And so it passes

 Today I listed my G29.

It's been a great wheel, but I've had my epic Fanatec for over a year now, so it's time to retire it, and by retiring it I mean sell it and pretty much for the price of the G29, shifter and stand buy a stop button for my current rig. Such is the scale of things.

A reminder of what it was...

Tidy unit

#Improved

To get it fit for sale there was a bit of work, not least as the potentiometer for the throttle wasn't really showing much potential for the future.

The lucky purchaser will have a unit that has:

• A deep cleaned unit - I stripped it right back and blew out every cat hair I could find...
• I even put dubbin on the leather wheel!
• A replaced throttle with the clutch unit from a spare - this potentiometer does less work so lasts longer. I.e. refurbed the throttle.
• Replaced cover - I had a spare, better condition one (one that I hadn't cut in half to get to the pots' to clean them*)
• An upgraded shifter. It's not Fanatec, but it's a mile better than standard.
• A cleaned Fanatec stand (still can't believe they put their name to it). I did remove the 'triangle' brace that was on it, though I might chuck that in once explained to the prospective purchaser.

And for all that, someone will hopefully enjoy sim racing just a little bit more.

*My not great potentiometer on the throttle used to flutter at full throttle, a quick blast of contact cleaner and it used to work for a few nights - to facilitate this I cut the back off the pedal casing, it looked ghetto but actually worked better. Not fit for sale though!

And what of the new rig, the one that's roughly 20x the price (OMG saying it like that!).

I re-did all the cabling, that's what. And whilst it doesn't make a great pic, it's far better now than it was...

A lot of cables. Not quite cablegore.

I also put blanking capping in all the channels that are likely to accumulate dust, and by dust I mean red wine when I knock over a full glass getting into the seat. Nothing to see here, move along...

And update time:

Gone...

$300 and that's a good deal for everyone actually.

I hope the two kids who've bought it enjoy it just as much as I did - they'll never know it's had upgraded springs I bet!

This is the most useless post ever

 

This is the QR Code for this page. Useless as you're already here.

Upgrade your Rim

 

You might be the owner of the fantastic Fanatec Porsche 918 rim - suitable for racing in all positions and classes with the shift lights that can be seen from space...

Possibly like me, you’ve considered upgrading the 918 rim’s shifters, they’re smooth, but not ‘snick/click’ like a shifter should be, in my opinion.

To cut to the chase, I bought some of the cheaper magnetic upgrades of eBay, it’s a bolt-on accessory so no harm no foul, etc.

Fitting, easy. Four bolts + a bit of fettling of the 3D printing that was ‘ok’ spec at best.

But, the magnets aren’t touching the shifters – so no click. On reflection, I’m divided on this as it’s kept it all quiet (midnight racing goodness), but then again I’ve not got a definitive click on pulling.

I think there’s more weight, but it’s a bit like putting a K&N on your car – it goes faster because you’re trying harder to notice…

Overall, would I do it again? No. The risk of something bad happening (threading the plastic hole that the M3’s go in, something else breaking) is actually not worth the return on the particular set I got. It’s not a monumental upgrade.

I might be saving for the proper upgrade, they do look good.

You had so much potential

A late post edit to this...

On the 918 wheel you can adjust the shifters fore and aft with a few turns of adjustment. I did this and now these are nearly my favourite addition to the overall sim rig - my shifters snick and click as I wanted them too. And it's very noticeable.

Happy Days!

Automobilista 2 - skinned

 AMS 2 is a great game. 

Actually, it's a fantastic game that's been getting better and better over the past year or so.  

But they're a small setup and don't waste money on race series liveries (assuming licensing costs). But they did waste a little time on being able to add skins to the game. And it's transformed it from one with great racing to one with a much deeper immersion.

I'm not really sure why, but I'm assuming it's because the races look so much realistic. Whatever the case is, this is a game worth getting and spending time in.

Supercar v8s -they're all the same underneath right?

GT1 Porsche - how could you not like this!

Actually, unskinned, but still awesome.

