Direct Drive on a Budget? Feel VR Kickstarter is Here, But Act Fast!

[Paul Jeffrey]

We heard about the FeelVR Direct Drive wheel project back at the 2017 Sim Racing Expo, and now the plans are a reality with a new Kickstarter campaign launched today.

The team behind Feel VR had an ambitious target to develop and ship a Direct Drive wheel and pedal set for considerably less than any other DD product on the market, and it looks like they are now finally in a position to open up the long awaited Kickstarter campaign, having already surpassed their funding target in just 75 minutes!

At the time of writing the campaign has received over $200,000 in the first day, and if you want to take home an early bird discount you only have the rest of today to act!

I spent a considerable amount of time on a Skype video call with the team at the back end of last year, and it looks like the plans they have in place are very solid and well thought out, with several demonstration models already in action even back in 2017. In fact, the team would be at the Sim Racing Expo in September of last year, although unfortunately we didn't get an opportunity to pop over and say hi whilst we were on site ourselves.

So what is it the team are offering exactly? Well if done correctly, this could be something of a game changer for sim racers looking to invest in direct drive wheel technology - the team are offering a full Direct Drive wheel, and pedals, for the same price as a traditional mid range standard wheel setup.

At present "early bird" investors on Kickstarter can order a DD wheel, two rims (GT and Formula), all the cables and a set of load cell brakes for.... $549! That's cheap.. very cheap indeed..

So what does it look like, and what are the specs? Read on to find out..

The Wheel

As for the pedals, the team at Feel VR have developed an affordable load cell unit that promises to offer a more detailed and consistent performance that traditional spring loaded versions, as anyone who has tried loadcell can testify I'm sure, and if you wanted to pick them up as a standalone item, early bird prices are $149!

The Pedals

All sounds pretty good on paper, let's see what happens once the units begin to ship towards the end of the year...

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Like the look of these offerings from FeelVR? Will you be investing? Can a budget DD set such as this compete in a competitive marketplace, in your opinion? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Mascot]

If this is a 'serious' product, why have they designed it to look like a child's toy?
I think the aesthetics of all components are absolutely horrendous - a first-year industrial design student could have done much better. The current design cheapens the overall package. Even the colour scheme looks awful.

 

[MarcG]

- Like the look of these offerings from FeelVR?

It looks OK, the pics where it's side by side with the G27/29 make it look massive though (the Rim that is), not sure I like that. Also I'm a not sure of the name "Feel VR", I get what they're trying to say, "Feel Virtual Reality", but it just doesn't sit right with me for some unknown reason!


Will you be investing?

In a word, No. In more words, I'm always sceptical about Kickstarter campaigns, I would rather wait for the company in question to prove themselves first then design a V2 based on what they've learnt from the first time round, then I'd consider a purchase.

- Can a budget DD set such as this compete in a competitive marketplace, in your opinion?

Yes i believe it can and the early indications of supportive backers suggest it will have a good (kick)start, but it's about longevity and - like above - if they continue to grow as a company then there's more chance of a low budget DD Wheel becoming more commonplace, time will tell and I'll keep half an eye open on it (I'm happy with my T300 for the time being/foreseeable future).

 

[Kenny Paton]

Delivery not until November, sometimes you gotta taka chance

 

[MegamanAT]

Australia as well. looks like my option on upgrading pedal is back to only Clubsport v3 (double the price)

I don't get it.... Why not just get some CSL-E LC Pedals? Serious pedals from a serious company with serious warranty and support. And they are 100 bucks more? And I don't think those pedals will match the CSP V3. I also don't think they will even match the CSL-E.

And how much is a 2 year warranty worth from a garage manufacturer selling on Kickstarter? Nothing!

 

[mopro]

So, why is current direct drive wheels so expensive? Is it only because they need an expensive good electric motor?
It seems FeelVR uses a smaller motor, judging by its seemingly smaller than current DD wheel casing.
If true, maybe this alone can significantly reduced the cost? Even if by using smaller motor it has weaker force than current DD wheels, it should be ok as I believe that current DD wheels are rarely used at their max strength.

 

[delpinsky]

Only to buy with creditcard
Wich i don't have
Not with pay-pall

What I'm gonna do is to make a Paypal pre-paid card.
This way I should be covered by Paypal as if I used online Paypal payment.

Can you do that in your country?

If this is a 'serious' product, why have they designed it to look like a child's toy?
I think the aesthetics of all components are absolutely horrendous - a first-year industrial design student could have done much better. The current design cheapens the overall package. Even the colour scheme looks awful.

If the colours are the only problem, well I'm in. If I buy it (70% Yes) I'm gonna ask for a full black, no paint, unit

 

[youkatei]

I don't get it.... Why not just get some CSL-E LC Pedals? Serious pedals from a serious company with serious warranty and support. And they are 100 bucks more? And I don't think those pedals will match the CSP V3. I also don't think they will even match the CSL-E.

First at all you are right, I was researching about CSP a lot recently so it got on my mind and kind of forgot about affordable CSL-E LC.

The reason I wanted FeelVR pedal was because it is cheap (happy to take a bit of wait, not in hurry to change my pedal). But since they don't ship to Australia, I thought I might as well just continue save for the best I can get(EDIT:afford).

 

[dcully]

Whatever about kickstarting and paying early for a game like ve done with AC, AMS to name just two its a whole different ball game throwing €600 odd at something like this imho.
As tempted as i was i felt it was too risky overall.
I really hope it happens and turns out to be a real success.

