Heusinkveld Sim Pedals Sprint Interview and First Impressions

[Paul Jeffrey]

We talk to Niels Heusinkveld and try out the soon to be released Heusinkveld Sim Pedals Sprint.

Catching up with Niels Heusinkveld at the recent very busy Sim Racing Expo over in Germany, we took the opportunity to quiz the man behind Heusinkveld Engineering about his newly announced Sim Pedals Sprint set of high end sim racing pedals. With Niels in a buoyant mood following what appeared to be a largely very positive reception to the new hardware, we took the opportunity to question him about the features and improvements of the new gear, learning plenty about how some dramatic software features and production improvements have moved the product range on from the already very impressive offerings of HE Engineering.

Not content with merely taking Niels at his word, we also couldn't quite resist the chance to get strapped into the cockpit and have a go ourselves, recording a short but sweet talk and drive segment as we give our first impressions based on the limited time we had with these brand new set of pedals.

Frankly, I was very impressed, although it is exceptionally hard to gather any serious kind of feel with something like a high end set of pedals with such a short period of time behind the wheel... not helped any by a crowd of people watching on, and a camera and microphone in my face!

However, with that said I'm going to be lucky enough to take receipt of a review set of these pedals in the very near future, so please consider this more of a taster video, with a much more in depth and detailed look at the HE Sim Pedals Sprint set to appear on our various social media channels in the near future. So stay tuned, get subscribed and watch out for some new footage in the (hopefully) coming weeks...

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[Elaphe]

Do you have an STL file I could pinch? Thanks

You can download the .stl from here:
http://www.alvarezeninternet.com/temp/he-pedal-pad.stl
I have corrected the curvature of the base, which wasn't right. If you want to modify it, you can edit my Tinkercad model: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/aFYSQFSKXVq

 

[o Tiger Feet o]

You can download the .stl from here:
http://www.alvarezeninternet.com/temp/he-pedal-pad.stl
I have corrected the curvature of the base, which wasn't right. If you want to modify it, you can edit my Tinkercad model: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/aFYSQFSKXVq

Many thanks Ill take a look.... I'm actually still waiting to order my pedals... Im getting feed up of checking stock to be honest.

 

[Enzo Fazzi]

Page 15, but.........

Still not got an idea how well these compare to the ultimates and if for most people they may not need to go beyond what these already offer in feel and quality. Its quite a substantial jump in price even if I will just be wanting a 2 pedal set.

Hey! Have you looked at the pedal selection guide on our website? https://heusinkveld.com/support/pedal-selection-guide/?v=796834e7a283

Don't hesitate to ask any questions left unanswered!

 

[RCHeliguy]

Page 15, but.........

Still not got an idea how well these compare to the ultimates and if for most people they may not need to go beyond what these already offer in feel and quality. Its quite a substantial jump in price even if I will just be wanting a 2 pedal set.

These are the differences.

Pros:
1. The Sprints come with new calibration software that allows you to make curves for any of the 3 pedals that you can save and use for varying conditions or different cars.
2. The clutch curves on the Sprints appear to have a better curve.
3. The Sprints are supposed to have more shielding so they aren't effected by some DD wheels, or possibly some motion systems.
4. The Sprints are supposed to be "immune" to transducer vibrations.
5. The Sprints are supposed to have higher MTBF for high stress components.

Con:
3. The Ultimate brake can be taken all the way up to the full power required for some race cars.
4. The Ultimate's have hydraulic pistons which could effect how the pedals feel.

As far as the brake pressure goes. It takes a LOT more pressure on the Heusinkveld Sprint brake than the Fanatec CS 3.0 brake to max out. I calibrated my maximum value on the Sprint brake at about 54 Kg according to the software and I was pushing very hard. Others have calibrated their brakes at less than half that.

The Sprint brake has plenty of range to module brakes very smoothly.

Heusinkveld on their website basically recommends that everyone get Sprint pedals unless they absolutely need the additional braking pressure to train for certain race cars.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Hey owners, any chance of some up close images and more feedback on usage please.

Did you get enough close up images and feedback?
If not let me know exactly what you want a picture of and how close you want it.

 

[cap7ainclu7ch]

If I'm in the US, is buying these from demon-tweeks a decent option? Would be nice to get an order in instead of trying to hit the official page during that small window. Shipping looks to be affordable. I assume you get the same warranty and whatnot? Really excited to be upgrading to these this summer.

 

[Mr Latte]

Hey! Have you looked at the pedal selection guide on our website? https://heusinkveld.com/support/pedal-selection-guide/?v=796834e7a283

Don't hesitate to ask any questions left unanswered!

I have a custom but very different cockpit being built.

I don't know to what levels testing may have been done with these pedals and tactile transducers, however I am a bit unsure if what I have intended will cause a problem with them or if the ULT are better in this scenario...

My pedal installation decks will have tactile for different tactile effects (Bumps/RPM/Wheel-slip/G-Forces). So, rather than like a typical installation using one unit supplying all effects, it incorporates some rather high-end models that will produce a great deal of vibrational energy from the 5Hz-200Hz range.

These I can list but it would be a very demanding test/scenario for them.

