Sim Gaming Expo 2025 Debrief

There's something magical about meeting people you've known online for years—that surreal moment when virtual connections transform into genuine friendships. This is exactly what happened when the Chicane Podcast team converged on Chicago for the first-ever North American Sim Racing Expo, an event that exceeded everyone's expectations.

What began as uncertainty about who would attend evolved into a groundbreaking gathering where industry giants like Simicube, SimLab, and VPG brought their A-game, setting up displays more impressive than those at established European expos. The expo wasn't just about hardware—it was about the passionate individuals behind these companies. We discovered that nearly every sim racing manufacturer began with a simple thought: "I like this product, but wish it could do this one thing better." That spark of innovation, coupled with specialized skills and driven personalities, has created an industry built on passion rather than corporate interests.

Motion platforms dominated conversations throughout the weekend, with setups ranging from modest four-actuator systems to $175,000 professional simulators. After testing numerous configurations, we reached a surprising consensus—motion doesn't slow you down as many fear, but instead offers valuable physical feedback about what the car is doing. It's roughly "80% immersion, 20% information," making it worthwhile for those seeking deeper connection with their virtual vehicle while remaining optional for competitive racing.

The expo's true magic happened after hours, as attendees gathered at SimRacing South Barrington, a dedicated bar featuring multiple motion rigs running iRacing. There, amid friendly competition and flowing drinks, the community spirit flourished. As one participant joked, "What a bunch of sickos we are—we go to the expo for eight hours of sim racing, then go to dinner talking about sim racing, then find a bar to do more sim racing!"

For anyone considering future expos, our advice is unanimous: don't miss it. No video or description can capture the experience of putting your hands on different wheels, feeling various motion systems, and connecting with people who share your passion. The inaugural Chicago Gaming Expo wasn't just an event—it was the beginning of something special for North American sim racing.

Chapters

• 0:00 Episode Introduction
• 4:15 Meeting Each Other In Person
• 8:48 Travel Experiences Getting To Chicago
• 16:05 Favorite Parts Of The Expo
• 25:55 Surprising Elements Of The Show
• 38:56 Deep Dive Into Motion Rigs
• 54:05 VPG Wheels: A New Category
• 1:11:33 SimRacing South Bar Experience
• 1:20:30 Final Thoughts And Future Expectations

Transcript

Jason: 0:35

This episode is brought to you by Trophyai. We discuss all things in the sim racing world. I'm your host, jason Rivera, and I'm joined here by Mr Eric Kelly, jeff Smart and Mr Michael Pagliaro from the Sim Racing Den, our honored guest here once again. How's everybody doing this week? Doing good Doing well.

Michael: 0:54

Still recovering, I think.

Jason: 0:56

Dude my voice. I apologize in advance. Feels like I'm going through puberty again.

Jeff: 1:03

I learned that I like hanging out with you guys in person better than virtually. Not that this is terrible, but having a no offense to y'all virtually. An old-fashioned or six with you guys is way better than doing it in yeah, so much better In virtually, oh yeah.

Jason: 1:19

Yeah, man, and it was good to finally see my you know Eric. I've known Eric for 15 years and we we had that little clip on at the beginning in front of the hotel and it was like I always knew him, like it was like I've always hung out with him. It just meshed right away. It was like, oh yeah, what's up? Kind of like if I haven't seen him in a long time. I, you know it was. It was great to see him and behind the scenes we had some interesting conversations, man, about everything, just everything in life. And it'd be five o'clock in the morning and we have to get up to the expo and we're still chatting away. That might've been my fault, eric, so my bad, because this guy was literally falling asleep I'm like wake up, bro, we don't have time, I don't have time to see you like like this.

Jason: 2:09

You know what I mean, but, um, I'm just ecstatic, you know, and today we're, you know, we're here that that was crazy yeah, man, today is our debrief and you know I figured have the michael from the sim racing then with us.

Jason: 2:24

Once again, he he's. You know, he hung out with us for a good 80% of it and that was another honor to shake his hand and realize how small I am next to him. So, um, so, anyways, um, you know any, any announcements, michael, even Michael, any anything you guys want to put out before we get into this debrief.

Michael: 2:49

Yeah, I, just an announcement is for everybody, like the next, this is the start, like the gaming expo in Chicago was the start of like just new products coming out. It gets crazy right now. That's why they kind of call it crazy October or whatever you want to call it Sim racing industry, because there's already going to be a ton of more new products announced in Germany in I don't know what five weeks or something like that Leading up to the end of the year and Christmas. That's kind of how it goes. So there are more things coming to the industry, which means more boxes showing up in the sim racing den. So I'm going to have a very busy time up until the holidays. Already a bunch of things show. A bunch of things were showing up while I was at the expo. So, um yeah, I had to kind of get uh back to work as soon as I got back oh yeah, man and guys, make sure you check out.

Jason: 3:39

Uh, you know michael's channel. We'll leave links to it below. Um, you've been pushing out a lot of content and this is why trying to prepare for the influx of things, which is great right, that's a very it's great for a YouTuber creator like yourself, but then it's also great for you, the SimRacer, to keep an eye on things that are releasing now on the market, which is awesome. It's exciting, especially seeing the amount of people that went there. We'll get into that here in a second. But, as you can see, I have a DNR shirt on because I'm a little brokenhearted that DNR could not make the expo and I figured I'd pay him homage by wearing his logos and his T-shirt, which is a little tight on me. You know the European size. You know it's a little tight on me. You know that, the european size. You know you gotta go size up that's what it is.

Michael: 4:30

Huh, I'm hoping I can grow into mine, like what you mean, eric. Hey, what you mean what happened now?

Erick: 4:39

what are?

Jason: 4:40

you coming after me. I hear you, nah man, nah man, I'm joking, all right. Well, again, it's crazy to see you guys in the virtual and when we just came back from the real world. So I'll get right into it. This year's expo was amazing and I'll go over with the first question to all of us what was the travel experience like? We had people traveling from all over the world Michael's coming from up North Canada, we're coming from Hawaii and you know Eric's coming from the East coast, relatively closer than us. So you know, I'll start with Eric. What was your experience like? You know getting to the airport and you know what was your experience like getting to the airport and the whole travel experience for you to get to the expo.

Erick: 5:27

For me it was great. My flight left at like 8.30 at night, so the roads were clear. We got a little small airport here so I was able to go straight in catch my flight at a two-ish hour flight. And that was Damn. Two hour flight no when I-. Two hour flight Damn. No, I'm thinking about when I left Two hour flight.

Jason: 5:46

No by far. I'm thinking about when we came back.

Erick: 5:49

My flight going up there left at like 1, 1.30 or something like that, but it was still pretty clear though, and then, like I said, about a two hour flight Got there. I mean, it took me almost as long to get the Uber.

Jason: 6:05

Oh yeah, I was texting him. I was like dude, are you here? He's like I don't know where this Uber guy is.

Michael: 6:12

Rob Markman. Oh yeah, I remember that we were all waiting for you to get there outside, like the welcoming committee.

Erick: 6:17

Rob Markman. Yeah, man, the terminals like the Uber app. It was showing one terminal, but then, once I went through and actually picked the driver, it was like okay, now go to this other terminal. And it was like I had to get on a train and go to the other side of the airport and I was like this doesn't seem right, it's always something Turns out.

Jeff: 6:37

O'Hare is a huge airport.

Michael: 6:41

It is man.

Jason: 6:43

What about you, jeff? How was your? Oh, go ahead, go ahead, mike, is that?

Michael: 6:45

your first time flying in O'Hare, I'm assuming, or no?

Erick: 6:50

For me it wasn't. Actually, we flew into O'Hare when we were going to Montreal last year oh. Ok, yeah, yeah.

Michael: 7:00

Cool.

Jason: 7:02

All right. So yeah, o'hare is one of the biggest airports in the country, it's international, it's massive. And you know, before Jeff's you know segment, I had asked Jeff, hey, do you want to share Uber? Because we literally got there five minutes apart. And he's like no, I'm in Terminal 5.

Jeff: 7:23

That was like I don't know how long of a walk that was Three miles away.

Jason: 7:25

That's another couple city blocks away. But go ahead, jeff, sorry to steal your thunder, no um, yeah, so me and you left hawaii.

Jeff: 7:33

we went, you know, I think, like I was the air, the aircraft before you take off, or vice versa, out of hawaii. You know, I went to vegas, you know we went our own way, then landed within four minutes of each other back in Chicago and then it was like, hey, where are you at, wait for me, we'll get an Uber. Well, little did I know. We were six miles apart still. So, all in all, not terrible travel. Once I got to get an Uber and stuff like that, it wasn't terrible.

Jason: 8:02

Time change wasn't bad. Did you Uber this and exit, or something like that? And oh I forgot about that. I got like this guy's first day on, first day on uber, and he's like I can't find the spot.

Jeff: 8:12

I'm like how are you doing uber out of o'hare and you don't know where the pickup is?

Michael: 8:18

that's crazy a lot of crazy adventures in ubers?

Jason: 8:21

that definitely was oh my god, chicago, some people that won't just won't understand some of the stories. I can't even Adventures in Ubers. That definitely was the theme. Oh my God, bro, chicago, some people that won't understand some of the stories.

Michael: 8:28

I can't even begin to explain them.

Jason: 8:32

Yeah, they were fun because it was like so who are we going to get this time? What's going to happen now? And sure enough. But yeah, jeff it, you know it wasn't that far away. So it was about a 20 minute drive, right, 15, 20 minutes, depending on the traffic. But what about you, mikey? How was your trip coming from Canada?

Michael: 8:55

I'd like to say I have some crazy story, but honestly it was one of the easiest flights and travel that I've ever had Like, and honestly, though, it was nice for the first time to actually have everything go smoothly. No flight delayed, like, so the flight from Toronto is super easy two hours right, um, and I go back an hour in time, so no time zone change like. I just felt like I was in same place. Um, flight was on time. Uber driver from the airport to the hotel was efficient. Like. I got there ahead of all you guys and I was just bored walking around going where's all my friends? No one's here yet, so I was just waiting for everyone to get there. Um, hell yeah, you made it there before us. So you actually.

