Sim Racer Volume 1 Issue 9

V O L U M E

THE DEFINITIVE SIM RACING MAGAZINE

1 I S S U E

D R IVE R AWAR D S

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SIM RACER AWARDS

THE RESULTS ARE IN PC

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XBOX

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P L AYS TAT I O N

VIRTUAL ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP BSRTC PRO SERIES BIOGRAPHY

IMAGE SPACE INCORPORATED INTERVIEW!

S I M R A C E R

full review!

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VESARO EXPERIENCE

WE CHECK OUT SOME INCREDIBLE HIGH-END EQUIPMENT!

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PROJECT CARS

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DRIVERS...

START YOUR ENGINES! It’s a new dawn...

Happy New Year one and all. This is an incredibly significant year for sim racing and the games industry in general. The Consumer Technology Association predicts $540 million in revenues generated by Virtual Reality, with three major headsets launching in the next few months, and no doubt many more associated products still to learn about. Naturally we’ll be bringing you our impressions of all the consumer headsets as soon as we can!

As for this issue, it was about time I assessed the state of RaceRoom Racing Experience, a game that has remained on my hard drive ever since the launch in 2012, taking up a vast amount of space relative to my time spent on track. I’ve always looked back fondly at the GTR2002 SimBin mod as one of the major milestones in my sim racing hobby; RaceRoom had never successfully grabbed me in the same way.

But with the Sector3 changeover and months of significant changes all heading in the right direction, I’m now enjoying my seat time with RaceRoom more than ever.

Reporting from the Virtual Endurance Championship continues, with a double-bill feature of the races at Fuji and Interlagos. In addition, another sim racing series is receiving its first coverage in the magazine - the BSRTC Pro championship. Thanks to Sean Braganza for writing a concise and compelling biography of this popular (and televised!) series.

I had a fantastic opportunity to visit Vesaro recently, manufacturer of high-end sim racing rigs. It was an eye-opening experience with a collection of hardware I could write pages on individually; hopefully my overview provides a small taste of that day.

And don’t miss our new exclusive interviews with Image Space Incorporated and Slightly Mad Studios! Here’s to a successful 2016! Enjoy the issue.

Dominic Brennan

ebcon publishing ltd.

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RACEROOM REVIEW

THRUSTMASTER

RaceRoom Racing Experience has come a long way since its initial release in 2012. SimBin evolved into Sector3, and the studio has never looked back. Late in 2015, the game received a major physics update. We take a look at the current state of the software, the recent DTM Experience 2015 update, and consider whether the sim is worth your time and money. Does it have what it takes to compete against the likes of Assetto Corsa or Project CARS, or is it ploughing its own path?

We dive into the extensive world of the Thrustmaster T-series ecosystem. From the latest entry-level T150 to the flagship T500RS, there is something for everybody here! But with an increasing number of add-ons available, standalone ‘servo bases’ and some new bundles... it’s all becoming rather confusing. We’re here to explain the differences between each wheel base, FFB system and pedal set, as well as looking at the TH8A shifter and their latest Alcantara rim.

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8 NEWS Sim racing moves fast - check out the news section for a quick summary of the stories that caught our eye recently.

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The extensive T-Series ecosystem explained! We assess the full range of wheel bases, rims and pedal sets, not forgetting the superb TH8A shifter!

We assess the current state of Sector3 Studios’ free-to-play title, RaceRoom Racing Experience. Being a constantly-evolving product, there is never a perfect time to review the pros and cons, but with a year’s-worth of significant changes rolling out since the demise of SimBin, including a recent major physics update, now was as good a time as any.

32 BUDGET PC BUILD

19 PC PREVIEW

We revisit a series of gaming headsets and offer some additional thoughts.

Need more oomph to run these increasingly-demanding driving sims? Here’s one of the latest systems from PC Specialist, the Fusion Gamer Extreme Gaming PC.

43 BSRTC PRO SERIES

22 VESARO EXPERIENCE

EXCLUSIVE

A visit to high-end sim rig manufacturer Vesaro to test their stunning equipment. It’s not every day that one has the chance to try three difference motion systems... Mind-blowing hardware!

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28 THRUSTMASTER T-SERIES REVIEW

Connor gives his thoughts on building a PC on a tight budget, with plenty of handy tips on what to buy, where, and how to do it!

37 HEADSET REVIEWS

Sean Braganza gives us the lowdown on the British Sim Racers Touring Car championship.

46 RETROSPECTIVE Bob Simmerman looks back at the significance of the original rFactor sim from Image Space Incorporated.

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We’re keen to showcase sim racing championships in the magazine, and British Sim Racing Touring Cars is a great example of a relatively new series gaining popularity and respect very rapidly. These kind of cars naturally provide very close racing, and at a high skill level, the competition is intense.

They can take a bit of a beating too, so drivers aren’t afraid of exchanging paint schemes the old-fashioned way. We hope you enjoy Sean’s introduction to the Pro Series!

We speak to Creative Director Andy Tudor about the impact of Project CARS’ launch, and his thoughts on the current state of the game. It’s the first time we’ve caught up with Slight Mad Studios since the game’s release, and they’ve since partnered with the Electronic Sports League, featuring heavily in eSports tournaments around the globe. We wanted to find out more about their interesting approach to multiplayer.

50 TECH DESK

64 PIT STOP

Our technical editor Connor offers an introduction to overclocking!

Take a look at some new gear that we’ve received at Sim Racer HQ - including the Fanatec Formula Carbon rim, the MSPEC Shift Light and the DXRacer PS/1000L/N.

