The Chicane Podcast

Exploring Cutting-Edge Gadgets for Sim Racing Part 1

• TGS Sim Racing • Episode 9

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Ever wondered how to add a new level of immersion to your sim racing experience? Tune in to this episode of the Chicane Podcast where we celebrate Jason Rivera's thrilling first iRacing victory and his promotion to a D license! Join us, your hosts Jason, Eric Kelly, and Jeff Smart, as we dive into the world of sim racing hardware, starting with an in-depth exploration of the ButtKicker. Jeff breaks down the various models, from the Gamer Pro to the Gamer Plus, and shows how this haptic feedback device can turn every shift, turn, and bump into a visceral experience, whether you're on a PC or console.

Jason also shares his personal journey with the ButtKicker, explaining how it’s revolutionized his racing experience. But there's more! We discuss the broader spectrum of tools to elevate your sim racing game, such as the Stream Deck and haptic motors for racing pedals. Learn practical tips for minimizing noise in apartments and fine-tuning your feedback settings for a personalized experience. Whether you're a newbie or a seasoned vet, this episode is jam-packed with insights into creating the ultimate racing setup.

Finally, we get hands-on with some of the latest innovations in sim racing. From the intricacies of integrating haptic motors with your pedals to the benefits of button boxes and Stream Decks, we cover everything you need to know. Jeff walks you through configuring these gadgets with Simhub software and even offers creative solutions like using 3D printed brackets. This episode is your ticket to mastering the art of immersion in sim racing, blending practical advice with our passion for the sport. Don't miss out on this celebration of community and cutting-edge technology!

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

Watch the show in video podcast form on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/@TGSsimracing

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Intro/Outro Rights below:
Song: Low Mileage - Hold You [NCS Release]
Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds
Free Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/holdyou
Watch: http://ncs.lnk.to/holdyouAT/youtube

Erick:

The.

Jason:

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 again today by Mr Eric Kelly and Jeff Smart. How are?

Erick:

you both doing today, doing good man. How about yourself?

Jeff:

Yo, I am hyped ready for this podcast. Today I got some news I won my first race in iRacing fellas and got the d license.

Erick:

I am hyped, let's get into it. Congratulations, man, that's what's up?

Jason:

That's's what's up, man. So what do you appreciate? What do you wait, wait, wait, wait. So what are you racing now? You jumped up to the to the f4 car right the f4 car man.

Jeff:

It was late last night. I was I can't go to bed after you know not jumping in that f3. So I got the f3 and spun some laps at spa, baby way off the pace, but we're there we're're there.

Jason:

It doesn't matter. You kept the wheels on the asphalt, I did I did. Yep, there you go, that's all that matters. Well, today, folks, we have a nice segment. Today we're going to talk about hardware tools that are commonly used in sim racing. And when I mean common, they're common for me, jeff and and Eric, but they might be something new for you. So, without further ado, I'm going to hand this over to Jeff. He's going to cover the first piece of hardware, so I'll give it to Jeff.

Jeff:

Hey, thanks, jason. Hey, the first uh hardware we're going to discuss today is, uh, the butt kicker and uh, those that have been in the community a little bit or in the forums or Facebook or any other groups that have heard the butt kicker. What the butt kicker is is a haptic that you attach to your chair or your rig and it reads the telemetry off of the game and basically vibrates your chair to simulate whether it be you shifting the RPMs of the car, you running over the curb, and the awesome thing about this is that it works with PC and the consoles you have Xbox and PlayStation, that it's both compatible with. This is really a pretty sweet piece of gear. You basically they make two versions. They make the Pro, which attaches to, which is really designed for your rigs, if you will, the full rigs you attach to it, and then the other version. It just attaches to a simple gaming chair at the post that goes up and down. So, like a simple gaming chair at the post that goes up and down, but what it does is you can really map it to read a whole handful of things that would give you feedback into your chair or seat. So you can do it, have it to.