Michael: 9:39

I met up with amir, so amir texted me from simpit yeah because I think we were talking before, he kind of knew, when my flight was around, he's like are you here? I'm like yeah, man, I'm outside. So then he came out, and then we were just, you know, shooting the shit, chatting, and then I said yeah, let's just stick out here, because you know I got Jason coming and Eric and, um, jeff are coming, let's look. And then we all just kind of met up outside, right, that was it.

Jason: 10:08

Okay, yeah, I mean I thought it was cool that you were kind of chilling outside waiting for us. I thought I was really nice. I don't know if that was the intention, but it was cool because I got there, followed by Jeff, followed by Eric, and we was just shooting the stuff there. Man, I got to meet Amir, which was an awesome dude. Good to hang out with him. He's a down to earth guy. Yeah he's a lot of fun. So many people right.

Jeff: 10:37

It was weird when I pulled up in my Uber and you know, jason, I see you, you know quite a bit. But then to see Mike, I was like it was just weird to see people that you've watched their YouTube for hours. And you know, jason, I see you, you know quite a bit. But then to see Mike, I was like it was just weird to see people that you've watched their YouTube for hours and you know, we've been on the podcast, but then you see these people, like even Amir, I was like what's he doing? Like, seeing these people on YouTube, on your TV at home, as you're, you know, hanging out or whatever, and then you see them in real life, you're like it's just weird. It was just like-.

Michael: 11:04

Yeah it's always a strange thing.

Jason: 11:12

Yeah, it's hard to put words to other than just weird to see people that you only know on a screen, and then you see them in real life. Yes, right, like we're not AI at all, I promise.

Erick: 11:20

We're bone and flesh here, yeah, I will say that it was refreshing, because it's like we spend so much time doing a podcast and you spend time watching people and then to see you in person and it's like you kind of take in the rest of your body because we just see the top half and it's like, okay, he's got legs, he's got feet Downloading. He's the same guy, same guy I've been talking to.

Jeff: 11:44

It's so weird because people are coming up and be like I didn't know you were so tall. I'm like I'm not that tall.

Jason: 11:51

Bro, you're pretty damn tall bro.

Jeff: 11:53

It's just weird. Which is good man.

Jason: 11:54

I wish I was that tall. You know, you got that athletic build man. I'm just the average dude, I guess I'm just an average dude, I guess. But it was still cool to see people in person and exchange conversations more naturally, if that makes sense. You know what I mean, because on a camera I'm only looking at one angle and just being next to somebody. I guess it's a human thing to hang out with other humans, you know, instead of being like that, face-to-face interaction.

Michael: 12:28

Man, it doesn't go away with all this technology. Yes, it's. It's different. Like I think we get to know each other better because we can physically see each other. If we were just talking on the phone all the time would be really strange. But yeah, it's something about that human interaction and I think too, like when we're at like even, jay, when you and I talk on the phone, we're kind of in the middle of our day, there's other stuff going on, but we're all there for the same reason, got to use the washroom, even though we did use the washroom.

Jeff: 13:09

I forgot about that.

Jason: 13:18

And Jeff and Eric. They're super busy. It's hard for me to. I would love to hang out with Jeff. We're like yo, we're going to do the expo and then we go out at night and there's no other than the occasional check in on the wives, of course. You know got to mark that one off, you know, just to keep it safe when you go back home. You know you still need to go back home.

Jeff: 13:38

Limited distractions.

Jason: 13:40

I think that sums up the experience right of the travel and getting there, so we'll move on to the next one. I think that sums up the experience of the travel and getting there, so we'll move on to the next one. I think Eric's going to take this one.

Erick: 13:50

Eric Markman. Yeah, so I think we kind of had stuff that we expected to see, some that was a surprise. But what was everybody's kind of favorite part of the expo? And I guess, uh, I don't know. I guess, mike, you'd guess we'll let you go first because and also, this was your first expo, expo, right, so you had some basis to compare as well, right?

Jason: 14:20

in the us right in the us.

Michael: 14:21

Well, yeah, first, yeah, second time going to an exppo, obviously the first in North America, because this was the first in North America. So, yeah, I mean, the first thing that I think surprised me is that you know, I had such expect, I had great expectations. I knew, you know, we kind of knew, getting to the to the last month or so beforehand, like who was going to be there? So you know, there was a point in time where it was like, okay, there's not a lot of manufacturers locked into this, how is this going to go? And then you started seeing the names come in SimiQ, simlab, you know all these big names jumping on the roster. So I said, okay, this, this is shaping up to be something really incredible. So it definitely exceeded my expectations.

Michael: 15:03

When I was there, I think my favorite thing was the variety of stuff that you had there and the variety of different setups. Right, just different sim racing setups. You know you, if you try single monitors, ultra wides, fanatec rigs, the a hundred thousand dollar motion rigs, custom rigs that look like f1, you know, kind of f1 cars like. So it was definitely a big variety, uh, of stuff there and I think for the first year like what a great start.

Jason: 15:33

Um yeah, yeah, okay, well said, well said. Who wants to go next?

Jeff: 15:41

I'll jump in. There you go. My favorite part was just hanging out with everybody else that had a shared passion, don't get me wrong. Like getting to experience. Like $150,000 motion rig was bonkers, right, I mean. I think we all agree that it's hard to put words to. You just have to experience something like that to be able to understand how it feels.

Jeff: 16:06

But to just talk with people, you know, especially you know we were wearing our swag, the chicane podcast shirts, and people would just come up and be like, hey, you know, I listen to you guys as I'm, you know, doing my job, you know doing my deliveries or whatever, and just you know coming up and talking to people. And just coming up and talking to people. I think we had Roy Wheeler at OG, we had Drew and a bunch of other people that made comments, a bunch in our and email, just meeting them in person and then like what a bunch of sickos. We are right. We go to the expo, we go to dinner and then we go somewhere else and we're all talking about sim racing. We go to places. That's more sim racing. It was just awesome to interact with people, like-minded people with hobbies of sim racing, and just interacting all weekend with them. So that was my favorite part was the people, okay.

Michael: 16:57

Yeah, well said, definitely For sure.

Jeff: 17:01

Jason, what?

Jason: 17:02

was yours, okay.

Erick: 17:03

Rob.

Jason: 17:03

Markman Jr. Jason, what was yours? Jason Reynolds Okay, so that's. A big part of it was meeting the fans. It was a surprise to me that so many of them stopped us. You know what I mean, and it was a pleasure. It was.

Jason: 17:19

Every time, jeff and I must have started the recording of the walkthrough, maybe like three times, and I would get down to maybe halfway and I'd have to stop. But it wasn't like I was mad that I had to stop. It was like, oh, I'm stopping this, I can do this later, I can do this later. Let me say hi to the fans, let me take pictures with them and seeing how, hearing their thoughts in person Because when people comment on our videos and they leave a positive comment, it's just maybe a one sentence or maybe a few sentences, but when you see the passion in their eyes that they genuinely love what we do and they don't want us to stop what we're doing, they depend on us, they trust us. That's one part.

Jason: 18:09

The second part of it is, I think, that this expo legitimizes the Chicane podcast, because now we have a lot more input on hardware that we technically don't own right, all the simulation hardware that we put our hands on, we can actually speak on things a little that much more. And yeah, the people hanging out with them, meeting personalities I met Dan Suzuki, I met Michael, I met Tony Kanaan and they were all smiles and just great people, very humble, very nice. You know what I mean, and I think it's kind of like a family, almost, I guess I'd say. I felt like I was part of something, I felt like we belonged there, because people recognized us. And even if they did, they were interested.

Jason: 19:05

And I just wanted to say that it was emotional for me going in there and every day I'm like I have this like how do you say this? Like a little nervous thing, nervous, excited, and I'm like, well, who's going to be next today? And I'm like, man, this is incredible and I just I just want to say that Thank you, because I did my best to make sure I addressed everyone and gave everyone fair time, so that that that was my favorite part of the show.

Michael: 19:34

I just want to add one thing to that. The one thing that I thought was so cool was like I was never alone at any given point, like even like I'd wake up in the morning and it would be some. Somebody would be texting me, going someone. When are we meeting for breakfast?

Michael: 19:48

I'm down here yo, we got coffee yeah, like whether it be lawrence or amir or ian from rss, like we all just kind of found each other and even like if somebody was not up yet you're never sitting at a table alone like we were just, and then eventually we'd all end up in the same bar 20 of us we had a group right.

Jason: 20:08

It was like everybody was on the same. We were like we were like an entourage, like there was like 20 of us, like yeah, we needed like three ubers like the big size ones it was kind of cool man.

Michael: 20:19

No, we had viewers sitting with us. Hey, come drink with us, come eat with us. Yeah, come on, it was just like there was such a so community, like hang out with people. So, like jeff said, I think, like the hobby brings us together. But I think you know when the hobby brings you together and everyone are just good people that want to have a good time and get to know each other. Like it just was a recipe for just something amazing, right? So, yeah, so.

Jason: 20:43

Yeah, a hundred percent.

Michael: 20:45

Yeah, yeah, all right, let's hear it, eric, what?

Erick: 20:48

you got, I was going to say I was back and forth. Um, I kind of share, you know, the same feelings, especially about the fans, and kind of understanding, or seeing you know, the impact that we have, cause, like you say, we get emails and comments and things like that. But to see, you know and I guess I have something to compare it to, because nobody is, you know, nobody feels that way about a phone review, right, nobody feels like you know, I really appreciate what you do Just the deep connection that people had with what we were doing and what it meant to them. That was definitely kind of overwhelming. But, like another piece, that was kind of like neck and neck was just being happy for how well it turned out. You know, for George, oh yeah, just kind of knowing what he put into it and, you know, seeing the support you know, just happy that somebody who's passionate about this and was willing to take this risk and see it pay off for the most part, that was awesome, rob.

Jason: 21:54

Markman, and we met his mom too.

Erick: 21:56

Remember guys, rob Markman, yeah, mom his wife, his son Rob Markman, His mom, his wife.

Michael: 22:00

They were all working. Rob Markman he had his whole family supporting him. He had family friends there volunteering their time for free to make sure.

