Diy racing sim build help with motion

[frankr2994]

Ok project not started yet but I had a customer ask me today about building a racing sim. Gave a budget if 10 grand and said he'd stop back next week to see if I have a list made up. Now I can go through and figure out PC requirements, sound, monitors ect. What I'm looking for a little input on is making a 6dof motion control. Because I think this is a cool project I'd like to make it as badass as I can for 10 grand. Meaning I probably have to build the motion control. I found some quality actuators for about 340 per but I plan on doing some more research. The actual motor controller though. Most of what I'm finding are pretty antiqued. I don't feel the need to run a parallel card. Ideally I'd like it to be USB 3.0 but that I definitely haven't found. Any input or opinions?

 

[OneMoar]

No don't build it buy it you can buy one for 5k

Full Motion Simulator 2,3,6 Axis Platforms for PC, PS4, PS5, XBOX home Flight and Racing games

Affordable, best price cockpit motion simulator rig for home, consumer, commercial and professional racing car plane flight in VR

dofreality.com

building it would require a lot of programming and testing the microcontroller and force feedback with every game it is going to be a nightmare

and then you are going to get constant calls and questions about why XYZ game doesn't work correctly with your DIY solution
you are asking for a headache and a disappointed customer

 

[ThaiTaffy]

Are these not available where you are?

As someone who made their living from custom projects for customers I can tell you that using off the shelf products especially when it comes to complex micro controllers is far better for you and the customer and 10 grand is no way near enough to fund a decent pc and full motion SIM rig, time is money my friend and the time and effort you would need to put in for what your imagining would leave you in the red.

No don't build it buy it you can buy one for 5k

Full Motion Simulator 2,3,6 Axis Platforms for PC, PS4, PS5, XBOX home Flight and Racing games

Affordable, best price cockpit motion simulator rig for home, consumer, commercial and professional racing car plane flight in VR

dofreality.com

building it would require a lot of programming and testing the microcontroller and force feedback with every game it is going to be a nightmare

Full Motion Simulator 2,3,6 Axis Platforms for PC, PS4, PS5, XBOX home Flight and Racing games

Affordable, best price cockpit motion simulator rig for home, consumer, commercial and professional racing car plane flight in VR

dofreality.com

Beat me to it

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I remember seeing some custom cockpits, some had force feedback or something like that. That was a couple years ago. Did a quick search and just look at images. My jaw dropped when I saw how far some of these have gone.

I liked this one best

I think curved monitors would be better on that.

 

[frankr2994]

Games on it would be 1 maybe 2 at the most. This would primarily get used for iracing. And ya I know 10 grand is light. I suspect he is going to try and rent time out on it. I doubt it will work in that area and it will probably be my co workers going up and pissing around on it. And yes he is a customer but a coworker and I would pretty much be doing this for free. I'm a race car mechanic by trade and pcs are just fun for me. I've logged some time on some sims just sorta out of my budget. So to build a decent 1 that I don't have to pay for I'm all in. But I do get that it's alot of programming and that's not my strong suit. Appreciate the input so far.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

Games on it would be 1 maybe 2 at the most. This would primarily get used for iracing. And ya I know 10 grand is light. I suspect he is going to try and rent time out on it. I doubt it will work in that area and it will probably be my co workers going up and pissing around on it. And yes he is a customer but a coworker and I would pretty much be doing this for free. I'm a race car mechanic by trade and pcs are just fun for me. I've logged some time on some sims just sorta out of my budget. So to build a decent 1 that I don't have to pay for I'm all in. But I do get that it's alot of programming and that's not my strong suit. Appreciate the input so far.

If it's really a passion project and something your not planning to earn money on, as well as the fact your occupation suits the project.
My suggestion would be to buy off the shelf and pull it apart. Take the force feedback seat bottom, the axis control and Frankenstein's monster it all together in a bespoke frame, let the companies do the tricky controls and just put it into a decent package.

That's how I would attack it anyway and I play with micro controllers day in day out and wouldn't go near making it all from scratch.

 

[frankr2994]

No don't build it buy it you can buy one for 5k

Full Motion Simulator 2,3,6 Axis Platforms for PC, PS4, PS5, XBOX home Flight and Racing games

Affordable, best price cockpit motion simulator rig for home, consumer, commercial and professional racing car plane flight in VR

dofreality.com

building it would require a lot of programming and testing the microcontroller and force feedback with every game it is going to be a nightmare

and then you are going to get constant calls and questions about why XYZ game doesn't work correctly with your DIY solution
you are asking for a headache and a disappointed customer

I looked at that 6 axis. Ya your right for like 4600 that's not bad. From what I read up on it moves a little on the slow side.

I think curved monitors would be better on that.

