Allright, so I got the Njmotion Compact R unit installed on Saturday. Just to make clear, I’m not in any way affiliated with Njomotion, I purchased the unit and I’m just writing my experiences with it as there is not much info on these out yet and I’m thrilled with it!
I ordered the Compact R just when it was released and the production took around a month. Shipping took 10 days or so, which is very good considering half the Europe is halted due to the COVID. The unit arrived in a big box, and while it arrived unscratched, I think a sturdier box or maybe a mini-pallet or something under the unit would make the packaging more solid. Now two of the feet had some through the box, no harm to the unit but not perfect either. The package was heavy, at 38kg I could just about carry it – fortunately the delivery guy carries it up the staircase to my second floor apartment! I think home delivery is a very good choice with a unit this heavy! There was no instruction sheet with the unit, but I as the installation was super easy I didn’t really miss anything – however, I think in future a safety sheet or something would be a good idea.
I have very limited space for the rig, so for motion I had to go with something that basically fits inside my rig. So, I had emailed back and forth with Javi at Njmotion beforehand to make sure I could fit the Compact R into my Simlab GT1 Evo. It’s clear that this kind of rigs have been considered when designing the unit as the measurements are just right for fitting it inside the rig. Njmotion offers attachment pieces, but I think mine were custom made to fit my requirements. The Compact R unit is 21-22cm tall, and if I installed it just like that in the Simlab rig, the seat would be 10cm higher. I did not want that, so Njmotion provided me with riser feet on the rig – they rise it around 5cm to make it easier to handle the wheel and pedal adjustments. During this “planning” process communication was easy and quick, Javi at Njmotion answered all my questions and also gave good suggestions on how to get things done.
The unit looks very cool and of high quality, it’s definitely professional looking. Strong and well painted steel plates, laser cut logos front and rear, the red text is created by putting a red plate behind the laser cut logos. All nuts and bolts are of good quality, same applied for the switches and toggles.
The actual process of installing the unit was quite straightforward and easy – I somehow thought it would be more difficult. Most work was actually dismantling the existing seat setup and then afterwards adjusting the cockpit. I took the seat attachments and the rig back brace off, and the Compact R slid easily into the rig. I took careful care of adjusting the rig feet to that the attachment points would be on the right level immediately and it worked – I didn’t have to adjust the feet of the rig or the unit when installing. The Compact R connect to the rig with four M8 bolts, using the regular t-slot nuts. I didn’t use the back brace of the rig, as it’s not necessary anymore with the unit itself supporting the rig. Initially I thought that the unit would somehow hang from the rig as I’ve seen NLR V3 installed, but in this case both the unit and the rig are touching the floor and they are connected together to avoid any extra movement. The rig must now weigh 100 kilos, so moving it to the right spot was not easy!
Getting things up and running was pretty easy. The Compact R connects to the computer with USB and then there is the power lead, so no trouble here. The unit runs with Simtools and Njmotion provides a pre-configured install file so you can get everything up and running pretty quick. I had some issues with Simtools to begin with, but I think I installed a wrong file first.
So, I’ve now done a few laps with motion and all I can say is wow! I got into simracing due to VR and I’m clearly an immersion junkie and this thing complements VR really well. I’ll write a bit about my experiences when I get few more hours of racing done with the Compact R.
