My now "old" set of pedals were home-built. For the brake, I used a master cylinder out of an old International Scout, a fuel pressure injection sensor out of (I believe, memory is fuzzy, I forget exactly what truck it came from) an International T444E, and wired it to a Plasma-Lite USB project board. Throttle pedal was a drive-by-wire unit out of an International 4700-series truck. Clutch pedal I just used the old clutch pedal stolen out of my G27 pedal set. (At the time that I put all this stuff together, I worked in software engineering for Navistar/International Truck and had access to stuff...)

So it was a true pressure-sensitive brake pedal. And the throttle pedal, being an actual unit out of a vehicle, was robust enough that I didn't have to worry about pots wearing out, etc.

I went through several iterations - the "v1.0" of this utilized a rear master cylinder from a motorcycle... though over time it couldn't stand up to the pressures of me stomping on it. After burning through a few of those, I upgraded to the version out of the truck. And "v1.0" was also first built back in ~2001, long before there were commercially-available pressure-sensitive pedals on the market.

It's served me really well and they were definitely better than a lot of entry-level stuff out there. But the Heusinkveld pedals are definitely a step above.

The "Rexing" wheel? I don't *think* so? I tried 3 rigs, one had a CSW v2 wheel w/HE Pro pedals, one had a Bodnar wheel with HE Ultimates, and one was a OSW with HPP pedals.

 

As I am now unexpectedly carless for the season and no chance to get a replacement car until next season, I have started to dust off my iRacing setup. I currently have a G27 hooked up to a stand and a 110" projector. Moving from a monitor to a projector was a huge upgrade. Piggy-backing on the game vs. tool question, how much does the mid-range equipment really change the experience? I struggle with the lack of sensation for motion/speed. It just feels unrealistic. Does improved pedal feel/feedback make that much of a difference? Curious what rennlisters think given real driving/racing experience.

I also need to figure out the best way to take advantage of my seat I pulled from my car.

 

While I wouldn't necessarily say that mid-grade (or higher) equipment will make you FASTER, it will make you more consistent for sure.

The G27 is great for what it is... an entry-level FFB wheel. Plenty of guys get by just fine. What you get with an upgraded wheel: stronger PEAK forces, and significantly more detailed mid-level forces. It's easier to feel the front tires giving way. Bumps, rumbles, and other subtle track surface details come through more clearly. It becomes easier to FEEL what the car is doing in the sim.

Are you still running the stock G27 pedals? If so... then I'd be torn between two potential "first" upgrade paths.

1) Upgrade those pedals. A good brake pedal can make a BIG difference. Either buy a better standalone pedal set (Fanatec CSP's for $250, or if you have more budget, a good set of HE, HPP, etc. pedals) or upgrade the existing brake pedal (Perfect Pedal for the G27). Getting a better brake pedal will help a bunch with consistency.

2) Ditch the projector, and go with either (a) a triple screen setup or (b) an Oculus Rift. Getting the wider field-of-view (triples) or ability to see around you (Rift) will do a lot for both immersion, as well as speed and consistency. My personal vote is Rift over triples... I came from triples, Rift has HUGE immersion. If you don't want to go that route (it does take a pretty stout PC), triples are a good Plan B.

After that, then look at upgrading the other equipment.

 

Wow Jim, that's some serious DIY treatment there! I don't know if the HPPs you used at Crimson were the new PRX-SE, but what was your opinion of the HPP vs the HE's you tried?

This is the Rexing wheel being used at Crimson (the video is not mine or me):

Alex - upgrading your FOV will make a big difference when it comes to the feeling of speed. Triples will certainly help with that, as would VR (but I personally will be waiting for resolution and lag times to improve there).

I'm using triple 46" projectors, so its big with huge immersion. The game changer for me though was adding motion to my rig. I have the SimXperience Stage4, the rear traction loss is amazing. If this isn't in the budget, SimVibe can trick you into feeling slight motion (kind of but not really). My biggest improvement was upgrading to the Accuforce wheel with a real Momo Mod 30.