Around about now I get confused as to what's skinned and what isn't. Carrera Cup racing is awesome in any case.

Put a bit of time into looking at this, and you can see that it's more than just an action shot - there's tyre deformation, suspension travel and the car is rolling. Impressive really.

I made the news. Literally.

First off, points for counting the puns in that title. My finest work!

And the second bit of fine work would be an addition to a fine gentleman who records "let's play" sessions on Farm Sim 19.

Without getting too embroiled in my history and love of farming in general (and love of not having to do it, cos it's crazy hard work) I regularly watch a fellow, MrSealyP, play through various maps online.

It's very cathartic actually, he enjoys a chat and so along with some easy viewing, there's some easy listening...

But, high drama, an episode or so ago in the early stages of a new map he got his tractor stuck and said "that'll make the news"... and so it did.

Whilst I watched the rest of the episode I created a one-pager headlines page for the 'local rag' and submitted it to the channel's discord server.

And, I do feel privileged, it is featured in the next episode!

Behold:

I'm humbled and thrilled about this. Not sure I'll do another one, other than fake news (and there's enough of that) then there's not too much material. We'll see...

And in the meantime, here is the news!

This month I've mostly been driving this...

 It's all about Automobilista 2 at the moment.

This game gets better and better frankly - the tracklist has passed a tipping point that there's now a decent selection, even being able to pronounce some of them now... And the car list has gone up too, with some notable additions like a historic 911. This latter has been compared to the Kunos version, and I think I'd say that they are comparable, at least Kunos 'feels' like it probably should, but the AMS2 version is more trackable. I'd rather race it (safely) frankly.

And the racing... recent updates have made all the cars handle well, even the somewhat shonky GT3 cars that were outshone by ACC are better, I think still in the shadow, but certainly worthy of racing now.

But what prompted this (infrequent) post? Two things, a go at using the AMD 5700 XT's recording feature and also trialling skinning my cars in the game, and no, that's not some weird fetish.

What it was is a happy hour or so searching for decent liveries for the cars of AMS2 and then testing them out. I was a bit sceptical at first, but a recent go with the Carerra Cup car in AC (in which I was blown away by the awesome look and immersion generated) had me reckoning that it was worth a shot.

So, sans backup (idiot) I did a load of the cars, and barring one class that lost most of its skins but was easily fixed I did it.

And below is just one of the many fruits of my labour... I recommend clicking through and watching in glorious 4k (as that's what I play and recorded at) - note the little FPS counter top left, in-game racing it's a solid 60Fps which marries up with my 65" TV/Monitor, but replays certainly hurt the PC.

Anyway, behold:

2 Minute Buyers Guide

Right, here it is, the racing games I play with a fortune cookie's worth of commentary to go with them.

1. Automobilista 2 / AMS2

Buy it. A fantastic game with a great collection of cars and tracks that is only getting better. Not an outright sim, but better for it. Current graphics etc make for a great game.

2. Assetto  Corsa Competizione / ACC

Great GT3 and GT4 sim. The game is unforgiving, but the cars are. If you're planning on running this on a potato forget it. Rewards great everything, driving, equipment and mates. Online shines but also stinks as often frequented by myopic angry people who think they're Fangio.

3. Assetto Corsa (the older one) / AC

The everything sim. If you collect cars and tracks then this is the game for you. Content Manager is essential. You're rewarded with a game that is still current, runs on the aforementioned potato and drives amazingly well. Online marred (for me) by not having AI to race against in race nights.

4. Rfactor2 / RF2

The great grandparent of racing games, and as just as delusional. The physics in this game are as great as the UI is bad. And if you're planning on setting up a server and racing, be prepared for some serious madness. If you do manage the masonic ritual of setup then you're rewarded with excellent racing for sure, just mangled in a UI and setup environment that's less than optimal.

5. Grid (the new Grid, not the old Grid, etc)

I do actually really like this game. It's a great arcade racer for chilling out with. Every bit as good (as far as I can tell) as that Project Cars version that shall not be named. Oh and it looks great too. Pro advice, get a digital dashboard so you have shift lights, etc - it makes the game far better.