52 SLIGHTLY MAD STUDIOS INTERVIEW E XCLUSIVE Dom catches up with Andy Tudor to talk about Project CARS eSports initiative, and manages to squeeze in a couple of questions about the sequel too!

68 AWARDS The results are in! Here’s the winners of our 2015 awards.

SIM RACER

56 SUBSCRIBE Never miss an issue - subscribe today!

57 IMAGE SPACE INC. INTERVIEW EXCLUSIVE

D R IVE R AWAR D S

Andrew Dickman returns with a double-feature, reporting on rounds 2 and 3 of the rFactor 2-based endurance series.

THERESULTS

AREIN

Bob Simmerman is back with some fresh questions for Gjon Camaj and Tim Wheatley at ISI about rFactor 2.

61 VIRTUAL ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP REPORTS

AWARDS

70 NEXT ISSUE A small taste of what’s in store next time!

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SIM RACER NEWS

VR News!

Oculus Rift

Vive...

The consumer version of the Oculus Rift finally became available for preorder on January 6th... we hope you managed to grab one!

HTC’s second-generation developer kit, called the Vive Pre, was recently unveiled at CES2016, offering performance improvements, refined ergonomics, and a front-facing camera. It seems increasingly unlikely that the consumer Vive will hit their April target...

n ews Assetto Corsa Kunos Simulazioni found tremendous success with Assetto Corsa last year, and the once-unrealistic notion of a console version is now a certainty. It is expected to light up the PS4 and Xbox One in April.

Gettin’ DiRTy

DiRT Rally is also coming to consoles! Already enjoying much success as a full release on Steam, Codemasters’ rally sim slides onto PS4 and Xbox One on April 6th, along with a physical PC version (remember those?!).

Sector3 on a roll!

Project CARS continues to receive updates, with V6 bringing some much-need VR HUD improvements. They’re also beginning to approach multiplayer in a unique way - check out our esports feature on page 52!

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The Formula RaceRoom 2 has launched on RaceRoom Racing Experience - it is the first open-wheeled car on the sim, complete with animated suspension. Check out our full review of RaceRoom on page 13.

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iRacing With the launch of the MP4-30 and Nordschleife late last year, iRacing’s momentum is carrying into 2016, with the promise of the Mercedes AMG GT and Audi R8 LMS cars in the March build. Next up is Imola, and Le Mans and the Renault Formula 2.0 aiming for the first half of the year.

The new MX-5 is also coming soon; when it is completed it will replace the existing MX-5 Cup car in the official series (for free).

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iRacing.com is in the process of becoming simply “iRacing”. The promotional materials have already made the transition, with the website and UI to receive major overhauls over the coming months. The decision to simplify the branding is very welcome, and should pair neatly with the long-awaited DX11 update, tentatively scheduled for March.

Live For Speed rFactor 2

rF2 continues to add to its collection of ovals, with the ISI-endorsed, third-party tracks Palm Springs Speedway (which also includes two challenging infield road courses) and Alabama Speedway.

Has released its first all-new piece of content in 8 years - Rockingham Motor Speedway and it’s laser scanned! The glacial pace of LFS content development is in stark contrast to their trailblazing VR implementation, being the first sim to achieve reliable Oculus DK2 support, and now they’re the first to enable support for HTC’s Vive.

Team HARD rF2 competition The World Clio Touring Cup’s 2nd season will be named the Team-HARD Clio Cup, due to start in March. 1st Prize is a place in the 2017 Team-HARD scholarship program, where the driver gets to take part in races, has media training, and is taught to have the mindset of a racing driver, as well as receiving advice and coaching from professionals. If they are good enough, they can progress into a real race seat. BTCC driver and Team HARD owner Tony Gillam had this to say:

“We have a lot of people involved with the team at varying levels who are all keen sim racers.

It is so realistic today, that we have seen the sim racers convert their online ability to on track so it is great to be part of something like this and give someone an opportunity to drive with us for real. It is an ever growing community and for us to be involved is a pleasure as always when trying to help others achieve their racing dreams.“

Reiza Studios

Are relaunching Stock Car Extreme with some significant updates and a considerably more appealing name - Automobilista! It will feature improved textures and integrated SweetFX, and will be available in Q1 2016, free to all current Stock Car Extreme owners on Steam.

Tim Wheatley at ISI welcomed the news - “Any time we hear of our software being used not only for enjoyment, but as a stepping stone towards a career in motorsport, it really sends a positive feeling around our Ann Arbor HQ. I’m delighted to hear sim racers are being given another superb opportunity with TeamHARD and the kindness of Tony Gilham to live the dream.”

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26/08/2014 13:55

RACEROOM

SIM RACER

review!

SECTOR3STUDIOSHASBEEN INJECTING A HUGE AMOUNT OF ENERGY ANDPASSION INTOTHEIRSIM OVER THE PAST YEAR. WITH SOME NOTABLE CHANGES,INCLUDINGASIGNIFICANT PHYSICS UPDATE, IT’S TIME TOASSESSRACEROOM RACINGEXPERIENCE IN DETAIL.

BY DOMINIC BRENNAN

review

THE PERPETUALLY-EVOLVING RaceRoom Racing support. In October, a massive physics overhaul.

Experience is a difficult sim to review. With the ease At the time of writing, the transition to the new of patching, automated updates and DLC, every sim physics is not complete, with certain groups of evolves over time these days, but RaceRoom Racing cars still sporting the ‘old’ handling characteristics.