Jeff:

You know, as you're revving the car out, it'll start vibrating your chair faster, faster, faster, faster, faster. As you're revving the car out, it'll start vibrating your chair faster, faster, faster, faster, faster, as you go through the revs and then you shift and it gives you a little in the back of your seat, uh, and the revs will drop down and it comes back up again. Those are two, two of the things that two of uh, um, the telemetries that you get that a little read. Another one is if you're taking a right-hand turn and your wheels hit the curb, on the inside it'll vibrate in the seat. To give you more of that feedback that, hey, the, you know a little bit of a, you can feel what the car is doing. It's a uh, it's a pretty remarkable piece of equipment. Those that do uh, that WRC, um, as they're going over a jump and they come back down and land, it'll thump them in the seat and you can actually get more feedback that you know what the car is actually doing below you.

Jeff:

There is countless things that you can do to have this feedback. My feedback to anybody that would is looking to do this is less is more. So pick, pick two, maybe three feedbacks into the butt kicker. So for pcs it's a simple usb. Uh, for consoles I think it's a 3.5 meter uh auxiliary drive and that's where it gets its feedback. Um, not super knowledgeable how it works on the the console side, other than it does. Um, but um, so you have your.

Jeff:

For the those with the rigs, you're looking at the Buttkicker Gamer Pro, a little bigger, a little more power, and that runs you 380 plus your shipping and taxes, wherever you live, and then those that are you know, have their wheel set up on a table or desk, the Buttkicker Gamer Plus, which is going to attach to that post, uh is running about three, oh nine, plus shipping and taxes, appropriately.

Jeff:

Um, but gents, this was kind of the first piece of uh, really immersion gear that I bought. Um, once I had wheel screens, the stuff that you really need to have. Um, and I was watching all the YouTube videos on the butt kicker. But I was like how can you watch a video of somebody telling you about something of how they feel? It can't portray how awesome and immersive these butt kickers really are. Jason, I know you got one after I was the guinea pig and it paid out my 300 and something bucks and then you jumped in my rig and you gave it a go and I think you would have on your phone sitting in my rig that you got one, so I'm going to pass it to you for anything that you want to add about the butt kickers here, oh, my God man.

Jason:

That was crazy. Jeff was like dude, you need to come over, I need you to come over right now. And I was like, oh man, you know, if I try this thing, I'm going to have to buy it. So and that's exactly what went down. I went over to Jeff's house, sat in the rig, literally turned the engine on. Just by turning on the engine on in the car alone, it did it for me right away because I felt connected to the car right away because I felt connected to the car.

Jason:

So I want to thank Jeff for the for the details on the butt kicker and I want to add just a little more is that the butt kicker is compatible with console. However, you need a license key. You need to purchase a license to use their software and in some cases it comes with. You have to choose. You either choose one for the flight simulators stuff or you choose one for the sim racing stuff. But because we're on PC, I highly recommend do not use their software, use it on SimHub, and SimHub is a huge topic which we will cover, and SimHub allows you to customize the, as Jeff was saying, the telemetry that you want to be translated into that butt kicker, and less is more, that is correct. Less is more because there's a lot of feedback going on and you don't want to be, don't want to just feel, just rumble yeah, it just becomes noise right, you don't want to just feel noise or hear no or hear noise because you're not going to know what does this mean?

Jason:

you know what I mean. It's cool when you first get it right. When you first get it, you turn it way up just because you want to feel you know that thing has an amp.

Jeff:

It has its own separate amp yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, jason. I I'm gonna jump in here real quick before you we move on is those that are in in apartments are not going to be able to maximize this thing. I have kids it will. If you get the pro, it will rumble the house. No lie, it's all. It's like a. It is loud, it's not loud, but it's like a subwoofer type of of noise, if you will.

Jason:

However, to mitigate that, remember what I told you, Jeff, and I think you applied the same thing.

Jeff:

Attach it to your seat, Yep that's a big pro tip right there.

Jason:

Yeah, if you attach this thing directly to your rig, then it's going to translate that feedback to the rig and it's going to go into the ground, Unless you have a mat under your rig. That can help too. But if you have a seat like a Sparko seat or even an NRG seat, it doesn't matter A seat that has a hole in it for your seatbelt, I'm telling you we engineered a bracket that kind of goes through that and the butt kicker is just floating. If you guys have any more questions about any of this stuff, please reach out.

