Question for Gseat GS5 owners!

[NetLawMan]

Hi.
I am getting ready to pull the trigger on the GS5 from simxperience.

In the Simpit review I noticed a good amount of movement in the seat when Shaun was pressed the brakes. Till now I have gone through the trouble of building a super rigid cockpit that does not move at all when the brake is pressed (currently rocking a Racetech 4119 seat).

For Gseat owners, how important is a rigid cockpit and braking stability to you, and what is your experience with the flexing of the Gseat?

After having a flexing seat and seeing the impact is has on my braking and driving (I take Formula 1 esports lessons), I would prefer not to compromise again.

Also, I am going to get Gbelt, so the question is “Gbelt or Gbelt+Gseat?”

Thanks in advance.

 

[blekenbleu]

“Gbelt or Gbelt+Gseat?”

Gbelt can simulate decelerations which cannot be accomplished by Gseat,
which can simulate accelerations not possible by Gbelt.

FWIW, chip shortages have delayed SimXperience shipping either.

 

[NetLawMan]

Gbelt can simulate decelerations which cannot be accomplished by Gseat,
which can simulate accelerations not possible by Gbelt.

FWIW, chip shortages have delayed SimXperience shipping either.

Hi. How long have you owned it? Can you provide general thoughts on your long-term experience? Thanks!

 

[blekenbleu]

general thoughts

Sorry to mislead, I have only DIY belt tensioners working and experiments for DIY G-seat actuators.
I do have their AccuForce and have extensively researched other SimXperience products,
which seem well-engineered and durable, except for connectors at control boxes and power supply fan noise. IMO, belt tensioners are evocative of real track experience and also provide helpful feedback for braking and cornering. My G-seat actuators do not yet work.

I suppose that you have seen these threads:

HoiHman's GS-5 Review​

SimXperience G-Belt review​

 

[NetLawMan]

Sorry to mislead, I have only DIY belt tensioners working and experiments for DIY G-seat actuators.
I do have their AccuForce and have extensively researched other SimXperience products,
which seem well-engineered and durable, except for connectors at control boxes and power supply fan noise. IMO, belt tensioners are evocative of real track experience and also provide helpful feedback for braking and cornering. My G-seat actuators do not yet work.

I suppose that you have seen these threads:

HoiHman's GS-5 Review​

SimXperience G-Belt review​

Much appreciated. I have looked at those threads, but I will look again.

 

[HoiHman]

GS-5 seat owner here for almost 3 years now and even after 3 years it's still a pretty awesome addition to my rig.

In that video i see him sitting on a seat rail with is extended to the very end which probably attributes to the flex of the entire seat. The GS-5 is build like a tank and super heavy. (explains the high shipping cost)

Some long term observations :

- Flex in the seat is a not an issue.
- I use the GS-5 panels for simulating G-s only, no bumps or other effects. On my request Pat Dotson even made a "Henk mode" to have better filtering and smooth build up of the G-forces
- Simulated G-s in corners are awesome and so is surge, still after almost 3 years.
- Acceleration can sometimes be mind blowing
- A seatbelt is mandatory and the difference between sitting on top of the GS-5 vs sitting in the GS-5
- The GS-5 seat has been rock solid, with excellent performance in last 3 years
- Adding exciters to the 4 panels is also mandatory. I did this 9 months ago and regret that i did not do this 2 years earlier. Probably the best tactile upgrade you can do for the money.
-The seat is very wide. If you have a smaller body, you need to add extra foam under the cover on the sides
- The placement of the bottom panels basically suck. They are situated way too deep and the angle is wrong especially when combined with a higher placed pedal tray (f1 style)
- The GS-5 is a very very noisy bugger. It's by far the loudest part on my rig. If noise is an issue for you, you should definitely pass on the GS-5 (and probably the G-belt since the servos are the same i guess)
-My Sony noise cancelling headphone filters out all the high pitch noises from the GS-5 servos and ihmo should be included in the box. Yes it's that loud.
-Active belt tensioning can not be simulated by the GS-5, so yes if you want to : Get both
-If you want all 4 belts tensioned for even better braking simulation (immersion) get 2 G-belts or build a 4 belt tensioner yourself.

 

[NetLawMan]

Thank you for the awesome response. I am relieved.
1) I need the wider seat so I am happy there
2) what effects do you use the transducers for? I have dbox which does road and texture effects really well, so I am curious
3) can you expand on the bottom panels? Do they take away from the experience? Are they too far apart? Do you (can you) turn them off?
4) is there a difference in the noise if you are only using limited effects (for example g-forces only plus braking and accelerating, but no road, bumps, suspension, etc)?

Thanks again!!

 

[blekenbleu]

extra foam

Did waxing aluminum fully solve foam shredding?

 

[NetLawMan]

Did waxing aluminum fully solve foam shredding?

Can you explain foam shredding?

