BAFE Posted 18February, 2015 Report Share Posted 18February, 2015 Hey guys, Had a play on a really cool simulator recently ($30K worth so I'm told) Great fun but if i wanted to get one where do I start? I'd like something with a wheel / pedals that I can add audio enhancements to at a laster stage In a perfect world I'd like to drive some of the Australian circuits in a GT3 if possible. Whats the entry level ? PS3 / xbox / PC / Mac I have a Mac which i'd be happy to use... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerry Posted 18February, 2015 Report Share Posted 18February, 2015 Ian, I'm in the home-straight of having just about completed the process of which you ask, and apparently from a similar starting place. I had played a lot of "arcade games" on the PS2/3/4 and xbox platforms, and although they are both excellent for what they are, I wanted to go for greater "mod-ability" and physics accuracy which ultimately meant a racing sim experience as apposed to an arcade version, which ultimately meant PC. Yes, horrors. 25 years a macman and finally driven to the darkside! A few observations... PC: This part is obviously a "how long is a piece of string" equation, suffice to say: processor speed and platform, RAM and a chunky graphics card are all extremely desirable. DISPLAY: I am using it with both a 42" Backlit LED Samsung and a 24" ASUS LED monitor. Apparently TV and gaming platforms are very compatible, likewise PCs/monitors. I'll leave it for the boffins to describe why, but there is no comparison - monitors and PCs rock! Which then points to the difference in cost vs size. Ideally 3x 27" monitors would give the best visual experience, but I'm using it mostly with the TV, and for the size, and the fact I already had it, its perfectly fine. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new VR Oculus Rift eventuates into - the beta pricing is pretty low ($3-400) so that type of thing maybe something to consider later in the year.... However, I digress... SUPPORT: I already had a steel cockpit that I had bought a couple of years ago and I've adapted that to house the PC and be on wheels to move around my studio. PEDALS/WHEELS: Can't go past the Logitech G27 as a starting out unit. As a finishing up unit probably as well, but you know how it is... once you start thinking about these things, there is always something covetable! I went with the solid as a rock FANATEC range. Expensive, but exceptionally well made and very cool. GAMES: Driven hundreds (thousands?) of laps on arcade games like GT/4/5/6, GRID and Forza etc, and only a few tens of laps now on Project Cars and Assetto Corsa, but I'm not going back. Between the two platforms, the graphics aren't all that different, but the physics of the cars (along with a nice wheel and pedals) makes for a far more intuitive/harder/rewarding virtual driving experience. I watched a SIMPIT youtube clip the other day and he was relating the advantages and accuracy of "heal and toeing" as apposed to flappy paddles, and as you'd imagine the former is absolutely crap in comparison if you simply look at the speed/laptime. If however, you wanted to try and measure up to a real driver's record around a real track from 1974, and in a H-pattern gearboxed car, then its not really the same when shifting in 1/1,000,000 of a second with the throttle fully pressed to the metal as compared to trying to juggle a cranky RSR with a 915 box around the Ring. For me, I've done the silly speed laps (which are fun), but I'm more interested now in honing my actual driving skills now rather than threading the eye of a needle in a rocketship! Hopefully I'm getting my H-pattern shifter in the next few days, and then I'll be able to fully immerse myself into the Yellowbird at Spa and Mount Panorama. Neither of these games have Porsches, but they do have RUFs - for why, see Pauly's recent post. Thats where I'm up to... 25c worth anyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatSix Posted 18February, 2015 Report Share Posted 18February, 2015 Bafe from my understanding not too many wheels on the market support Mac, or do but usually without Force Feedback. My recommendation would be to go with PC. There are some great driving games on PS and Xbox but they do not have the diversity of hardware and software for PC. Depending on what your budget is these are some parts I would recommend for getting started, decent Spec'd PC with a good quality graphics card/ CPU/ Plenty of RAM. As for wheels, both Logitech, Fanatec and Thrustmaster make some good wheels. Check out the Logitech G27 or a Fanatec CSR as good starting points. There are quite a few options and prices available (Check out some options here) It all depends on your budget and what features you want, do you want a clutch pedal? Do you want a H pattern shifter? At the least I would suggest getting a wheel with Force Feedback. Are you planning on using a racing cockpit or simply using the wheel on a desk? Decent rigs are expensive but well worth the money in my opinion. I have been using this one for a few weeks now and Im very impressed, Rock solid. It's my 3rd rig as the previous 2 were cheaper options that wobbled and were poorly designed. Now here is the bad news, You wont find a Porsche officially in any recent racing sim. You have plenty of choices if you want a RUF. Porsche has had an exclusive deal with Electronic Arts for years and all they release is Arcade style games like the Need for Speed series. This is where using PC becomes an advantage, Mods. There are plenty of Porsche Mods out there for games, they are not official but good fun none the less. Games I would check out are: rFactor and rFactor 2: rFactor is getting long in the tooth but has probably the best selection of Porsche Mods currently. rFactor 2 will likely catch up at some point but being fairly new there is not a whole lot out there. http://rfactor.net/ Assetto Corsa: Another recent release, great graphics and physics but needs more polish. They are releasing regular updates so I expect this will keep improving (they recently added the RUF Yellowbird) http://www.assettocorsa.net/en/ Project Cars: I have yet to try this one out but from the looks of it this could be a big deal when released next Month. You will need some very heavy duty graphics cards to play this in all its glory. http://www.projectcarsgame.com/ iRacing: iRacing is not something I would suggest when first starting out. It is a subscription based service and extra cars and tracks will cost you extra. It can get expensive. The upside is some of the best racing you can find, many Pro Drivers use iRacing for training and recreation. The graphics are not up to the level of Assetto Corsa or Project Cars but the physics are very accurate and all the tracks have been laser scanned for the best virtual version possible. http://www.iracing.com/ Let all that sink in and get back to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatSix Posted 18February, 2015 Report Share Posted 18February, 2015 Beat me to it Kerry! Looks like we both said similar things so thats helpful I happen to have a DK2 Oculus and Assetto Corsa and iRacing are mind blowing with it, I don't use monitors anymore. They just need to increase the resolution as the screen door effect is quite bad when your looking so far ahead picking your line. I understand the consumer version, hopefully due in the next few months, will have a much higher resolution and refresh rate. I'll be first in line! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAFE Posted 18February, 2015 Author Report Share Posted 18February, 2015 without going too crazy.... what's would you expect to pay for a PC to run this type of game? that's all it will do.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerry Posted 18February, 2015 Report Share Posted 18February, 2015 This what I ended up buying. In addition, I added another 8Gb RAM @ $96, and i think we increased the size of the power supply, cos' apparently that matters(!!!). There are Centre Com all over the place I think Ian... CENTRE COM ELSTERNWICK P/L 253 GLENHUNTLY ROAD ELSTERNWICK VIC 3185 TEL: (03) 9530 0169 FAX: (03) 9530 0133 A.B.N: 72 628 714 772 1 Corsair Carbide 300R Black Mid-Tower Gaming Case, ATX/mATX, NO PSU, Features Front USB3.0, Native SSD Compatibility 1 Thermaltake Smart Power 650W - 80 Plus Bronze 1 INTEL i7-4790 3.60GHZ 4Cores 8MB Cache LGA1150 1 GIGABYTE Z97-HD3 4*1600MHZ PCIE3.0 REALTEK 8111F-VL USB3.0 HDMI/DVI-D/VGA 1 8G KINGSTON SINGLE DDR3-1600 CL11 DESKTOP 1 EVGA GTX 760 02G-P4-2763-KR WITH ACX 980 1 SEAGATE 1TB 7200 64MB SATA 6.0 Gb/s 1 WINDOWS 7 HOME PREM 64 SP1 OEM 1 SAMSUNG SH-224DB/BEBS SATA BLACK INTERNAL 24X SPEED PLUS DVD RW DRIVE $23.18 $23.18 Subtotal $1,384.09 ****PERIPHERALS**** 1 LOGITECH G105 KEYBOARD $54.55 $54.55 1 RAZER DEATHADDER 2013 GAMING MOUSE $44.54 $44.54 $1,631.50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAFE Posted 18February, 2015 Author Report Share Posted 18February, 2015 is that PC purely to run your simulator or will you use it for "other stuff" as well.... ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simonk Posted 20February, 2015 Report Share Posted 20February, 2015 I'm told you can run Bootcamp on your Mac to install Windows on a partiton. You can then use it as either a Mac or a PC and therefore play PC games on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simonk Posted 20February, 2015 Report Share Posted 20February, 2015 What was the simulator you used by the way? Motionators? I felt sick for days after going there. They use rfactor there. I'm all rFactor at the moment and can't see myself going back to Gran Turismo. I play 3 mods in rFactor. Carrera Cup, Blancpain GT3, and Historic GT & Touring cars. (all have Porsches in them ) As rFactor is old, you don't need a real flash computer to run it. I use an old coffee table to mount my wheel and screen to and I use a banana lounge to sit on. Crewed but it works well. At a minimum, you'd want a Logitech G27 wheel which comes with 3 pedals and H Pattern gear lever. You need to have some sort of PC knowledge with these games though as it's not as simple as loading a disc and off you go. You need to understand how folders work so that when you're downloading tracks, you know where to place them on your computer. Everything you need to know is on the internet somewhere, you just need to have patience to learn how it all works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAFE Posted 20February, 2015 Author Report Share Posted 20February, 2015 What was the simulator you used by the way? Motionators? I felt sick for days after going there. They use rfactor there. I'm all rFactor at the moment and can't see myself going back to Gran Turismo. I play 3 mods in rFactor. Carrera Cup, Blancpain GT3, and Historic GT & Touring cars. (all have Porsches in them ) As rFactor is old, you don't need a real flash computer to run it. I use an old coffee table to mount my wheel and screen to and I use a banana lounge to sit on. Crewed but it works well. At a minimum, you'd want a Logitech G27 wheel which comes with 3 pedals and H Pattern gear lever. You need to have some sort of PC knowledge with these games though as it's not as simple as loading a disc and off you go. You need to understand how folders work so that when you're downloading tracks, you know where to place them on your computer. Everything you need to know is on the internet somewhere, you just need to have patience to learn how it all works. Hi Simon, I Like the sound of that, i'll go have a look at rFactor. I like the idea of driving P cars are there any Australian tracks available? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatSix Posted 20February, 2015 Report Share Posted 20February, 2015 There are plenty of Australian tracks in rFactor, there is a v8 supercar mod so most tracks the v8's raced at around 2012-2013 are available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerry Posted 20February, 2015 Report Share Posted 20February, 2015 is that PC purely to run your simulator or will you use it for "other stuff" as well.... ? I bought it for the racing sim, but I've now added another monitor and workstation to it and it drives a very heavy 3D modelling app called zBrush, so I'm getting more for my money... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AB_981 Posted 11February, 2016 Report Share Posted 11February, 2016 "Where do I start"? ... irrelevant, it's all about where you finish The EnduRacers Flat6 mod for rFactor2 is pretty nice http://www.enduracers.com/flat6rf2.html. You will need some recent hardware to run it in all it's glory but if you are happy to turn down some bling and just run a single monitor it's not too bad.Of course, after getting bitten by the bug you will need to make some space... If anyone is interested in getting online let me know, I have a small group that are slow but clean to race with.AB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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