6. Project Cars 2 / PCars2

A dated game now, but get all the content and ramp up the settings and it still feels current. Probably one of the best all-round packages for content in any game (not including community mods). Largely speaking it's the same physics as AMS2 which is based on this, just less polished. I'd say hard to tell the difference for average gaming.

7. Grid Autosport (the old Grid!)

If you can get this to run with your wheel and can max the graphics you'll be pleasantly surprised. Worth the sub $10 it often is as a true simcade game erring towards the 'cade end. Everything is very last-gen but great for all that. 

8. Race Room Racing Experience  / R3E

I so want to like this game but I can't. Content adds up to eye-watering prices too quickly. The physics feel remarkably PCars2 for all that, and getting wheels to work seemed too much like hard work. If I had patience and money (No, I've not got my mind set on you, like the song), I'd get into this as generally an OK game. But not remarkable when you have the catalog of games above.

9. Dirt Rally 2.0

Buy this game if you like rally racing. It really is exceptional. Racing the slower club cars feels great as you can thrash the bejesus out of them and still get to the end of the stage. Whoever can race the old 911 on gravel in the rain has my respect. An uncompromising rally sim that's not half bad.

8. WRC 9 

Loved WRC 7 & 6 on the PlayStation. Not really getting it on the PC. It looks great, and I think generally is. But the arms race of reality rallying with the Dirt series has made this less accessible to the casual gamer. Does look great though. Loses points as no fancy digital dash data feed.

9. Spintires / Mudrunner

Yes I know they're separate games, but to the rest of us they're one and the same, and frankly, little to chose between them. Polish vs. Mod mostly. All sorts of sordid history in these two games. So very East European. On PS4 Mudrunner was a great beer and chill game, somehow it doesn't seem to have the same feel on PC.

10. Dirt 4

A favourite on PS4, uninstalled on PC. It is the same game and looks and feels the same. And it is an excellent game. But, on PC the controls interface, specifically saving it to the next time you play is severely broken. It's so annoying, I wanted to like this game on PC, but frustration at actually getting into it outpaces the enjoyment. Avoid on modern equipment.

11. Dirt 1.0 (the one before Dirt 2.0)

Free all over the place. The first attempt at a rally simulator from the Dirt team and they nailed it. Just not as polished as Dirt 2.0 I find. Somehow harder. Looks and feels great though for the price.

12. Seb Loeb Rally

Exactly the same issues as with Dirt 4, except you can't even set the gear up in the first place. Great game on PS4 though!

And so there it is. My current collection of games, most installed, a few not. The reality is that race night is on AMS2, off nights is Dirt 2.0 and AC with a smattering of PCars2 and ACC when I want to mix it up.

Close call

 I do thoroughly enjoy Automobilista 2. Since upgrading where I sit to race it's only got better.

Tonight for example I had a top race at Bathurst in the V8s. They're not real V8s insofar as they are called Super V8s, and they only have Chevrolet V8s, or Holdens. So all the best bits then.

This is that race, or a bit of it.

At some point, I'll sort out capturing replays and put that up, but for now, it's just stills.

But why a close call? Back when I first started racing AMS2 I had a close race, and I've just found the shots I took to show just how close, behold...

That's a zero difference finish with the AI, to a thousandth of a second. I'm mightly surprised that's even possible. But there it is.

And I took an in-game picture or at least got as close as I could with slow motion, not frame advance...

It certainly was close.

One Month - Buyers Remorse?

It's been a little over a month now that I've had 'the rig' and I'm pleased to say that buyers remorse hasn't set in. It might be because it was actually a few months ago now that I bought all the gear, or it may be that I'm still getting to grips with the whole setup.

Anyway, like all good projects it's never finished, so this is Rig Evo, or Stage I tune, or whatever bullshiat that we like to call bolting things on to improve (what generally broke anyway).

Here's a rundown of what I've done to change things up a bit...

