I searched the forums but didn’t find a simulator thread. I’m looking for advice to meet my goal of learning Virginia International Raceway in a SR3 or SR10 (braking points, corner speeds, etc)
I don’t need the immersive experience of a wheel, pedals, racing seat but I’m not opposed to it either.
Is PC based IRacing hands down the choice or can Forza or Assetto Corsa on PS5/Xbox be viable options?
I use iRacing mostly, and Assetto Corsa for tracks that are not in iRacing. They are very helpful in learning the tracks and getting faster, but there will be small differences in actual braking points and speed through the corners. This is not a bad thing because you still need to learn how to drive a real car at the limit and the only way to do that is to actually exceed the limit in small increments in actual conditions.
There is no SR3 in iRacing (there is an SR8), but for nearly equivalent performance the F2000 matches an SR3 well. I have used F2000 sim top speed at various tracks to select the best gear ratio for my SR3 -- this has always worked well because there is a table in the SR3 owner's manual that suggests the gear ratio based on top speed.
@davidf David, have you posted about your Sim-racing equipment? I'm considering adding sim-racing to my ongoing and ever-increasing list of vices. Getting something that maps decently to my Radical seems the way to go.
It begins with a driving sim cockpit which holds the screen, pedal set, steering wheel, keyboard tray and mouse, and is your seat. There are many choices out there for these components; I feel a good steering wheel with strong and fast feedback force and good pedal set are must-have. I have a curved screen but now I only use a VR headset which feels much more realistic than a screen to me. A gaming box like Xbox or a gaming PC with graphics card completes the system. Some drivers go crazy and get a full motion chassis which I bet is cool but I think is unnecessary because there is sufficient feedback from the wheel, pedals, audio, and visual.
I recommend researching each of the main components of the system by reading reviews and watching reviews on youtube to gain an understanding of the features and prices. I have Next Level Racing F-GT cockpit, Fanatec wheel and pedal set, Valve Index VR headset, and a dedicated gaming PC with a moderately strong graphics card. I purchased the entire sim slightly used for $5000 in 2020; the retail price was $7k for the system, and I imagine one of similar features could be purchased today for about the same amount. It is a little pricey, but I feel it is very worth it for the driving experience that can be gained without leaving your home.
David, thank you for your reply and an even bigger thank you for the VR Headset recomendation. I spent about 6 hours designing my setup and have attached everything I purchased below from Amazon for others to use as a possible mock up. I basically selected the 2nd tier of every product as 90% effectiveness at 50% price is my kind of math.
What I have is a near top of the line computer build and an entry level cockpit designed to fold away. The real expensive builds I’m finding are all about adding realism to the cockpits but the hardware I show below will be one heck of a platform especially if using VR
I wanted a simple XBOX/PS5 couch solution but ultimately decided a full fledged simulator would yield the best results.
Simulation Hardware:$1,500
Collapsable Cockpit: Next Level Racing F-GT Lite Formula and GT Foldable Simulator Cockpit (NLR-S015)
Wheel: Thrustmaster Ferrari SF 1000 Edition Officially Licensed Formula One Wheel Add On (Compatible with XBOX Series X/S, One, PS5, PS4, PC)
Wheel Base: Thrustmaster TS XW Servo Base (XBOX Series X/S, XOne & Windows)
Pedals: Thrustmaster T-LCM Pedals (Compatible with PS5, PS4, XBOX Series X/S, One, PC)
Shifter: Thrustmaster TH8A Gear Shifter (Compatible with PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
Monitor / Headset: $575
I havent purchased this yet as im going to try my 75inch Samsung 4K TV in living room first.
VR Headset: Quest 3 128GB + Elite Strap
PC Gaming Build:$2,200
Building/assembling your PC is an easy way to save $1,000 but you can just buy a built setup aswell.
Click on the link to see all my PC components
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nYjrBL
Total Build: $4,275
This build exceeds the specification requirments of the highest setting for IRacing and the VR Headset. I could have built a setup for 1/2 the price that would probably be all I need but I future proofed if for awhile.
(I had posted Amazon links for everything but they didn't format correctly and I had to remove them)
