrain / Kerbs in PC2 is great as they pick up more - maybe even more than what should be there - for example some curbs on Spa, which are just drawn on road with paint, and are not getting much feedback in telemetry - but it gets picked up by this effect

Shared memory in PC2 has these:

TERRAIN_ROAD = 0,
TERRAIN_LOW_GRIP_ROAD,
TERRAIN_BUMPY_ROAD1,
TERRAIN_BUMPY_ROAD2,
TERRAIN_BUMPY_ROAD3,
TERRAIN_MARBLES,
TERRAIN_GRASSY_BERMS,
TERRAIN_GRASS,
TERRAIN_GRAVEL,
TERRAIN_BUMPY_GRAVEL,
TERRAIN_RUMBLE_STRIPS,
TERRAIN_DRAINS,
TERRAIN_TYREWALLS,
TERRAIN_CEMENTWALLS,
TERRAIN_GUARDRAILS,
TERRAIN_SAND,
TERRAIN_BUMPY_SAND,
TERRAIN_DIRT,
TERRAIN_BUMPY_DIRT,
TERRAIN_DIRT_ROAD,
TERRAIN_BUMPY_DIRT_ROAD,
TERRAIN_PAVEMENT,
TERRAIN_DIRT_BANK,
TERRAIN_WOOD,
TERRAIN_DRY_VERGE,
TERRAIN_EXIT_RUMBLE_STRIPS,
TERRAIN_GRASSCRETE,
TERRAIN_LONG_GRASS,
TERRAIN_SLOPE_GRASS,
TERRAIN_COBBLES,
TERRAIN_SAND_ROAD,
TERRAIN_BAKED_CLAY,
TERRAIN_ASTROTURF,
TERRAIN_SNOWHALF,
TERRAIN_SNOWFULL,
TERRAIN_DAMAGED_ROAD1,
TERRAIN_TRAIN_TRACK_ROAD,
TERRAIN_BUMPYCOBBLES,
TERRAIN_ARIES_ONLY,
TERRAIN_ORION_ONLY,
TERRAIN_B1RUMBLES,
TERRAIN_B2RUMBLES,
TERRAIN_ROUGH_SAND_MEDIUM,
TERRAIN_ROUGH_SAND_HEAVY,
TERRAIN_SNOWWALLS,
TERRAIN_ICE_ROAD,
TERRAIN_RUNOFF_ROAD,
TERRAIN_ILLEGAL_STRIP,

So it's great SSW is taking advantage of this.

I will do more testing with SSW bumps to see if I will have same problems with pang as you. As I'm now mixing SimVibe and SSW I'm getting really amazing response so far, especially with this specific SSW setting for bumps in PC2 and rest of the bumps in SimVibe

I found great testing track for bumps to be California Highway - you can see the bumps ahead you and they are big. Also runing on kerbs on Azure Coast, I can feel 4 wheels jumping on kerb separately, really awesome feeling

 

[Michal Burisin]

So the rack is here. Relatively clean front:

Organized mess from the back:

There will be another MS8000 splitter and bunch of cables

 

[Michal Burisin]

Wind is getting ready

 

[NoOne3000]

Rig pictures please! We like pictures!

 

[Michal Burisin]

Rig pictures please! We like pictures!

Working on it, this week I borrow DSLR camera, I hope I will be able to do some decent photos, I'm not very good with camera as you probably noticed from my past work

 

[Michal Burisin]

So long time no update, I have been taking it slowly over the summer.

But at last I finished the tactile project part! Here's the update:

Firstly I had to start with cable managment, getting the rig from the main platform is not easy and it requires lot of work, so I tried to think about everything, so I don't have to expand / rework it any time soon.

I have made through holes 3 big holes in the board to be able easily run USB, power etc. on the underside, I would like to keep the top of the board as clean as possible.

The small channel from left to right accommodates cables for wind.

Details on back tactile connectors, these are hand made, two aluminium profiles are keeping SpeakOn connectors tightly in place.

I have added more channels for cables running to the back if I ever wanted to add more tactile units. I have now 2 BK Advance lying around as I have upgraded them to BK Concerts.

This is final state of the underside of the board.

 

[Michal Burisin]

Now for the new aluminium Kirkey seat. I have got this one. It took me a long time to figure out, how to attach it to the rig and all the tactile units to it.

At the end, I went for long L steel profiles. With steel O profiles for attaching tactile, shifter and handbrake to it.

The stripe of aluminium from left to right is there to reinforce it and help with tactile transfer from TST which will be attached to it.

Notice completely redesigned handle for moving the seat. I needed it to make it strong so it doesn't vibrate and it was neccessary to make space in the center to allow for big BK Concert under the seat to move freely.

 

[Michal Burisin]

Now the result!

Now I'm running 6x BK Concert + 2x TST239.

 

[Michal Burisin]

Functionally this hardware tactile part of the project is done for me now. I will be working on the looks - aluminium plates to put seat buttkickers on. Also I will spray paint the whole back section, but I will do this once I have it completely done - this includes harness tensioner and g-seat I have in the works now.

It's absolutely amazing what the aluminium seat have done to clarity and strength of the tactile feedback.

Before I was struggling to get enough power, now I had to tone it down a bit, because it can be too much now At least I have some headroom for those really big bumps and times when you run on grass etc. and I still don't bottom out most of the time

I got rid of that annoying hum from higher frequencies I was getting before from old acrylic seat. Now the overall levels of noise coming from tactile came down like 50% compared to the old seat while strength and clarity have gone up by 100%, it's really amazing. The seat is comfortable and the fabric on it is great. Not as comfy as R-Seat Alcantara I must admit, but I had happily sacrificed this little bit of extra comfort for better tactile.

