The Chicane Podcast

Behind the Wheel in VR: A Guide to Enhancing Your Racing Rig

• TGS Sim Racing • Episode 5

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Feel the rush of the racetrack and immerse yourself in the virtual world of high-speed racing as we, your hosts Jason, Eric, and Jeff, bring you an electrifying discussion on the latest in VR racing innovations. Strapping on the PSVR on PS5 will have you zooming through the meticulously detailed landscapes of GT7, with realism that's simply unmatched. But that's just the start line. We steer you through the nuances of sim racing hardware, from the tactile feedback of your wheel to the heart-pumping frame rates that make every turn and drift feel lifelike.

Rev up your engines for a deep dive into the role of depth perception in VR racing and the crucial choices behind selecting the right gear. Whether you're wrestling with the learning curve of VR headsets or fine-tuning your rig for the perfect drive, we share our personal trials and triumphs to help you navigate this thrilling world. From the tactile feedback of different steering wheels to the wide array of racing views and perspectives, we lay out the blueprint for crafting your optimal racing experience – because when it comes to sim racing, every detail counts.

As we cross the finish line, we leave you with a sneak peek at upcoming reviews of the latest SimGear and send out safety wishes for your high-octane adventures. Join us for a ride that's as informative as it is sonically pleasing, thanks to Jeff's new podcast mic, making sure you hear every gear shift and tire squeal with crystal clarity. Remember, whether it's choosing the right wheel or finding your perfect racing view, it's all about the journey. So buckle up, listeners – it's going to be a wild ride!

Please e-mail the show for any questions, comments or stories/experiences at thechicanepodcast@gmail.com

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Jason:

The Hello and welcome to the Chicane Podcast, where we discuss all things in the sim racing world. I'm your host, jason Rivera, and I'm joined here by Eric and Jeff. How are you all doing today?

Jeff:

Doing good. Hey, couldn't be doing better.

Jason:

Look at that. So I got my boy here, Jay Smart, aka Jeff. He just upgraded his equipment arsenal. He's running now a podcast mic to support the show. I appreciate that, Jeff. Thank you so much.

Jeff:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hopefully everybody appreciates the uh little step up in audio here stepping up the game here, stepping up the podcast definitely ready to go, we care about your ears.

Jason:

You know what I mean. That's, that's the truth so today quality product here.

Jason:

So today we we got again three topics for you. Um, we have vr, we're going to cover specifically psvr on the ps5 and we're going to hand that over to our expert on consoles, mr eric kelly. And and then, after that discussion, we're going to roll into steering wheel ratios and the differences and different wheel sizes as well. It's all related and then, if we have time, if we have time, we'll touch on the different sim racing platforms. So, without further ado, I'm going to hand this over to Eric Kelly to discuss PSVR, specifically us psvr, specifically on ps5 and with the emphasis of uh gt7 yeah, so thank you, jason.

Erick:

Uh, I have no problem discussing the best vr racing experience on the on the planet right now, which is gt7 on psvr2 on the ps5. Um, it's mind-boggling if, if you've got a stomach for it, if it doesn't make you sick, it is easily worth the investment. Ps5 plus the headset Rig no rig. There are guys I know they race on controller but just the immersion, the attention to detail is phenomenal. If you just enjoy cars, even outside of racing, they have virtual showrooms. You can do virtual replays where you actually standing on the track watching your car go by. They have all the different angles. You can sit in the car and then just the detail is. It just makes your brain melt out your head.

Erick:

The first couple of days I got it, I literally just get in the car and just look around like drive off the track, stop and just look, look around at the car, look in the seats, look in the back of the car, the detail in the steering wheel, the details in your person. I mean it's even down to the point where, depending on the car you're driving, you can see yourself in the, the reflection in like surfaces on the car, like where they be reflective, um, you know, dashboard or review mirror or something like that. And it's to the point. Now I have some UI elements up, like I have like track times and things like that. I have tire indicators, but they're like they're like floating right.

Jason:

They're like floating right. They're like floating in the air yeah, they're.