Jeff: 22:06

Super nice to his mom, I think there's I mean that's what I was going to add to is is it's something to see like when we were getting checking in and and his mom was there and we you know we were just talking with George and you can see his mom, you know almost get almost get a little emotional there of like his mom you know almost get almost get a little emotional there of like to see what her son had done and you know, and bring a community together was pretty cool too.

Jason: 22:30

Yeah, that was beautiful man yeah, and and the fact that they you know, they support him, they believe in him. You know his mom. I don't know. I gotta ask her if she's, uh, if she drives a gt3 porsche on our racing. But I don't know what she's into maybe, maybe NASCAR or something.

Jason: 22:47

But you know, at that point it didn't matter His mom and shout out to George. George's mom was just proud of her son and that's it. She was like I'm proud of what my son built. I don't care what's in this, you know behind the doors he built something and it's you something, and it's succeeding for its first time. That did something to me a little, and that was on the first day I was like damn bro, that's his mom there, crazy, and she didn't tell us that that was his mom.

Jason: 23:20

She was very humble, she didn't mention anything like that. It was George, like hey, you know, did you meet my mom? I was like oh, he's like yeah, he did. I was like what the heck?

Michael: 23:33

Yeah, just really good people behind this. You know such a great guy, george, deserves all the success with this working hard. I mean, I was just honored to be invited as a a as a special guest and I just try, you know, to do our our end of trying to promote it to the community. And, um, yeah, there was. You didn't know what to expect in the beginning, but I I think you could probably say the same thing, like once you got to know george, like I'm, like I have no doubt this guy is gonna put us off.

Michael: 24:02

We said it here many times like the, the amount of energy, enthusiasm, work, like ethic that he was putting into this and just the sheer passion for simulation and this the right guy.

Jason: 24:14

That's the right guy there was it.

Michael: 24:16

It was, this was the guy. This was the guy that was going to make it happen.

Jason: 24:19

Yeah, 100, yeah, I mean since day he was, and he was a little, you know, he at the end we interviewed him twice. At the end he was very his energy levels were kind of high and I love that because I was like, yes, you got, you got everything's kind of laid out. Now it's working. You know what I mean. In the beginning he was very passionate about trying to get more to fill the seats and that place was packed, bro, I don't want you to look at. So I made a video about the three days that we all spent there.

Jason: 24:59

For those of you listening to the audio version, please subscribe to the channel. Into the audio version, please subscribe to the channel. And I just want to tell you that a lot of that footage was the first day we had an hour exclusive, with the floors open to us, so there wasn't many people there. And again, I tried filming during Saturday. That was impossible, impossible. So I had to focus the walkthrough at the very end. So don't let that confuse you when you see the amount of people there, this place was packed. So, yeah, yeah, all right. So, jeff, I think you got the third one yeah, going.

Jeff: 25:38

So now that we're, you know, expo complete. What surprised you guys? What surprises did you have with new products? Did you think there was gonna be more products? Did you think there was gonna be less people, more people, anything? What surprises came along. Jason, this is hard. Put you on the spot, oh me, okay, so you lead it off here do you want to know?

Jason: 26:00

um, it might not be as exciting for you guys. No, send it. But what surprised me was the facility, because when we interviewed the CEO of Simicube which is another video that's going to drop, probably be out already and I looked at the podcast and I was like, wow, that is a very nice studio booth to make videos in. Wow, that is a very nice studio booth to make videos in, because I was thinking a glass door with no labels on it. I don't know, I just could not envision the amount of attention to detail that George had. Then he had signs that had our Chicane podcast on it, like that was. You know what I'm saying, eric? He was like what?

Erick: 26:46

Look at that. Like we walk up and we're the first slide on the first day. Our name up there the top of the marquee is like this is dope.

Jason: 26:55

Yeah. So I was like, wow, okay, so we can work with this, we can make this look. You know it's going to look great. So then that's what really I mean the motion rigs, of course, surprised me. But you know, as a, you know as as the host of the show here, that gave me the confidence I guess to to give out, to put out a little more quality. You know, I was happy. I guess that surprised me the most. You know, that's honest truth, I don't want to lie and say it was a motion rig.

Erick: 27:30

That's the one thing that I can think of. Yeah, that makes sense. It was very well done. I mean, even some of the other people that had booze were talking about how well things were laid out logistically and how it was better than some of the other expo they've been to. I mean, yeah, you was, you would never guess. Oh yeah, this is this guy's first try.

Jason: 27:49

Yeah, no, bro, in the middle of the year. There was like this guy's been doing this for 10 years or something. Yeah, yeah, that was insane.

Jeff: 27:59

Like the level of it. It was so polished. Yeah, it had polished dude.

Jason: 28:04

It had the colors, it had some fancy seats, that behind the scenes we had to engineer something and it worked out great. But who's going next? What surprised you? Let's go with Eric, eric. What surprised you, brother?

Erick: 28:21

So the thing that surprised me was how what I ended up being impressed with the most Rob Markman, right, rob Markman. So obviously a lot of firsts there First time using motion, first time active pedal, first time triples and kind of after everything processed, what I was impressed with the most wasn't actually the big theatrical stuff, it was the more reasonable rigs I thought I would leave. We're in a $175,000 rig with triple 77 inch OLEDs, rob Markman, oh, way up high.

Erick: 28:58

Rob Markman and I'm like the whole time I'm thinking like, oh my God, I'm going to go back home to my rig after this. This is going to be crazy. But then, trying out some other, more human, attainable rigs, it was kind of like no, this feels a little bit better, this feels a little bit more manageable, less like a theme park ride and more like something that I could use every day. So that actually surprised me, that I wasn't, as I guess, impacted by the big, huge, crazy rigs.

Jeff: 29:31

Okay, that's an interesting one. I think we'll maybe dig more into that here later. Mikey, what you got, any surprises?

Michael: 29:39

Yeah, I mean, I agree with all of you guys actually on the same things, and I find that that's often the case with me too is that, um, you, you get you kind of get gravitated to these crazy setups, but then you go, okay, I'm never going to be able to afford that. What's, what am I really looking at here? And then you, you start finding some hidden gems, um, in the show. But I think what surprised me, honestly, was some of the level of the booths, like, for example like to put things in perspective, because I was in Germany last year, so I have that a bit to compare to this expo Like Simicube's booth at this show, thinking about it now after the fact, was much more over the top than what they brought to Germany last year.

Michael: 30:21

To be honest, they brought more with them to this show, like they had a couple of rigs set up and things like that, but they didn't have full motion rigs, they didn't have the variety of different setups they had.

Michael: 30:33

So they really upped the game for this show, which shows what I think that shows is that the hardware companies are taking this North American idea of an expo like super seriously. Right, there was some heavy investment in terms of personnel, they had, you know, the team that was there, all the people that I know for marketing and some people I don't and then you had their, their president and founder, like everybody, was there and at the booth almost every day, right. So there was a lot of investment there from not just Simicube, but a lot of the companies really came with their, with their A game for this Right. You know, like if we're going to do this, let's do this Right. So that surprised me a little bit because I thought that it might be toned down from, kind of the way they set themselves up in Germany. So I think that's really impressive and I think, if you know, going into the next year of this, you're going to see even more to that.

Jason: 31:28

Yeah, A hundred percent dude. And GSI's booth was incredible. It had the on the glow light that was shining through on the wheels. Yeah, made it very easy to get nice pictures. Yeah, it was awesome.

Michael: 31:42

Yeah, they know how to set up a booth.

Jason: 31:46

Yeah, I think so, yeah, I think so, I think so, yeah, and again, they had a they had a bigger setup, I think, here than they did in germany.

Michael: 31:51

To be honest, if I'm remembering it correctly, yeah which that's?

Jason: 31:55

really cool and this is data that we don't have, which is kind of good to hear for the listeners out there. Um, yeah, that they're taking it serious is basically what I got out of that. You know everyone's taking it serious like, hey, we need to come over there and we need to come correct and we didn't get the toned down version.

Michael: 32:13

We just we got a little bit less because obviously, um, there's a, there's a bunch of companies that we're missing from that, but we had I'm sure they regret it right about now.

Michael: 32:22

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people will want to maybe see how this went before they dip into it, right? But some people just said, ok, let's just, let's just take the chance and let's see how this goes. And I'm I heard a lot of positive things from the manufacturers that I spoke to and you know we'd come back again like positive things to hear.

Jason: 32:44

So, yeah, yeah, All right, what about you?

Jeff: 32:47

you know, we'd come back again like positive things to hear. So, yeah, all right, what about you, jeff? So the biggest thing that kind of I took away as a you know it was surprised me was we talked to you know the guy, the, the gentleman behind grid and grid engineering. You know, we talked to Simi cube. We talked to GSI, we talked to all you know all these people, and it's not corporate, these are all people. We talked to them. How they got to, wherever their product is, how they got there.

Jeff: 33:15

And I don't want to say they all have the similar story, but it's all very much like hey, I was into sim racing, I had this product that I liked it, but I wish it just did this. And they had a very special skillset or they were just were driven to learn how to do it and they tweaked it, they built it 3d printed a new piece and built something that what they exactly wanted. And then somebody sees a picture of it. Can you make me one? And then you know the I think the gsi goes like yeah, I made 20, 20 of them and they went within three weeks and then that was it. That was off. We were off and run, you know, and the grid engineering. It's a very similar story, you know, and I my biggest surprise was how lack of corporate feel these people have, because it's driven by passion, not by the bottom dollar. They're just people with passion, that's all.

Jeff: 34:11

Of these people started as sim races. They didn't just graduate, graduate and like, I want to go chase the dollar and I'm going to join this. You know they're all just want to move sim racing forward. You know, better, better products, more realistic, and that was it was just. It caught me off. It caught me by surprise that they all were like no, this I bought this wheel didn't do exactly what I wanted. So I learned some stuff, I learned how to solder and et cetera, and built a better thing. And they sold. And next thing, you know, I do this full time and I think it was awesome that the level, the amount of people that we talked to that quit their nine to five to chase the company that they were building, you know whether it be GSI, simgrid, you know all of these started from that, yeah absolutely, and that's just.

Jeff: 34:56

I love that story of people that just like no, I'm going for it. That's, that was what. My biggest surprise of it is just the lack of corporate feel to these companies yeah, that's which is awesome that's so true.