On the back I have 50 kg vibration mounts, I will try to go even softer to 43 kg and see what's better. I think it will be even better. As I have offset the pivot point of the seat using long profiles, I don't get that extra movement when pressing on the pedals, now it's super solid.

Regarding software, I'm running SimVibe as main soft with additional SSW for some g-force effects. It's working great so far, I'm running pretty basic effects for now, I need to spend more time on more complex effects in the future.

Mixing these 2 softs really works great and I cannot recommend it enough, you get best of both worlds.

SimVibe handles engine, shift, bumps and damage.

SSW handles braking, accelerating and lateral g-forces and wheel slip and additional bumps in Project Cars 2 for specific surfaces.

Only trouble I have now is that my second cound card for SSW outputs rear signal really weak SoundBlaster X-Fi Pro so I don't get almost any feedback from L / R transducers on the seat, but I hope once I use some regular and not USB soundcard, it will be alright.

Here's the rack:

And some other images:

 

[Michal Burisin]

As I have tried VR at friend, I don't have any interest to race on flat screens anymore so I'm waiting for high FOV VR headsets and then I'll get new PC to run it.

Right now I have just notebook with 1060 graphic card and 24'' screen which kind of sucks, but I don't want to spend money on upgrade to TV right and I'll rather wait for proper VR.

I tried Oculus Rift, the VR is really great, felt completely natural as opposed to flat screen racing when I'm just making estimates on when to turn on previous experience while in VR it's just intuitive as you have much better depth perception. On Oculus rift the SDE killed it for me, hopefully Pimax 8K will be available soon next year.

In the meantime I'll continue working on the rig.

Here is coils mod for SeaFlo blowers. I had some problems with power supply and MotoMonster so I'm waiting for new MM to arrive to hopefully finish this project soon.

Here I got big servo for seat belt tensioner:

And linear prismatic railing to guide movement of the seat belt with use of bowdens.

I'm also working on the g-seat so lot of things to do till next year

 

[aliolemon]

Thanks for the pics . Great Rig and very inspiring.

 

[Michal Burisin]

So I finally have dedicated space for rig, so no need to move it from place to place.

It's temporary solution, once I have normal PC (running from laptop now), I will clean it up and I will aslo probably soundproof this corner with professional materials.

Then I started G-Seat project I had in my mind for couple of months now, see here.

 

[Hiro Abe]

I would like to get the same kind of isolators you are using. They are rather pricey here in the States so I want to be sure I get ones sufficiently rated. If I understand correctly, the ones you are using for your seat are rated at 50kg per? Is that right?

 

[Michal Burisin]

I would like to get the same kind of isolators you are using. They are rather pricey here in the States so I want to be sure I get ones sufficiently rated. If I understand correctly, the ones you are using for your seat are rated at 50kg per? Is that right?

Yeah they weren't cheap in Europe too, I took them from UK, but I don't regret it. I have 50 kg versions. These are quite normal size, the stronger versions are ridiculously high 43 mm vs 78 mm, see table here.

For me 4 of these are fine (I weight around 65 - 70 kg). It was good also for my brother who is around 80 - 85 kg, so it should be fine up to 100 kg maybe little more If you would need to stiffen it up, I would personally add another pair for total of 6 isolators than going for the higher rated ones which are tall.

Also I think it's necessary to have the back isolators offset to the back like I do to prevent rotation of the seat when pressing the pedals.

My offset is around 15 cm from the outer edge of the seat to the center of the isolator. When I didn't have this offset, I could feel the seat rotating when pressing hard on hydrauilc pedals.

 

[Hiro Abe]

My offset is around 15 cm from the outer edge of the seat to the center of the isolator. When I didn't have this offset, I could feel the seat rotating when pressing hard on hydrauilc pedals.

Excellent advice! Will definitely keep this in mind!

 

[Michal Burisin]

I was reworking handbrake this weekend, detail are in separate thread here if anyone is interested in cheap DYI handbrake, check it out.

I finished reworking of seat attachment and attachment of accessories to it necessary for G-Seat project.

I also installed Seaflos for wind. Still need to finish box with power supply and cabling, I got Arduino + MotoMonster ready, I hope I'll manage to do it during work week.

 

[Michal Burisin]

Received some aluminium plates cut to size.

See the one with hole in it? Buttkicker should be on top of it They messed up the scale, it's 10 times smaller.

Good company, they accepted the mistake without hassle and they will try again

 

[callumjtc]

All this effort and realism running a thrustmaster! DD wheel must be in the back of your mind no? Awesome work can't wait to see it all up and running!

 

[Michal Burisin]

All this effort and realism running a thrustmaster! DD wheel must be in the back of your mind no? Awesome work can't wait to see it all up and running!

Yeah, it's in queue , I want to wait for Fanatec reviews and decide then I would really like to cut the cord the OSW requires (maybe bluetooth buttonbox, but haven't seen many of those). I like to drive road cars with bigger steering range and also rally so I think the cord would get in the way.

Also need to gather some finances, this project is much more financially exhausting than I originally thought, but hobbies are never cheap

 

[callumjtc]

Yeah, it's in queue , I want to wait for Fanatec reviews and decide then I would really like to cut the cord the OSW requires (maybe bluetooth buttonbox, but haven't seen many of those). I like to drive road cars with bigger steering range and also rally so I think the cord would get in the way.

Also need to gather some finances, this project is much more financially exhausting than I originally thought, but hobbies are never cheap

Tell me about it, my pedals are costing me big I dream of an OSW that is Simucube based, possibly DIY, however my G27 is still going strong so cannot justify it yet.