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XBOX / PS3 type racing wheel / chair setups

Yinzer

Yinzer

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I want to simplify my Christmas shopping this year for 4 nephews aged 9-15 by getting a racing chair / monitor / wheel / feedback shaker set up.

They have the XBOX One and 360. I have a PS3 that I may be willing to "donate" if the wheel and game options are that much better and more plentiful.

Last I checked last winter, the wheel options for the XBOX were awful or overly pricey compared to PS3/4 options. The expensive ferrari wheel XBOX set up is a pure turnoff IMHO. Not paying just for the the logo...but last I remember looking last year, that was really the only option for XBOX one and it wasn't even available for the longest time.

I'd really appreciate any advice or recommendations for options to consider for:

seat / wheel / sound system/shakers
platform - XBOX or PS for the best options of wheels & game types.

I hate to admit it but I no longer have the free time to investigate fun things like this fully, though I've started to peek online.

Show your photos too?

They are not "racer afficianados" so I'm not looking for the most realistic experience ever with multiple shaker amps & speakers attached to the seat, etc. Ideal budget is $750 max all in! Am looking for something with force feedback that offers a reasonably realistic/satisfying experience of course, so that the expense & work is worth it.

I have one 20" monitor and could find a 2nd.

And one which isn't too delicate since all you fathers out there know how well pre-teens get along with each other at times.

I'm hoping there are some starter kits or complete kits that are smart options to consider, or lessons learned from you fine folk with your own setups? I think local NSX owner vivanshah has a nice setup and I'll be asking him to chime in...

Applicability to multiple games on a platform would be great also. I have the GT5 for my PS3 but the seriousness of its racing simulator setup has been somewhat of a turnoff to playing it more often...I think something more arcade-like would appeal to my nephews. They have some of the Forzas and GTA on the XBOX and seem to really like those. I'm ignorant in what's available in the marketplace but last time I checked it seemed that Sony PS3/4's had the better wheel options but XBOX had the better game options?

THX in advance for any input.
 
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I have the Xbox one and there is no good wheel for it. They are all crap. I have had forza 5 for a year and not played it because there is no good wheel. It looks like fanatec is finally going to get one but it won't be cheap. :(
 
I wouldn't bother with a 20" monitor, you need a big screen for this sort of thing IMO. I have a PS3 a Logitech G27 and a Playseat. Bought the G27 new and the playseat on craigslist. I think I spent around $350 for both. I'll see if I can find pics, I posted a couple last year on prime somewhere. If you want a seat with monitor mounts, that's likely going to make things much more expensive. My son (9) loves Gran Turismo. I just recently picked up a PS4 and am looking forward to some new driving games this Christmas for him. There are a ton of PS3 driving games the G27 works with and my understanding is it's also compatible with the PS4 (unlike Fanatec and Xbox and XBone). I'm looking at Need for Speed PS4 for XMAS, as you said I think he'll enjoy the arcade style more than the seriousness of GT5/6.

- - - Updated - - -

I can't find my pics, but it looks almost exactly like this, just with an all black seat and a different model wheel/pedals and a shifter mount (had to order separately). I drilled the mounts for the pedals and shifter and bolted them on for more stability. On this older model the wheel stand can get a little wobbly L/R but I think the newer models have solved that issue. It's fine most of the time.

playseat_02.jpg


Biggest problem for me is we don't have room to leave it out, so I have to lug it up from the basement. It's really heavy and awkward to carry and it limits our use since it's not just 'there'. Also the cats love this thing more than they like boxes. It's always covered in cat fur :)
 
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Now we're talking. Amazing how cheap 46-50" TVs are now. Gears are turning....thanks for helping me whittle thru the options.

Any thoughts on sound and "thumpers?"
 
No thoughts on sound or thumpers. Don't know that it will make that big of a difference if you already have decent audio. My PS3 is hooked up to my home theater, so it already had surround. Also with Gran Turismo, I use 3D glasses which I think makes a reasonably big visual difference, but I already had the 3D TV and receiver. I wouldn't spend a ton extra just for 3D. GT5 and GT6 (with the most recent update) both support 3D.
 
Thrustmaster is the only compatible wheels so far for PS4. They have 2. The T80 and T300RS. Only the T300RS has force feedback
 
robr said:
No thoughts on sound or thumpers. Don't know that it will make that big of a difference if you already have decent audio. My PS3 is hooked up to my home theater, so it already had surround. Also with Gran Turismo, I use 3D glasses which I think makes a reasonably big visual difference, but I already had the 3D TV and receiver. I wouldn't spend a ton extra just for 3D. GT5 and GT6 (with the most recent update) both support 3D.
Click to expand...

Since this is going to be a gift for the nephews and have its own screen, I'm thinking this will go into an area in the basement w/o any nearby home theater. I have a few spare stereo amplifiers and speakers lying around, so I think I'll use that - but would like to try some of the thumpers to add some "feel" to the chair. I've never experienced them but saw them in a youtube video years ago and the concept seemed great, to give a heightened experience.
 