Erick:

They put them right over the center console. So if there's like a screen or something in the car, they'll usually put it there, if there's. If there's nothing like that, like in the f1 car, they just kind of have it off up to the side and literally I can just like look up at it.

Jason:

You know, like a floating like a floating window sort of type of deal, yep, yep.

Erick:

And then on the sim magic wheel that I have, I have the um, the different buttons and rotaries. I can click through the different informational screens. So, tire pressure, weather, um, brake balance, depending on the car fuel, um, whether it's, you know, running lean or um things like that. But it is to me it's the future. I think it'd be a waste if PlayStation doesn't pump a lot more money into developing this. Right now they're porting a lot of other titles, but the racing is, I think, far and above the most unexpected thing. And this was free. This wasn't a special version you had to buy. There was no upgrade you plugged in. You would never know this existed until you plug in the headset.

Erick:

When you plug in the headset, even before you start racing, it's just a 2D image. But then as soon as you hop in the car, you just pop into the seat and you're transported into a different world. I mean just looking around at the tracks, the weather, I mean it gives you a new appreciation for these cars. Combine that with the wheel and it's addictive.

Jeff:

So Eric, how quickly can you jump in the seat, say you know you got I don't know a half hour before you need to go do something? How quickly can you jump in the seat and then be behind a wheel? You know spinning laps. How long does it take you to get set up and get going with the VR?

Erick:

For me it doesn't take long at all. My rig is pretty stationary. I got a dedicated rig, so it's really the same amount of time for the most part as you would with a controller. The headset has basically two main adjustments. You have the main it's sort of like a visor type strap that goes around your head that you sit on and then you have the actual adjustment of the lenses and in the menu when you plug in the headset, there's a native menu that pops up that you can do a quick adjustment. It'll because it does eye tracking, so it shows you like an image of the headset on your head and where your eyes are in it, so you can kind of align it perfectly to where your eyes are perfectly centered in it that sweet spot, that that's what they call it like yeah, so that's like a contextual menu so you could be in the game and like, if I'm mid lap and I'm like, uh, it's kind of weird, I can hit the playstation button and that menu pops up.

Erick:

Hop into the you know that setting, adjust it and then back out and I'm back racing. Uh it's, it's very well thought out, man, very well thought out yeah, I've done that.

Jeff:

I got the meta quest three and I've, I've tried it, you know, once or twice before and it and to your point it is spectacular head and shoulder. You look down and you can see your, your race and harness on you and things like that. Yeah, but for me, for some reason, I started getting that cold, hot sweat flashes and the motion sicknessness and I don't do you think it's the like, maybe a lower quality, and it's the shutter they did, the refresh rate or that might be getting, because I've heard some people have you know the motion sickness issues and then some people don't. And I just wonder if you had any you know thing you could help help, maybe help me and anybody else listening with the with the motion sickness so I've been blessed to never have had motion sickness.

Jeff:

Must be nice.

Erick:

Yeah, but to your point, the frame rate definitely does help, so it might be. The game On console GT7 is being kind of up-res what's the word? Basically, the frames are being boosted up to 120 like frame gen, like frame generation um, yeah, there's some. I think it's native 90 and they boosted up to 120 if I wasn't using the headset. The game runs natively at 120, and so with the headset on it's without without ray tracing you know right, yeah, and they only, they only do ray tracing in the replay.

Jason:

In the replays.

Erick:

So when you're real time racing there's no ray tracing, but in the headset it's buttery smooth and I think that's the biggest thing. Between that and the eye tracking it's really seamless. Wherever your eyes are, they balance the workload To where it's really very optimized for the ps5. So as far as how they translate to pc, I think the frame rates might help, but I don't know how much of that is frame rate, how much of that is game optimization for vr. So I know it makes sense.

Jason:

I know Quest 3 is rated at 120 max. Most of their games hover around the 90 and some of them at 60. But if you're connecting this headset to a PC, it depends on your graphics card. It depends on what the capabilities of your machine to push the frames through there, and I know for a fact that Assetto Corsa is notoriously bad in VR. The best VR experience on PC is iRacing and AMS2, which is Automobilista 2. Most people don't race in VR. When it comes to ACC, I know GT7 is the king of VRr and heads on consoles most definitely but yeah, but I know eric yeah go ahead, go ahead.