Michael: 35:08

That's I'm so glad you brought that up because, like I've talked, I've had conversations with people and they're like, if I wanted to just go straight to to what business to get into to make the most money, it wouldn't be sim racing. But as a result, you go and do something with your passion and then you can make money from it. That's almost more rewarding.

Jason: 35:27

Same thing a creator could say right, Mike, and we spoke about this. You could be a console gamer. You could play Fortnite and get millions of subs and make money I don't know who would watch me play Fortnite. But you know what I'm saying.

Michael: 35:42

Don't tell yourself too short You'll makenite look cinematic and great and expect oh yeah you'll get it some different angles yeah close-up shots of some of the weapons well, that's such a good observation, though, jeff, it really is actually that's that I forget how true that is.

Jason: 36:00

Um, this is why I love these, because everyone's different and having inputs like this, gathering together and putting it out, it's really awesome. It's really awesome because not everybody will take things for the same view, right? Yeah, I'm just ecstatic. I'm ecstatic and we'll go on to the next question, which is probably what a lot of our listeners want to know.

Jeff: 36:29

Let them have it.

Jason: 36:30

Yeah, what is the team here? Everyone in this studio? Well, michael, we already got a few reviews with Michael, so if you want to see any motion reviews, check out Michael's channel, simracingdenton. But what do you guys think about motion? What was the takeaway here? Wants to go first?

Jeff: 36:51

I'll go I'll go first here. Um, yeah, I'm processing, so I'll start with the. What was the? What was the company that had the? You know the, the oel llds, the, the big money rig right at the front there.

Jason: 37:06

Driven.

Jeff: 37:06

Dynamics, driven Dynamics. Unbelievable rig, hard to put in words I think we all were lost for words getting out of the rig. How to explain it?

Jason: 37:14

I had this evil laugh to me. Michael was dying laughing. He was like every time I was laughing on that thing. I didn't mean to man.

Jeff: 37:23

That was just emotion. So it's hard to wrap your head around how circus ride it feels almost right To drive these. Get in one of those and then we got in, you know, the more like capable ones that you could actually own as a normal dude and I was surprised of how good they were compared to the extreme other end of the spectrum. If that makes sense, you have your normal four-wheel actuators. Sometimes I think less is more with motion we talk about that a lot with a lot of haptics and stuff. But I think less sometimes can be more. That could be. It's just still at the there's such a barrier to get into it to to the motion.

Jason: 38:14

Um you know, maybe in a couple years, that will.

Jeff: 38:17

You know, as technology progresses that price point will come down. You know we had talked about the um. There's you, like you can make your own with open source software and solder, and you know it's still 2,500 bucks and you're on your own with any problems that have to happen. And then it's probably like 2,000 more on top of that if you're going to buy probably the cheapest you know four actuator system. It just for me, I'm going to have to, I would love to have it, it just still I don't see enough of the return on the investment for the price point. So I but I do think. In summary, I guess less is more. I am a huge proponent of the bell tensioner.

Jason: 39:04

Which we would definitely get into, jeff. Okay, my man, that is, stay tuned, guys, because we might have made a purchase or two, um not necessarily at the show.

Jason: 39:16

But when we went back to the hotel, uh, there was some inputs being placed on the phone, but 100. So I'll go real quick. I'll be real quick on this. You know, as a sim racer that is always chasing lap time, I'm here to tell you guys, and I want to tell you straight to the face motion does not slow you down, it does not. It is a different input that you have to get used to.

Jason: 39:45

And it took me three laps to figure out what is happening to me and what is the car doing to my body. Because now I have that connection which doesn't exist right now. You know, the only connection I have is vibrations and the steering wheel and the pedal, but that doesn't tell me what the rear side of the car, or the sides or the front, is really doing and how far is it doing it. So we jumped in motion rigs and we jumped in very expensive ones and we jumped in. It was funny, right, because we jumped in a hundred seventy five thousand dollars setup and then we go down to the eighteen thousand things like, oh, that doesn't sound too bad, but it's still eighteen thousand dollars. You know what I mean I took.

Jeff: 40:30

I was like but when you're sitting next, to a hundred grand setup.

Michael: 40:34

I mean it's, it's a deal, right? Yeah, that's a hell of a bargain man.

Jason: 40:38

18 grand, but let's, let's, let's, let's bring come down from the clouds a little bit. Um, that is a very costly uh you know upgrade and I'm here to tell you that it doesn't slow you down and, in my personal opinion, with the time that I've had, it's more of an 80-20, 80% immersion and 20% information, and that is my opinion on motion Is it worth it?

Jason: 41:05

Great point, I absolutely believe so, if it doesn't break the bank. I don't want you guys to skip on all the fundamentals that we talk about on the Chicane podcast, on what a rig should have. This is very endgame. This is the very last thing you should be doing, in my personal opinion, and that's my thoughts.

Jeff: 41:30

I think that 80-20 analogy is perfect.

Jason: 41:33

Thank you, I agree, that's what I got out of it, and I'll end with this. I came back home and I had jet lag and I text the guys and Mike, I was like screw jet lag. I'm going on the rig and I didn't really miss like it didn't destroy me like I thought it was. I was like man. When I come back to a static rig, it's going to mess me up. I'm going to want the motion. Actually, contrary, my rig is actually highly optimized and I'm sure Jeff's is optimized and Eric's and Michael's to their personal cater.

Jason: 42:09

The setups that were set up at the expo. They're not personalized to you. So when you come back to your setup, you feel good. You're like, oh man, that the wheel feels exactly how I want to feel. You know what I mean. So I'm not rushing into motion, that's what I'm going to say. We did add something that will maybe push a little, which we will cover on the next episode and Jeff's excited, but I think it gives us time to play with this new piece of tech first before we speak about it. But yeah, I'll give it up to whoever's next or whoever wants to go next.

Erick: 42:49

Yeah, I mean I'll go next and I kind of share some of the same thoughts as far as I'll go next and I kind of share some of the same thoughts as far as you know, motion not slowing you down, how quickly you can get used to it, and and also just what aspect of motion make the most kind of have the biggest impact, Right.

Erick: 43:12

So same point like the big crazy rig at the corner of the semi-cube booth with the triple 77s, Like we got in that and it was like, oh man, like this is what motion feels, like this is crazy. But then it kind of came down very quickly to the finer details, right, Not necessarily so much the show, and I think after the first day when we went to the bar, I think we kind of were agreeing like the rigs in this random bar actually feel like something that we can kind of get used to and I can see myself using on a daily basis. And actually thinking about motion is something that actually shouldn't be the start of the show, right, it shouldn't be like the main piece of your experience. It should just kind of fade to the background and just kind of be some, like you said, Jason, some more immersion and some more data. But it can quickly go past that and kind of be like a distraction.

Jason: 44:21

Correct. It'd be too much, which was Jeff's point. It all ties into the same. Yes, 100%.

Erick: 44:30

So I think that kind of being consistent with us is interesting.

Jason: 44:35

And I love the fact that we can have a conversation about this, because that's one of the goals of the show is to give you the real talk about things for those that couldn't make it. But let's hear Mike, because Mike has Motion and he's tested quite a few other platforms as well, so let's hear from you, mike.

Michael: 44:55

Yeah, I want to add a few other platforms as well. So let's hear from you, mike. Yeah, I want to add a few things. Yeah, I mean, I've had my fair share of time on motion platforms over the years since I started the channel. It's given me the opportunity, invites to events and places to try different things, and then eventually led to Dbox sending me over the unit that I have in my rig right now. That's been on my rig for I don't know eight, ten months now, I think, um, and become very much melded into my sim racing experience.

Michael: 45:23

Now, um, I think first thing I want to mention, I think, like depends on what you're after, right, so there's I kind of break it into three categories. There's the ultra competitive e-racing sim racer who is competing at the highest levels or really chasing the fastest lap times. They will often want to remove any potential for slower lap times or anything that might throw their steering off or throw them off. You know, um, anytime this debate comes up, someone will throw out. Max verstappen said he's much faster without motion, would never use motion for sim racing because he's trying to be the best and fastest sim racer in the world, which I don't know if he is right now. He might be um, and that's fair um.

Michael: 46:11

For me personally, I don't think it's made me necessarily slower. I do agree with Jason. The things that I've noticed over the last 10 months or so is that I can now drive from different physical feedback and cues. That, I think, makes me a better driver. But the key is the other side is the immersion, the person chasing ultimate immersion, which is like for me, is the biggest priority in sim racing. It was the biggest priority from the beginning, which is why I made a roof for my rig back in the day, which is why I immediately wanted to go to triples, because I wanted to feel like I was sitting in a car. Um, you know the reason why I love things like the belt tensioner and all these things that add immersion first, um is what'm after, and the same reason people with endless bank accounts will spend the hundred grand to have you know well, they will spend.

Michael: 47:02

They'll say, I want the most best, most immersive simulator I can buy. They will get in that. What's the name? Again, racing. I always screw this up Driven dynamics. I keep wanting to say racing dynamics, I don't know why. And they will say, yeah, I want this no-transcript. So they need to have all those layers because drivers drive from you know, from the seat of their pants, right, how they feel and they need that.

Michael: 47:50

I've talked to a lot of pro drivers that they, like I, can't drive a static rig. It just like, does not feel like my car. So, yeah, and there's at all different budgets and levels, when you go to these x, when you know we're at this expo, there was a motion system there for everybody in those potentially in those categories or in different budgets. Um, for me, I absolutely love having it. If it wasn't here tomorrow I would miss it, right. But that being said, I also had a great time when my rig was static too and was having fun, but for me it's taken the immersion to another level. So, yeah, that's my bit on motion.

Jason: 48:35

I guess it's something that for you, the sim racer that's building your rig, and you know, when I look at my setup, I still can't believe that this is in the house. You know what I mean, and it's kind of like, how did the hell did we get here? And it's a lot of stuff. But I guess you know, when I was growing, was growing up, my parents always told me don't go after the first thing. You see, there's always going to be something better. You know, if you just hold on, you wait good pathway to success with all the different you know exhibitors.

