FEATURED My DIY SimVibe racing rig

Miah, this is absolutely awesome man! I was also thinking if you could somehow de bezel the monitors so the tri screen merge is more fluid. Other than that I would never leave my house if I owned this . You should download x plane 10 for this setup also.

Hey dom good to see you man...I don't have flight controls anymore, but maybe in the future

MIAHALLEN said:

Hey dom good to see you man...I don't have flight controls anymore, but maybe in the future

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Right on, brotha. That's what I'm saying. Since you already have the perfect tri screen, audio, motion, all senses activated kick *** righ built you should have controls for racing and flying. I am amazed at the detail in this setup. Just awesome!

Minor update today. I was noticing there was a lack of support for my upper legs, and my heels were getting tired supporting the weight of my legs and falling asleep. I first pushed the pedals out another inch or two, but it wasn't enough. So I wanted to solve the problem thinking about it from another angle...specifically the angle of my seat. I came up with a pretty simple solution that has transformed my seating comfort. I cut two blocks of wood, wrapped them in carpet, and drilled a hole through the center. I already had longer M8 bolts, so I didn't even need any extra parts



Next, I needed to get my sequential shifter mounted. I don't drive a ton of cars which need it, but for those few that do, its quite nice to have....but I don't think I can justify the $$$ of a nicer one, so the Fanatec kit has to suffice.





I'm really looking forward to getting a proper monitor mount....but so far, this rig is really making me happy

MIAHALLEN said:

Minor update today. I was noticing there was a lack of support for my upper legs, and my heels were getting tired


I'm really looking forward to getting a proper monitor mount....but so far, this rig is really making me happy

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thats my favorite pic right there.
i want one of these so bad. but i am just so lazy. i could never complete a project like this anymore. back in my phase change /DI benching days i could have. but i am older, fatter , balder, and lazier now. LOL

So, my new Fast Track Sims monitor & keyboard mounts arrived. I'm pretty excited, the mounts are beautifully made, I was a bit concerned because the monitor stand was almost $400 and the keyboard stand almost $100. But I'm pleasantly surprised, the quality is excellent! I'll post pictures later.

I've got two updates, first the good news. My bad amp was replaced by Parts-Express. So I've finally gotten to experience the full 7 channels of my SimVibe setup. I have to say , SimVibe ROCKS!!! The full SimVibe experience turns my racing simulator rig into a living thing, rumble strips are exciting...driving off the track is a visceral experience...and crashes literally make me flinch. It's truly taken the rig to the next dimension and I highly recommend it! Now I've had a long time to test with just four channels, and I have to say, going to the full 7 channel experience hasn't changed it much, with one exception....the shakers mounted on the back of my seat. When they were mounted to the bottom....all the shakers were generating vertical motion. But after mounting them to the back of the seat, the combination of the four on the bottom generating vertical vibes and the two on the seat generating horizontal vibes really adds a lot. The downside of this configuration is that the shakers mounted on the back of the seat seem a bit noisier. I don't think these Aura shakers are made to be used horizontally....I'll probably try to swap them for some Clark Synth models in the future.

Here are some new shots of the bottom of the rig:





Next...my Fast Track Sims (FTS) quad monitor mount and keyboard mount have arrived They are all beautifully made, I was a bit concerned because the monitor stand was almost $400 and the keyboard stand almost $100. But I'm pleasantly surprised, the quality is excellent! The phrase "you get what you pay for" applies perfectly here. But, the news is not all positive. The uprights are only 11 3/4" tall....when the quad monitor add-on is used, this doesn't leave much vertical adjustment for the 27" monitors I'm using. I needed to push the monitors up about 5 inches off the mounting surface to clear the Fanatec Clubsport Wheel base. But I could only get the bottom of the monitor up a little more than an inch off the mounting surface. In addition, the base is slightly wider than requested.

I was able to overcome the sizing problems with a temporary wooden structure. But I would not be happy with this as a permanent solution. The good news is "Mark", the owner of FTS is awesome and has already agreed to build me a new base and get it out to me ASAP. So, there will be more updates soon. But I'll leave you with a few more pictures showing the current state of things.



















The keyboard tray is very sturdy, I'm very impressed!

this is amazing =o

i've always loved racing games, but never found a PC based racing simulator that i liked. I really like both Forza 4 and Grand Turismo 5 but never found anything on PC i liked nearly as much.

But this is pretty cool. Makes me wonder why you didn't put all this money into a real car to go race =P

For starters, it's much harder to die this way.

I can race so many different types of race cars virtually, many worth more than a $100K. I think for the money I've spent on it, I'd have about enough for a basic shifter cart...but no more.

Awesome Miah.

I had wondered a bit when you backed away from subzero benching, but comparatively, this is a pretty cool alternative for where to put that hobby money.

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to decouple the different shaker areas from one another. Like put some kind of flexible rubber in between the different areas of the structure, so that those areas can move more effectively without the structure itself absorbing some of the energy.

@ Matt - LOL, this has actually been a MUCH cheaper alternative

xsuperbgx said:

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to decouple the different shaker areas from one another. Like put some kind of flexible rubber in between the different areas of the structure, so that those areas can move more effectively without the structure itself absorbing some of the energy.

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Oh, I was going to mention, I've removed the caster in the very rear (now there are only 4 casters total being used. That means the two shakers int eh rear have a bit more wiggle room, it helped a little

I would think doing something like you mentioned would cause the structure to be too flexible....it needs to be fairly rigid. You'd be surprised, the shakers are pretty effective as-is (except for the front right one....its simply fighting too much mass).

how fricken awesome is that guys?????? fkn amazing

Now you just need to build a ferrari body around all of that and paint it

Actually, I'm waiting on my Oculus Rift dev kit to arrive....I'm pretty excited about that

MIAHALLEN said:

Actually, I'm waiting on my Oculus Rift dev kit to arrive....I'm pretty excited about that

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That's way cooler than a mock up ferrari body

I know we are not supposed to curse, but.... Holy @#$%!!!! That is beyond freaking awesome! Love the build quality!

So, I just setup a new Youtube channel where I'll be exploring options for racing in virtual reality. I'll be getting my rift dev kit next month, so I wanted to give a tour of my rig as-is. And I'll be adding more videos as news & reviews for VR options become available