Jeff:

I was gonna say I got one more, one more question from coming from a guy with triples is you know I'm driving, you know, especially in formula, and I got a drs and I'm hitting my drs button. Do you have any issues or was there a learning curve? When you put the goggles on and your buttons aren't where you see them with your eyes, you got to kind of feel around for them. Was there any learning curve with that? Or is it pretty straightforward with you know button controls, whether it's your wipers, your lights or whatever? You know what I mean like in the real world where your steering wheel is, versus where your eyes are seeing buttons on your, on your wheel and your headset.

Erick:

That. That is really the biggest hurdle, right. So I'm racing on a round wheel. I have the uh, the GT S one wheel, I think from some magic s1 wheel, I think from sim magic. So it's a it's a round wheel and I had to go into um sim hub and map the buttons so I kind of customized which is what I wanted them to be, because there's some emulation going on with the sim magic wheel on the ps5 anyway. So if I go into the settings it's showing me a GT Pro GT uh a DD, I'll look this up.

Erick:

Yeah, it's showing me a DD Pro wheel and wheelbase, so it's it's simulating um a DD wheelbase from Fanatec. So it showed me the Gran Turismo wheel. So already it doesn't look one-to-one Okay.

Jeff:

Oh, so it will show you what you plug in the system. That's pretty rad, okay All right?

Erick:

Yeah, it really depends mostly on the wheel you have. If you have Fanatec gear, it's natively supported. So they have some of that stuff in the settings already kind of pre-mocked up. What SimMagic is doing is they are in the latest beta firmware update. They are emulating a fanatec dd wheel and it's the dd pro bundle. Uh, before that they were emulating a logitech g29 so it is looking at it now.

Erick:

Yeah, yeah, yeah and so I just kind of had to take some time and figure out what button did what you know, setting a button that that I thought would correspond with the button on the wheel and the graphic on the game, and then seeing what happened once I actually got in the game and pressed it. So to your point. Right now DRS is me clicking in my left funky switch switch okay, yep which which kind of took some figuring out.

Erick:

I just had to kind of sit there like press the buttons and see which one was mapped to yeah, because you're blind.

Jason:

You're, you're, you're in a headset. You don't see buttons.

Erick:

All you see is a virtual wheel, and that's in the game basically yeah, and the fact that I don't even have a you know f1 style wheel at all it really was was different.

Jason:

I don't have all the buttons that are on there it is available, so yeah yeah, and that's part of our next topic too, when we when we get there. But I'm looking at this dd pro wheel and it's actually 280 millimeter, which is kind of small for a round wheel it almost feels like a.

Jason:

I hate to say this, but it almost feels like a, like a toy, you know, because it's it's small. You know what I mean. It's it's a small round wheel. It's kind of like I don't know, so it's almost like a go-kart wheel, almost. You know what I mean yeah, yeah, that was so.

Erick:

If you remember, when I was looking, the fanatec bundle I was looking at was the um, the dd extreme, and they have a new version of that wheel and it's 300 millimeter, so it's a little better quality is about the same though, yeah, with the dd extreme, but it was a lot of you know stuff that turned me off from it. For one. People talked about the build quality.

Erick:

It still kind of felt you know it's plastic cheaper yeah, yeah, and then also it came with that qr1 or qr2 light quick release which I don't have to buy the?

Jason:

yeah, I don't understand.

Jeff:

I mean somebody which is crazy just build the price in for the good one, like nobody runs the old the the plastic one.

Jason:

Yeah, it was weird yeah if the wheel can't take the forces, then don't market it like that, just don't market it because that's what you're doing you're telling me you're, oh my god, fanatec.

Erick:

sorry, You're going to get it again. You're going to get it again they earned it.