Jason: 49:21

We had so many different exhibitors showing off their motion platforms and giving you options to upgrade or giving you an entry to say, hey, if you can't afford this, start here and then you can add this piece, you can add that piece. You know what I mean. So that's true, it's a good point. I, you know I asked them if they would take a post-dated check and they didn't answer back. But once I have a live coach available on demand with trophy AI, you'll be able to practice with Mansell AI at your convenience a real-time coach in your headphones to navigate and guide you through the track, helping you achieve race pace. This tool is awesome as it provides full brake, throttle and steering telemetry on screen with a live review getting you ready for your next big race. Check links to Trophy AI in the description and also use CHICAIN12 in all caps for a 12% discount.

Michael: 50:11

More of these companies need to offer financing.

Jason: 50:14

Yeah, we need a payment plan, bro, bro, like a 30 fix. Like you finance a car.

Michael: 50:18

Some of these cost more than my car. Actually, a lot of them cost more than you know, like a fee simple.

Jason: 50:23

You know, fee simple 30 fix apr you know.

Erick: 50:26

So that way it doesn't.

Jeff: 50:27

Yeah, they'll be missing out for one last thing, I guess, is the smiles per mile on a motion rig is off the charts.

Jason: 50:36

Oh, perfect Smiles per. I love this.

Jeff: 50:37

Yeah, I mean you didn't see a single person on a rig. That was motion, that wasn't having the time of their life.

Michael: 50:43

No, you didn't see anybody that said, oh, that was. I loved watching you guys experience it. Yeah, that was whack. It was the first time.

Jason: 50:58

I didn't meet a because they'd be lying to you, bro. Oh yeah, oh yeah, mike was. Was over there just cracking up watching me and it was cool man, it's like that that right there, you know, I had a. You know, mike's a buddy now. He's a buddy of mine, that's a good buddy of mine, and and I heard him from the corner of my you know my ear and I was like man, I better not crash this car bro everybody crashes when they get in a motion rig for the first time everybody and a different setup.

Jason: 51:22

Right, because the you know, like I said, that was my claim.

Jeff: 51:24

Different setup yeah, different setup.

Jason: 51:26

The force feedback wasn't really, you know, it wasn't to my liking and I wasn't that guy that was going to freaking sit there and spend 20 minutes in a rig doing laps and I'm like, yeah, there's 75 people waiting.

Jason: 51:42

Yeah, there's people waiting. And you know, we, the Chicane podcast, we were very humble. We took one lap, maybe two, and we got out because it's three of us. Yeah, exactly you know. But then again we we tried maybe seven, eight motion rigs, so we got a pretty good amount of time in them we definitely got spoiled, though jason starting off yeah, you started up here.

Jeff: 52:07

We started that um I was like we did this wrong.

Jason: 52:10

Yeah it was the first thing that when you walk in, it was like, oh, there they are, let's get in, yeah, first.

Michael: 52:17

That's actually not a bad way to do it, because then you kind of start with the highest and then you realize as you go down that, okay, these are still, these systems are still amazing and you're getting you know I agree with this.

Jason: 52:28

You know that's a great point you know, that's really what happened like what am I really missing here?

Jason: 52:35

You know what I mean. How crazy do I need this to happen? And I do have an observation, and this came from the SRC squad. They watched the walkthrough video that's on the channel and they were all making an observation on motion before we move on, and they said that when the motion rig, the 6DOF, was swaying side to side, the picture wasn't, the picture was staying static. It kind of throws the realism off a little with this with, you know, with the, your physical side swaying and you're looking this way when in real life if you was to sway, the entire, you know, front dashboard will sway. So that was an interesting point that the guys and I shot them out here, you know, put out. So yeah, I think 4-inch regular might be in the ballpark here.

Jason: 53:44

But moving on to the next question here, I think it's me right. No, it'll be Eric. Eric, what we got for the next question.

Erick: 53:54

Yeah. So, speaking of this crazy stuff we saw at the show, something that was deceptively impressive was the wheel from VPG. Right, we got a chance to look at it next to the actual real life version in the car and just want to get y'all's thoughts on that wheel, because it's it's another one of those things where you can't describe to people what is really impressive about it. So, uh, jeff, what were your impressions? Oh, straight to me one spot dude, get him.

Jeff: 54:31

So I'll be transparent. I am not a when it's, you know, jason, and I kind of go back and forth with some banter that, oh, if it's fia approved or you know it's, actually comes a race car. That doesn't usually. That's. That doesn't sell me, it sells for other people. It's just not my jam right. But when we got to talk to bpg, which will come out here shortly, and he's talking about how this wheel is made, and you are looking at one and then looking in the other and if he didn't say anything you wouldn't know which one was which. Yeah, unless you, like you, know what you were looking for. You looked on the connectors, yeah, but if you they were straight up, you could not tell there was the seams for the carbon fiber, like if you know anything about carbon fiber.

Jeff: 55:21

it is not an easy thing to to, to produce and the sim racing wheel seems exactly like the one in the real, real half million dollar p? Um. And I wasn't. I didn't think. I was like once I'd grab it. I'd be like, eh, it's sure it's like a, it's another wheel, great, but you grab it. And it's the only word that I can say and I I use this from a lot when we talk about wheels is it sings to you, it speaks to you? Yeah, like it's, it's. Oh, I can rip some laps with this thing there's other wheels you get like, oh, this is kind of cool.

Jeff: 56:00

But you're like, bro, this is in a race car, this is a race car, hell yeah man um that's I mean you guys will pile on, but I don't want to go too far into it, but was it was just like you opened both of them and if you weren't listening to him talk about which one was which, you'd be like, oh shit, I forget which one's which you know like I don't want to point in this one, say, hey, that's the race car one and he's not. Bro, that's the same racing one you know. Like it was. Just it was cool to. And again, that's another one of guy gentleman. I forget his name, but just talk about the passion oozing out of his product. Yeah, yeah.

Jason: 56:36

Yeah, I mean so all right, so here I go. Um, as you know, the Porsche cup car specifically has made me a Porsche fanatic. I've always liked them, but I was never, I don't know. I didn't have that connection. You know, Michael's a huge Porsche guy. We know this, Mikey. You know I pointed you out here, but now that I have some sort of connection to it, I'm actually watching the races on the F1 subscription of the Porsche Cup.

Michael: 57:09

Great races.

Jason: 57:11

Awesome races. They don't go to every track, but when they do, I always make the time for it. And when Jeff went over to Singapore he was telling me that those Porsches were loud as hell. So I'm kind of jealous now even more.

Jeff: 57:25

I don't know how they produce that much noise out of a car.

Jason: 57:28

They're loud as hell.

Jeff: 57:30

But go ahead, buddy, I'm sorry.

Jason: 57:31

So, no, you're good, bro, you're good. This is awesome, man, it's it's emotional. So Manny comes up and he's like I have both of them. And I was like what do you mean? You have both of them? Yeah, I got the real wheel, I don't. I don't know if it's like $13,000 wheel, you know, compared to up there, yeah, it's very up there. And he's had to physically show us the back of the wheel where the pin goes for us to know that that is the actual wheel that gets plugged into the car, the real life car. And another thing is that this wheel not even the real Porsche Cup drivers have seen this wheel yet, because the car is not out yet. So we had sim racers that had hands on it before they had couldn't even drive that blew my mind.

Michael: 58:17

This is crazy and you know um the weight, the seams.

Jason: 58:22

As jeff pointed out, if you look closely, the only thing different here in the front is the funky switch, the, the funky thumbsticks. That's it everything else.

Jason: 58:31

They added yeah, yeah, I know, thank God, I know, yeah, so one thing that I guess closing with the wheel obviously love it to death is. Manny flips over the wheel and shows me a three bolt pattern and I asked him why did you put a three bolt pattern on this when everybody uses 70 millimeter? As we went over on the last few episodes I believe we covered, um, actually, last episode we covered, you know, 70 millimeters being the size standard for most, uh, automotive right, you know quick releases, you know, and he's like well, this is how we distribute the inertia force, feedback evenly. So it's triangle. So you have these two on the corner which will force the feedback into your grips, and then you have the one in the center which will get that. So it creates like a sphere. I I tried to get into a rig that had it. We had spotted it. It was like hunting, you know, I think.

Erick: 59:34

Mike and I went on a hunt for it.

Jason: 59:35

It was like, dude, we need to find the Porsche, we need to race it. I know it's here somewhere. And then we saw it randomly at the podium, one booth, and we was like there it is, but there was a line, so I miserably failed to give it a go. But overall, manny tells all of us take the wheel and try to break it. Remember, jeff and I literally twisted this thing with the intent of breaking it, with the fear of having to pay for it. So, and I tell you, I have nothing but great things to say about it. And even their Mustang wheel, which I wasn't a fan of, immediately became a fan of it because that was the wheel that was being used. On that driven dynamics, uh, sim, and yeah, I got a lot of respect for vpg sim, and I can't wait to get their products in here, um, when they, when they, when the wheel finally drops. But those are my thoughts on it yeah.

Michael: 1:00:34

Yeah, awesome, mikey, what'd?

Jeff: 1:00:35

you think?

Michael: 1:00:37

Yeah, I'll go next. Yeah, I mean I'll be. I'll have an early review unit here, so I'm looking forward to like spending some extended time with it. But yeah, 100% my first impressions when I got to you know kind of interview and do an unboxing with Manny and Mike, similar to what you guys did, and then take a few laps with it on the streaming room spoof there, right, I think it had a Simucube 2 Pro.

Michael: 1:01:04

Everything that I knew about this wheel leading up to this and everything that I understood that was going into it. I mean this is a first in the sim racing market. You know, launch coinciding with the launch of the real car. So you've got the sim racing wheel launching at the same time as the new car is being announced. This is extremely rare. This has never happened before. Um, you know what vpg is doing now, ever since they've got sort of acquired and looped in with bf1 systems.

Michael: 1:01:33

Who makes these GT3 wheels for real cars has been for many years at the highest level. This is a new category of sim racing wheels. In my opinion, it's a completely new category. It's hard to call it a replica when it's not trying to replicate something. I have Thrustmaster Ferrari F1 wheels here that I would call a replica, when it's not trying to replicate something. I have thrustmaster ferrari f1 wheels here that I would call a replica because it's trying to replicate it, but it's nowhere close to, um, the manufacturing of the real ferrari f1 wheel. Um, this is a one-to-one. Yeah, right, so, um right, you can't call it a replica.

