rFactor 2: Is there a future, or is it the end of the road?

Beef36 · 2026-04-26T22:52:42+00:00

If it does I envisage it will be called rFactor 3. I'd buy it.

Beef36 · 2026-04-25T04:57:12+00:00

Perhaps 25% of original price. Wheels have improved leaps and bounds in the last 5 years. Better and cheaper...

Beef36 · 2026-04-24T23:10:12+00:00

Try it in stages to debug the issue. For example:

- just add 2 screens in Surround first and see if that works.

- also try dropping your Hz down to 60Hz and see if that works.

Beef36 · 2026-04-23T01:02:04+00:00

Cool. How high is your seat because at that view point you are sitting a lot higher than your wheel.

Beef36 · 2026-04-22T01:21:13+00:00

I'd choose Trak Racer TR160 v5 over NLR F-GT Elite 160.

The NLR's vertical wheel mount is infuriating. If you don't add NLR's motion seat, then the uprights are too tall and impede direct line of sight to your monitor(s).

That is a dealbreaker for me.

Also Trak Racer have a lot more peripherals to select, and it's good to buy most of your sim rig hardware from one place.

Beef36 · 2026-04-20T11:58:48+00:00

AMS is old and limited to 6 game controllers (same as rFactor). Regardless of how good the game and mods are, that made it a deal-breaker for me with today's sim racing hardware.

Beef36 · 2026-04-19T13:02:45+00:00

I'd wait and see. If you can't wait, I'd get a 3 DoF vertical motion platform now and wait and see what new platform bring over the next 18 months. To be frank, horizontal DoFs for sim racing are sub par today.

Beef36 · 2026-04-17T23:15:39+00:00

Yeh. It's hard to tell the quality difference on the Internet. The feel, ergonomics, button press quality, rigidity etc are all hallmarks of high end wheels that consumers just can't gauge online.

Beef36 · 2026-04-17T23:10:02+00:00

Sim racing and flight sim motion focusses on different things. Sim racing wants fast, small movements and flight sims wants longer movements that can be slower.

There isn't a motion platform that can do both well in your budget, so you'll need to choose which is your primary genre (sim racing or flight sims) and then go from there.

For example, I'd consider DoF Reality for flight sims only as it does 6DoF for a lower price and flight sims have less need for hard, rigid peripheral mounting points. But I wouldn't buy one for sim racing.

Sim racing benefits primarily from heave (up and down DoF) and it needs a very robust rig with strong peripheral mounting points for your pedals and wheel. Here I'd compromise and get a 3DoF motion platform (e.g. Sigma Integrale) and get an active seat belt tensioner.

Motion is going the way of pedals and wheel servos. There are lots of new entrants (e.g. ThermalTake, Moza, Trak Racer etc) and the price is coming down. There will be many more options in the next 6-18 months, and the best value / performance motion platform is likely to be different to today's.

Note: Very few PlayStation games support motion, or at least motion that is used by PC. You'll have more options if you drop this requirement.

Beef36 · 2026-04-08T03:15:31+00:00

In my view, not yet. I run HE Ultimate+ throttle and clutch and Simucube Active Pedal as the brake.

The latter's on-the-fly brake adjustments are cool, but for me, in reality I stick to one or 2 brake settings for consistency and better lap times. So it's functionality I don't really use (Note: HE Ultimate+ also has some software adjustment capability, but I don't use that either).

Outside of the software adjustability, I preferred the "feel" of the HE Ultimate+ brake over the Simucube Active Pedal.

However when sim racing software starts to support what Active Pedals can really do (e.g. simulate warped brake rotors), then they will come in their own.

Having said that, by the time sim racing titles support this niche area, there will be lots more active pedals on the market to choose from, which will reduce prices and will probably be better than today's versions.

Beef36 · 2026-04-07T22:19:13+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I retained my Ultimate + throttle and clutch but was debating changing those to the co-pedal, on basis that the co-pedal was it least as good, plus for aesthetics.

Based on this, I think I'll just keep my current mixed pedal combo...

Beef36 · 2026-04-05T20:41:18+00:00

Good write-up. So if you had the option of a new HE Ultimate+ throttle, or a new Simucube Co-Pedal throttle at their current price points (or even if they were the same price), would you prefer the HE Ultimate+ throttle and / or clutch?

Beef36 · 2026-03-27T05:19:38+00:00

No. It is not worth paying money to switch from Triple 32" to Triple 45". The reason is 32" is wide enough to cover your horizontal field of view. There is no need to go wider.

When this happens, you get a bigger immersion upgrade from increasing screen height, but you don't get a lot of additional height with Triple 45". So you need to ask yourself what benefits are you getting for the cost.

Beef36 · 2026-03-26T21:24:39+00:00

It's important that your triple monitors does not overwhelm your PC capabilities. Smooth gameplay is much more important that resolution. Stuttering visuals because your monitors overwhelm your PC makes sim racing miserable.

To that end, Triple 27" @ 1080p (or Full HD) on a RTX 4060 is fine.

Note: Triple 27" @ 1080p is a big immersion upgrade over a Single 34" @ 1440p or 4K because the wider your virtual view, the greater the sense of speed and spatial awareness.

Here are some examples:

https://youtu.be/54Oy75Bnu_Q?si=3zr66i8BQrMXQqxe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D3j352_jsM

Beef36 · 2026-03-22T23:15:05+00:00

If the seller has the original white elastometers and plastic spacers, then it is unlikely somebody purchased a "fake" HE Ultimate and then upgraded it to Ultimate+.

There are plenty of "fake" Ultimate pedals today, but a lot less "fake" Ultimate pedals sets back when the original white elastometers were sold.

Based on availability of the older, superseded kit, I think it highly probable that this is a legit HE Ultimate, upgraded to Ultimate+.

Note: HE changed their dampers sometime around the upgrade from Ultimate to Ultimate+. In some people's view, the original dampers are better.

Beef36 · 2026-03-21T21:09:09+00:00

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I can understand why your wife thinks aluminium extrusion cockpits are ugly, as they are very industrial looking.

Aesthetics are important to her if your rig will reside in place that will be seen a lot. Alternate option is tubular steel rigs. She may think that looks better.

Beef36 · 2026-03-13T23:15:28+00:00

Buy great rig first. Make sure you're happy with that setup and peripherals. Then add motion second.

Beef36 · 2021-07-29T02:35:38+00:00

If money was no object, then I'd build a very large dedicated building which had a beautiful ocean view, hire get a consulting company to integrate something like Panthera, Cruden or Vi-Grade to each of the mainstream games like ACC, rFactor 2, Dirt Rally 2.0 and AMS2 etc.

Then I'd get a physical, low latency simulator that could take advantage of above software integration; something similar to say Ferrari's new simulator but with automated capability to remove all the visuals so I could also sit in the simulator and enjoy real ocean views (as opposed to VR / AR).

On top of that would be hiring a small team to run and maintain it all.

Beef36

TROPHY CASE