I do hope so! - I've just paid the "buy it now" price for it!....... [There were 6 folk watching, but I figured I'd just buy the thing - **** 'em! ] Having been "working" on this little endeavor for a while, it appears to be a great deal. Got a feeling a new PC is in my future to. Hopefully, I can still do Windows 7. I never think to check Ebay these days - Many thanks for the link. Cheers, Ian
It's very easy in iracing (iracing detects it and asks if you want to use it on launch), in other stuff maybe not as easy depending. I would wait for the prod version as it should be the same price as the dk2 (targeting $350) and be better overall. As long as you have a decent display, you can hold off until it's released but the immersion is incredible, even with the old dk1 hardware I have. The phone based ones only run software that's on the phones - so it wouldn't work for iRacing. They have various degrees of quality - the oculus kit made for samsung phones is supposed to be good, not sure on the others.
Seems like a very good deal. Here's a cheap retro seat to go with it : Custom Built Arcade Cockpit Xbox PlayStation PC Fanatec Thrustmaster | eBay We did run iRacing on a Macbook pro with a G27 wheel. The only weirdness was that we couldn't get audio out of the HDMI on the macbook for some reason, but I think the problem was specific to our AVR and it was an old Mac OS relative to the current version. We didn't use iRacing enough to have a feel for how well it really performed on the Macbook, but it did work so you might want to give it a try on the Mac you already have before buying a new PC.
I thought so given my recent research. Kudos to Rob for the link - I'd never have seen it otherwise. I'm waiting for Hotshoe's custom Fchat, all aluminum version! I guess I'll find out next week.... I'll be sure to report back - It appears it'll run, but "calibration" may be an issue. Seems these guys provide drivers for windows only. However, some Apple sites suggest the Mac will take care of it..... We'll see... Cheers, Ian
How is driving with an F1 wheel? We are considering getting an F1 wheel on Fanatic, but my concern is that it seems like there would be some racing where it's better to have a round wheel for "hand over fist" turning. I think I'm wrong, because I know a few drivers who have a F1 wheel, but it still seems like it could be awkward in some circumstances. Another important upgrade, especially for Ferrari fans : Amazon.com: Thrustmaster VG TH8A Add-On Gearbox Shifter for PC, PS3, PS4 and Xbox One: Video Games I believe the above works with Fanatec wheels in addition to Thrustmaster.
Ian, once I've moved house I'm buying iRacing as well (''GT3'' cars and mostly european tracks only, though). We'll have a race!
It takes getting used to. My hands would cramp the first few days but now its like second nature. You really don't need the hand over hand. Your chances of catching the spin in most of the cars is very rare.
Our G27 did calibrate on the Macbook from what I remember. Thanks Rob -- good info -- didn't want to buy something and end up regretting it later
That looks very nice. Link please? I've seen a couple of 2x4 homebuilds, but they look a little 'agricultural' to my eye; if it was living in a den, maybe, but this is going to be somewhat 'on display' in the house...... Gotcha! Thanks for the info. I'm thinking that for now I'll try and run it directly on the Mac, hopefully feeding an Apple TV onto the big screen. Then keep an eye out for the production version - sounds like it should be very, very nice. I'm gonna need some serious practice first! Dunno how much you've poked at their site, but Euro tracks and GT3 cars are gonna cost!..... Roughly $14 per car & per track..... Not a huge deal, but the included cars & tracks don't exactly float my boat! Again, guess I'm about to find out! Cheers, Ian
Having done not much else for the past few days, I really like this site; Home - Inside Sim Racing Talk about another black hole! I got 'inspired' by some of the home made rigs here - That site has more ideas than you can shake a stick at!.... Plywood, MDF, 80/20, even PVC pipe are all there.... Then they have forums dedicated to pretty much everything, kinda like here. Guess I'll see what I've got in a few days, mess with it for a while and see where it leads. Any interest in another Fchat league when the time comes? Cheers, Ian
Hey Guys, Firstly, *huge* thanks to RobG for the Ebay link; As noted above, I got the whole mess for $400, & wouldn't know it wasn't all brand new! The pedals in particular are a true thing of beauty! Wow!.... Came with both H-pattern & sequential shifters in addition to the paddles - Not quite as "high end" as the pedals, but all seems OK. Until I start iRacing & try & calibrate; After *much* f'ing round I did manage to get iRacing to calibrate everything - Just not all at the same time! I tried PS2 from wheel to pedals then USB from there to the 'puter. I tried USB from the wheel instead. I tried connecting both via USB, IIRC, both with & without the PS2 cable. At different times the steering calibrated "as expected" - The Wizard in iRacing seems pretty good. Also got the pedals calibrated. And the paddles & indeed the H-shifter box. Trouble is, not all at the same time!..... *So* close & yet so far! Do I need the PS2 cable between the pedals & wheel if using 2 USB's? [Although, I'm starting to suspect 2 USB's may be "confusing" the Mac, but I'm a long way from sure!] Cheers, Ian PS - PeterP - Do you happen to have a link to your 80/20 seat kit? I went down another rat hole on the manufacturer's site & am sure I could spec one, but suspect a kit would save much time, anguish & returns!
