Anyone play with car sims

[Brad Vaughan]

The topic came up recently about using car sims to simulate autox tracks, for a bit of fun.. I was wondering if any of the autox group play around with sims and what experience they have..

I have a fanatec wheel on my old xbox for Forza, Colin McCrea and various other rally sims (at least 10 years old).. I also have logitech G27 on a PS3 for Gran Turismo, Need for Speed, and F1..

Because I like to concentrate while I work, I have one of them hooked up to a 27″ monitor and mounted on on a wheel stand pro. The other is in a spare room hooked up to a larger TV and mounted on a PlaySeat..

It may not sound like it, I don’t really spend that much time playing them. I was interested if anyone had done any work with track editors for any car sims. I was interested in translating some of the autox challenges onto the sim.

[Michael Costa]

I am not too sure how to edit tracks on Forza, but on Forza 2, some of the really tight, fictional infield test tracks, like Diamondback, offer a lot of tight turns as oppose to long sweeping turns on the other tracks. The thing about Forza is that there isn’t a slalom element. I;ve been playing Forza III, and Dirt III (rally).

Do you have a recommendation for a racing wheel and a mount? I have been thinking about getting one. My racing sim buddies are pushing me into F1, and I am getting burnt out on driving with thumb sticks.

[Brad Vaughan]

There are not that many options for wheels and game support for the features can be hit or miss..

Best plan is to work out which game you initially want to spend time on and then select one of the supported wheels.

Overall the broadest support is for Logitech wheels because they are the volume seller. I have a G27, but I think the Driving Force GT is the best bang for buck.

There are a lot more mounting options.. The Wheel Stand Pro is heavy (read stable) and really well made if you are just using a normal office chair or couch.

Lots of evals and discussion on this site;
http://www.insidesimracing.tv/

[Michael Kolesar]

I use Simbin’s Race 07 series on my computer with a Logitech G27. I actually have autocross course that I run. The problem is it can only handle a certain number of knock over cones, the rest all act like cement pylons and will flip your car or stop you very solidly if you hit them. My current mount isn’t ideal using a number of counter weights boards and a stool, but in the future I intend to get a old E30 sport seat and weld myself up a legitimate racing seat setup with fully adjustable seat and steering wheel positioning.

[Brad Vaughan]

This is a picture of the play seat and the G27

[attachment=2]play-seat-and-g27.jpg[/attachment]

[Anonymous]

I use a G25 to play rFactor and rFactor2, F12010, and Gran Turismo 5. The wheel is mounted on a WheelStand Pro which is nice. rFactor feels a bit slippy especially in the rear of the cars, but it’s pretty good if you like hyper-prepared cars for your sim. Gran Turismo is just fun and very pretty to look at. rFactor2 is still in beta, so some days you can play and some days you can’t. The online portion of rFactor is good, and some people have serious events with it, including endurance races.

I’ve not seen anyone do autocross tracks for it, but I’d be curious to see one.

[Ryan Rich]

Check out a game called [url=http://lfs.net]Live For Speed[/url]. They have an awesome AutoX editor that allows you to create your own track. Long ago I used to create the track and continue to drive it so I could find places i needed to improve. I highly recommend getting a good wheel like a Logitech G25 or G27 and a TrackIR. [url=http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/]TrackIR[/url] is worth every penny imho and gives you the ability to look ahead which is what I think is most lost in the transition to the virtual.

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