 

[RCHeliguy]

If I'm in the US, is buying these from demon-tweeks a decent option? Would be nice to get an order in instead of trying to hit the official page during that small window. Shipping looks to be affordable. I assume you get the same warranty and whatnot? Really excited to be upgrading to these this summer.

Yes, and it's what I did.

 

[White Hawk]

Well, not a great start, trying to spin the plates around so they are not so high, the clutch when spun the bolt sticks out, the brake is ok but when I tried to loose the bolt on the accelerator pedal the bolt was so tight it stripped, so what am I to do now. Not a good first impression for a £600 plus product.

 

[Enzo Fazzi]

Well, not a great start, trying to spin the plates around so they are not so high, the clutch when spun the bolt sticks out, the brake is ok but when I tried to loose the bolt on the accelerator pedal the bolt was so tight it stripped, so what am I to do now. Not a good first impression for a £600 plus product.

Send us an email at support@heusinkveld.com. We'll send you new bolts for free.
We've doubled our assembly team since December and one of the new guys seems to overtightened some of the bolts a bit.

 

[White Hawk]

Send us an email at support@heusinkveld.com. We'll send you new bolts for free.
We've doubled our assembly team since December and one of the new guys seems to overtightened some of the bolts a bit.

OK thanks Enzo, much appreciated, I haven’t had a chance to calibrate and test them yet, just bolting them down now and I’ll send that email off in a bit.

That was a mighty fast response there by the way, you are keeping a eagle eye on this thread amongst a few others I should guess.

Thanks again.

 

[White Hawk]

So, a few laps later with a joypad for steering I’m so much faster, I kid.

A couple of observations about the throttle, it’s probably too short a travel for me and definitely too stiff so I’ll have to adjust that.

The other thing which is more of an issue is there appears to be a soft stop near the end of travel which I have to press harder to get 100% travel which a lot of time when I do push harder I can hear a sort of stiction tick noise, not liking that one bit, I hope that in my adjustments that will go away but I’m a bit concerned about it and definitely don’t want to have to calibrate the pedal differently to try and compensate for it.

Anyone else got that on theirs?

Edit: Well after adjusting the travel and preload that soft stop thing is still there, I’m having to calibrate by not pushing the pedal all the way like it asks and over doubling the Top deadzone to 12% to try and make it go to 100% AND stop the percentage actually deceasing after topping out because it actually does that without me decreasing pressure to the pedal, with out having to push that extra bit harder for it to get and stay at 100%. Right now the throttle pedal is working way worse than the V3 one.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I felt the same about the throttle on day 1. Very specifically I felt like the throttle was too strong and the throw wasn't long enough. That was because it was different from what I've been driving for the last 18 months.

The following day it felt fine AND I feel much more in control of the throttle.

I'm not the only one who had this same reaction. If you can stand it, maybe wait until you get your wheel back so you can drive normally with them for a day or two before putting them under the knife. You may thank yourself later.

 

[White Hawk]

I felt the same about the throttle on day 1. The following day it felt fine AND I feel much more in control of the throttle.

I'm not the only one who had this same reaction. If you can stand it, maybe wait until you get your wheel back so you can drive normally with them for a day or two before putting them under the knife. You may thank yourself later.

You have this soft stop issue? How did you calibrate it and what is your top deadzone set at?

A throttle really should be like hitting a wall at the end which the V3 throttle is, it mechanically should not be doing this.

 

[Enzo Fazzi]

Edit: Well after adjusting the travel and preload that soft stop thing is still there, I’m having to calibrate by not pushing the pedal all the way like it asks and over doubling the Top deadzone to 12% to try and make it go to 100% AND stop the percentage actually deceasing after topping out because it actually does that without me decreasing pressure to the pedal, with out having to push that extra bit harder for it to get and stay at 100%. Right now the throttle pedal is working way worse than the V3 one.

It does say to do this in the manual, don't push the throttle all the way into the soft stop and then add a 3-5% deadzone. The softstops will feel quite strong when you get used to it.

 

[White Hawk]

It does say to do this in the manual, don't push the throttle all the way into the soft stop and then add a 3-5% deadzone. The softstops will feel quite strong when you get used to it.

Well I’m on 12% and after testing that’s not enough, plus should the pedal sound like it does in this video?

 

[Furnace Inferno]

I felt the same about the throttle on day 1. Very specifically I felt like the throttle was too strong and the throw wasn't long enough. That was because it was different from what I've been driving for the last 18 months.

The following day it felt fine AND I feel much more in control of the throttle.

I'm not the only one who had this same reaction. If you can stand it, maybe wait until you get your wheel back so you can drive normally with them for a day or two before putting them under the knife. You may thank yourself later.

I was definitely the opposite with my Pro’s but then I didn’t like the feel of the throttle on V3’s because I though the springs were too soft.

 

[Enzo Fazzi]

Well I’m on 12% and after testing that’s not enough, plus should the pedal sound like it does in this video?

Could you PM me a video from a 90 degree angle?

 

[manc0ntr0]

Mine don't do that noise, for sure!

 

[White Hawk]

Could you PM me a video from a 90 degree angle?

You mean more side on?