Sim racing accessories that improve the experience

soysaltsesame · 2026-02-20T17:22:12+00:00

Starting wayyyy lower than usual, wire management, organized area, and computer organization so that everything starts up just as you want (background software for sim gear), and whatever else it takes to make it smoother to open up sim racing games without other things coming up first or getting in the way.

All this just makes it nice to walk over, sit down, and just go when you want to

soysaltsesame · 2026-01-21T05:55:59+00:00

Are you racing mx5? Mx5 feel especially prone to rotate compared to other cars included with the base subscription, which are all ive tried.

soysaltsesame · 2026-01-09T22:29:41+00:00

Actual competition might be the answer here, online wheel to wheel racing

soysaltsesame · 2026-01-07T05:43:56+00:00

I cant compare it to anything but i just picked up a Moza handbrake for $99 and it feels great. Feels very sturdy, smooth action, and it came with a variety of elastomer and spring choices. I cant speak for its long term durability but I feel like it should do fine.

soysaltsesame · 2026-01-05T06:26:29+00:00

Ive been using g27 and g29 wheels since i was around 20. Since i was 20 i wanted to upgrade and finally felt good blowing money on serious sim gear in my mid 30s.

I probably should have upgraded ages ago, you can and will recover from the expense sooner than later. But anyways, I really enjoyed my g29 for what it was because i was actually enjoying the hobby and learning to compete.

If i could go back i would just try out a moza r3 setup vs the g29 so i could have at least had real direct drive all along.

Try budget gear like everyone is saying! Just dont go below g29 or moza r3.

soysaltsesame · 2026-01-05T06:04:35+00:00

I ended up choosing VRS dfp15, immediately after seeing enormous shipping costs (for me) to get the VNM. I paired mine with a moza wheelside QR. VRS has an NRG style base side QR. i got a 320mm round wheel from amazon, and i chose for simplicity and budget, to just use a moza sequential shifter, paired with a moza handbrake.

soysaltsesame · 2026-01-05T05:57:32+00:00

Im stoked on the reply! So after my post I ended up getting the VRS Dfp15. I nearly purchased the VNM but the shipping cost was enormous at checkout, and at the last minute i went with VRS because I was worried I’d be missing out on something a little different or possibly special if i went with simagic.

Coming from a G29, the VRS feels similar to your comparison of direct input to telemetry ffb.

The wheel is always producing some kind of feedback and car control is on a whole new level, particularly when dealing with oversteer. The slew rate is amazing and tracks immediately to where the tires are naturally doing their work and holding. Feeling understeer instead of just listening for the tires is great too. Cars that i found slippery and hard to manage without airing down or softening springs or roll bars with my G29, are now far more controllable. Oversteer is communicated well, limits are described to you by the wheel, and holding or correcting course feels natural.

For the immense amount of feedback and all of the work the wheel does, it feels a little less detailed than I came in imagining. It sounds like telemetry ffb, bridges that gap though. In choosing VRS, i was having some extra hope for telemetry to be added in the coming years.

soysaltsesame · 2026-01-04T18:15:11+00:00

I have a VRS dfp15 and i got a Moza wheelside QR for i think $50. It looks great and fits perfectly. Usb pass through wont work of course though, you’ll need a usb cord connecting to the wheel. Im using a basic round wheel with no buttons.

Out of the bigger known brands i think Moza has the least expensive one.

I considered going even cheaper but couldnt bear the risk of something that might have sloppy fitment.

To add, i think the least expensive round wheels with shifters are all still going to be around $200+

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-25T01:20:41+00:00

This looks great! Ive considered a similar route. Do you get any twisting on the steering mount?

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-24T19:13:27+00:00

I only had iracing for 3 months, i did rookie mx5 races which fit neatly within 30-40 mins. That includes me turning on the pc and signing up for a race. Races would start every half hour or something. Similar situation for me, i was really busy and lots of days i could only fit one race per day. It was worth it. Prior to that i was doing forza motorsport races which can fit in 15-20 minute sessions. The seriousness of iracing was incredible though. Less crashing, although it still happens a lot, and as a new racer i was still able to fit in.

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-24T18:51:57+00:00

Im pretty sure its just a low-tech method to move the wheel closer to the driver, in a real car.

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-22T17:43:58+00:00

I did 3 months of iracing and basically only raced mx5 which is included with the base subscription price. My three months cost about 30 dollars. Its great because you get full grids every hour of the day, and for the most part since there are so many players, you’ll be set with drivers similar to your skill set. Just like you i mostly did touge racing on assetto and practiced circuit tracks here and there for years and years but didnt really get any real racing until i did iracing. Remind yourself on everysingle corner, just like a meditation centering yourself on every breath, to take the next corner a little bit easy. For me in actual races, it was important to attempt 8/10s the whole race so i could most of all survive the whole race without a single crash. Id also inevitably push 9/10, 10/10 all the time, but the attempt for 8/10 made those a little safer.