Experience and iRacing continue to stand apart “Boat-like” is the way I described it, lacking from the others with their unique business models. response in all areas, with so much vagueness in the iRacing has scheduled seasonal builds, but in the case force-feedback and far too forgiving on the most of RaceRoom Racing Experience, a transformative hardcore settings. It was perplexingly easy, reminding update could be just around the corner. Two such me more of a Codemasters GRID game than their updates arrived in June and October of last year. In legendary GTR series. Even the sharpest-handling, June, it received a new transmission model, improved modern track animals were reduced to lazy, wallowing sounds, AI, a menu overhaul and dedicated server creatures. Once settled-in after an hour or so, it was

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SIM RACER

RACEROOM

possible to detect a spectrum of car handling within this overall physics character, but it was far from satisfactory.

Take the 2013 or 2014 DTM cars for example. DTMs are sometimes referred to as single seaters in disguise. Yet you could fling them around as if they were 60’s muscle cars. The communication of inertia and weight transfer made it feel like the car’s centre of gravity was far too high, nothing like you’d expect from a modern DTM monster.

The October update was quickly followed by the launch of DTM2015, a neatly-packaged title nestling under the RaceRoom Racing Experience umbrella.

This showcases the improved physics to the clearest extent, as you can (currently) still directly compare the previous year’s cars. The new versions are dramatically better through the twisty bits, with no more bizarre inertia to upset the party. The cars feel low, nimble and responsive, but still heavy, as it should be. I still have many reservations about the force feedback - there is barely any feeling just off-centre, so unfortunately some vagueness still remains. I’ve spent far too long messing with the extensive settings, but never found a genuine solution - there seems to be a fundamental problem with road feel that needs to be addressed. I was able to marginally improve the centre feel by adding 4% centre spring in the menu (but no more than 4%, otherwise

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it messes up everything), but this isn’t the correct approach.

The improvements to the 2015 DTM cars can be partly attributed to Bruno Spengler, a current DTM driver (and former champion) who worked with Sector3 extensively. Kevin Van Der Linde has helped with GT3, being an ADAC Masters driver. The GT3s have certainly improved too, but I feel there is more to be done here to provide some front-end feedback - hopefully the next ADAC bundle will address this. A recent pack, the TT Cup 2015 has been developed with the help of Joonas Lappalainen and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky, both current drivers in the series and is another step in the right direction. Being front-wheel drive, it does make the force-feedback come alive in a different way, but there is a distint lack of torque steer compared to similar cars in rFactor 2 and Assetto Corsa - perhaps further indication that something is amiss. Either way, the TTs are super racing tools, particularly online. Attaching pro driver names to racing sims isn’t a new idea, but Sector3 are doing it properly, and the contributing talent has genuinely helped. Being a free-to-play title, this kind of quality is essential to keep the existing audience engaged and to convince newcomers to step over that initial hurdle and start paying for content.

Thanks to the prevalence of smart phones and their bottomless pit of woeful apps, the concept of Free-to-Play has acquired many negative connotations.

In-app purchasing, ad-ridden, misleading presentation and obnoxious locking of content is a depressing norm these days, but thankfully RaceRoom avoids all of that, relegating advertisements to the loading screens only. But use a mouse click to activate ‘press any key to continue’ at your peril - you might catch the ad instead, flinging you directly to the store page.

Confusion and frustration used to be associated with RaceRoom’s Store page, but it has improved in recent months. It retains the absurd vRP system, but now automatically calculates to a real currency as you add items to your basket, so it can almost be ignored.

As with any game that deviates from the traditional retail pricing structure, the pros and cons can be discussed for hours on end, but I’d rather not bore you to tears... the good news is that you can at least try every car before you buy - I hope iRacing is taking notes. And if you’re still undecided, check the competitions tab - they’re always running and it temporarily unlocks the relevant pieces of content. It’s safe to say that RaceRoom’s promotional offers are worth waiting for, and that the bundled ‘Experiences’ are worth a look. I have no hesitation in recommending DTM2015. Unless you’re a serious fan of the series, its presentation alone is probably not going to inspire, with a basic

THE STAND-OUT FEATURE IS AUDIO, UP THERE WITH THE VERY BEST OF ANY RACING GAME IN HISTORY

championship mode and not much else (there is no fleshed-out career mode in any of the Experiences), but you receive a selection of solid race cars and a large collection of tracks to use across the rest of RaceRoom.

With any luck, you’ll find some multiplayer action too. Sadly a list of empty servers is a common sight on RaceRoom, particularly within the individual Experiences. However, when a race randomly spins into life, you might find yourself in the company of a pro. Indeed I have already raced against both Bruno Spengler and Timo Glock on the DTM2015 servers. They usually drop a hint on Twitter that they’ll be online.

It’s surprising that this doesn’t receive more publicity.

Battling with a pro DTM driver, using their own car that’s sim racing gold right there, and it happens on a regular basis in RaceRoom. Just take a look at their ‘VIP drivers’ section on the portal; many pro drivers are listed and a fair number of them can be found regularly on RaceRoom for fun or a spot of practice. It’s very neat to see a famous name with their car, combined with their real photo - the avatar system is an excellent feature and inspires you to look at the leaderboards more often. RaceRoom began as a hotlapping exercise, so the leaderboards are well established and straightforward to navigate.