Holy cow!!

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/YWkQW80Afww" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
 
Here we go,

seat:
Any of the seats will do, I used an old VW Rabbit junkyard seat for about a year, no problems. Remember, no G-forces.

wheel:
I have a Fanatec system, and I've been impressed ($200 for the wheel). Just don't get the econo-option and you probably won't be let down. My next one will be a $500 unit.

Pedals:
Something not on your list, the most important thing imo. Get one with a "load cell" brake. This is the realistic option (measures force), versus a the normal potentiometer (measures travel). It makes the pedals less of a toy in my opinion, and for only ~$70 more, mine are $180 total.

Shifter:
Again, not on the list, but very important in my opinion. I'm not going to hate on the padles, but it might be educational for your nephews to drive a 3 pedal. Get the best one you can afford. Mine's gotten beat up, and the plastic internals are feeling the pain. My $50 one is wearing out, wish I got the $90 option.

sound system:
Decent sound is cheap now-a-days. Get 'em a cheap 5.1 system, the audio and surround support are amazing in these games, gotta hear which tire is screeching.

shakers:
I would pass on any of this stuff, put the $$$ in the other stuff imo.

platform - XBOX or PS for the best options of wheels & game types
The PS3/4 has much more wheel options, same with PC. Xbox 360 and One has some proprietary barriers. If I were going to spend $750, I'd wait for some Xbox One gear to come out. But who knows when that will arrive. I'm just not sure if getting all this new stuff, for the 360 or PS3 is a good idea. Those systems are over 10 years old, why put more money into the soon to be obsolete systems? That being said, I'm still using and loving my 360 setup and will be until something breaks haha!

Games:
Project Cars drops on all consoles this November. From what I've read, it blows GT and Forza out of the water. So weather you go PS/Xbox/PC, Project Cars is the game to get for the boys!

Rig:
I've had a store bought metal frame and a home built wooden frame. Build it yourself. $100 of wood and a weekend of work blows away anything out there. The metal is thin and isn't as stiff as you think. Using some 2x4's will make it unsinkable. There's a bunch of guides online too, its not rocket science after-all. Some guys have used PVC, which isn't as friendly to work with, but will slide well on carpets haha!

If your nephews are into cars at all, especially racing games, this will be the best gift ever. No mater what you get, you can't go wrong.

Lucas
 
This is super helpful. Thanks! Had no idea that brake options exist? Is that an add-on, or something to look for in the wheelset?
 
As far as the TV part of the setup, forget the TV, get an Oculus.
Although Oculus doesn't work with PS3/4 / Xbox yet I don't think. Only PC.
 
jond said:
As far as the TV part of the setup, forget the TV, get an Oculus.
Although Oculus doesn't work with PS3/4 / Xbox yet I don't think. Only PC.
Click to expand...

Oculus is going to completely change how we game. Can't wait for it to develop more and hit the xbox one. Forza + Oculus = heaven.
 
Sounds great but would never fly as a group gift for four boys with eight eyeballs. I need to keep my project more "social," plus I'd never trust such portable hardware to a kid. :)
 
Oculus isn't there for this sort of use... Yet. The load cell brake described here is an option for fanatec but I wouldn't recommend spending the huge premium for fanatec that doesn't work on next-gen consoles. Apparently after looking into this yesterday, thrustmaster may have the only fully supported next-gen product on the market at the moment. Seems g27 doesn't work after all. Sony ended up doing the same thing Microsoft did by requiring a special chip to be used in the wheel peripherals
 
This is when I first got my house. Changed up my game room a lil bit but you get the idea (Yes that's an NSX seat). Got an Xbox1 now and planing on getting a wheel for it but want to wait for a good one.

 
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Yinzer said:
This is super helpful. Thanks! Had no idea that brake options exist? Is that an add-on, or something to look for in the wheelset?
Click to expand...

It's a type of brake pedal. Normally all 3 pedals use poteniometers, but higher end pedal sets will have a load-cell brake. The clutch and throttle act realistically with a normal poteniometer. And as I said my pedal set was under $200. Fanatec CSR Elite pedals to be exact.
 
Do they make a stick shift that actually has gears? The paddles bore me. I wold build something similar to the RS8 if there was something worth putting on it. I have a few sweet ideas but the Racing wheels available are week.
 
Logitech G27 has actual gears and paddles. So far it will not work on PS4
 
As mentioned the G27 has a shifter, had to buy an adapter for the playseat for it. However I don't use it because it sucks, at least in GT6. If you don't get the gear shift exactly right (no speed shifting), you have to shift out of gear, back into neutral, then back into gear again. Because of that I just end up using the flappy paddles. I get so wound up in a close race, I'd probably break the shifter.

As also mentioned more than a few times, currently it will not work with the PS4 (or XBone). Don't know if it ever will.
 
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