RCHeliguy
Premium
The issue I'm trying to avoid is confirmation bias. Everyone is guilty of it. Typically when you buy a shiny new thing and spend a lot of money, you tend to feel like it must be the greatest thing so you don't feel like you made a mistake. I see this all the time in audiophile circles. I'm at a point in my life where I can pretty much buy whatever I want and don't feel like I have any of my personal ego tied to my purchases.
So here are my impressions of some of the parts of my rig.
My NRG Prisma fits me like a glove, but I wish it were just a bit wider. It's not squeezing me and I may get used to being held in place, but this is new to me and I'm more comfortable with a bit more freedom of motion. I do think, like many people advise, that it makes sense to go to a local store if you can and try some seats out. Unfortunately there is also a difference between how a seat feels when you first sit in it and how it feels after a hour or more. So far I think the Prisma feels good long term. The cushions are dense which means they actually work and don't just bottom out. The suede feel is nice. I have no idea how well it will hold up long term. So overall good, but I was "expecting" it to be a bit loose rather than an exact fit on me. I am getting the back support I wanted, so in that sense "mission accomplished."
The NLRv3 is something I enjoy quite a bit. I think it did feel a bit more realistic with my original car seat. Maybe I just haven't gotten it dialed in yet with the racing shell. However I think the VW Passat seat felt better. The longer lever arm due to the higher position would amplify the motion, but the give in the seat would pull some of that back, so you would get similar motion but feel pressure load up more realistically. The old seat was a bit noisier with motion. The NLRv3 does have a bit of play in the center gimbal, but that is much more noticeable at rest than while it is moving. In game, I don't notice that play. The rigid racing seat does give me a better base to brake from. In Rally the normal seat was great, on the track the rigid seat is better. The NLRv3 is quiet, supports everything I care to play and is easy to configure. Combined with tactile it is extremely immersive. I still like this solution over a chassis mover because it is turn key, just works, is easy to configure has no EMI issues to worry about, sips power and is a very small form factor. I am not claiming it is as good, but just that it works well and is very easy to add to a rig.
My simple 4 x Aura tactile system driven by SimHub has worked surprisingly well. These $50 Aura units will need to be tweaked more than a more powerful Buttkicker LFE because they have a narrower frequency range and are less powerful, I believe they also need to be placed more carefully, but can be setup very effectively and like the NLRv3 they also sip power needing about 1/10th the power of a Buttkicker LFE. My homebrew amp is still working well. I did briefly look at an NU4-6000 just because it's prettier, but I like my little ghetto amp
I love how the vertical mount for my SC2 Pro looks and it is more rigid than the wheel deck, but it does restrict vertical placement of the wheel given the current height of the vertical profile on my Sim-Lab P1. Until I lowered my seat I could not have made this work for me. I have my vertical mount as high as it will go and with a little angle the steering wheel feels right, but it might feel "righter" if it were a bit higher and had a bit less angle.
Note: I think anyone ordering a Sim-Lab P1(X) should special order taller side profiles if they are going to use an NLRv3 which does add height to the seat. I think 5-10cm would be enough. Unfortunately there is no way a person can know that until they have both the NLRv3 and the vertical wheel mount in place. The wheel deck has a lower mount point and will hold the wheel higher.
The Sparco seat brackets are expensive, but IF you have a seat mover, the additional mount holes on it can be extremely useful. Otherwise you could mount everything to the frame around your seat and you would have clearance directly under the seat for a transducer mount.
The retractable casters are holding up well. Even though they are only rated for 100lbs each, I've accidentally used the rig without remembering to retract the casters a number of times. I've added a bit of grease to them and the round surfaces that rub against the wheel plates have worn very smooth so that they are silent and work better now. Note: They have released a new version rated for more weight, but it appears that it only has more bolt holes to attach it. It does have rubber end caps which might be a nice safety measure. I could probably do something similar with Plasti-Dip.
The suede Momo rally wheel and PSE GT3 wheels are excellent. The Momo wheel only feels good to me with gloves on which is fine but surprised me. The PSE wheel feels good with or without gloves.
The button box is working very well. As I expected I use the top left and right panels a lot as they are the ones that I laid out in a very specific way for the use I planned for them. The lower generic panel is currently getting zero use. I configured a few things for it, but I never use those features. I believe I will redesign that bottom section as soon as I know what I want it to do for me and then form will follow function. I have no idea how that will look. I am using the cup holder and Camelbak bite tube bottle and the position works well. The VR headset hangar feels critical to me now and is absolutely where my headset goes when I pull it off or before I get into my rig.
The slide pedal plate are great! I can transition from a Rally configuration with clutch to a GT configuration with properly centered brake and throttle in a matter of minutes.
The ProSim H pattern shifter feels great especially without the extension. I just set up the old rig for my son and rowed the gears on the CS 1.5 and it felt very "meh". I think it has spoiled me at bit, but it is very pricey.
The HE sequential shifter gets very little use on my rig and it's small size works for me. It does work well and I've never had a mis-shift, but do wish it had a stronger feeling of engagement. The ProSim sequential shifter would likely feel a lot better, but wouldn't fit the space I have without requiring control swapping and for the use it gets it isn't a priority. I understand the Aiologs sequential shifter feels a bit better and is also a small foot print, but once again this isn't something I feel strong enough about to change.
The HE hand brake feels much more solid than the Fanatec Handbrake felt and both the lever shape and loadcell tension can be adjusted well.
MIA:
Minor planned changes:
So here are my impressions of some of the parts of my rig.