 

Ah ok the physical wheel. I do think that's actually the wheel I used on the Bodnar system. I don't really have an opinion one way or the other... I was more focused on the Bodnar system than the actual steering wheel. It felt nice in my hands!

As for HE vs HPP... I did not particularly like the HPP's when compared to the HE's, though it may have been entirely due to their physical setup and configuration. I recall struggling to heel/toe (so that's just a placement issue, totally configurable), though I also recall the braking action didn't feel as progressive. Was tough to modulate and threshold brake, compared to both HE's.

The HE Ultimates were by far the best... smooth operation, progressive feel... but at $1,600... was a tough sell. The HE Pro's were pretty close to the Ultimates in feel, maybe a little less smooth (the Ultimates have hydraulic dampers) but close enough that I couldn't resist leaving without ordering a set.

 

VR is still in it's infancy. But it is the future of sim racing. Check out this video that was posted a few days ago. This fellow setup a green screen, filming his hands and wheel while he drove in an iRacing race around Nordschleife. He then combined the two streams into one to give us an idea of what VR racing is like right now. Of course he can't see his hands and wheel when he has the head set on. But what I think is really cool with this video is there appears to be depth, almost as if the viewer of the video is there in the car during the race.



Real world racing will always be better than the virtual world. But just imagine where the virtual world will be in a few years from now when the current VR headset matures a little more.

 

I've been using VR for the last... ~4 years? I got in on the initial Oculus Dev Kit. The screen clarity was pretty bad BUT it *was* usable (borderline, but usable... tho LOTS of people argue against that). Dev Kit 2 got a lot better... to me, totally usable. Consumer Version is definitely prime-time to me.

Some people need/want 100% crystal clear 4K+ style resolution. To me, it just feels like I'm nearsighted again (before I had lasik)... so maybe I'm the oddball but I have 0 issues seeing what I need to see. Really, most of the folks I know that still complain about the clarity in the CV1 are guys who are more die-hard PC gamer guys who are used to seeing mega clarity on their LCD monitors.

I recently took on a consulting gig with a company that builds FAA-certified flight simulators. We're developing a new VR-based platform... and so far, feedback from existing pilots (who are NOT at all gaming enthusiasts) are completely blown away with the CV1 performance and clarity.

It takes some hefty horsepower to drive the CV1 flawlessly. I think graphics card and CPU power have to come along a bit before we can get much more clarity out of a VR headset.

 

Been wondering how the cv has been working with iracing.

with a good h-pattern shifter, can you/do you have to heal toe? I have a fanatic setup I use with my xbox, but none of the games I have take into consideration the clutch.

 

I often want to strangle that Aussie bastard when he tells me I've cut the course and have to slow down after I've been punted off the track and already lost a bunch of time.

 

Yes, unless you turn on "auto clutch" but then the shifts happen REALLY slowly.

 

I've tried the Dev Kit 2 and the prod release Oculus.
But every time I try VR / Oculus - I get close to nausea.
I'll stop or take a break, and haven't had an actual problem
yet, but I can feel it coming on a lot more than in a traditional rig.
The other problem I have is that your head gets pretty warm over 30 mins.

I think whatever the rate of people suffering from motion sickness
with 3 monitor setups is, it'll be double when they try VR.

I wonder if others that have tried VR agree? And if maybe the GPU power
and resolution needs to go a lot higher to mitigate it?

 

Ive got two AMD cards running in Crossfire, does that pose any issues with the Oculus? They work fine in iRacing..

 

Last month I ordered the Rift, they have a small app that can test your computer to see if you have the level of hardware you are going to need. I need to upgrade my video card, looking at the setup it just connects though a single HDMI cable, Jim can confirm as he has it already.

 

I was just checking as Crossfire and/or SLI can cause issues in some instances, usually a software problem. It shouldn't as it isn't new technology but sometimes it does..

 

It seems there are a lot of component options discussed in this thread. Is there a "go to" company to get a proven high-end system?