Buying advice please - Next Level v3 Motion Platform

[MarkR]

I'm looking for some advice and thoughts of other owners or people with good knowledge of the product, please.

I always said I'd buy myself a motion simulator if I could afford one and had the room available. Well, that day may have arrived. I'm impressed by what I've seen of the Next Level v3 Motion Platform

This seems to meet all my criteria:

+ Limited space requirements, I don't have room for a huge sim rig but this seems compact enough to work.
+ Works with Oculus Rift VR, that fixed head position setting solution is impressive
+ Great support and regular updates from the developers
+ Available in the UK
+ Works with my current Thrustmaster wheel and accessories.
+ Sub £3k for the full setup, I'm not a pro racer I'm not looking for a practice simulator this is just for fun so the cost/fun balance has to be right.

So help me do the man maths! Is it worth it?

Is there another similar product I should also look at? It would need to be reasonably compact, work with VR, available in the UK without too much hassle and in the same £3-5K price range.

Is there anywhere I can try one or even better several of the systems in the UK?

 

[metalnwood]

Motion Plus Platform seem to be 3500eur and with that price you can get eRacing Lab DIY MEGA+ (including shipping and taxes) where is 150mm movement.

Its actually twice that price as a direct comparision because for $3500 you only get one unit for 2dof, you need two units for the equivalent of a four actuator system

 

[Mace73]

Its actually twice that price as a direct comparision because for $3500 you only get one unit for 2dof, you need two units for the equivalent of a four actuator system

Sure.
No sense invest for NLR motion systems or other very expensive like D-BOX.
But I liked NLR V3 a lot, can´t directly compare it to four actuator system because those feel so different. But I don´t regret updating it to SFX-150.

 

[RCHeliguy]

FYI, I just saw on the NLR discord forum that the travel for the motion system is 116mm.

So more than SFX-100, but not 150.

 

[RCHeliguy]

NLRv3 3 year quick review. My rig has changed a lot over 3 years and I have been entirely VR that time. With the NLRv3 and with the tactile I've got going now, the NLRv3 is still all the motion I need. In fact I've turned it down quite a bit. The virtual car feels alive, and the combination of tactile, FFB, G-Belt for braking and cornering harness pressure allows the NLRv3 to handle things like hitting a curb, banking and the side to side when you regain traction. My NLRv3 is now offering supportive cues as part of a symphony rather than being the focal point. I've turned down the braking surge to almost nothing letting the G-Belt take over that effect. For Dirt Rally 2.0 I still use a lot more motion. The NLRv3 makes landing from going airborne believable and irregular surfaces much better. The NLRv3 also shines for flight simulation. A little motion goes a long way toward selling the experience in VR. At this point I still don't use motion compensation. I've found that my head tends to gimbal instinctually. So far I've had no noise issues or problems with my NLRv3. The only thing to beware of is that you can't use load cell brakes much past 60kg for full braking. It will overpower the NLRv3 and cause it to stop mid race. I'm running 55kg right now and haven't had issues recently, but I can reproduce this issue. I have built custom low profile mounts for Race Bass tactile isolation under my seat that raises my seat by less than a set of seat sliders compared to directly mounting the seat bracket. I'm 6' tall and about 180lbs and I will also say that I probably have low hours on my unit compared to many who have owned their NLRv3 for a while.

 

[No Depth]

I too am very pleased with the Motion V3 with nearly 1.5 years of ownership.

I think I’m maybe sold on adding these Motion Plus units to my Aluminum profile rig but I have some concerns.

1) While it is likely that its mounting brackets are compatible with other profile rigs(P1-X and GT Omega Prime which I have), the only actual measurement specs I can gather is from a NLR comment on one of their YouTube videos stating the length of the device is 458mm and that it is up to us to diy a mounting solution if the included brackets don’t reach. No measurements given on exactly how far the brackets extend to the channels. I would assume there isn’t much difference between the NLR Elite dimensions and say a P1-X(at least in width)…but I’m not ready to play Guinea pig with this cost premium.