Jason: 1:02:12

That's a great point. He was very direct on that. This is not a replica. This is made using the same materials in the same factories. It's one giant piece of carbon fiber.

Michael: 1:02:28

It's fitted with a QR, but the QRs are similar to some sim racing QRs. But yeah, I mean all this to say my first impressions were extremely positive. You know, I've tested so many sim racing wheels now that as soon as I put my hands on something, I know immediately what I'm looking for and what red flags I'm looking for. And they weren't there for me, like, buttons really felt good. Paddles felt good, um, like, if I wasn't getting a review unit, I would have, you know, ordered that wheel right there, sight unseen, right, um, and I'm probably still going to have to.

Michael: 1:03:05

So, um, but yeah but I will, um, you know I'll have more to say when I have it here, but I mean, with wheels, like's pretty simple, um, driving with it felt really I I have some experience with vpg wheels because I did review the vpgt, which was, you know, it's a non-licensed wheel but pretty clearly porsche inspired, obviously I love the blur thing you did in your video check it out manny said uh, you can do anything you want in the review, just don't show it it with a Porsche logo, because I prefer not to get sued by Porsche.

Michael: 1:03:40

I said well, I don't think you'll get sued.

Michael: 1:03:42

I might get sued if I do that. But then I got the Ford Mustang wheel next and I go what are you guys doing? And he's like, yeah, we're making this at BF1 Systems and I'm seeing. What's cool is that I'm seeing this evolution of their products. Now, right, and they took uh, I asked them some questions about, you know, things that about the. There was things about the vpgt which I didn't like and they've, you know, taken a lot of feedback and trying to make sure that those are fixed. But also, I can't really criticize a real race team and their wheel design. I never will More. For me it's like are you making a wheel that is still?

Michael: 1:04:21

great for sim racing but still has the realism. The fact that they added the funky switches I know it kind of, for some people that wrecks it being exactly the same, but honestly I'd much rather have that because I may use it less if it's not as functional for me.

Jason: 1:04:36

They're very subtle, though they're all black. Yeah, no, they are very subtle, you can't really see them.

Michael: 1:04:40

And it's really the only difference from the real one, from what I could see. Paddles are slightly different, but to be honest, I actually like the paddles on the sim wheel than the real wheel.

Jason: 1:04:52

The real one is loud.

Michael: 1:04:57

There was one difference yeah, um, yeah it. Like I said, positive first impressions. I can't wait to have it here in review and the price dude shoot some video with it oh yeah, we didn't even talk about the price.

Jason: 1:05:06

The price is unbelievable for what you're getting.

Michael: 1:05:10

For what you're getting and I know unbelievable there's always going to be someone that's going to have an issue with the price. I've learned this from doing reviews for a long time, but in my opinion, like when you think about what's gone into that wheel, we no one understands what their true cost is. But that price seems extremely fair to me. On what? On what I'm being told? Licensed?

Jason: 1:05:30

wheel too. Yeah, that's my opinion. That has to be the most affordable porsche licensed wheel, if I'm not speaking too soon, um, currently available, you know, at least in the modern in the modern times well, yeah, I mean, some of these porsche wheels from fanatec are like licensed, but they're not. They're not, they're just kind of not being made at those factories, so they don't have to say no, no, but they're not even replicating an actual porsche wheel.

Michael: 1:05:55

They just have a porsche logo. Oh, they just have the brand on it. Yeah, moses, coming out with a you know, a gt3 rs inspired wheel which is officially like, it's licensed, they have the rights to the have the brand, but what manny and mike are doing at vpg are are building like the actual wheel, so that that is a. That's why I said this is a new category of sim racing wheels, not replicas. These are like one-to-one examples and I would love to see more of this.

Jason: 1:06:24

I think it's cool, yeah I have a weakness for this, but, eric, let's hear your thoughts, brother uh, yeah, I'll keep it short and sweet.

Erick: 1:06:33

Um ditto, everything you guys said, um, I did. You know, just kind of as we're talking and just since I've touched it and just processing what I experienced with it, because it it was different, right, like like you're saying, mike, like not even having a lot of experience with a lot of different wheels, just from the ones at the expo and the ones I have, it felt different. And I think the weight had a lot to do with it, because I think Manny spoke about it Like most people are kind of conditioned weight equals quality, weight equals strength, weight equals durability. Like there's a certain amount of weight that we're kind of conditioned to associate with things that are quality and you kind of have to rethink that with with this wheel. Um, and just I I had a scale, um, that I use around the house and I was curious because I know you said, I think you said said the wheel weighed less than a kilogram or something like that.

Erick: 1:07:36

It was kind of crazy, yeah. And I took my GT Neo and I weighed it and, granted, it has a QR on there and everything, but it was like 1,500 kilograms, wow, so like yes, and then also, who was it? Cube Controls was there and they had their new wheel and just kind of out of my, you know we were looking at their presentation. They were very proud that their wheel weighed 1100 kilograms.

Jeff: 1:08:08

The Astra.

Erick: 1:08:09

Yeah, the Astra, yeah, and so just you know, like I said, not having a lot of experience like and just looking like, the more I look around I'm like that's they really? Like you said, mike, it's different, like I don't, I don't. It's one of those things I don't think other companies can even really copy if they wanted to.

Michael: 1:08:27

for the most part, yeah, it really changes the driving experience, um, having used a few of them now. Um, and it doesn't surprise me that you notice that right away, because that is, it's not a gimmick like the weight thing, and yeah, the thing is to to go lower in weight but keep quality and strength.

Jason: 1:08:47

Yeah, carbon fiber, but carbon fiber done right and actual actual carbon fiber, you know what I mean, and a solid mold of carbon, not stitched together or whatever they is. They do, but I have. You guys already know I'm gonna put this wheel through absolute hell. It's gonna happen, yeah, and it can take it, I'm sure. I'm pretty sure, if I find anything, you'll hear about'll hear about it on the very next episode, whenever that happens, immediately. So I'm excited. I think it was great to meet Manny and have a one-on-one with him unboxing video, which was coming out soon. Michael has his out already, I believe, so so check that out, check out his channel, and we're moving on to the next question. We have just two more. We'll be wrapping this up because, if you let us, we will be here for hours talking about this. You know you guys got to go. You just got to. Next time there's a sim racing expo out there. You know, if you know when george does this again, you need to need to go honestly anything that was on the fence.

Michael: 1:10:02

Like you know, I I really hope this is happening next year um, like if you were on the fence this year, like just as soon as the tickets are available, as soon as you can book your flight, hotel, whatever, just I would do it honestly not a single negative.

Jason: 1:10:16

I've I've never seen a single negative comment out there about the show not being good enough or it's not worth it no, or just for the social aspect.

Michael: 1:10:25

You know, yeah, if you see us there, if you see us there, just find us in the bar. After come, hang out, we'll talk sim yeah, we'll be at the gathering that was the meetup.

Jeff: 1:10:33

That was the rendezvous, remember so, speaking of that, so what a bunch of sickos we are. So we go to the expo, right? So wait eight hours of talking sim racing, getting into rigs racing. Then we go to dinner everybody's talking about sim racing, and then what do we do? Somebody finds a sim racing bar. Right, which is awesome. Right, it's drinking and driving Fantastic, it's a bar.

Michael: 1:10:59

Don't do that in real life. We're not going to do any of this Well, because we want drinks, but we don't want the sim racing to stop. So it was perfect it was awesome.

Jeff: 1:11:06

So this bar, it was Sim Racing South.

Michael: 1:11:10

South Barrington.

Jeff: 1:11:11

South Barrington is the name.

Michael: 1:11:13

Hey, shout out to SimRacing South Barrington Dude the owner was legit dude this place was legit. I mean, when they said we're going to a SimRacing bar, my expectations were really low on what they were going to have as far as SimRacing setups.

Jeff: 1:11:26

Logitech Don't get excited about.

Michael: 1:11:28

Yeah, not that, yeah, just that.

Jeff: 1:11:30

Nothing wrong nothing wrong with it?

Michael: 1:11:32

the setups are maybe not. We just got off of like really high-end setups and I'm so sorry for anybody using a live.

Jeff: 1:11:39

Stick out there if you let me finish, it was gonna I know what he means.

Michael: 1:11:44

Let him finish, because the context thank, you.

Jason: 1:11:47

Thank you, as I'm getting right on the bus here. I really do so yeah.

Jeff: 1:11:51

So, mike, a hundred percent with you. I was like, oh, we just got in, like you said, out of like world-class rigs, we're going to sure we go there. And boy did it. Totally different story 180 degrees from what I think. I'm not speaking for all of you, I'm speaking for me, but I think this probably is accurate 180 degrees from what we anticipated you have a super nice bar, some, like you know, uh, places to sit eat order food inside.

Jeff: 1:12:19

Yeah, but it had, was it like 15? Was that a probably accurate number for a number of rigs? 10, it was 10, was it 10?

Jason: 1:12:25

okay, 10, okay, full motion all of them every single one of them had motion semi-cube yes, oh, semi-cube on all use some belt, yeah oled so oled, they had two premium setups um yeah, 55, big 55.

Michael: 1:12:42

Like like, if you're gonna do a sim racing bar, like do it right. They did it right. And then we, we figured out I won't spend too much time on this, but you know, jay and I got talking, which we do, and we met the owner and made him an offer you can't refuse.

Michael: 1:12:59

Basically the owner turned out to be a really nice guy in the construction industry and it was his partner who was really into sim racing and they got this idea like let's do this. And they both relied on each other's skills and it's clear like the place looks amazing and then you've got really well tailored thought about sims. Right, that could only come from someone who knows something about sim racing beforehand. So shout out to those guys if you're in the area and if you're going to the expo next year, like that's, that's the after party right there.

Jason: 1:13:30

Honestly, and, mind you, I want to add to this that we were getting into motion rigs and having a few drinks after a heavy meal of pasta and pizza, and we're just shaking all of that up in a simulator, which is it's. Yeah, it was interesting.