 

[@apocapollo]

Yeah it sounds nice but I just can't trust it. I don't know who these people are and they sure did pick a convenient website to pull an exit scam.

 

[Mascot]

If the colours are the only problem, well I'm in. If I buy it (70% Yes) I'm gonna ask for a full black, no paint, unit

The colours are the least of its problems. The wrought-iron fretwork and dead bat draped on the wheel housing seem to trying to invoke some sort of steampunk aesthetic, but just ends up looking like the lucky dip from a blacksmith's offcuts bin.

 

[BrainsBush]

So, why is current direct drive wheels so expensive? Is it only because they need an expensive good electric motor?
It seems FeelVR uses a smaller motor, judging by its seemingly smaller than current DD wheel casing.
If true, maybe this alone can significantly reduced the cost? Even if by using smaller motor it has weaker force than current DD wheels, it should be ok as I believe that current DD wheels are rarely used at their max strength.

It are not just the real product costs. Think about costs of R&D, investing in your Go-To-Market channels, marketing and also the image of the product/market reflects a (higher) price point. And probably also pay a kind of 'royalties' to in this case larger software companies to have them fully support your new product? People expect a higher price for a higher rated product and obviously each manufacturer large or small does (or supposed to) know that. So why go significantly cheaper then your competition? Makes sense?

In general I like innovation and to be an 'early adaptor' of new technology but invest a couple of hundred dollars via a kind of crowd funding project for start ups is too risky for me. Especially the uncertainty about earlier mentioned (local) support, business continuity etc. At this stage I think it looks like a high level of 'hobby Bob'. But hopefully I'm completely wrong and also this one will be a huge success. All the best for the creator, developer, designer and manufacturer of this new FeelVR gear. Remember e.g. HP also started in a garage (with their own money and investment companies).
Hopefully for him I can say afterwards: I should have entered this train earlier and smack myself in the face.

 

[bogani]

The wheel rim itself is truly horrible. I think I've had a very similar one. A really cheap China piece .

 

[Will Mazeo]

In the end it's the same thing. You pay around 100% taxes.

Not the same thing, if you import it yourself you'll pay less (60% + ICMS of your state if it gets checked) because it goes straight to your hands not to a importer and then the shop that also have to pay tax. There is actually a chance that you'll pay no tax, not everything that gets imported by the average joe is checked when it gets into the country, obviously big packages have more chances, in the end it's a gamble, a very expensive one. But the bad part of doing that yourself is that you'll have nobody to help you if you have problems with the product while importing from a shop they may give you a 1 year window, depends on where you buy and what you are buying.

I'm surprised by the amount of Latin American people here, feels good to not be alone but is the same story as ever, we don't count as potential customers because we live in countries nobody in the "developed world" cares about.

And in the end it's our own fault, we keep feeding the red ideologies that only push us back, this region should be one of the richest in the world but that's another topic which does not involve this forum

 

[luxxx797]

To Brazil they even ship but you have a risk of paying 60% tax

...the risk is that it will never be delivered, like the Rift i bought in Europe, arrived in brazilian customs in october and still waiting. In the end i bought one here for the cost of US$1000....ridiculous

 

[Andrew Harper]

I find this whole project interesting. Partly because of the cost but also because of what it's trying to offer.

I said it on a YouTube comment. I'm really not sure they are making any money out of these initial sales. The price for the pedals probably only just about covers the cost of the parts.

Yes the construction looks a little on the cheap side (as mentioned above they've used a very cheap $30 aftermarket vinyl steering wheel for example) but even so the price for the wheel is quite unreal.

The reviews I've seen say it's about halfway between something like the CSW2.5 and a full blown DD setup.

They felt the wheel gave the sort of feedback that only a DD wheel can give and that's interesting. Even though it has lower torque than most of the competition in the DD market.

My concern (as mentioned above) is the build quality. If they've tried to make this wheel as cheaply as possible that means it's durability could be compromised and I do wonder about things like warranties, etc. That's partly the reason why you need to make a healthy profit on electronics goods, because things will go wrong and you need that profit margin to make repairs, replace faulty units, etc. without putting the company at risk.

I'm not surprised they are pushing this project though. Depending on price of course but when the Fanatec DD Wheel arrives projects like these could be in trouble. Again all down to how much the hardware eventually is.

Good luck to them, I hope it works out for them.

 

[Shap]

I find the shape quite inconvenient for a formula style position in particular. I’d rather have a longer and lower housing.

 

[Badu]

No shipping to Brazil, but then again, this would cost me double in taxes from our crooked government. Perhaps next time I go to the US.

 

[Mascot]

A demo wheel failed during one YouTuber's test.
DD wheels aren't ever supposed to fail. That's kind of their thing.

 

[Jens Christian Jensen]

im in doubt... or im just NOT getting the various bundles... if i pay the 149$... what will i get??? Pedals only or will i be gieeting the wheel+base too?? or is the wheel ONLY incl. in the 549$ bundle??

Please someone with better English understanding than me could explain

looking forward to your replies

*Edit*
Right now im using a G27 so i wouild be very much int. in a DD wheel...

 

[FernandoAFM]

However, if I could purchase this I would skip the headset. Fill me with disagrees if you want but I don't care about VR. Would rather spend that money on better PC parts. My PC is relatively new and powerful (built in 2015) but I have trouble with AC at times, reaching 99% of memory usage and it's really annoying when it does happen.

Have you driven with VR? The immersion is just unbelievable.

I mean this post in the nicest of ways Just thought you should check it out!