While it has a solid netcode, the multiplayer implementation leaves much to be desired. Surprisingly, there is no voice chat feature, and the text chat system is sorely lacking. Being a Steam-only title, it does mean you can use Steam’s chat features, but this is an unsatisfactory solution. There needs to be a simple chat box that retains the chat history - at the moment, the chat appears at the top of the screen; blink and you’ll miss it. If you’re in a menu at the time, the text won’t even show. It just feels very barebones for the most part, which is a shame, because the replay and live camera angles surpass even iRacing at times. There is no spotter, but I can recommend using the ‘CrewChief’ app

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and why the image quality is superb (very similar to iRacing). By using fixed times of day, the lighting and shaders can be honed to near perfection; switching to a fully dynamic day-night cycle would be a huge challenge.

The cartoonish skyboxes seem even less suitable than before, so it can still be an unusual looking game.

RaceRoom also lacks any kind of weather system, or night racing.

Track detail has improved in recent releases; Spa-Francorchamps and Paul Ricard are positively stunning. Despite not using laser scanning, the detail and accuracy is comparable to the best examples in the industry. A few of the older tracks have some questionable cambers in places, but they’re all pretty close to the mark. The selection on offer is interesting and varied - from the crazy thin streets of Macau to the sweeping curves of the Slovakia Ring. Plus another laser-scanned Nordschleife is on the way, which is no doubt taking all their track building resources to complete. Once they have time to consider something new, I’d like to see more love shown to hillclimb - only four hillclimb layouts are available at two fictional locations; it is beginning to feel like a forgotten corner of the sim.

There is also a noticeable jump in quality with the newer vehicles, such as the TT Cup 2015 cars, particularly regarding interiors. The Audi’s air vents seem to use many more polygons compared to the geometry of the McLaren 12C GT3, for example. But this remains an area where RaceRoom doesn’t match the likes of Project CARS or Assetto Corsa. A generic LCD display continues to be used on the majority of interiors, which isn’t the end of the world but still disappointing.

A common complaint related to graphics - limited triple screen functionality. We asked Sector3 in our interview about this and evidently it’s still on the list, but I fear it is increasingly unlikely as further attention is lavished on VR. As it stands, I have to create a custom, bezel-corrected resolution in the Nvidia control panel. Once selected in game, I have to decide on a compromised FOV (the setting is a strange value you adjust from 1.0, rather than being the more intuitive horizontal degrees) because the side monitors inevitably look distorted. It desperately needs a side-angle correction option. Incidentally, RaceRoom is also missing a frame limiter, so Nvidia Inspector comes to the rescue.

On top of the graphics is the user interface, or rather, several user interfaces - RaceRoom, ADAC

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review

created by Jim Britton (mr_belowski), which even includes voice recognition (and can be used for Project CARS too).

The stand-out feature is audio. Sound Designer Anthony Monteil’s contribution to RaceRoom is incredible, up there with the very best of any racing game in history. The comprehensive audio sliders, from suspension squeak to reverb factor, show the effort lavished on the sound systems. I think a few aren’t really necessary (I’d prefer if Anthony balanced most of these levels himself and reduced the number of sliders) but I’m assuming the defaults are his suggestion.

The all-important tyre scrub is a separate slider, so no complaints there.

But when audio is this engaging, it’s also more noticeable when things don’t sound quite right, such as the repeating ‘whoosh’ of the audio reflections coming from the bridge supports at RaceRoom Raceway (something that is surely too high up to produce such a loud effect), and the distinct lack of rubbing and scraping sounds when you slide up against other cars or barriers. Everything else is incredible though. Backfires sound brilliant, transmission whine and wobble is very believable, as are the engine sounds, impacts and tyre scrub.

Graphically, RaceRoom remains a mixed bag.

Something about the colour palette, the dark outlines around shut lines on certain paint jobs, and an unnatural lighting system meant that RaceRoom maintained an almost cartoon-like style for at least two years. But once the lighting was upgraded, and they began to push harder for realism, the game suddenly started to catch the eye. The lighting is now ‘baked’ at different times of day, which explains why the shadows look so natural

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review

and three DTM titles all have separate menus, and each is slightly different. Thankfully, since the Orb of Counter-Intuition was replaced by a more conventional layout, all of these separate Experiences have become more cohesive. Settings for sound, graphics and force feedback are remembered across everything (but the controller preset detection menu remains pretty confusing. Could do with a wizard to simplify things).

And when you realise the content found in the DTM and ADAC titles can be launched from the main RaceRoom section, it becomes clear that the separation was only done to achieve the licence agreements. Ideally, it would all be one game, and in a way, it is. The only reason to jump in to the individual titles is to engross yourself in that series without the distraction of RaceRoom’s other content. Superb montage footage from the real series plays in the background as a reward, to get you in the mood in an otherwise very sedate presentation.

RaceRoom has always suffered from an identity crisis. RaceRoom Racing Experience is too much of a mouthful, but RaceRoom is technically the overall brand name associated with sim centres, events, and other commercial entertainment. I’ve referred to the sim as RaceRoom for this review, and Sector3 are also trying to move away from the Racing Experience tag.

The external branding is confusing, but the sim needs adjustments internally too. The worst offender, in my opinion, is ‘Get Real’. Firstly, I think splitting handling models in such a distinct way gives the wrong first impression. It gives a feeling of segregation, fracturing the community for no reason. Look at Assetto Corsa here is a sim with a single, hardcore handling model, yet it is enjoyed thoroughly by the pick-up-and-play crowd, just thanks to a few driving aids here and there.

There is no reason to make any kind of distinction.