The standard Fanatec knobs are OK. But the cylindrical one looks like a low earth orbit resupply ship and is about the same size. And the traditional round knob has a rubber band around it of some sort - you'll see them in product shots. Thankfully the shaft (way too much knob/shaft words, sorry profanity filters) is standard fare for car parts. And so a happy half hour lining up this Sparco thing and life is better. I'd prefer a smooth one (not using that word again), but in terms of size, weight and general feel, that'll do for some time I think. Note to buyers, this would be huge on a car though - having similar, but smaller and smoother on my MX5, vicar.

I've posted this elsewhere as a hilarious 'see the bottle of red' holder. But in reality, this is plain and simple a water holder. It is ace. I drink plenty of fluid through my night's gaming thanks to this. The engineering of it is pleasing too....

I bought a metal (and of course black) holder and a couple of bottles from the local store, drilled out the mounting holes, ground down two T-slot bolts (they were too proud for the bottle), and fitted. 

And it works well, it's not in my line of sight, is close enough to reach without being in the way, and without a bottle it is unobtrusive enough to not detract from what is surely a piece of art.

As an aside, I 'stole' a quick-release clippy thing from the pedals (cos there's nothing quick about releasing them) and used it as a hook for my headset, perfect actually. And before I'm lambasted about cheap headsets, this is voice-only and has the great feature of sitting away from one's ear, very important when it's 30.c+ in the room with the air-con on.

Lumbar support is key in this setup. The seat doesn't tilt quite far enough back to support my thighs. It's comfortable enough, but early on I grabbed a cushion from around the house to push my kidneys back to where they should be in the scheme of me. But it was some dour checked affair. 

Then I found this online. It is a thing of beauty and really does sit well in the whole setup. And if you look closely (i.e. inside) you'll see the same house cushion doing its thing. Happy days.

Not so much a new thing, but an adjusted thing, and worth noting for those with these pedals and without simian proportions in arm and leg.

Talking to a fellow TrackRacer owner they mounted the hinges (the silver bit) on the main rail and did away with the uprights. I like this idea, but to do so would mean moving the diagonal supports back further towards the seat - and as you can see, that's not happening.

The solution, and maybe when a mate is around... is to spin the pedal plate by 180 degrees, so they're at the bottom of the plate then I can move the whole thing out away from the seat. The challenge there is that then the setup will be getting too close to Big Rig ergonomics, not Sim Rig. Hmmm. I remain less than enamoured with the pedal setup, but for now it works OK and is comfortable enough.

---

Next? I'm waiting on a handbrake, and as this is a no expense spared build, I've spared no expense at all and bought damn near the cheapest one I could find...

Before I fit this though I'm thinking I'll swap the cheap sponge grip for something more in keeping with the setup - that'll be a case of removing the brake shaft where the two vertically aligned bolts connect it and replace with a length of old bike handlebar (I have plenty). This will allow me to then pick any number of quality grips. Quality.

Certainly, I'll be pulling this apart to get a good look at how it works and see if there are any corners I can uncut in its relatively cheap build.

---

And that's it. I was tempted by the Fanatec McLaren V2 rim that's recently been released, but my racing is all sorts of cars in a single night, so it would be a constant switching of rims. And yes, I have the full quick release shenanigans, it's just not "OMG I'm on fire" quick. So my current rim is fine, very fine in fact, and for the money it all costs, bloody marvellously fine for sure.

New Sim Gear - TrackRacer Fanatec Tears

There's no easy way to say this, I've spent a small fortune on my racing.

What's more, I've limited my options somewhat, with no more PS4 racing (*sniff*). Actually, I'm not so worried about that - the games I rated on there, PCars2 and Assetto Corsa are both equally fine on PC, and the only way I'm going to miss GT Shart is if I take a shot at it.

Rollback to mid-year 2020, the year I suddenly had a lot more free time and a one-time paycheck that would cover a fairly fancy car... and like many, I went through the mill. Towards the end of the year I got myself together, found some work and more importantly got fed up with my G29's pedals.