Jeff:

The mounting of the seat is a game changer, right? I'm just going to go through real quick the games that it's compatible with. This is not inclusive. This is just what they advertise on their site. This is not inclusive. This is just what they advertise on their site. So we got iRacing, assetto, corsa, acc, dirt Rally, all the F1 series, wrc Generations, wrc Standard, and another interesting portion is that this is also compatible with a lot expert on flight simulators, but I know it is compatible with a handful of them, so if that does apply to you, jump in there and do your own research. Also available with some additional plugins, you have American Truck Simulator and Automobilista 2, forza Project Cars, r-factor, le Mans and a handful of other ones, but those are the major ones. So awesome product. I can't emphasize enough of the immersion that this thing adds.

Jason:

Yeah, it's a, it's a solid buy. I mean it's a must have. Once you try, once you try this thing and you put it on your rig, you cannot be without it, no more. That impossible. I can't race without it, no more. So it is the perfect. Yeah, because it's not just because Jeff mentioned vibrations and curbs, but it's not only that. I mean, you have wheel slip. So you, I can actually tell when I'm losing the car. So I'm feeling it in the wheel and I'm feeling it in my body. You know that I'm about to lose the rear, I'm about to lose the car. Or, if I was a little too hard on a turn, there's things like that. But again, just when you first buy it, sure have fun with it, but then turn things down and turn things on one by one to get the right. There's no right setting for anybody, it's just, it's a personal taste type of thing I can't wait to get this with the vr man?

Jeff:

oh, oh, my god, right there in the uh break yeah yeah, man.

Jason:

And then, like jeff said, it's compatible with Flight Sim and I've tried it with Flight Simulator. I play some of that sometimes and you can feel the landing gear when the landing gear is coming out.

Jeff:

I saw one of those. It was an A-10 pilot, you could feel turbulence, bro, it's crazy.

Erick:

Oh, that'd be crazy too.

Jason:

Imagine feeling turbulence, or feeling when the plane lands on to the runway. You hear that boom and it's like you feel it. You know what? I mean, oh, let's not get started with rally, because with rally I had to turn them settings way too down, way low, because you get the car doing a lot of stuff right the jumps yeah, when the jump, when you, when the car lands, the whole thing just shakes the whole rig.

Jason:

It's crazy. So it's not entirely necessary. This is more on the immersion side, but it can help with understanding what the car is about to do. You know what I mean.

Jeff:

I guess, if I can summarize here if you're on the fence, do some research. If you're on the fence, my recommendation is do it, it, it is, it's awesome.

Jason:

It's awesome. I agree it is awesome. It's a must. Buy my book, but do not compromise. Getting a good set of pedals, a good set of a good wheel and a good rig those are your priorities.

Jeff:

A butt kicker, it comes later you know what I mean. Once what you said, you're established. Yeah, once you got the bones, this should be your first add-on there you go.

Jason:

All right, I agree. And uh, eric, do you have any? Any questions? I don't.

Erick:

I don't believe you do. No really, just um. Actually one question have you guys messed with the seat haptics? Because hearing about this and all the stuff you can do kind of puts me in a mind where you might be choosing between this and seat haptics, or would you still?

Jason:

you see value in both I think I see value in both. What do you think, jeff?

Jeff:

yeah, I think the I did do a little bit of research on the seat haptics and I think the reason I went with the butt kicker was I feel like they had a better corner of the market when it came to sim racers. Um, I think I think more on the pc side this is my personal I thought is that the butt kickers had the sim market on kind of the call the pc and then the console was populated by the seat haptics. Um, that's just kind of what I'd had in my research. But uh, and I just found more reviews of the butt kicker on the internet all over the place. So, um, I I love to hear somebody that has the seat haptics and see what they have to say I think it's more comfortable because the butt kicker just disappears.

Jason:

You don't see it. It turns on with my rig. I don't know it's there, but I can feel it. That's what. That's why's why I would, I would, I would suggest the uh, you know, a butt kicker over over seat haptics, you know. And if you look at the price, the price is very similar and it's not as powerful. So I would, I would still opt for a butt kicker.

Erick:

Cool.

Jason:

All right. So the next piece of hardware Well, it's multiple. So there's a button boxes and stream decks. So the importance of these are simple. A button box, there's just simply not enough buttons. It's just simply not enough.