Jason:

Man, yeah, if your products can't take the forces, don't act like they can, in a way Kind of like oh yeah, we'll sell you the wheel. It comes with a QR2 light, but there's nothing stopping you from putting an actual know, an actual qr. You know the, the qr2, the full blown, because the machine, the actual motor, restricts the torque based off the qr that you have installed oh, geez, which I can't stand.

Jason:

I can't stand that my wheel is 25 newtons. If I put a plastic wheel on there and it breaks, it's my fault. You know what I mean.

Erick:

Yeah, yeah, that's just money grabbing man.

Jeff:

If we can go back to just a quick wrap up, the VR, eric, have you done a racing with a screen like a traditional monitor? Because I know people claim that the VR is, um, better for judging depth perception. You know, staying tight on somebody's bumper, um things like that. Have you, have you noticed anything? Uh, whether that's accurate for you. You believe that to be true?

Erick:

That is 1000% accurate only because with with VR, you are solely in the cockpit.

Erick:

So, as far as a cockpit view is the best, because I can actually look to my left and my right, I can look forward, I see the actual size of the car, see how close it is, I can see, I can see all that.

Erick:

It's like you're in a real car. But once you factor in the kind of third person view like the behind the wing view that you can do if you are on a flat screen, to me I think that would actually help you have better lap times because you can see your entire car. You can see where you get more visual information as far as where your car is on the track, where your car is in regards to other cars is really is really kind of a toss-up. I can see people that want to go fast saying I race in this kind of third person view or I race in the hood view to where the entire screen is the road, so I'm really getting more of that perspective, um, but I think it's. I think it's preference. I don't know anybody who's fast, who races exclusively in vr, though I say that so that's fair I'm gonna add to that.

Jason:

Right, there is the, the reason 99 of us race inside the cockpit. It's not so much for an immersion uh purposes, it's for fov purposes, and fov is really important because fov we don't have. You don't have depth perception in a video game. There's no way to tell how far things are. It may look a certain way, but you're not seeing things in three. You know what I'm trying to say. You're not seeing things in in their actual shape and sizes. So when you change, when you change a camera to a bonnet camera or a full screen camera, what the game is doing is compressing the image out and making it seem wider, but then speed changes the way speed feels. It'll feel faster than what you're really traveling at so the most yeah you, you know what I'm saying I 100.

Jeff:

I want to add one more thing here to this. You spend all this money on a rig, a steering wheel. You know if you're running triples or even a just a. You know a single monitor. You know a legit car racing seat. You do it for immersion. Put yourself in the cockpit and use the FOV. It's a racing simulator, right? You're never going to get in a car to drive it four feet behind it and two feet above it.

Jason:

Right, and that's why-.

Jeff:

Listen, I'm the first to say you do what you like to do. From my perspective, I'm a true racing simulator. I like the immersion. I want to be in the cockpit, even I'm slower. It's going to make me feel like I'm actually in a race car, but that's my stance, everybody do what they do and enjoy it. If you're enjoying it, good for you. You keep doing it, but I I spent the money to build a. It make me feel like I'm in a race car's.

Jason:

I'm off my soapbox they both have their advantages. You know they and, and I I do. I do see the immersion there. I am too. I'm the same way. I like the immersion of the cockpit inside the, the, uh, you know that view and almost being able to touch the, the dashboard, with my hands. But then you also have to factor, like I said, the, the depth perception. When you have a camera behind the car, you're not seeing what's in front where it's right in front, and when you get into really close battles, racing, that edge is going to help out big time.

Jason:

You know, I'm telling you, yeah it's it's almost scary because you're traveling at so high speed and it's like four or five, six cars in front of you and any little mistake that any of those cars does is. You have to have enough time to see and to get away with it. I just got off a stream just now, literally 30 minutes ago, and somebody clipped me on the side. If I had a camera behind that car, I would have never saw it. I would have never saw it coming. First of all, I would have seen, I would have had a different perspective, so I was able to dodge one, but not the other one. The other one hit me.

Jeff:

So, yeah, yeah, that sucked I wish I, I wish I could do the vr, because I think when I was in there for the handful of times, I did the immersion it is fun, eric was incredible and it would take up, you know, half the space my rig takes up now um, but yeah until I can take some motion sickness pills. Every time I jump on the rig I'll be with my triples baby yeah, and that's kind of.