Jeff: 1:13:48

And they're all running, iracing, so you are racing with everybody else and you're all on headphones talking. You know, smack to everybody else.

Jason: 1:13:58

Yeah, open mic Shout out to Lawrence DeSalsa and the Potato Nation.

Erick: 1:14:04

This is a direct call out.

Jason: 1:14:06

They whooped our butts and they had it on the screens on the top with Mazda's MX-5s. It was a great time and overall, you know, hang around with uh, you know, with the potato nation.

Michael: 1:14:19

they yeah great community great guys, man just yeah down to earth, nice you know, a strong community too.

Jason: 1:14:26

They were always texting like yo, we're going here to dinner. You guys want to come with you. Do I need a reserve? Like the uber? Yeah, I was like hell, yeah, we're going over there.

Michael: 1:14:34

We were like guest banana nation members for like the weekend they. Yeah, I was like hell, yeah, we're going over there. We were like guest banana nation members for like the weekend they yeah, we were.

Jason: 1:14:39

We were prospects, bro. Yeah, we were prospects.

Michael: 1:14:42

That's what I love about the people, the people there, like, like I said, everybody was just including everybody, and if you weren't there they were texting, you were going here like nobody felt left out that I know of.

Jason: 1:14:52

I certainly didn't, so that was cool even the fans that showed up to this. I extended invites. You know I didn't. We met, we met um gentlemen's at the bar. We met them all over the place and I was like, hey, you guys want to hang? This is where we're going to be at. So if you guys want to hang out because, honestly, I'm not a celebrity, we're all sim racers. You know what I mean. At the end of the day, that's the truth. I breathe the same air you breathe. I just don't have a motion platform and I'm upset.

Michael: 1:15:24

That's the only thing. You can correct that soon. Not only did they.

Jeff: 1:15:27

They had two of their rigs that had the. Was it the Yaw?

Erick: 1:15:31

Yeah, yeah, the 60U, the 60U.

Jeff: 1:15:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the 60. Yeah, yeah. Whoa. That was the only time I ever felt like I had any level of control in the porsche gt3.

Michael: 1:15:41

That was the only time every other time I get in there it's. It's a dumpster fire well, any any extra feedback you can get on the back end sliding out on a car like that, that is helpful, like that. I mean I know we could talk about motion all day, but I find that those extra feedback can make you a better driver in some cases.

Erick: 1:16:00

It went a long way. I was going to say that just. I think the most impressive thing for me about the bar was that you had 10 rigs that you were letting random people drinking alcohol use and they worked. I don't, to my knowledge, nobody really had any like major issues, or you know, if they did, they weren't like just consistent. I got one rig and I feel like it's, you know not a rest rule. They were really prepared. I drink in this rig all the time.

Michael: 1:16:32

Especially on the Chicane podcast. They had like two guys on standby in charge of everything.

Jason: 1:16:39

Yeah, and they would come and check on you if anything.

Michael: 1:16:42

It was really well done yeah yeah I think people that go in there when they see the setups they kind of there's a certain level of respect, but I'm I'm sure they've had something dropped on them at some point. Yeah, that comes with the territory of owning a sim racing bar, I guess.

Jeff: 1:16:57

I will say the one downfall of that, bar the one.

Jason: 1:17:00

Oh, let's hear this.

Jeff: 1:17:03

The old fashions didn't hold a candle to the one in the hotel oh.

Erick: 1:17:08

It's hard to do right there man.

Jeff: 1:17:11

So if the owner's watching this episode, we need to something we can remedy very easily his name is uh, you know he works at the renaissance not a knock on the bar on the bar, the sim racing that was funny as hell, bro jeff.

Jason: 1:17:28

So this bartender shows up the first night we're there. He's like I make the best old fashions in the world and the guys all look at each other and was like what is up with this guy?

Erick: 1:17:39

challenge accepted yeah, you ordered one of those I've heard that line before, but that sometimes it's.

Michael: 1:17:45

You know it was good, it was good.

Jason: 1:17:48

I just want to give a shout out to the owner. Um, I'll probably end up forwarding him this episode. Thank you so much for you know allowing us to go in there and you know the humbling experience and so welcoming in a nice, quiet area. You know what I mean. It's a very nice location, huge parking lot. We were impressed with what you got going on there. It's kind of like a dream come true, because I would like to do something like that one day.

Jeff: 1:18:16

You know, mike and I were talking about all kinds of stuff Like we could do this we could do that and we can, it's yeah it was great, so just needs to rename it to drinking and driving. That's my only my hope is.

Jason: 1:18:39

My hope is that this will be the official meetup spot for the after-hour party in Schaumburg 100%, totally doable. It has to be.

Erick: 1:18:42

It's like 15 minutes from the place.

Michael: 1:18:44

They got the Andretti Center opening next year too. There you go, man.

Erick: 1:18:48

And guess what? The craziest Uber drivers.

Jason: 1:18:51

I've ever met have been out of that park, Out of Chicago in the suburbs. There's something about Schaumburg.

Jeff: 1:18:55

I've ever met. I've been out of that park, chicago suburbs. There's something about Schaumburg.

Jason: 1:18:58

We met the king of Schaumburg, but that's a story for another day. Maybe, if you want to, hear the stories.

Michael: 1:19:04

You can email these guys offline if you want to talk to us we'll tell you some stories.

Jason: 1:19:10

That is accurate. You can email us at thechicagopodcastgmailcom. And for the final question, overall thoughts, fellas, I mean we've pretty much summed up everything our entire time there, but what are your overall thoughts on this expo? And, just very briefly, what do you expect from the next one, the next iteration of iteration of it? I'll go first.

Erick: 1:19:39

There you go, come on if everybody's still thinking here um, I think, first things first.

Jeff: 1:19:48

George absolutely friggin crushed it. Okay, I think, first things first. Sim racing expo in the United States. He convinces the top dogs of sim racing to, to, to commit, to come across the pond. Um, I didn't meet a single person that was having, you know that wasn't happy. They went, uh, happy that they traveled the. You know if they drove three, four, six hours. We talked to people taking time off from their work. That you know we talked to. One of our listeners has two jobs and you know a number of kids took time for out of there to make it up there and was having the time of his life. The community, like it just was awesome to talk to the people. The technology and the rigs are cool, but talking with people that have the same passion, like what a bunch of sickos. Right, we went to the rig, the expo, to the bar, to the after hours. Wake up at six to go to breakfast to talk sim racing.

Jason: 1:20:47

It's going to be our group name the Sickos. The Sickos right, it was just awesome. They got Potato Nation, but we got the Sickos. Right, it was just awesome. They got the potato nation, but we got the sickos from the chicane podcast.

Jeff: 1:20:55

I like that. Just awesome to hang out with people that have a shared passion of something that was my. The expo was just like the gathering the mecca for sim racing for the United States. Can't wait to do it again. George, get a couple night's sleeps, Start planning the next one. We're coming.

Jason: 1:21:14

Yeah, I haven't bothered the man because I'm pretty sure.

Michael: 1:21:16

I know he's trying to catch up.

Jason: 1:21:17

He's busy dismantling rigs now. I can't, I don't want to, yeah, I don't want to even think about the cleanup. We had to get on an airplane, george. So my bad, sorry about that, but who's next? It sounds like Eric wants to go next.

Erick: 1:21:34

Eric.

Jason: 1:21:34

Miller Sr.

Erick: 1:21:36

Yeah, I kind of second definitely shout out to George. What he pulled off was amazing. It just kind of shows his dedication, the thoroughness, the research he was doing. He didn't just sit at a computer and look up some stuff and make phone calls. He flew around the world to other expos and took notes and asked questions and he really wanted to make sure that this was the best representation for the US and also for the people that were coming to it. So, once again, great, great job and thank you for your dedication to the community, george.

Erick: 1:22:20

As far as like next year, really, the only thing that I would add, because you know we talk about all the sim racing stuff, but I mean they had, like you know, flight cockpits and all kind of other. You know VR and you know flight stuff there as well, I guess it's more accessory manufacturers. I think we kind of mentioned people that made button boxes or dashes or anything like that. That really was the only thing that I would have liked to see. That wasn't there. Rob Markman Ah, that's a good point, Eric.

Jason: 1:22:53

That's a great point. That's a good observation actually. Yeah, man, yeah.

Erick: 1:22:59

Because some stuff you know you want to, they can make some sales for sure. Like I can't afford to drop 18 grand on a motion rig, but I might have had a button box that I've been looking to replace, or something I saw online or in one of Mike's videos and I'm like, hey, you know what, now that I put my hands on it, go ahead and give me one and I could save $20 on shipping.

Jason: 1:23:21

That's a good. I think that's a great data point for George. So I'll wait and see if he watches the episode if he has time, because that poor man. But we're super proud of you, george, and I'll get this data input from Eric straight to you, or Eric if you want to message him as well, you know all good, I can hit him up.

Erick: 1:23:43

I don't know if he's going to do like a after-action type.

Jason: 1:23:47

There's got to be. I would hope he would right. I think he is.

Michael: 1:23:51

Knowing him definitely, I think would right. I think he is knowing him definitely. Yeah, there's some surveys. I think I heard there's some surveys coming out. Yeah, uh, if I heard that right. So, okay, that's the right, right.

Jason: 1:24:00

So, guys, if we get the links, to these surveys, we will post it down below and if we need those george needs those and we need to keep this alive. We need to. We need to finish off what we started here, um, what he started and we're supporting. But we need to give him that just a little bit of support right at the tail end before we close it down. But Mike, you're strong. That's right man. Mike, you're up next, brother, and then I'll close out with my thoughts. Yes, sir.

Michael: 1:24:29

So yeah, echo a lot of the thoughts here you know completely exceeded my expectations, like huge kudos to pulling off something like this. I mean, first time I met George in person was in Germany last year at the ADEC, as he was doing research on an expo. That's been doing something like this successfully for years to learn, and that just shows how invested he was in wanting to make put the best foot forward, um, for this first expo, and I think he's achieved achievement, unlocked, you know. Um, yeah, I definitely would have liked to have seen you know this being uh, the idea was that this was going to be a simulation expo for all simulation. You know there were some flight stuff there. There were some you know different kind of rigs, but I would love to see more of that because I was actually really excited to kind of see some other stuff and understand some of the other simulators, and I think that will come in time.