Jason:

If you have a, if you're driving a formula car, you you can map almost everything to your wheel. But then there's things that see for me. To be honest, I don't like keyboards because keyboards take me away from the immersion of being inside of a vehicle. So I use a stream deck. Because a stream deck is you can program it to be whatever you'd like and you could program buttons to be multiple buttons in a single press or in a press and hold type of situation, with the right plugins of course. And then you can customize the icons. You can buy icons. You can buy packs online that give you the profile for the specific game and if you check race departmentcom, they have a plethora of you know icons already built for the stream deck that you can incorporate yourselves and make your own custom button box.

Jason:

It's cheaper, um than a straight button box. So a straight hardware button box is going to cost you anywhere from $100 to $150. The standard Stream Deck is about $150. And that's the one that I would recommend is the Mark II or, if you can get the older one, the Classic. That's what they're calling it, the Classic, and I think it's 16 buttons. Correct me if I'm wrong, jeff. Yeah, I think you're right.

Jason:

So a stream deck is basically a it's. It's a keyboard that emulates button presses, but it could be a whatever you like. It's like uh, it's 16 for the standard size mini LED buttons that each individual button has their own screen and you can program those to be a keyboard press. You can program those to be a number press. So if your keyboard doesn't have a number pad, right, so if you don't have the full size keyboard, you can program that to be a number, or you could program macros into it so you can potentially shut down your computer with the press of a button using macros. So that's what a stream deck is it's. It was built for streamers, so I run two of them. I know I'm bougie like that.

Jason:

I run two of them I know I'm bougie like that Big time. I run two of them so I stream. So on the right side of my rig is nothing but stream deck, stream Twitch actions so I can switch my scenes, I can skip tracks, I can pause, I can control the volume of the stream. The microphone, the game, crew Chief which we'll go over Crew chief in a later episode when we talk about software. So that's basically what the stream deck is. So for the next hardware tools that we recommend, yes, go ahead.

Jeff:

Can I have one save around here? Yeah I'll buy for the stream stream deck. It is a incredibly powerful tool. Uh, jason's kind kind of given the broad strokes here, but he is a master at this. But you can have it where you click your iRacing button and it launches the application and then it goes into another 16 icons that you can have. Move your seat forward, your field of view forward or backwards you can have headlights on there, you can have folders on folders, on folders.

Jeff:

For each game you can have folders on folders on folders. Um, it's, it's incredible, like I. I have it uh, some of the macros set up so I don't have to go back to my pc when I'm done. I just hit sleep and everything turns off. You know when you hit it's endless of the possibilities that you can work into this thing. So incredible piece of equipment that adds to the immersion. Like Jason said, you don't need the keyboard. I use it for, like F1, you know where it does F4 and 5, F10 and 12 that you have to press the maneuver around some of the. I just have those boom right in there. So I'm acting like I'm still in the. You know an F1 car. It's a powerful piece of equipment. It can do really anything you could probably think of. There's probably a way to do it.

Jason:

Right, and you know I'm given a basic synopsis of it. I really am like Jeff said and it can get really complex when it comes to what you're trying to do, but my recommendation right is I would. I would choose a stream deck over a button box any day of the week. The thing is start slow, start simple, and then you start adding things little by little. So, yes, I indeed my stream deck is a launcher for me.

Jeff:

It has folders, it has pin icons, there's folders in folders, like jeff said, and there's the possibilities of it are endless I mean, I have a button in there for my address, my email address, so if I'm buying something or logging in somewhere, I just press the button and it's got my email pops right in. You know, like it's really endless of stuff you could. I mean that's the epitome of laziness, but you know it is what it is.

Jason:

It's an awesome piece of equipment yeah, man, it's uh, it's a device that we're manipulating to do exactly what it wasn't programmed to do, you know, because this thing was for streamers and then it turned into something different. There's people that do all kinds of stuff with it, eric. There's people that put screensavers. I got a screensaver of my car my own personal livery myself and then there's gifts that you can put so you have an animated background. There's all kinds of stuff that you could do to make it yours and make it unique. So I highly recommend this tool, even if you go with the Stream Deck Mini that has six buttons. If you want to save a little money, I'd say pony up, save and get the 16 at least. Don't get the 32 button. That's way too many buttons and it's just incredibly crazy to deal with 32 buttons.