Erick:

You know, the saving grace for me right now is I could put on the headset. I can do everything ps5 I've. I've played 2d games in the headset, like for just being able to like shut off the world like, put on headphones, noise counseling headphones, put on the headset and play call of duty or play hell divers or something, with a hundred inch screen in front of me.

Jason:

It's um that's kind of cool. I think it has a ways to go.

Erick:

Yeah, yeah, there's some ways to go, but I don't know that.

Jason:

That motion sickness sucks, man the motion you know what and I'm gonna say this just you know, because whoever's listening to this podcast, specifically these last few episodes, we've talked about building a rig, putting money towards a rig, and vr is definitely an option that people consider because it's significantly cheaper than getting uh monitors. But here's my thing with that you have a a nice wheel with screens, buttons, lights, switches on it, and you're not seeing any of it. Wheel with screens, buttons, lights, switches on it, and you're not seeing any of it. You might as well get the cheapest wheel you could find, because you won't be able to appreciate. It is what I'm saying, but that's you know. It's my opinion right.

Jason:

But I have a $1,500 wheel on my wall and I want to see it. I want to see lights. I want to see because these wheels have telemetry built into them, so the lights are not just there for gimmick actions, they're actually doing things. It's actually notifying me on things, on conditions which we got to.

Jeff:

You know, we've been kind of saying it's there's a give and take, you know? And uh, jason, I'm with you. Dude, I like seeing my buttons for traction control on my ddu going off. I like to see all that stuff and I want the lovely dashboard.

Jeff:

I want all those things but I'm not gonna lie I'm not gonna lie that, that that immersion, when I looked over and saw that ferrari f1 car right next to me and you can look up and see on the outside of your car with those goggles on man, I wish I didn't get sick. It's incredible, I'm not going to lie, it's badass, it is I think it's an aspect, it's all what you're all looking for.

Erick:

Yeah, yeah, I think it's an aspect that is, I mean, for me. I wish they would come out with, just like some casual driving games. Right, there's this taxi game that came out recently and literally you just go to different locations and they kind of put an emphasis on you know, going to exotic locations, you know different beautiful cities and driving people around those cities, and the city is supposed to be like photorealistic. You can upgrade your taxi to you know something that's more luxurious, upgrade some specs, but I'm like I would love to just hop in something like that and cruise around and just enjoy a, you know, just enjoy a car, just cruise around.

Jeff:

Uh, which I think on.

Erick:

PC yeah.

Jeff:

Yeah, that's where you get to get those mods on that set of cars. Oh man, the Japanese highways.

Jason:

We are attacking.

Jeff:

Eric.

Jason:

Daly, he is being attacked, harassed in a good way everybody in a nice way.

Erick:

I'm taking him on a tangent, hey man, Well you might want to consider the options. It's coming, it's coming.

Jason:

Okay, so that was very in-depth. I really appreciate that, eric. Uh, your take on the vr stuff it is great, I'm not gonna lie. It's just, you know it's to each their own. You have to decide that for yourself. No one, there's not a vr head. Vr excuse me, motion sickness is not something that you can foresee, you just have to try it for yourself and find out. You're not going to know definitely so make sure you buy it from a reputable seller that will accept return. Accept returns, that's the best advice I can give you on the vr stuff.

Jason:

Um, on the playstation side things are kind of looking up because they're actually making it compatible with pcs now. So that's a kind of a a nice little um future upgrade, if you may. So if eric decides to buy a pc tomorrow, which I hope he makes that choice I will be glad to help you, bro, on your way to there, to get there.

Erick:

Yeah, that's like PC Parts Picker is coming.

Jason:

Oh, pc Parts Picker. Okay, I see, all right.

Erick:

You're building it out. I got a vision for it. That's why I didn't just grab something last week.

Jason:

I bet you anything. He has a build saved right now.

Jeff:

It's in his inbox. I I got a pc already and I got a build saved too.

