I’m a sim racer with a passion for Motorsport, good racecraft and the tech side of sim racing. I made SIMRACINGCOCKPIT.GG as a place to share my experiences. I hold an International Class C race licence and write for sim racing store G-Performance and Motorsport resource Driver61.com
Featured Image: Grid Engineering Brow // Simucube 2 Pro // Grid Porsche 911 GT3 Cup DDU
2023 was a crazy year for new products and inevitably, my simulator got a comprehensive rebuild during that time. It’s a little late but I thought it might be worthwhile to list all of the kit I’ve put on the simulator. Here’s a brief tour of my sim racing setup!
If you’re new to sim racing and you’re not sure where to start, take a look at my guide for beginners. It covers the anatomy of a sim racing cockpit and goes into quite a lot of detail on what to buy, what software to try, how to get started in the community and what sort of setup you should build to become competitive.
I’ve always been as much about the technology as the actual racing; although it’s probably a good idea to explain why I found myself interested in sim racing. The bottom line – it’s brilliant fun. It can be challenging and frustrating at times, but more importantly, when you get into a really good race and everyone around you is giving their best racecraft, you cannot beat a good session in the sim.
Sim racing is also very helpful to assist with “real” Motorsport activity. As I don’t get the chance to race every weekend, running a decent simulator really helps keep the cobwebs away.
Here’s my build, let’s start at the bottom with one of my favourite updates: trolley wheels!
The handle thing about adding trolley wheels to the bottom of your rig is that it becomes incredibly easy to move it around in your room. That’s stating the obvious, of course, but these cockpits have a huge weight to them.
I can pull the chassis away from the wall to make changes – it’s so helpful. It certainly helps when I’m installing a new pedal set to test!
Triple 34″ monitors: AOC Gaming U34G3XM, mounted with Sim-Lab Vario Vesa Mounts on a Trak Racer triple Monitor stand.
The 34″ monitors refresh at 166hz, something that the RTX 4090 inside my gaming PC deals with very easily.
The monitors are mounted to a Trak Racer triple monitor arm, via a set of Vario Vesa mounts. Setting up the triples takes a bit of time and patience, but they’re excellent for the money and give me a very wide peripheral view at 90 degrees FOV.
Conspit CPP Lite sim racing pedals: these lesser-known pedals from Conspit certainly made a splash when they were released. They have an intelligent launch control system, built-in haptics and the brake pedal is very close indeed to a genuine racing brake system. I reviewed them last year and they stayed put.
This image doesn’t do them enough justice (sorry!)
Here’s the review of this particular pedal set; the throttle is lovely and smooth and the brake feedback is perfect. They’re on the rig for the “long term” where I can keep an eye on any potential issues. Some 6 months later and they’re still as nice as they were when I opened the box.
Wheelbase, wheel and accessories: Grid Engineering’s Porsche Cup DDU mounted to the top of a Simucube 2 Pro with a Cube Controls F-Pro mounted via an SQR hub and BG Racing hub extension.
On the left, you’ll see my trusty Apex “Race Deck” button box with a Stream Deck installed, and Grid Engineering’s Brows peaking over the top. I’ve got the Stream Deck setup for iRacing and the Brows run via Simhub.
The Grid Engineering DDU is a 60Hz HDMI screen which is configured in Simhub, as are the RGB LEDs. I do like to swap between this DDU and the Apex Sim racing DDU, too:
I also have a Pimax Crystal VR headset which I’m about to revisit after a lengthy period using triple monitors.
Finally, I’m testing the Moza SGP sequential shifter (which for the money is brilliant).
I think that’s about it for the end of Q1 2024!
Topic: Sim Racing Simulators