Now the physics are starting to deliver, and Sector 3 want to regain the attention of the sim enthusiast. ‘Get Real’ is redundant - why must everything be given a catchphrase? Ideally, the software should relaunch as RaceRoom, promoted as a true sim, but with some straightforward assists.

But why should you bother with RaceRoom at all?

Well, it’s fun. And let’s be honest, it was fun before the physics update too, just not what I expected from the artists formerly known as SimBin. Over a year since that difficult changeover, the software is definitely heading in the right direction, becoming more focused, more realistic, while retaining that ‘just one more go’ feeling. I can offer three explanations for that - it runs smoothly, the sounds are immersive, and the AI

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is excellent. RaceRoom has some of the best AI of any current sim, including an Adaptive AI system that really works. And it’s free to try, so there is nothing to lose, except a bunch of disk space.

The force feedback is where it continues to struggle against the top sims. Aside from turning up the canned effects, there is very little road surface detail coming back through the wheel. The tyres have some believable characteristics, you can heat-manage by adjusting your driving style and the audio is good enough to provide the cues that the FFB is lacking. If they could flat spot, and you could feel it, that would

be a welcome improvement. The controls need to be tightened elsewhere too - despite the improvements to the clutch system, with top and bottom deadzones and a biting point adjustment, there appears to be an underlying problem with quick gear shifts. With everything fully manual, I can complete a very clean, fast shift, and the audio of the gear engaging occurs too late, as if there is a hidden clutch assist. It messes with my rhythm, to the point where I’m forcing myself to shift slower. Combined with the triple screen distortion, it takes a long time to get comfortable in RaceRoom.

Switching between iRacing, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2 and Stock Car Extreme takes just a couple of corners, but RaceRoom and Project CARS have always been a problem.

Until very recently, there was no refuelling at all in the sim. At the time of writing, this has been introduced as a work in progress, but is a very welcome addition and an essential part of strategy calls for endurance racing. A neat alternative to specifying the number of gallons, you can also simply select ‘safe’ or ‘risky’ and let the crew decide. There is no animated crew by the way - hopefully something in their future plans, but not before driver swaps. Some of the basics aren’t nailed

down either - I’m still hopeful for a customisable HUD, safety cars, formation laps... the list goes on.

Were it not for the consistently-brilliant sound effects, or the respect for the studio’s previous work, RaceRoom would have barely registered on my radar through its first two years of existence. Before October’s update I found it hard to even consider it to be a sim. There was the odd gem of a car, such as the mad Audi 90 Quattro, but most were hidden behind a veil of unreasonable physics. But their persistence has been rewarded, and it is beginning to turn heads.

The development over the last year has been more than encouraging, and Sector3’s relationship with the community has been consistently impressive, with interactions on their forum and live-streaming development sessions before each major update. Their openness and honesty deserves your support, but they still have many hurdles to climb before RaceRoom can be a genuine contender as a top sim.

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review

RACEROOM HAS SOME OF THE BEST AI OF ANY CURRENT SIM, INCLUDING AN ADAPTIVE AI SYSTEM THAT REALLY WORKS

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THE MAGAZINE FOR THE ALPHA MALE

OUTDOORS - ADRENALIN - TACTICAL - ESSENTIALS - FITNESS - EXPLORE

TRAVIS HALEY

GUNFIGHTER!

WE TAKE A KNEE WITH WORLD CLASS GUNFIGHTER TRAVIS HALEY IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW TO FIND OUT WHAT MAKES HIM TICK AND HOW THE WORLD OF HALEY STRATEGIC PARTNERS REVOLVES . . .

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PC PREVIEW

PC SPECIALIST FUSION GAMER EXTREME THE FUSION GAMER EXTREME GAMING PC IS ONE OF THE LATEST SYSTEMS TO COME FROM PC SPECIALIST, ONE OF THE LARGEST CUSTOM PC & LAPTOP MANUFACTURERS. PACKED FULL OF THE LATEST AND GREATEST HARDWARE FROM A RANGE OF LEADING VENDORS SUCH AS ASUS, AMD AND HYPERX, THE FUSION GAMER EXTREME GIVES YOU A GAMING PC THAT YOU CAN USE STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX WITH NO HASSLES.

SIM RACER

OPERATING SYSTEM WINDOW 10 64-BIT Windows 10 is so familiar and easy to use, you’ll feel like an expert. It starts up and resumes fast, has more built-in security to help keep you safe, and is designed to work with software and hardware you already have. Whilst we’re still massive fans of Windows 7, Windows 10 is definitely an improvement on the lacklustre Windows 8.

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SIM RACER PC PREVIEW CASE IN WIN 703 MID TOWER The 703 Mid Tower from In Win is a fine specimen of a gaming case and features a high performance structure and dual-colour exterior to offer the user the best of both performance and looks. With high expandability which allows the case to house high end graphics cards and larger CPU coolers, the In Win 703 Mid Tower is great both as a pre-build case or as a case to build into yourself.

CPU AMD FX 8350 The new Fusion Gamer Extreme is powered by an Eight-Core AMD FX 8350 Processor, which is unlocked for your overclocking pleasure. Get the speed you crave with AMD Turbo CORE Technology to push your core frequencies to the limit when you need it most. Go beyond the limits of maximum speed with easy-to-use AMD OverDrive and AMD Catalyst Control Center software suites. But the best part of all? You’ll get all this impressive performance at an unbelievable price.