Jason:

I'm telling you listen I bet you do too.

Erick:

You move your mouse right and then you put your left hand over your mouse and you just, it was an accident, it just it hit by I'm sorry see what I tell you the wallet demolisher, aka jason rivera.

Jason:

That's it, man and when the mail comes in because you know that transaction is going to come through. Oh yeah, just call up the bank and tell them hey, can you just hide this please.

Jason:

We ain't worried about that. All right, so I'm going to go into the next topic. I like this. I like it when we take time on a particular topic because we're trying to provide you the option as the listener, and make sure that you fully understand what you're getting yourselves into when you make that choice. Okay, because VR headsets are not cheap. I think the price of a PSVR is $399. Correct me if I'm wrong $550.

Erick:

$550.

Jason:

$550.

Jeff:

And to give you some context.

Jason:

I paid $700 times three.

Erick:

So yeah, yeah.

Jason:

That is a significant cheaper option. You got options For sure.

Jason:

You definitely do. I mean, you can get cheaper monitors, you can, but again, something that's going to be future-proof, something to consider, okay, um, and and to each their own with their budgets, no judging here. So I'm going to go over steering wheel ratios, because we did touch it a little bit and it is important because on the market you will find all kinds of different shapes and sizes, right, so you have your round wheels, you have your gt wheels, you have your f1 wheels, you have your rally style wheels, which is still round, but they usually come in 320 to 350 millimeter, which is a big, giant round wheel. And then your standard size for a round wheel it you want to stay at 300, right, so 300, sim magic makes them uh semi-cube makes them.

Jason:

All kinds of different manufacturers make them. So you got to consider this, because the first thing you want to consider is what kind of car are you driving? What kind of car do you like first? First of all, drive what you like. Don't drive what's meta. Drive what you like. If you like a Lamborghini and it's not meta right now drive the Lamborghini, because I'm pretty sure if you love the car, you love the feel and you can handle it. You will fly by people trying to use the meta car that don't know what they're doing. So, with that said, we're going to use that as an example.

Jason:

The Huracan GT3, well, all three of them. The Evo, the Evo 2, they use a steering ratio of 620. Ferraris, using a steering ratio of 480. And Audi what else Audi and McLaren, I'll use. What else audi and mclaren I'll use? They use a steering ratio of 720. So 720, all those. What are those numbers actually mean? So that is the degree, the actual max degree of the wheel and its turn radius, right. So an f1 car is going to be 360, so it's a full circle, and then you have 480, which is a little. It's like a circle and a half, if you may.

Jason:

I don't want to go into specifics, but the thing to take note of is make sure you have the correct wheel for the car that you're driving. You want to avoid using a round wheel on a GT style wheel because it's just going to feel like the inputs are too much. You're going to be doing way more inputs and then when you have to react to something, you're going to be slow. Now, on the flip edge, if you get a formula wheel which is usually 270, 280, and, in some cases, 300, then on a formula car, your actions is in reverse you need to be quicker. On a GT car, you need to be smoother, and on a formula car, you're banging through gears and you're slamming the car in the corners and, trust me, the car can take it. The thing is, what kind of tool are you using to get those turns? What kind of tool are you using to get those turns? What kind of tool are using to get you through on the track? So that's just something to consider.

Jeff:

You know what I mean on on sizes and different and different wheel ratios so, jason, if you had to pick, if you, you know you're out there setting up your rig and you like doing all the things you like driving f1, you like doing rally, you like doing gt3, you know all of the things. What, what size wheel would you recommend to the person getting in? Doesn't know if they like f1, doesn't know if they like gt3, but they want to try it all. What would you size would you recommend to the average person getting in?

Jason:

right. That is a great question, so, and that was a decision that I had to make for myself in the past. So I was trying to figure out okay, so do I go with 300, do I go with a formula? Do I go with a hybrid? So my the best recommendation I'd have for you is to figure out. Figure out what you like the most. Like you yourself, for example, jeff, you like f1. You got yourself. For example, jeff, you like F1. You got into the hobby because of F1.