Jason:

Anyway, we're going to move over to motion platforms, and I'll go over this real quick. I don't run motion platforms. There's two types. There's your full motion and then there's your seat movers, and the reason why I don't run a full motion system is because I don't see the value in it. I don't see it looks cool, it seems cool, but think about it. You're racing a car, you're strapped into a car with a harness, there's literally no movement other than Gs. That is the only thing that you might feel, but you're really, your body's not really moving around other than your neck, and I'm talking F1, right, f1 is the only one that'll make your neck move from side to side, but they're still locked into that cockpit. You know what I'm trying to say. So to spend $8,000.

Jeff:

Yeah, I'm going to be honest with everybody here. The only reason I don't have one is it's because it's eight thousand dollars. Well, if, if they were, if they were a couple hundred bucks, I'd have one sitting here right now. But come on eight thousand dollars for the cheapest cheddar yeah, for the cheapest yeah it's a lot.

Jason:

And then put it way we're running 32 inch screen monitors right. So to get your field of view, you know, decent enough, you need those monitors very, very close to you. In some cases those monitors will sit over your motor shaft. If you have a full motion platform. There's no way you're going to run that full motion. You're going to bang something. You know what I mean. So what you have to end up doing is put the motor in front of you. You have to separate the rig from the monitors and put the motor in front of the screen, and now your field of view is gone because you're too far away from the screen.

Jason:

Yeah, I got you is gone because you're too far away from the screen. So, full motion, yeah, full motion. The guys that are running full motion are the are the ones that are running triple 55s.

Jeff:

Yeah, I was gonna say most of most. Every video I've seen has been yeah, 55s. Uh, yeah, point in case you got no triple 55, no comments. Yeah, yeah, you're gonna.

Jason:

Yeah, you need the separation because you're not gonna run triple 55s over your motor shaft because you're gonna go blind, right, you need, you need the separation, because you're not going to run triple 55s over your motor shaft because you're going to go blind, right, you need, you need the separation. So, if you have the separation, you might as well put the the full motion into place. But then there's another option. The other option is a seat mover, and I've seen seen seat movers range from two to $3,000, which is a little more um friendly, if you may but it only moves.

Jason:

Yeah, it only moves your seat. You know the, the, the four axes right, or eight axes, I'm not sure. But cause I don't, I don't technically, I don't have one. So, um, is it worth that much money? Just think about it, to spend $3,000 just to feel a slight movement on your chair. I don't think so. I really don't think so. So that's my take on the on the motion platforms. What do you have to add there, jeff?

Jeff:

It's a lot of money. That's really what it comes down to is just it's a lot of cheddar. Um, there are super cool ones. I was my instagram, you know had one the other day. It was like a flight simulator and this dude's doing barrel rolls and it's actually pushing him all the way around. He is in a full-fledged like going upside down. It was cool, but, like again, like that thing's probably, you know 15k. So for motion? No, I don't think so, and it's most of us have this in. You know a spare K. So for motion? No, I don't think so, and it's most of us have this in you know a spare bedroom or something, and it's unrealistic that we're going to put something like that up there.

Jason:

So not worth it, right? I mean at this point in time, no later on, if I get more space somehow, then and I really want to add a bigger picture like 55s, you know, I'd still, even if I bought a full motion, I'm not going to be running it at its full potential because it's unrealistic. No car moves the way a full motion moves, I'm sorry, and the people that are running it that way they've never been in a race car. So I mean I'm just saying, anyway, the next piece of hardware. So I mean I'm just saying, anyway, the next piece of hardware. And, jeff, if you can help me with this one, we're going to go over, uh, motors for your pedals, but specifically the haptic motors, uh, from some magic. So what do you? What do you think of those?

Jeff:

I know you, those are a new addition for you yeah, the I got them when, uh, with my order, from some magic, the p1000s, and I think I can honestly say that I got the p1000s because they're compatible. They're really built in partnership with the haptic motors. Um, the big thing the haptic motors do and they have one for each pedal, the gas, brake and clutch. I got one just for the brake and I think, honestly, that might be all you really need, because it's a game changer when it comes to racing, especially a car that has ABS. Because if you're coming into a corner and you hit the brakes and you lock them up and the ABS in the car in the game fires, you're going to feel that in your foot as it vibrates.

Jeff:

And now, when the ABS has went off, you've lost all your braking power. You're skidding as well, as you know, control the car. So what that haptic does for you on your brake is it gives you the feedback that the car has. The abs is on, so you need to release the brake just enough where the haptic goes off, and now you know that you are at the maximum braking power that that car has and you can build muscle memory into it so every time you come into a corner you can hit that exact same spot and you are riding the perfect edge of that car's maximum braking power. And if you trip it you can just back off a hair. And now the car is riding that perfect line of maximum braking power in its current setup.

