Newbie to sim world

[rave motorsports]

Okay I'm an experienced racer that owns an FST prep shop. I want to add a simulator for driver training and my own off season fun. Our investment is heavy in what we do and are putting most of our funds into new race cars to lease. Needless to say that gobbles up tons of cash. I actually have a chassis and body from an old Caracal and also an 84 Reynard FC that I would like to use in conjunction with the stuff for a simulator to give a real feel. What I need help with is the simulator side of the equation. Any and all suggestions appreciated. I'm enclosing a picture of the shop area that's being finished to house the simulator.

[crypt0zink]

Are you asking how to add motion to the sim cockpit? or how to build out a static cockpit?

Using the Caracal or 84 Reynard FC is a cool idea if you can adapt high-quality off the shelf sim racing controls (ie wheel/base & pedals).

Fanatec's wheel base might work in your existing chassis with some creativity. Same for the pedals.
http://www.fanatec.com/us-en/

After building numerous sim cockpits, most people would agree that high-quality sim controls, 3 monitors and seating position are the keys to a good sim.

[rickb99]

....Fanatec's....

WHOLEY STUFF Batman!!! You can easily drop 2K on that stuff.

Nice, but I used to SIM race in all the Mods for NASCAR Heat (and helped make many of them) with an old joystick I had laying around. Had a great time.

[Jim Edmonds]

Suggest you contact Kelly Jones at RaceCraft1. His business is auto racing simulators.
kelly.jones@racecraft1.com. I've known him for about 15 years and have used his services. He also builds CART simulators and has had professional drivers involved. He helped me with my FF simulator.

From one of his emails:
www.RaceCraft1.com
8660 Guion Road
Indianapolis, IN 46268

(317)500-4748

Have fun,

Jim Edmonds
Phoenix, AZ
RF85, RF94

[crypt0zink]

WHOLEY STUFF Batman!!! You can easily drop 2K on that stuff.

2-3K would be a good starting point for a 3 monitor, sim seat/chassis, PC & controls setup. Of course you could do it for less if you find used or have a good PC, spending more is easy..

[Sully]

Just buy this one... Not mine and not affiliated.... Its just badass

http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/vgm/4700768587.html

[Blair Robertshaw]

I too race real world and I too am now in the full motion Pro Grade Racing simulator business. I have a new facility about to open in Calgary Alberta.

first let me say if you are looking for as close to real world as possible than you need to have a respectable budget. in the past 3 years I have spent over 75K on chassis', brake sets, FFB wheel hubs, steering wheels, seats and the like that were reported to be the REAL THING.

let me say this, the advertising and packaging was much better than the quality. it frustrated me so much that I now build my own formula chassis that is full motion. I will attach a pic at the bottom. with respect to motion for your purpose 3DOF is about all you have room for and 6 DOF creeps into the 300K range for your base alone. you will never get G force, at best you may find some gimmick for tightening seat belts under braking, some are good, some are not. what you need is a foot box that wont flex under braking, a steering assembly that does not flex. do not think for a moment that a FANTEC, Thrustmaster or even an ECCI Trackstar will do it, you need to employ a BODNAR Force Feedback Steering wheel hub / motor. a real racing wheel (the one below isbuilt by a company out of the UK, they build F1 wheels for the teams that do not build there own, this is the top shelf wheel, others are available for much less that equally effective) and most important is the correct ergonomic seating position. you have all those in your chassis. next is a great set of hydraulic brakes with 2 pull cylinders for the brake and 1 pull cylinder for the clutch. OBP make a great pedal set in example. next is a high quality CPU with a great video card with a good fast SSD. 3 screens are a must, your target FOV (field of view should be 170 to 179 degrees, closet to 179 is the target) Do not have your screens move with the chassis. for motion a good start is 4 x DBOX 4250i. you need to set your CG in the middle of the 4 actuators, I can explain to you how to get adjustable C of G if you are interested. also actuator must be in line with each other from front to back, being you are using and old chassis you can nail the C of G and actuator placement quite easily. anyway, I live this world.

they are great tools for learning tracks, developing muscle memory, teaching new and established race car drivers how to make good quick descisions. you can run data like MOTEC or Atlas data and if you use good pressure transducers like a MOTEC your brake traces in simulation will be very near what they are in the real world race car. (of course some differences as a result of no G force) but certainly good enough to teach a driver what good braking looks like versus bad braking. Steering inputs, gear traces and the like are all the same. anyway, shoot me an email if you want to learn more

[Blair Robertshaw]

here is a shot of cockpit from drivers perspective. the wheel in the picture is also carbon fiber, much fewer controls and is priced much less than the f1 wheel above. this wheel is a converted FANATEC wheel. higher quality buttons and rotaries, GP 2 shift paddles with QR and different hand grips. sorry cant seem to get the pic to rotate!