Jason:

So I would tell you, as a brand new sim racer is to go and get yourself an F1 wheel, but don't get a very small, tiny wheel that's only meant for F1. Try to find a medium. So what I did? I'm just going to give you guys my personal experience. I went with a cube controls CSX three. That's right behind me and that wheel is a 282 millimeter, so it's kind of in the middle. It can be, it can be um used for F1. Actually is predominantly f1 because it is a formula wheel, but it also can be used. It's versatile enough to use in a gt setting. The only problem I had was that I felt twitchy. I felt like it was way too twitchy.

Jeff:

It's fine that's because it's narrow with the 280 exactly because every little movement.

Jason:

Your hands are doing that wheels right the tires, the wheels and with that said, you know what I'm saying. And with that said, if I was using a wheel that's that short, I don't want to use, I don't want to drive a ferrari with that, because a ferrari is only a 480 steering ratio. So it's it. It's way too short. And now i'm'm, you know, I'm basically I'm barely turning the wheel and the car's just getting slammed over. I know that you can fine tune stuff in the settings, on the car settings, but I would tell you to avoid that because you want, when you set up a car and when you get into setups and we're talking competitive know gt racing now it just changes everything because everything kind of works together. You change the steering ratio on the car and the actual software side of the car that affects your dampers, your, your suspension, your travel, it it's just, it's a, it's a headache you know what I mean.

Jeff:

I brought that up because I'm sure there's gonna be a bunch of people that says I can change all that stuff in my fanatec software sim magic software. Yeah, yeah, change all that stuff. So I'm glad you brought that up, but I want everybody just say the name of your wheel one more time, and if you don't know what it is, go out there and google it. This is the sexiest wheel on the market hands down.

Jason:

It is the cube control csx3 and it has a. It's a formula style wheel, has a four inch display and it's not cheap. I know I'm embarrassed yeah so.

Erick:

So in that same vein, uh, jason, would you recommend a wheel like the gt neo for somebody that's kind of between F1 and GT3.

Jason:

Yes, Kind of close 100%. 100% Because the GT Neo. First of all, the price.

Jeff:

You just can't beat it. I just said that as it's sitting here waiting for me to spend some laps on it. Brand new.

Jason:

Right. Look he just picked up. And what did you start with, Jeff? You started with a round wheel Because we all start.

Jeff:

That, and then the McLaren. Ah, you did go.

Jason:

McLaren route. You did go McLaren route. I'm sorry, but me, eric and I excuse me we both started with round wheels Because and I excuse me we both started with round wheels because it's only natural, because it's the wheel that we drive with every day in our personal vehicles. So we're thinking well, this is a steering wheel the way we know it. You rent the car. It's a round wheel, it's not no half wheel. But then when you start getting into the hobby a little deeper, I'm pretty sure Eric is itching very. It's in someone's cart right now, eric. Yeah, let's, let's talk, man, come on.

Erick:

So so so the the main reason I went with the round wheel first versus the GT Neo. It was tempting. It really was. But with GT seven I'm not always in a Formula car or a GT3 car. I could be in a Toyota Yaris. They had a daily race where you're doing time trials in Toyota Yaris.

Jason:

That's a fast car man. I could be in some everything I was in a 1980.

Erick:

Yeah, banging the invisible gears.

Jason:

I was in a 1980 Jaguar. So you driving a jerry's, that's you know that's jeff yeah I mean it gives flexibility. Right, it gives flexibility yeah so that's like a prius, bro, only gas yeah, it really is.

Erick:

It was. It was rough.

Jason:

That was the slowest race but wait a minute, let me correct myself. There is a jaris, um, is it the gr? That is a different animal. Okay, oh yeah, that thing demands respect. That thing is loud. That's that. That toyota, that, that that wrc car is disgusting. You don't want to mess with that car yeah, and then the uh rally racing too.

Erick:

They have in there as well, so you know just knowing that I would need something for, you know, variety cars playing. You know more of a simcade where I don't know what I'm racing this week, whatever the daily is. You know, this week is a f1 car and they had um a skyline as well, so some more kind of road cars in there. I feel like I start there, but I knew the gt neo was coming.