I'll do an end-of-life review for my old G29, it won't be pretty not least as in the years I owned it I bought at least three of them. The final straw was the never-ending issues with throttle potentiometers, culminating with me angle grinding most of the casing out and like using easy start on some old banger, spraying contact cleaner in before every race night.

From there it wasn't a hard stretch to get where I ended up, I recommend using this list (without prices) on your other half to justify what's close on 1/2 a ton of gaming gear in the living room...

1. Have a clearly inferior product.
2. Justify new pedals that don't rely on potentiometers... that's the Fanatec V3 BTW.
3. As you're doing new pedals, you need a new wheel.
4. As you're doing Fanatec, might as well be them.
5. You're only doing this once, so get a direct drive - DD1 < Cheaper than the DD2!
6. You need a wheel. Any will do, but I opted for a Fanatec Porsche 918 rim, as I race sports and historic more than GT. Glad I did.
7. Now you've got a DD wheel you need to mount it. TrackRacer's TR8020 is reasonably priced (LOL) and more to the point very configurable and extendable into the future.
8. Oh yes, almost forgot... (use those words), I'll need a H pattern and sequential, Fanatec does a single unit for that, so that's a saving too!

That's how I ended up waiting for many boxes to arrive that had, all up:

• TrackRacer TR8020 frame
• TrackRacer mouse plate add-on
• TrackRacer digital dash add-on
• Fanatec DD1 base
• Fanatec Clubsport V3 pedals
• Fanatec Porsche 918 rim
• Fanatec H pattern shifter.

And a serious build exercise, which I'll dig into below. Before that, a very brief summary of what I've learnt through the build experience.

Must Do's:

I watched a review build on the TR8020, and they recommended getting a measuring/square tool thing, I'm sure there's a proper name for it, whatever. Anyway, these were essential tools:

The tape measure is a no-brainer. The socket drive with Allen key adapter was a godsend in the end (so many bolts!), the cutters are to nibble tabs off brackets (you're instructed to) and the blue thing is the fancy measuring thing - also highly important.

Another must do is to watch a few youtube vids of the build, there are a few out there including the official '10min quick start guide'. That's genius, as there is nothing quick about this build other than the realisation that it's going to take a lot of time.

Like me, you'll probably have a cold sweat moment over the lack of instructions. You can find them on the TrackRacer site. They're not great. 

My 'rig' doesn't look like the one in the picture.

In fact, I don't think it ever could. The instructions aren't for the wheel clamp I have (for the DD1) and I struggle to see how the pedal plate lines up. The must-do out of all this - don't be afraid to set the frame to suit your situation.

Wheels... I bought wheels to move it around. In fact, I bought two sets, and have six wheels on my rig (EuroTruck anyone?) to spread the weight a bit. I'm glad I bought that many. And I can tell you I also hate those wheels. I must have fitted them half a dozen times - lining up stuff and making sure the spacer is in the right place. The advice here - experiment with one until it spins freely when mounted to its plate. Did I mention using a ratchet Allen key... 

The last must-do. Learn to dislike the pedal plate set up with a passion. It's the last thing in the instructions... there's a light at the end of the tunnel. But it's a train coming the other way and it's the 'Over-engineering express' train, destination compromise via complex-city. I'll explain below.

The Build:

First post of my new sim-rig. Rate my sim rower!

Was still laughing at this point...

For posterity, this is the build space. Basically, I emptied out the TV room and made space on one side. The rig is on wheels so I roll it across on race (every) night.

Little wins. I have a USB switch box, which allows me to flick headset and keyboard between PC and PS4 Pro. It used to flop around in front of a TV cabinet. No more, in fact, the cabinet is no more either...

Part of the exercise was to remove the old TV cabinet. Over a decade of fluff sat behind there along with a myriad of cables and 'too hard' to remove stuff. 

Yes, that's twin subs, one active, one passive, both romp.

All this got pulled out from the old TV cabinet and behind. Colin Chapman would be proud.

Obligatory box shot. F'ing heavy box shot for that matter.

This was the first box I opened, it is the dash holder - I have a 7" digital dash (old tablet).

This is when I realised that the TR8020 is over-engineered - somewhere there's an armoured car missing a side plate...