My NRG Prisma fits me like a glove, but I wish it were just a bit wider. It's not squeezing me and I may get used to being held in place, but this is new to me and I'm more comfortable with a bit more freedom of motion. I do think, like many people advise, that it makes sense to go to a local store if you can and try some seats out. Unfortunately there is also a difference between how a seat feels when you first sit in it and how it feels after a hour or more. So far I think the Prisma feels good long term. The cushions are dense which means they actually work and don't just bottom out. The suede feel is nice. I have no idea how well it will hold up long term. So overall good, but I was "expecting" it to be a bit loose rather than an exact fit on me. I am getting the back support I wanted, so in that sense "mission accomplished."
The NLRv3 is something I enjoy quite a bit. I think it did feel a bit more realistic with my original car seat. Maybe I just haven't gotten it dialed in yet with the racing shell. However I think the VW Passat seat felt better. The longer lever arm due to the higher position would amplify the motion, but the give in the seat would pull some of that back, so you would get similar motion but feel pressure load up more realistically. The old seat was a bit noisier with motion. The NLRv3 does have a bit of play in the center gimbal, but that is much more noticeable at rest than while it is moving. In game, I don't notice that play. The rigid racing seat does give me a better base to brake from. In Rally the normal seat was great, on the track the rigid seat is better. The NLRv3 is quiet, supports everything I care to play and is easy to configure. Combined with tactile it is extremely immersive. I still like this solution over a chassis mover because it is turn key, just works, is easy to configure has no EMI issues to worry about, sips power and is a very small form factor. I am not claiming it is as good, but just that it works well and is very easy to add to a rig.
My simple 4 x Aura tactile system driven by SimHub has worked surprisingly well. These $50 Aura units will need to be tweaked more than a more powerful Buttkicker LFE because they have a narrower frequency range and are less powerful, I believe they also need to be placed more carefully, but can be setup very effectively and like the NLRv3 they also sip power needing about 1/10th the power of a Buttkicker LFE. My homebrew amp is still working well. I did briefly look at an NU4-6000 just because it's prettier, but I like my little ghetto amp
I love how the vertical mount for my SC2 Pro looks and it is more rigid than the wheel deck, but it does restrict vertical placement of the wheel given the current height of the vertical profile on my Sim-Lab P1. Until I lowered my seat I could not have made this work for me. I have my vertical mount as high as it will go and with a little angle the steering wheel feels right, but it might feel "righter" if it were a bit higher and had a bit less angle.
Note: I think anyone ordering a Sim-Lab P1(X) should special order taller side profiles if they are going to use an NLRv3 which does add height to the seat. I think 5-10cm would be enough. Unfortunately there is no way a person can know that until they have both the NLRv3 and the vertical wheel mount in place. The wheel deck has a lower mount point and will hold the wheel higher.
The Sparco seat brackets are expensive, but IF you have a seat mover, the additional mount holes on it can be extremely useful. Otherwise you could mount everything to the frame around your seat and you would have clearance directly under the seat for a transducer mount.
The retractable casters are holding up well. Even though they are only rated for 100lbs each, I've accidentally used the rig without remembering to retract the casters a number of times. I've added a bit of grease to them and the round surfaces that rub against the wheel plates have worn very smooth so that they are silent and work better now. Note: They have released a new version rated for more weight, but it appears that it only has more bolt holes to attach it. It does have rubber end caps which might be a nice safety measure. I could probably do something similar with Plasti-Dip.
The suede Momo rally wheel and PSE GT3 wheels are excellent. The Momo wheel only feels good to me with gloves on which is fine but surprised me. The PSE wheel feels good with or without gloves.
The button box is working very well. As I expected I use the top left and right panels a lot as they are the ones that I laid out in a very specific way for the use I planned for them. The lower generic panel is currently getting zero use. I configured a few things for it, but I never use those features. I believe I will redesign that bottom section as soon as I know what I want it to do for me and then form will follow function. I have no idea how that will look. I am using the cup holder and Camelbak bite tube bottle and the position works well. The VR headset hangar feels critical to me now and is absolutely where my headset goes when I pull it off or before I get into my rig.
The slide pedal plate are great! I can transition from a Rally configuration with clutch to a GT configuration with properly centered brake and throttle in a matter of minutes.
The ProSim H pattern shifter feels great especially without the extension. I just set up the old rig for my son and rowed the gears on the CS 1.5 and it felt very "meh". I think it has spoiled me at bit, but it is very pricey.
The HE sequential shifter gets very little use on my rig and it's small size works for me. It does work well and I've never had a mis-shift, but do wish it had a stronger feeling of engagement. The ProSim sequential shifter would likely feel a lot better, but wouldn't fit the space I have without requiring control swapping and for the use it gets it isn't a priority. I understand the Aiologs sequential shifter feels a bit better and is also a small foot print, but once again this isn't something I feel strong enough about to change.
The HE hand brake feels much more solid than the Fanatec Handbrake felt and both the lever shape and loadcell tension can be adjusted well.
MIA:
- The dead pedal hasn't been on my rig since I added the sliding pedal plates. ( I may remake the plate that the clutch and brake are on to extend far enough for me to attach the dead pedal at some point, but I haven't bothered)
- The heel stop hasn't been on my rig since I raised the pedal deck.
Minor planned changes:
- The trackball mount has been great and the placement seems ideal to me. I use the hand brake to stop my right arm in VR and just reach forward and use the trackball. Since I'm using a Logitech Diversity wireless USB chicklet that can support 6 devices, I've ordered a second trackball mouse identical to the first and will just mount it semi-permanently in place. I have had it shake free and fall twice with heavy FFB and tactile vibrations.
- The seatbelts are working well, but I have way too much extra belt for the waist belt. Since I know that anyone who can fit in my seat now won't use anywhere near that much belt, I'm going to use my hot knife to trim the straps down.