RAM 1X 8GB KINGSTON HYPERX DDR3 MEMORY PC Specialist have teamed up with the leading gaming memory manufacturer, HyperX to create their very own branded FURY DRAM. The Fusion Gamer Extreme Gaming PC comes with a generous 8GB HyperX FURY as standard, with room to upgrade.

GRAPHICS CARD AMD RADEON R9 380 The AMD Radeon R9 380 graphics processor harnesses visionary GCN Architecture. This GPU is primed to enable astonishing performance and breathtaking image quality, making it a top choice for gamers who expect the best. With Ultra Resolution Gaming you can leave HD in the dust by gaming on displays much, much larger. Whether using a 4k monitor or combining multiple HD monitors, you’ll get an expansive experience that’s truly out of sight.

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MOTHERBOARD ASUS© M5A99FX PRO R2.0 The ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 is a solid motherboard for any AMD system. With features such as the new DIGI+ Power Control, DirectKey BIOS, and is the first AMD based motherboard to allow for ultra-precise DRAM tuning and GPU voltage control. All in all the perfect motherboard for an entry level gaming PC.

EXTRAS The PC Specialist Fusion Gamer Extreme also comes with a CD Optical Drive as standard for all of your CD-DVDs as well as a 450W Corsair PSU. Personally we find the 450W to be a little on the low size and would look to upgrade to a 600W+ ASAP, however the 450W is perfect if you don’t plan on upgrading the PC in any way, shape or form. You’ve also got a brilliant 3 Year Standard Warranty on the Fusion Gamer Extreme, perfect for those of you who aren‘t familiar with PC repairs!

STORAGE 1TB SATA III HDD With a 1TB Hard Drive, you’ll have ample room to install all of your favourite gaming titles. We personally would look at installing a small 128GB SSD into this machine as well, but the 1TB HDD definitely provides you with a brilliant starting block for all your storage needs.

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SIM RACER VESARO

The Vesaro

h a r d wa r e

BASED IN A modern business park in Maidstone in Kent, about 35 miles south-east of London, Vesaro’s headquarters consists of 10,000 square feet of showroom, design, manufacturing and storage facilities, with more expansion planned. I met with Vesaro’s CEO, Nevil Slade, who gave me a quick tour of the premises. The staff were working on a flight simulator at the time; while it isn’t the focus of the business, Nevil was keen to highlight the versatility of their system - indeed there were even helicopter sim controllers on the shelves too. But in the showroom it was all about racing, and I was introduced to three distinct variants of the Vesaro simulator.

At its core, each Vesaro system uses the same steel chassis design - using laser-cut and CNC-bent tubing, precision-welded and powder-coated. The entire front half is welded to form a single, solid piece, creating by far the most distinctive feature of each Vesaro rig. The precise curves of the thick tubing meet to form a stunning, shark-like ‘nose’; a rare element of styling in the world of sim rigs.

This extended shape leaves the area around the wheel mount suspended from a significant distance, but Nevil demonstrated its strength by practically standing on it, resulting in barely a hint of movement. The front structure is undoubtedly rock-solid, including the next feature to catch my attention - the shifter support. Unlike most rigs, this is also welded into the front brace in another elegant, sweeping curve. It can be specified on either side (or both) during the order process, so it’s something the customer would have to think about carefully before committing. Again, this is all in the name of stiffness and durability; rigs with movable shift mounts have clamps or bolts that can work loose over time, and there would be no such problem here. A Vesaro rig could find itself being used for public events or even military training, so durability is very high on their list of priorities.

Having a shifter support on both sides would be my choice. A one-sided layout benefits from a more comfortable entry/exit position, but I’d miss the option to place a shifter on either side, plus a second mount can be used for other things - such as a button box or alternative control interface. This is also where flight controls are typically mounted, if you’re looking for a multi-purpose simulator. The mid-spec Vesaro rig on display had Fanatec shifters on both sides - quite unusual but great to have the option - the sequential versions can be used as handbrakes after all. It was slightly awkward to climb into the high-spec version, due to the elaborate parts on both sides, but it reminded me of climbing into a race car with a rollcage to deal with.

But more on that later.

I was amused to see Logitech K400 keyboards kicking around all over the place (although I spotted a K830 too!), one of the few things my personal rig has in common with Vesaro’s incredible gear. This must be the world’s most successful keyboard and trackpad combo for sim racers. An Oculus DK2 was nearby too, so I asked Nevil about his thoughts on VR. It’s something they’re keeping an eye on, and

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Experience the rigs can certainly be equipped with such devices as they enter the market over the next few years, but large screens are favoured for now.

The chassis separates in the middle, just before the seat, to reduce the shipping size. However I was shown some enormous wooden crates used for transporting fully-assembled ‘TurnKey’ rigs around the world if the customer so desires (you can even request an on-site install, with basic training included). The rear of the chassis is more conventional in design, but equally well thought-out.

Every rig is fitted with a race-spec Cobra seat, which plays an important role in the feeling of solidarity. A more relaxed, articulating Cobra Misano S seat can be fitted (and was being used on the flight sim), but it was apparent that a solid bucket seat is what you want for a racing rig, particularly one with a motion system.