Jason:

That's that's I got a good one for everyone and this is how I'm. This is how we're going to close this topic. Take the top two sims that you play. Take the top two Eric likes Rally and he likes GT7, and the cars he's driving are regular Most of them are regular cars. That right there screams round wheel. So for me and Jeff I'm speaking for Jeff, I'll let you touch on that, jeff but for me personally, I'm an F1 slash GT, so I do not need a round wheel for me as a secondary wheel. What about you, jeff?

Jeff:

Yeah, same. I mean I have one really for the odd chance that I get in WRC or I'm in like the Porsche GT3 in an ACC modded server, something like that.

Jason:

Or the old formula cars, jeff. Like the old formula cars, jeff, because the old formula cars are round wheels yeah, don't sleep on those things.

Jeff:

Those things with a little, with a sequential shifter, are a ton of fun, right, yeah, to your point. Yeah, I mean, I can't wait to get in the neo and use the neo. Um, I, I'm beyond excited. But I'll probably end up having to look for a for a circle wheel to be honest with you too, just for the odd chance. Not a super expensive one, just one that I can get in there and have some fun with when I'm not doing something that I'm truly passionate about that. I just want to get in there and do something different.

Erick:

All right, Especially with those modded servers. Man, y'all can hop on in a set of courses. I'm jealous.

Jason:

You'll get there, man, and we'll guide you there. We're definitely going to walk you through this path, don't you worry, man.

Jeff:

Hopefully we'll drag a bunch of listeners along the way.

Jason:

Yes.

Jeff:

Yes man.

Jason:

But you know, and definitely now with the VR, you kind of, you know, you kind of have an option there now because you can take that same VR headset over to the PC side. Hopefully everything should work and be compatible. And I am praying, please hear me GT7 on the PC, please, please.

Erick:

Sony, that would be mind-boggling. Yeah, it would be that.

Jason:

That would be game changing yeah, and imagine they mod this game and start introducing the physics side yes, uh good night. Good night acero corsa, good night all of them, because that engine and those graphics it is stunning.

Jeff:

I mean, I think the bar across the, the, the, the games this coming up this summer is going to be off the charts. We got you know f1 24 coming out and then don't sleep on the new uh a set of course, uh, evo right a set. Of course the evo is coming out yes, yeah, it's gonna be yeah, and rent sport, yeah, rent sports, another simulator, lmu, which is laman ultimate.

Jason:

It came out, but it's an early release, but they're updating. You know they're updating this game weekly and it's getting there. It's not quite there yet, but it's getting there. It's a good. You know contender, but you know it's just, they're pc only games, that's.

Jeff:

That's the only thing you know, we'll get into that. Another, uh, another episode.

Jason:

There is the yes, the best racing sim platforms, that's for sure, yeah yes, we will, and it's about that time to wrap this up, guys. Uh, let's do a round table here, and I'll start with eric. Kelly, eric, do you have anything else for us today?

Erick:

Nothing else, man, I got to come up with me a cool salutation like Jeff has I have next time.

Jason:

Oh, the slogan yeah, I'll get it, I'm going to jump to it here.

Jeff:

Mine is. I can't wait for I got some gear here that hopefully next time we're chatting, I got everybody an update on my SimMagic gear that's going to be thrown in and, yeah, since everybody's waiting for it, drive fast and break late.

Jason:

I can't wait to hear, because Jeff is waiting on a bracket and that must be the hardest thing because he doesn't have a bracket right now. So I can't wait to hear the difference and I just I can see it. Now he's going to call, gonna call me he's gonna be like three o'clock in the morning.

Jason:

He's gonna tell me to get up. I'm gonna have to get up. Oh, let's go. Well, I don't have a slogan, guys. My slogan is this everyone be safe. Thank you so much, both of you for uh co-hosting on the show, and and to all our listeners out there. I hope you have a great day and a great start of your week. Thank you.

People on this episode

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Jason Rivera

Host
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Erick Kelly

Co-host
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Jeff Smart

Co-host