Jason:

Guys remember that.

Jason:

Yeah, in its current setup, because some cars not to not to take your thunder there jeff, some cars like acc right, you'll have seven, eight settings of abs if you're running the aggressive setup I'm using. I'm going to use the McLaren 720 as an example. An aggressive setup on the McLaren is about a six. So that means that the higher the number, the sooner ABS is going to kick in. So your haptic motor is adapting to the car setup at its current setup. You know what I mean the car setup at its current setup. You know what I mean. So for me, for example, I run an ABS two and sometimes an ABS one on that car. So my braking power is way, way more because because of the way I have the car tuned to and it's brake balance and how to take corners and stuff like that. So just keep that in mind, guys, is that if you feel, if you touch the brakes and you feel like it's shaking just by the slightest, check the car setup, because that's most likely the problem.

Jeff:

Yeah, and just a word to the wise, the car in the game has to have ABS. So if you're a Formula One guy or driving some type of Formula car, there's no ABS. Right, the haptic is not going to go. So you either switch it to something other feedback or just know that you're not standing on the brake pedal trying to get the abs to work.

Jason:

It's not and you honestly don't want it to go because it's unrealistic.

Jason:

I mean, if the car doesn't have abs, you don't want it to fire. I mean, some games do a. I know LMU, le Mans Ultimate. You leave ABS on and that and it triggers the hell out of it. And it's because Le Mans Ultimate is using telemetry. There is no telemetry right now for Le Mans, so it's borrowing the telemetry that um R Factor 2 uses and R F factor 2 does have abs. There's cars that have abs, so just keep that in mind. Those are technical things, right? So if you, if you end up buying one, you know and we'll go into pricing and and compatibility, but if you end up buying one, just pay attention to those. And again, we're using this with sim magic software. Not, excuse me, not sim magic software. We're using this with sim hub. My bad, you can use it right you can use it.

Jeff:

If, for whatever reason, you don't like sim hub, you can and it's very easy to switch between abs, traction control, um, I think those. There might be one other setting you can do. It's easy.

Jason:

But we'll get into why you should be using sim hub right, yes, we, I want to give, just like I did I racing. I want to give sim hub the time of day because that is a massive piece of software that is vital. I can't, I don't know what I do without sim mad. Uh, sim hub.

Jeff:

Excuse me, I always confuse the two man, I think that happens to you too, jeff like I think you guys can help me out here, but I think it's about 80, 89, 85 um, plus shipping taxes etc okay, that's one motor and power. I think, um, maybe, maybe a little bit more, but it's, I don't think it's any more than 100 bucks so it depends.

Jason:

You need the control box right and the power supply if you're connecting these haptic motors to a third party, meaning not sim magic exactly anything, not sim magic. If it's a sim magic p1000 pedal, they're designed to work with them, but they. I run these on my houston bell ultimates and I went on etsy, which will cover Etsy as well at some point.

Jason:

Trust me, I wish Etsy had a rewards program because I would be rich right now. How much money I pumped into Etsy. But on Etsy I was able to find a 3D printed bracket to fit those motors onto the pedals and it's been on there for maybe six, maybe five months. Not a single hiccup or issue, not a single.

Jeff:

Yeah, reason you know 428 why me and you need to buy a 3d printer.

Jason:

I know we keep talking about this, but we don't, we don't do anything. So, yeah, so again, the haptic motors highly, highly, highly highly recommended. If you're trying to push right, First learn technique. Don't rely on other peripherals to help you Learn proper technique.

Jeff:

And it adds to immersion too right.

Jason:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Just like you're driving a race car.

Jason:

But you need to understand, in my opinion. You need to understand the car, you need to understand how the car brakes, you need to understand what sim you're playing and how that works. And then, once you have some sort of control of the car, you add this piece of hardware and it's going to shave off tents. I'm telling you I might be exaggerating. No, I mean I think it did for me, I mean my second, third lap.

Jeff:

I had a small with it. Definitely it helped me jump off.