So we arrive at one of the stand-out features of Vesaro rigs - D-Box technology. All three rigs were fitted with a four-actuator system (one for each corner) but were using three different specifications - 1.5 inch, 3.0 inch and 6 inch. The most simple configuration wasn’t on display, that being just two 1.5 inch actuators mounted at the rear, with a pivot at the front. Also possible is three actuators, i.e. with one at the front combined with the pivot. Two actuators means pitch and roll is simulated, three actuators introduces heave (vertical movement of the entire chassis), and four actuators provides more precise control over all three axes. The number of custom brackets needed to accommodate all variations is impressive, with each configuration requiring a different design. In addition to the actuators, each rig was fitted with a Buttkicker. Not the common Gamer2 or even MiniLFE typically used on sim rigs, but the Advance - a much beefier, 2KG shaker attached to yet another custom mounting bracket. Nevil explained that much experimentation was done to find the optimal position for this audio transducer, whether that was attaching it directly to the seat or somewhere on the main chassis. The result is a distinctive yellow bracket that suspends the transducer just below the seat, where it was found to transmit the vibration cues most evenly through the entire rig. The smart packaging leaves enough room for the ACM units (to control the motion systems) to fit neatly under the seat too.

Only when studying the rigs carefully like this did I begin to appreciate the number of components involved. There are literally hundreds of custom pieces, mostly laser-cut brackets (many with neat ‘Vesaro’ or ‘V’ cut-outs) and all powder-coated.

Glance behind the triple screen stand and you’ll find a complex hinge made of more custom parts, and there are three variants of the triple screen mount itself, depending on the size requirements. Every custom part is designed and manufactured in-house.

3D models of each component are created and stored

TESTING A SINGLE PIECE OF HIGH-END SIM HARDWARE IS ALWAYS A PLEASURE, BUT IT IS A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE A SETUP CONSISTING ENTIRELY OF CAREFULLY-SELECTED HIGH-END COMPONENTS. SIM RACER SPENT THE DAY AT VESARO’S HEADQUARTERS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR UNIQUE MODULAR SIMULATION SYSTEM.

BY DOMINIC BRENNAN

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SIM RACER

VESARO

h a r d wa r e

in a database, including the pieces supplied by other manufacturers, allowing quick design iterations with the entire rig rendered in software. Their render farm is used to produce photo-realistic images and animation used on their website, YouTube videos and other promotional work. It is also a neat way of showing a potential customer how their custom design could look, whether that be a unique embroidery on the seat, or to gold-plate the entire chassis...

As you can imagine, Vesaro’s customer base is wide and varied. A quick glance at the ‘how to find us’ page on the website, with options such as ‘arriving by private jet’ gives you a pretty clear indication of the kind of client that Vesaro can attract. They are also very successful in the commercial market, with companies placing orders for multiple rigs to be distributed around the world. But not every customer spends tens of thousands. The base chassis starts at £999, and many people begin with a static setup and then stay in touch with Vesaro over the years as their interest in the hobby grows. The modular nature of the hardware means the upgrade path is entirely open, all the way up to the very best hardware in the industry.

But back to the first rig, with the 1.5 inch D-Box system. It was configured with a Fanatec CSW and ClubSport pedals, so there was some familiarity for me. I was thrown onto iRacing with the Radical at Watkins Glen (Vesaro have access to a very neat custom iRacing launcher that bypasses the website entirely). The first thing I noticed was the display latency, as it is one of my pet peeves. The rig had recently been used at an event so certain settings had been reset - indeed the TVs weren’t on Game mode, which helped significantly. However, it was still more latency than I was used to, but easily remedied with a different display solution and not something I was going to dwell on. Much more interesting was the motion system, or rather, the integration of motion system, Buttkicker and surround sound. Surprisingly, for someone who uses a static rig on a daily basis, it felt pretty natural to me almost immediately.

The impression of motion systems being ‘all show’ quickly went out the window. This provided precise movement, and combined with the audio and vibration, was very immersive. But time was short, and I was keen to move to the second rig.

This used an ECCI 7000 wheel and ECCI pedals. In terms of responsive feedback I wasn’t blown away by the wheel, and the pedals had been configured to be incredibly light on resistance for use at an event.

However, they

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felt like they were built like a tank, more so than any consumer-level hardware I’ve tested, so it was understandable why this is often the spec of choice for showing at public events, particularly when kids want to have a go. This higher-spec rig used 3.0 inch D-Box actuators and they felt very different to the 1.5s. Not necessarily better, just different - but I’d need many more hours with both to explain the pros and cons.

On to the main event - the 195 Pro V-Spec. The displays were the first thing to catch my eye as I entered the building, looking noticeably more vibrant and spectacular than the others, and with good reason - these are 65” 4K curved OLEDs, meaning stunning colours, picture quality and most importantly, contrast. All three rigs on display had large triple screen solutions. Of course, all triple screen layouts involve various compromises. For me, a set of three 27” screens, positioned close to the steering wheel (with the side displays angled in at 45 degrees) ticks the right boxes in terms of efficiency and practicality. So the question ran through my mind... a correctly-configured FOV takes into account screen size and distance, and will make the scale of a virtual environment look correct on any system, so why on earth would you want bigger screens? Two reasons quickly became clear. Firstly, a large triple screen setup like this is stunning. The wow-factor is through the roof. I couldn’t help but grin at the sheer size of the displays; on the one hand it’s total overkill, and on the other it’s ludicrously appealing. Secondly, a huge screen array means they can be placed much further away

from the driver than conventional monitors, while maintaining a huge field of view. This results in less eye-strain - the giant displays sit at a more comfortable distance, and it gave me the impression that I could resolve the scale of the virtual environment with more ease. As a result, the OLEDs partially reproduced some of the convincing sense of scale that I’d only previously experienced with a VR headset.