2) If I were to keep the V3 and have it work in tandem with the plus’s(curious how that works out right now), I would need to suss out a way to lift the v3 several inches higher as the v3 and motion plus will be competing for space stacked under the seat on top of each other. Using the Simlab brackets for my v3 sinks the unit deep into the profile chassis leaving no room for the motion plus. I suppose I can add a couple 40mm profiles to somehow bolt above the 160mm frame to add height to the v3 as one solution. I don’t have access to any machinery to craft a something of my own, so it’s likely I remove the v3 entirely for now if I go with a pair of plus’s.

Think I’ll wait for some early adopters to make attempts to mount to their own rigs to see how this pans out, but I’m more intrigued by this product than an actuator setup, especially as an urban apartment dweller.

 

[RCHeliguy]

They have a downloadable Instruction manual with a few bits of information.

The 250kg or 550lbs is for the entire rig and user on the rig whether you have one or two units installed. The NLRv3 is 28kg/62lbs. Probably should make sure you are within the weight limitations.

The image in the manual with the 458mm width does not include the side brackets.
The bolt heads and metal are probably about 8-10mm in wide on each side.
That closes up the gap to about 10-12mm on both sides for the center section. I'm not sure the bolt slots will reach a T-nut under the P1-X frame. It looks very close.

That said they would be crazy to not have a bolt up solution for a standard 500 ID, 580 OD Sim chassis since that is used by a number of companies now.

And... if they don't provide a solution it's likely that SimLab could offer a set of brackets like they do for the NLRv3.

 

[karloy]

I went through this evaluation as well:

• NLR v3 competes with the Motion Plus unit for space. You need to raise the seats, then you need to raise the pedals, etc.
• The Motion Plus brackets don't match a GT Omega Prime, or P1-x, needs DIY adjustments
• They DO work together in the same software
• It's pretty expense that it would be cheaper to just get a QS-220-PL, and then sell the motion seat

I ended up reading a lot about the options, and decided I'll go down the much cheaper RS MEGA+ path, and see how well it works combined with the NLR v3.

A bit disappointed in that turned out to be most logical option (minus maybe keeping the NLR v3 in addition) since I really do like the support I got from NLR / Motion Systems, but the more you research it, the more your realize that the Motion Plus Platform is really targeted the NLR rigs than generic 8020 solutions. Hopefully there will be an official adapter though, it would certainly help.

 

[No Depth]

Oof bummer on lacking non-NLR Elite rig support(for now). I was getting excited for these.

Any links to the manual? I have scoured the site but only see instructional videos, not downloadable manuals. Unless I’m blind…

Edit: Nevermind I found it!

 

[5teveC457]

I actually have the NLR Elite rig along with the V3 and Traction Plus platform, and was interested in possibly adding the Motion Plus for heave effects. I checked with NLR, but you cannot have all 3 systems, as the Traction Plus platform cannot support the weight of both the Motion Plus units as well as the V3. You can only add one or the other to the Traction Plus. I likely would not have done it anyways due to cost, but the fact that it doesn't even work made my decision even easier.

 

[RCHeliguy]

To be fair if you had Traction Plus + Motion Plus + NLRv3 you would be pretty high off the ground and things would probably get a bit dicey in terms of momentum and lean.

 

[5teveC457]

To be fair if you had Traction Plus + Motion Plus + NLRv3 you would be pretty high off the ground and things would probably get a bit dicey in terms of momentum and lean.

That's a great point as well. Even if I were able to add the Motion Plus to my system, my monitor stand would not go high enough to clear the wheel.

 

[No Depth]

They have a downloadable Instruction manual with a few bits of information.

The 250kg or 550lbs is for the entire rig and user on the rig whether you have one or two units installed. The NLRv3 is 28kg/62lbs. Probably should make sure you are within the weight limitations.