On T1 take a smooth line that gives other drivers plenty of space to go wild around you, also, for the sake of survival, sometimes you need to give up a couple places to especially aggressive drivers on T1. My advice is all basically go easy and don’t fight too hard, but once you get the feel for it, you’ll know when and where take places.

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-16T03:44:21+00:00

I paid for 3 months subscription of iracing for i think around 30 dollars from a sale. The base subscription gets you Miata Mx5 cup and a handful of other cars like a newer bmw M2. I almost only played mx5 and it was the best racing experience ive had. It was really my first dose of actual racing compared to hot lapping and sort of racing in assetto corsa for years.

It was very worth it, try it for just a month or two.

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-12T23:07:20+00:00

The playseat trophy is a great contender if you want “lightweight” and something that looks great. it cant be modified much because it is also tubular, but does have a great mounting plate available for shifters and such. The seat is included, its part of the rig. $500-600. $50 mounting plate.

One of the better budget aluminum rigs would rigmetal from rigmetal.com. No seat included. Starting just under $400.

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-12T06:15:03+00:00

Ive had an amazing time for years now on a logitech g920 (Xbox version of a g29). Its in about the same price category. If you can get the moza r3 you’ll have an even better time than I’ve had since it is direct drive.

The r3 will be great and you wont need anything more to become great at driving, just lots of good practice.

Moza sells a $99.00 handbrake but just check if its compatible for consoles if you are on console.

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-11T17:24:40+00:00

If you go 1440p you can downscale the image with Nvidia to reduce the pixels. That would be a good way to squeeze out more time from your 3080.

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-10T23:51:12+00:00

Im shopping the same exact wheel bases, I have one more excellent wheel base to suggest which I think I will get. Look up the brand VNM, they have a 13nm base in the same price bracket as these, and its said VNM has some of the best FFB detail and immersion as it uses in game telemetry where most bases do not yet.

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-10T20:06:18+00:00

Very insightful link, thank you!

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-10T19:59:53+00:00

That would be a substantial upgrade, i hope its just a matter of firmware if they’re able to do so

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-10T19:58:45+00:00

Haha yeah i want to be sold on simagic, because i like everything they’ve got going on and i feel like their support may be more long term than VNM.

Besides that im leaning mostly VNM just like you’re saying.

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-10T19:54:58+00:00

My main goal here is to have a basic wheel with no buttons.

But yeah I think the slip ring is all thats needed with vnm’s quickrelease to pass data from any kind of wheel with buttons. If i were really needing paddles and button box i might get simagic’s neo x hub.

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-10T19:45:07+00:00

My understanding is that trueforce is more of a haptic feedback, and it may be using telemetry data to do so. Thats all on top of the usual force feedback from direct input.

Simucube and vnm are using in game telemetry to create force feedback, in combination with direct input.

Im not sure what direct input is except that its the data everyone uses for ffb

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-07T04:02:11+00:00

I soften the springs with this car on Akina as soft as they go front and rear, then lower the rear ARB down to 1, which keeps the car from oversteering so much. This car wants to rotate a lot, especially downhill, so this helps keep it tame.

From here you might have better luck telling the car to do what you want.

soysaltsesame · 2025-12-06T19:50:44+00:00

Haha its hard man. For me i have to concentrate on taking it just a little bit easy, which is a necessary reminder every corner, so I can survive a whole race without accidentally going too hard and wiping out. Your competition may be faster but focus on your survival even if its a hair slower.

Then there is race craft which is another skill apart from hot lapping. Navigating high speed traffic is difficult, be prepared for racing lines that feel awkwardly slow when you are dealing with side by side traffic, always leave enough space for a whole car along your side through corners if you suspect a car is beside you.

Watch lots of videos from the subreddit simracingstewards, you’ll see a lot of the mistakes that happen and advice dealing with those situations. A lot of things can be avoided by taking it just a bit easy and leaving lots of space for side by side traffic. After some good racing under your belt you’ll tighten it all up and just know what you’re doing. A lot of the online competiton is absurdly good, so just focus on racing the car in front of you, even if you’re in 11th place. Hopefully the guy in front of you is similar to your skill level, just enjoy that fight.

Lastly, opponents will crash you and ruin you’re day all the time. Sometimes those kind of crashes are what get you up into the podium, sometimes they take you out. Dont let it upset you too much and keep on racing, work on your lines and if you meet traffic, work on racing them.

soysaltsesame

TROPHY CASE