I would think and only think because I never tried it the ideal monitor setup would be 1 curved ultra wide and 2 flat panels pretty much coming straight back. Just to more closely represent a windshield and door windows. Personally I would think VR would be best.

If it's really a passion project and something your not planning to earn money on, as well as the fact your occupation suits the project.
My suggestion would be to buy off the shelf and pull it apart. Take the force feedback seat bottom, the axis control and Frankenstein's monster it all together in a bespoke frame, let the companies do the tricky controls and just put it into a decent package.

That's how I would attack it anyway and I play with micro controllers day in day out and wouldn't go near making it all from scratch.

Not a bad idea. Micro controllers are high on my list for wanting to learn but I probably shouldn't plan on learning with something that actually needs to work lol.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

Not a bad idea. Micro controllers are high on my list for wanting to learn but I probably shouldn't plan on learning with something that actually needs to work lol

No,definitive No! Speak to suppliers maybe you can just get the controllers and actuators from them rather than buying things to throw away I'm guessing your brain can work out a decent frame for it all with your occupation. And real racing seats are probably alot better than the sudo consumer market crap they fit to these types of things.

 

[cvaldes]

And real racing seats are probably alot better than the sudo consumer market crap they fit to these types of things.

My assumption is the exact opposite.

Real racing seats are custom designed for an individual who is wearing a fire suit and actually hits the gym to stay in shape (mostly for cardiovascular conditioning). They are also designed for maximum support in a variety of conditions including g-forces that you won't experience in a racing sim rig.

Racing seats are built for the specific driver in terms of height, upper leg and lower leg length, seat width, etc. They are also designed with the racing suit in mind. Even if it is custom molded to you, the difference between wearing a fire suit and wearing a pair of shorts is a big difference. It's worth pointing out that most professional drivers aren't giants. Being 6' 3" (190 cm) and 220 lbs. (100 kg) is not an advantage behind the wheel.

Heck, NASCAR is running new cars this season but most teams are using the drivers' old seats because they are custom designed for those individuals. Even then there are differences in terms of where the feet end up on pedals, ankle angle, etc.

A "correctly designed" (i.e., custom molded) racing seat will blow the $10,000 budget away.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

My assumption is the exact opposite.

Real racing seats are custom designed for an individual who is wearing a fire suit and actually hits the gym to stay in shape (mostly for cardiovascular conditioning). They are also designed for maximum support in a variety of conditions including g-forces that you won't experience in a racing sim rig.

Racing seats are built for the specific driver in terms of height, upper leg and lower leg length, seat width, etc. They are also designed with the racing suit in mind. Even if it is custom molded to you, the difference between wearing a fire suit and wearing a pair of shorts is a big difference. It's worth pointing out that most professional drivers aren't giants. Being 6' 3" (190 cm) and 220 lbs. (100 kg) is not an advantage behind the wheel.

Heck, NASCAR is running new cars this season but most teams are using the drivers' old seats because they are custom designed for those individuals. Even then there are differences in terms of where the feet end up on pedals, ankle angle, etc.

A "correctly designed" (i.e., custom molded) racing seat will blow the $10,000 budget away.

Sorry worded it wrong a proper "ricer" seat is probably far better quality than the stuff they put on these products and by the fact OP is a Motorsport engineer I'm guess he might know of someone with said ricer seat.

 

[OneMoar]

as somebody that has been doing the IT thing for a while don't bite off more than you can chew its a good way to make sure you never have repeat customers
get an off the shelf solution that's been tested for the application full motion sims are one-off things and you want something that works

and 10k for an out the door full sim setup with big monitors or vr is a bit on the low side especially if you gotta pay yourself
you will also need to be a good fabricator, welder and a bit of a structural engineer because you don't want the entire thing to fold in on itself

you are looking at 1000-1200 for a fanatec wheel + shifter
a 2500 dollar pc
a 4500+ sim cockpit (this is entry-level stuff and will require modification for use with a direct drive wheel)
they are not built to take the forces involved

800-1000 dollars worth of monitors OR VR Gear
assuming you are tasked with assembling and configuring the thing that should be 15-20 man-hours at hopefully 50.00 or more an hour
you are at 8.5k excluding tax and shipping

and if you want to step up to a big boy cockpit like a symdeck that there goes 8k of your budget before you even start

full motion sims especially good ones are big money and I mean like 50 to 100k big

 

[frankr2994]

All good info. The seat will probably be a factory Porsche seat modified for a 5 point. I think we have a few of those around. Can't go with a "real" race seat. Limits the number of people that can sit in it. And not just sit and be comfy I mean if I size it for me then other people won't get their ass in it lol. And ya any and all welding , cutting ect I'm good with all that.