Jason:

You do not feel more confident, dude, it's like instantly more confident with the car. I understand you, I know what you're doing, even though there's other telemetry things that you could use, like screens, you know, and screens and displays that we'll cover here in a second, and screens and displays that we'll cover here in a second. And there's all sorts of warnings that'll tell you hey, you're going, you're touching ABS, and the problem with that is that, if you really pay attention to how ABS works, the car is like supersonic stop go, stop go, stop go. So that upsets the suspension. And when you're trying to enter a curve, you don't want to be bottoming out your suspension, nor you want it to loose, but the moment you touch ABS, your curve is done. You know what I mean.

Jason:

Your entry is over because you hit the ABS. You need to to correct it. But how do you know? You know what I mean. So the haptic, the haptic motors, do help with that, okay. So, uh, I think we have time for one more. So, screens and leds, tell me about those, jeff all Um.

Jeff:

We want to touch DDUs here too as well.

Erick:

We want to hit those, or save those All right.

Jeff:

So so, uh, uh, dedicated display unit, uh, or DDU, is a screen from anywhere from five inches to 10 inches, um, that just kind of sits in front of the dash of the car that you're in, right, um, so they're fairly simple devices, uh. They're USB powered um and run through, uh uh, sim, sim hub, Um, and it can give you all different types of data. Um, you're going to need a dash for it. The most common one here that I think we have a whole episode on potentially, is a lovely dashboard, but really any dash will do it. Lovely is just a much more easily digestible format. That they have their dash laid out.

Jeff:

But think about what gear you're in is a big one right there, like a big number that you can see. You don't have to go hunting for it, and then most of them have some type of LED bar at the top that is showing you your revs and then, as you hit red line, it'll flash. So you don't have to go hunting for this information, the flashing red lights you can see any peripheral um. It has your um where you are for braking power and percentages. It has your first, your, your last lap, your best lap, your delta, what you're projected to go. Go on, think of anything to do with your the race or the car temperature, the brake temperature, oil pressure, you. You can tap screens Most of them are touchscreens and it can give you like where you rack and stack in the field. It is a. Ddu is an incredible piece of gear that is incredibly useful for maintaining situational awareness of your car A and then B, what's happening around you on the track and etc.

Jason:

Right, I just a quick thing. Um with dd use is the sizing. They usually come in four, five and 6.8. Highly recommend the 6.8. I know it sounds huge, but when you put a screen over a 32-inch panel, a 6.8 is the identical size of a DDU. That's in all GT3 cars, so just keep that in mind. There's also wheels that come with screens built into them as well, and most of them are Volcor. So remember that Volcore screens are compatible with SimHub. We keep mentioning SimHub, but we're just prepping this podcast to present SimHub you know what I mean and cover everything that and how it controls everything. So those Volcore screens are awesome. Like Jeff said, they're touchscreen screens are awesome.

Jeff:

Like jeff said, their touch screen, they're super high quality, they're vibrant, they're awesome and put I mean, I have a small one that I have easily replaceable yeah, my data from the pc. You know, uh, the temperature that it's running, um rpm. You know all of the things that your computer could need that just keep an eye on having a separate one just off to the side. Yeah, tons of stuff.

Jason:

Okay, I think that's all we're going to cover today on this episode. We will have a part two because there's definitely more hardware that we want to cover, but I will want to put this note out to all listeners I'm going to create an email for the podcast for questions, suggestions or comments that you may have, or even share us. Um share with us your experience so far with sim racing, so I want to add that to the weekly episodes. Um on here to share. This is a community thing, so we're going to share our. You know we'll read the questions on the show.

Jeff:

Yeah there you go questions.

Jason:

Yeah, questions, comments, whatever it is, yeah.

Jeff:

I don't know what I'd done if you weren't around to ask questions too. So if we can help out other people, that's paying it forward, man, good call.

Jason:

Yes, this is what the show is for. That's what it's intended for, and we've received good feedback recently and I'm very happy. I'm very ecstatic for the show. I appreciate you all and I would like to do the roundtable. So here we go. Jeff, you're up for the roundtable. Is there anything else you would like to add?

Jeff:

Nah man, Just you know, the usual, Drive fast, break late.

Jason:

Okay, man, just you know, the usual drive fast, break late. Okay, I think mr kelly's having a little technical difficulties, um, but we'll get those squared away, don't you worry um with that. I want to thank you all for listening and have 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