 

[HoiHman]

Thank you for the awesome response. I am relieved.
1) I need the wider seat so I am happy there
2) what effects do you use the transducers for? I have dbox which does road and texture effects really well, so I am curious. The ones in the panels i use for engine rpm only, these panels are in direct contact with you body.
I use the GS-5 with a SFX100.
3) can you expand on the bottom panels? Do they take away from the experience? Are they too far apart? Do you (can you) turn them off? They are too flat and need to be raised on the front of the seat for a better experience.
4) is there a difference in the noise if you are only using limited effects (for example g-forces only plus braking and accelerating, but no road, bumps, suspension, etc)? That's what i do already, but still it makes a lot of noise.
There a silent mode, normal mode and a performance mode. Like always sacrificing performance reduces the noise a bit, but it's still a noisy piece of equipment.

Thanks again!!

Did waxing aluminum fully solve foam shredding?

You mean that the panels eat away the foam of the seat padding ?
If have hard foam glued on the panels for better comfort

 

[blekenbleu]

explain foam shredding

Did my first service of the GS-5 this morning. This needed to be done a bit sooner than i expected.

The Kirkey seat was squealing and squeaking all over the place. Because the entire seat is made out of sections bolted together, i first started with tightening all the bolts. They were definitely not tight enough, still the seat was making way too much noise.

I took some searching but i narrowed it down to a place where the bottom of the seat was scratching against the sidepanels during roll movements with the SFX100. These fast movements cause the GS-5 to flex.

A drop of oil in each corner fixed the noise



Next step:

I also noticed that there are a lot of small pieces of foam from the cover lying in the seat. Some of these small pieces got stuck on the panels, making them sticky and will probably cause more wear.



I cleaned the panels and put some wax over them, that should reduce the resistance between the panels and the foam from the seat cover and in the end cause less wear.

And.. i also placed a new piece of 10mm hard foam on the bottom on the panels for extra comfort

 

[NetLawMan]

For balance, it would also be interest to hear from former owners as well as current owners.

 

[John Bruno]

GS-5... jump on it, the water is just fine!
I'll echo Hoihman's comments, I've Been using it for a couple of years and the experience (especially with VR) still amazes me. You can manually tune or go with Sim Commander's cloud tune based on the individual car. I like to go manual for Formula though as the g-forces are a lot greater. Quicker and more actuation needed. The more aggressive the tune, the louder she'll get. I use a headset, so I really don't hear any of the actuators. Someone on the thread compared the sound to mice running around in a maze... ya, that sounds about right. I think the GS-5 alone is a great intro to motion. Coupled with a full motion system (D-Box, PT.-A...), I'm sure it would complement well.

 

[RCHeliguy]

The G-Belt is actually quieter than the G5 as reported by a number of people. Same actuators, but tuned differently. I have not found them to be distracting.

 

[NetLawMan]

The G-Belt is actually quieter than the G5 as reported by a number of people. Same actuators, but tuned differently. I have not found them to be distracting.

Excellent. Makes me even happier. I guess the only noise issue I will have is when I am not using wind.

 

[NetLawMan]

It also seems that they added/changed the bottom seat padding since the Simpit review three years ago. Can anyone who bought a gs5 in the last year or two or so take a look at that review and confirm?

 

[RCHeliguy]

FWIW I would probably be all over the G5 except that I would hate to give up my seat and I wouldn't want the extra weight on my NLRv3 and I don't have the room to set up a 4 post motion system so the NLRv3 stays.

Your combination of D-Box with G5 and G-Belt seems like the ultimate setup . Personally I think the idea of applying pressure makes a lot more sense than surge and side to side motion since you never run out of travel. It also makes VR motion compensation almost unneccessary.

I hope you enjoy this setup quite a bit.

 

[John Bruno]

It also seems that they added/changed the bottom seat padding since the Simpit review three years ago. Can anyone who bought a gs5 in the last year or two or so take a look at that review and confirm?

The original padding isn't bad at all, mind you it won't last longer than a year or so. I've inserted underneath the cover (both back and bottom) dense foam which helped quite a bit.

 

[NetLawMan]

FWIW I would probably be all over the G5 except that I would hate to give up my seat and I wouldn't want the extra weight on my NLRv3 and I don't have the room to set up a 4 post motion system so the NLRv3 stays.

Your combination of D-Box with G5 and G-Belt seems like the ultimate setup . Personally I think the idea of applying pressure makes a lot more sense than surge and side to side motion since you never run out of travel. It also makes VR motion compensation almost unneccessary.

I hope you enjoy this setup quite a bit.

I will keep you posted. Will probably be about a month before it arrives.

Note that the dbox 4 actuators are a zero footprint increase option. The controllers fit nicely under the seat and pedal deck and the actuators are really just like 4 legs of a table.

 

[NetLawMan]

The original padding isn't bad at all, mind you it won't last longer than a year or so. I've inserted underneath the cover (both back and bottom) dense foam which helped quite a bit.

I am excited to get it!