Built. I didn't use it like this in the end. The bottom holder is too big for a smaller keyboard. And the top one... well I took an angle grinder to that to get plug space. 

Finally, the waldo arm affair... no. I just used one and some angle clamps to fit it to the frame, it's much simpler and not a meter away from me!

At this point I started opening boxes. Some bags are labelled some are not.

Scaffolding. Some covered, some not. It's a very inconsistent kit.

Manufacturing fail. The DD1 clamp was delivered with paint damage. I'm not surprised, I'm not certain but I think the paint is a black mist that the parts are passed through. You do need to be careful or you're going to have a beater of a rig...

What makes up for the lack of paint is the amount of steel involved. This is for the DD1.

And it's all heavy-duty stuff. 

Wheels. I hate you. I'm glad I have you. You hate me.

On a side note, if you're building this in your living room and you don't have these, good luck.

The amount of wheeling around I did as I worked on the frame, I'm not sure I could have built it without them. Hateful things. Also, brakes, why? No one has a slope in their living room!

The old adage, measure twice cut once is true.

The new adage, measure twice, fit thrice.

Fitting seat rails - measure the bejesus out of these or they won't work.

Also, note that you'll need to move them again anyway when you realise you've maxed adjustment after you've fitted the pedals. Measure twice fit thrice...

This is in fact a happy shot. For some reason fitting the wheel and chair felt like I was nearing the end of the build.

I wasn't.

In true over-engineering style, the shifter plate is on a heavy-duty adjuster plate. I'm tempted to pull that off and have it direct to the 8020 bar that's fitted. It doesn't wobble noticeably in use, but certainly, there is leverage to be had and feel in time.

Fitting (for the fist time) the pedal plate.

You become a man fitting these (several times).

I looked round and all the bits were nearly all used up. Amazing, and very satisfying, somewhat clouded by the tears of drained mojo (this was night three).

Fitted. Note that this is not the final form, I moved it all as the pedals were too high. The adjustment gubbins on the plate is tosh in my opinion. I'm sure it works, and it does allow for a shorter main frame. Except that really you're not going to be altering this very often. I'd have preferred a basic 8020 T-slot affair.

OMG it's actually built

Final form. Note that the pedal plate is now lower where it hinges. 

That was a monumental effort to do. I also had to move the uprights (angles means lower is further away) and only just managed to get the diagonal parts to fit. There's no more adjustment.

In fact, I think at some point I'll buy some T-slot bars and convert to something altogether easier to setup. 

The mouse mat is fitted too, not sure if that's how it's supposed to be done, I think possibly not (as I used dash parts), but it's perfect there like that and only a minor coincidence that beer will sit on there...

---

And that's it. Q&A Time:

Q: Would I do it again.

A: Not without someone to help, it was hard to hold, measure and tighten at the same time.

Q: Buyers remorse then?

A: Not at all. I skip past the cost and just enjoy driving so much more now.

Q: Comfortable?

A: Somewhat. When the pedals were too high it really wasn't. Lowering them and putting a thin cushion (not some epic lumbar roll) behind my lower back helps. And my back is stuffed from a few things. So I'd say ultimately yes.

Q: Do anything different in the build?

A: I'd do the base frame, then pedals then seat. Fit my pedals and get them right before the wheel frame etc. In this way, I think adjustment could have been easier to manage.

Q: Recommendations to TrackRacer?

1. The above point for the pedals. 

2. Sell a six-wheel kit, not four. 

3. Re-design the button/dash setup, it's too heavy and has no cable portholes. 

4. Not sure any picture of a build I've seen works ergonomically. I'm not a freak (mostly) but my rig does not look like others with the pedals off out into the distance.

5. Pre-assemble the seat slider frame - it's the same for everyone and that's complexity that can be avoided.

Q: Of the Fanatec gear

A: All awesome, another post some time into the future...

----

And that's it for this post, a bit like finishing the build, huge, and ultimately something you stare at and wonder why you did it in the first place...

More posts on usage soon I'm sure.