The image in the manual with the 458mm width does not include the side brackets.
The bolt heads and metal are probably about 8-10mm in wide on each side.
That closes up the gap to about 10-12mm on both sides for the center section. I'm not sure the bolt slots will reach a T-nut under the P1-X frame. It looks very close.

That said they would be crazy to not have a bolt up solution for a standard 500 ID, 580 OD Sim chassis since that is used by a number of companies now.

And... if they don't provide a solution it's likely that SimLab could offer a set of brackets like they do for the NLRv3.

View attachment 554047

Been staring at this image for too long and the manual as well. Trying to reconcile if those brackets and Bolt slots would be able to reach and fit the width required for a traditional P1-X width.

It looks like it should but again, we will need some evidence to be certain, perhaps as others get their hands on it. But the v3 is literally about the same width of the Motion Plus, without any attached bracket(~460mm).

~40mm is needed from edge of the v3 to the bolting center of the channels of my GT Omega Prime on each side by my quick and dirty measurements. So...just need to see how this plays out.

At least the manual does recommend using the included GT Ultimate brackets to lift the V3 high enough above the Plus to stack. That would disrupt my isolation solution, but it was interesting to see a page dedicated to that(need to pull out those brackets from storage to see if that would work on a rig like ours).

 

[Spinelli]

Does anyone have any profiles to offer for the Dirt games? I'm currently playing Dirt 4 single player.

 

[Layton James]

Hi. I am getting an error message: Stall or FI error detected on module 1. I have V3. Anyone seen or knows how to deal with this? When I power platform on it centres and lights turn orange.

Hi, I am not getting the error, do you remember what the fault is? Did you manage to get this resolved? What was the issue?

Cheers

 

[dazzyb2k3]

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice from all The V3 experts here

So I've been using my V3 for a couple of months exclusively for sim racing and it's performed great. However I'm also occasionally partial to a bit of FS2020 so thought i would try motion with it. The experience is amazing, however i noticed something rather odd.

Upward motions are absolutely butter smooth but any motion involving slow or controlled downward pitch is jittery, it's not major but I can definitely feel a 'lumpiness' in the motion. It's a bit like it's going down in increments instead of a smooth motion.

It also does it if I manually move the unit with the platform diagnostics so It's not game related. After doing a few more tests I discovered when I'm in my driving position ie feet on the pedals and pushing back in the seat it works absolutely fine! Also if i relieve any downward body pressure on the actuator by unweighting the front of the seat it's also fine. It's like the actuators need a counterforce or reduced load to transition smoothly on the way down.

I fired off a support request to NLR but due to the time difference it's a fairly drawn out process. So I was wondering if anyone else noticed anything similar and what (if anything) did you do about it?

TIA

 

[RCHeliguy]

In DCS I felt it was buttery smooth and really liked how it worked for planes and especially helicopters. I hadn't tried it with MSFS.

 

[DirkW]

Could this possibly be weight related, because it works for one person, but not for the other?

 

[RCHeliguy]

Could this possibly be weight related, because it works for one person, but not for the other?

I've weighed as much as 190lbs using my NLRv3. In addition I had my G-Belt, 6 point harness, flight throttle, flight stick, and transducers mounted to my seat.

 

[anton_Chez]

I don't remember any feeling like that when I had mine. There may be something off with the actuators, or perhaps the sensor? I know that I had issues with the sensor and once I had that all cleaned up, things were back to normal. But nothing like what is described here.

 

[NeoGrotesk]

I seem to remember something in the release notes when they first added support for MSFS that said the data wasn't great so the movement wouldn't be smooth and/or might be delayed. I was definitely pretty underwhelmed by the motion in MSFS so I haven't bothered using it when I'm flying. I guess they haven't found a way to improve it by the sounds of it which is a shame.

I also can't get my g seat or g belt to work with MSFS either, so I assume that the data isn't as straightforward to work with as sim racing data.