Michael: 1:25:25

I think that you know sim racing is obviously kind of the bigger sort of one and more well known, I guess, to more people, and you had that covered off by a lot of manufacturers. But totally agree with Eric, like more, more accessories, more smaller companies to kind of fill up the expo would be great, and I think that will. That will come. In Germany they had a place like a shop you could literally go and buy like a bunch of different things, so there's all kinds of things that could come in the future. But, um, yeah, I think it was just everything fantastic and then the community aspect of it you know, outside of the hardware is was just incredible. Um, to be a part of that and I'm so glad to be a part of this this first year, I think you know it will be a memory and go down in history for a long time, so definitely.

Jason: 1:26:16

I think, I think we'll never forget this one, um, being the first one in the U S. In the first time I met Eric in the first time, I met Michael in the first time. For many things you know, cover an event like this, um, it's a lot. It's it's a lot that I want to put out, but I want to start off with um. It's a lot. It's it's a lot that I want to put out, but I want to start off with um, thanking the guys here, um, and and also Michael, you, you walked with us, you helped us, um, and whatever it is, you know, we were all same to you, you helped.

Michael: 1:26:46

you were my cameraman a couple of times, so I appreciate that.

Jason: 1:26:49

No, no problem man.

Michael: 1:26:50

This wouldn't have been the same for me if you three weren't at the expo. I don't think I would have had the same experience. So I was just going to say that bro, that I got to meet you guys in person.

Jason: 1:27:00

You took it away, you took that right away, which is no but that's good, that's good that we're mutual man because honestly and this, this is kind of a different approach. Well, I'm going to about to say now but you know, sometimes we're in a stage in our lives that this is what we love to do, and to be able to experience something together and smiles, and look at each other and know exactly what we're all thinking is you know what I mean.

Jason: 1:27:28

It's a very surreal thing, you know, because 20 years from now, you know who knows. You know, because we all live in the moment, right, you know there was years from now. You know who knows. You know, because we all live in the moment, right? You know, there was a point where all I wanted to do was golf, and now I don't really play golf no more. You know, I don't have time for it. So I think it's very important to appreciate those moments that you have with each other while we still can do this. You know, have with each other while we still can do this and meeting the fans, hanging out with the creators.

Jason: 1:27:58

No creator came across my way as being too high or having too much of a following to hang out with us. They were all humble, they were all down to earth. The people at the expo, the CEOs that we've met we've met three of them, and they were all super nice and very welcoming. Ceos that we've met we've met three of them, and they were all super nice and very welcoming, treated everyone with respect. The facility was clean. George was awesome. It was very hard to find him, so we had to hunt him down because the man was being pulled in 10 different directions and at one point I felt bad. I was like man. You know, I really want him to have a little bit. We had that one event. It was a private Simucube event that we had where they revealed the new product, which I'm pretty sure everybody has heard the news by now. I actually saw him get into a motion rig.

Michael: 1:28:49

I have it on video. I was watching it, you know.

Jason: 1:28:51

It took a lot of peer pressure.

Michael: 1:28:52

It made me smile.

Jason: 1:28:53

Yeah, we had to force him in. I was like dude, it's like you get out, george get in yeah, do some laughs, george right it was yeah, that was his first time in a motion.

Michael: 1:29:02

I thought he was lying about that. I thought he was joking. Yeah, I tell you what that boy can drive.

Jeff: 1:29:08

Oh yeah, he can.

Jason: 1:29:08

Oh yeah, he could drive he drove the hell out of this now, yeah, oh yeahman Jr.

Jeff: 1:29:12

He ain't new to this now, Rob Markman Jr.

Michael: 1:29:13

Oh yeah, he wasn't playing around, Rob Markman. Jr he's been running leagues for a long time. He knows what he's doing.

Jason: 1:29:18

Rob Markman Jr. Even his face changed, bro. He went into full lock mode. He was like I'm going to drive the hell out of this thing. And it was a very revealing moment for me when I went in there and I saw all the fans right, because we get emails, we get comments, but being stopped on the show floor and someone asking for Jeff and someone asking for Eric and they're like I want a picture all three of y'all together and I'm having to take my phone and I was like where are you Get over here right now? So I think that Humbling, yeah, very humbling, and it makes me that much more confident in the Chicane podcast and its future.

Jason: 1:30:14

I think we legitimize ourselves just a little more by going to this event and having the coverage on it. So again, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all three of you. Michael has always supported us since day one, since the very beginnings of the show. He comes on to our show with no, we don't pay him, you know, to be on the show. He's here at his own free will and it's kind of late in Canada. So before I need to, I kind of I need to.

Michael: 1:30:48

I need to wrap this up.

Erick: 1:30:49

It's almost night night, night, night night night night.

Jason: 1:30:56

So I will say this shout out to the King of Schaumburg.

Erick: 1:30:57

You know who you are.

Michael: 1:30:59

You made our night and day.

Jason: 1:31:05

Shout out to Eric Tech Gen Gaming, upcoming channel, tech gentlemen, very established tech channel and Jeff Smart's Smart Living. So shout out to all of you Thank you so much, and that's really my overall. My overall was you need to come. It's not something that we could talk about this all day. You can see videos on it from the different creators out there, the plethora of options out there for you to go and follow, but nothing beats hands-on experience. Like we've always said here, nothing Putting your hands on something is very different than seeing it in a picture and a video. There's a lot of things that are very perspective-wise. They're very. It's not, you know it's. I'm'm lost the words. You need to go there.

Michael: 1:31:57

I feel like one grip is is great for me, and you may put your hands on it and go. It's not so. There's just certain things that are subjective with hardware. It's just the way it is yeah, what one alibi?

Erick: 1:32:10

right quick, the houston field wheel. Don't believe anybody who hadn't touched it. Oh yeah, if they hadn't touched that steering wheel. Don't believe what they say.

Jason: 1:32:19

Stay tuned, for you know, eric and I did an interview with the CEO and his story story was absolutely incredible and it's nothing shy of what Jeff mentioned. And it's nothing shy of what Jeff mentioned, just a regular guy wanting to do things for his love of the hobby. That's how it all starts. But I think this is going to be it for the close of the expo. Once again, thank you everybody. If there's no roundtables, a quick moment of silence for that one.

Jeff: 1:32:56

I got one quick one, if I can Jason, yes sir. Ten seconds Just the level of people that are there when it comes to sim racing and sims in general. So did you guys see the full cockpit of the 737?

Jeff: 1:33:09

that was there, oh yeah. So I'm walking past and I'm like this is pretty cool, and there's a kid in their left seat and he's struggling. This guy leans in right and he's like, hey, buddy, can I jump in and try to help you out? And the kid's like, yeah, sure, this guy jumps in and he's like, oh, he's a pilot. And I'm like, bro, something tells me you got a little experience doing this. And he's like, oh yeah, you know, I'm a, I'm a pilot. And I'm like I got a couple hours. What are you certified? He's like, oh, I, I, I got a couple thousand hours in the 737.

Erick: 1:33:45

This dude flies the 737.

Jeff: 1:33:47

Yeah, comes to a simi episode about, and he's looking at all the sim stuff for the 737 right he's probably wanting to get more flight hours in it.

Michael: 1:33:58

You know um wild it's like I somehow missed that booth.

Jason: 1:34:02

I feel like it was way off to the corner it was like um, yeah, you know, you know the vr section. It was like, just across from it it was a full and it looks small, small when you look at it from a distance, you're like, eh, and then you roll up and there's like a whole, there's like a roof over it.

Jeff: 1:34:20

Thousands of buttons, no matter what, with these expos, you always miss something.

Michael: 1:34:25

That's why you got to go back again, I'm pretty sure we missed a few things. Honestly, we were trying to make time for everybody and everything you know it's tough, and I mean, we're there for three days, right, and you still, you still miss things because you're, you know, every day I was completely exhausted, you know from from, but it wasn't exhausted in a bad way, it was, it was a good exhausted yeah and then excitement, energy, and then we get the text, bro, we get the call of duty on the like.

Jason: 1:34:54

Okay, I guess we're going to the gathering and that was the meetup, and from there all the great ideas happen, all the great discussions. We found out everything from there.

Michael: 1:35:03

So, um, yeah, I guess. I just want to say one last thing.

Michael: 1:35:07

Yes, again guys for for having me on and and let me roll with you guys at the uh at the expo, like I said, it wouldn't have been the same without. Let me roll with you guys at the uh at the expo. Like I said, it wouldn't have been the same without uh hanging out with you guys. So, um, thanks for having me back on the show and letting me share the stories and insights, appreciate it, kind of feel like I'm reliving the uh drinks and hanging out.

Jason: 1:35:28

I don't have a Manhattan uh not a Manhattan an old fat a Manhattan would have been good too, man yeah whatever, I'll take that too.

Jason: 1:35:34

Yeah, that'll do too, and I will replicate what you said earlier, if any of the guys here, eric or Jeff it was the unison of everybody that made this way. Better than what it. You know what I'm saying the after hours, the after hours. Better than what it you know. You know what I'm saying the after hours, the after hours. Yeah, we were never at this hotel, we were at the bar and then we were getting a taxi to get out of there to go to another sim racing place, to go and drive together and it's just I kind of I just want to. I wish I can reset and just relive it again, because I I can't believe the amount of fun that I've had at this event and, and you know, being meeting eric for the first time 15 years, that's just wild, dude, like it's wild, you know, um. So anyways, guys, it's hard, it's hard to even close on this episode, you know, because now that we're done, we can move on from the expo.

Jason: 1:36:34

Um, stay tuned on the channel, on the youtube channel, for you audio listeners out there, please. We're gonna have, um, I think it's four or five videos come out on the channel. So if you, if you're interested in those interviews um please support the channel, give it a like, give it a subscribe. Check out tech. Check gaming. Check out michael from the Sim Racing Den. Check out Jeff Smart's channel.

Jeff: 1:36:58

Smart Living 808.

Jason: 1:37:00

Smart Living 808. And with that, guys, thank you so much and have a great start of your week.