Ian try emailing iRacing support. They're good with support and could probably help. I don't have a Mac so I can't tell you.
Good to know, thanks, will do. Gotta be honest, I did PM Bas asking for a "Bas-spec PC" (per an earlier post, and me noting I've built them before.) He was kind enough (thx man!) to spec something (very nice!) from Newegg. "Problem" is, it comes out at ~$1400! So, I continued poking around; Seems the GPU is the key here. Seems pretty much any ol' I5 CPU is good enough, I7 not needed(?), but you gotta have a good GPU! (?) Found a complete PC with NVIDIA GTX960 on Amazon (yep, Prime eligible! ) that doesn't look bad; Amazon.com : CybertronPC SOKOM-I Gaming Desktop (TGMSOKOMI0015GN) : Computers & Accessories I've never however been an "AMD man".... Always "pure" Intel for me in the past. Comments? But, it does look like I should be able to get something (even Intel based) that could (ultimately) support 3 monitors, at 1080, for under a grand...... I'll add some kind of SSD, and maybe more RAM to get to 16GB (not needed in the above of course), but still a lot less work than DIY!....... Please let me know if I'm pissing up the wrong tree here! Thanks, cheers, Ian
Hey Ian, I've never been an AMD person either, but I got a very high quality motherboard for a very good price so was kind of forced to go AMD. I've only got a 8320 in there, not overclocked yet, and a R9 280x GPU (also a brand I prefer less, but again...got it for peanuts and can get a 2nd one if needed for next to nothing from them). I game everything on ultra and haven't had so much as a whiff of lag. 45 cars, in thunderstorm on the nurburgring is no issue. CyberpowerPC Desktop PC Gamer Xtreme H818LQ (GXH818LQ) Intel Core i5 4690K (3.50GHz) 16GB DDR3 1TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Windows 8.1 Update 1 64-bit - Newegg.com This will serve you fine, providing you don't go 4K just yet. All it really needs is a decent sized SSD for quick loading speed .
I do hope It's possible to lets say buy one GT3 car, but still able to use it in races with cars you don't own. If not, I can see how expensive the game will get having to buy 6+ different GT3 cars because people use them, even if you don't want to. Wheel looks great, are the standard connections all USB or PS2? I've no working understanding of Mac so I'm confused at why you need to use PS2 connection for the wheel.
Yes you can, you have to download the other cars, but you don't have to pay for them. You only pay for what you drive. Ian-Also did you download the latest drivers from Fanatec's website? That might help also.
I *believe*, but haven't really checked, once you've "bought" it - track or car - it's "yours". Many Euro tracks (from memory, Silverstone & your back yard for example ) and many cars that "appeal" more than those included. One thing that was AWOL was the manual.... I downloaded what I figured was the correct version from Fanatec, but it's not quite right! Both the pedals & the wheel have USB ports. The shifter(s) connect to the wheel via PS2 (mouse/kbd) cable. Then it seems I can connect the wheel & pedals the same way (another PS2 cable) then run just one USB from one of those to the 'puter. As suggested, I mailed iRacing support - Will report back. *So* frustrated right now!...... It's all so damn close.... You may not like US tracks, but I had a Miata all set to go at Laguna when calibrating, & it shows the track in all it's glory (I've driven it a few times) in the "background" while the calibration wizard is running! We'll get there - even if it does mean a new PC! Cheers, Ian
I'm not on iRacing, but this thread caught my eye. If anyone is looking for a sim set up, check out the Play Seat Evoluation. I have one, it's great; very sturdy and comfortable. The price isn't too bad either. Amazon.com: Playseat Evolution Black Gaming Seat: Video Games And then they have higher end stuff meant to simulate an F1 car's seating position that just looks awesome. Amazon.com: Playseat Grand Prix: Video Games Mark
What I mean is, with Project Cars for example, I don't have the bentley GT3, but if I join a server where someone is racing the Bentley, I see the car etc, I just can't drive it...is it the same with iRacing, or can I not join the server at all? I know the feeling! Hope you get it all working...
No Mac "drivers"...... ;( Logitech offer a Unix "kernel extension" which I'm debating trying, but there's nothing for me on the Fanatec site. Hopefully iRacing will respond. Cheers, Ian
The link to the 80/20 seat is in post #36. The only options I have are the left side support and the Buttkicker mount. The left side support creates a "box" in the seating area for the steering wheel support. When I ordered it a couple years ago, the default was that for the steering wheel to be anchored to a single right side support, but that might be different now. For the Mac, the G27 just connected to a single USB port. The pedals and shifter connect to the steering wheel via proprietary cables, and the wheel has a single USB out. I don't have any experience with Fanatec (yet). I'm confused by the term "PS2" connector, not sure what that is. I would expect any connection to the PC or Mac to be USB. Maybe the Fanatec is like the G27 where the wheel/pedals/shifter connect together via a different cable type and then there is a single USB that connects to the computer.