The 6 inch D-Box system of the Pro V-Spec was very different again. With twice the amount of travel compared to the second rig, this felt like a huge step up. The rig was being configured for DiRT Rally, so it was a baptism of fire to jump into a rally car with the full travel of the actuators. The heave axis had more noticeable effects than the other configurations, creating the sensation of the long-travel suspension of the rally car absorbing bumps, and the alarming feeling of catching air on the jumps. Unlike the other two, where the pitch and roll axes offered some movement under braking and a suggestion of impacts and grip states, there was enough travel in the 6 inch version to introduce a distinct feeling of G-force. It felt incredibly capable, but I was only getting a small taste of its potential. It could produce a remarkably smooth ride, but was violent when it needed to be. One of the most impressive moments was when I drifted slightly too wide and clipped a metal railing - the jolt from the actuators was alarmingly realistic, to the point where I involuntarily tensed my body when I realised I was heading for a second impact.

This ultimate rig uses ‘V-spec’ components. To the sim enthusiast who has time to research high-end hardware, many of these would be recognised, such as the Bodnar wheel and HPP pedals. But this level of equipment is simply referred to as ‘V-spec’ in the Vesaro catalogue, for customers who want the best but don’t have the time or the desire to do the research. The ECCI hardware is referred to as ‘Pro’ controls, whereas the Sim Steering and HPP hardware is ‘V-Spec’. What qualifies as ‘Pro’ or ‘V-Spec’ is determined by Vesaro themselves, and helps to streamline the order process. Vesaro has formed unique relationships with manufacturers like Leo Bodnar in order to sell packages in this manner. Indeed some are physically rebranded and customised, such as the incredible Precision Sim Engineering rims, which have Vesaro logos, and in the case of the GT rim, a unique leather finish, preferred over the standard Alcantara for durability.

The Bodnar wheel was brilliant of course. Directdrive force feedback is something everybody needs to try - the combination of response and strength is out of this world. The HPP pedals, with their elaborate hydraulic brake system, took some getting used to,

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As a perpetual headphone user I was also reminded of the benefits of speakers which, due to their optimised layout, deliver a more convincing and natural soundstage. As with all three rigs on display, it was the overall experience of all components working in unison that left the biggest impression.

I review individual pieces of hardware at Sim Racer regularly, so my natural instinct was to concentrate on a particular component. After all, so many individual pieces of hardware at Vesaro would warrant weeks of testing and a detailed report. But it was nearly impossible to single-out hardware in this manner. On the V-Spec rig in particular, the intensity level was so high that it was sometimes difficult to retain rational thought, to the point where it didn’t matter what was delivering the feedback, it was simply a complete package. Sensory overload would be one way to describe it, ‘awesome’ would be another.

My concerns about motion systems being unresponsive and giving me unwanted feedback were at least partially resolved, but I’d have to spend much more time with them to be sure. Near the end of the day I decided to try some drifting using Assetto Corsa.

Admittedly this was partly for fun, but it is also a very demanding test for sim hardware - the force feedback has to communicate oversteer and massive weight transfer very quickly. The ultra-responsive direct-drive wheel would clearly highlight the problem if the D-Box actuators were unable to keep up during each transition, but it felt comfortably in sync. Whether the motion system is able to communicate useful, subtle handling cues in a serious race scenario is still unclear to me, but it didn’t feel like a hindrance. However there was one benefit of motion actuators that I hadn’t anticipated - the improved sense of speed. Sustained lateral G is impossible, but simulating the increased violence of bumps as you pick up speed on a straight is an effective way of achieving a believable sense of speed. Accurate FOVs, even on VR headsets, fail to deliver the full speed sensation. Simulators always appear slow relative to reality, and it’s only years of watching speedometers and listening to audio cues that gives me a good idea of how fast my virtual car is moving. Motion actuators go a long way to solving that problem, as the whole chassis feels more ‘alive’ at higher speeds. This has nothing to do with handling, but it almost justifies the motion system alone.

There is an element of prioritising entertainment over precision with motion rigs, but to dismiss it as a theme park ride would be foolish. You could easily configure a Vesaro rig to suit the most discerning of sim enthusiast. Nevil was knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his product range, speaking fluently as a designer and manufacturer, rather than a businessman. This is not simply a case of throwing off-the-shelf components together and selling them as packages for profit. It was clear that great care and thought goes into the construction of each Vesaro sim, and the continuous development and improvement of their products shouldn’t be underestimated.

Having an interest in hardware meant I had a good idea of what to expect on the day, and I’ll admit I arrived with a slightly sceptical hat on. Despite being thrown around for several hours, I left Vesaro with a clear head and a fresh perspective on the company, and on simulator products in general. I have a new appreciation for high-end fit and finish, motion systems, and the value of a well-tuned, well-configured rig. Being so invested in the idea of selecting components myself, it was the first time I ever really pictured a complete rig as a single product. And what a stunning product it is.

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requiring the same kind of pedal forces as a real race car. This did result in a bit of disconcerting movement in the pedal plate, just at the beginning of the travel, apparently due to the quick-release system. Nevil explained that the pedal plate could be bolted in one position to avoid this.

The hydraulic handbrake, sequential shifter and custom button box completed the picture and made for a tight entry point (although the seat could have moved back further). The hydraulic handbrake was from DSD, the shifter was the Manu-Factory SSH14 with gear shift indicator, and the custom button box was created in-house by Vesaro - the most perfectly-finished button box I’ve ever seen, by the way. Climbing into the seat, surrounded by this type of hardware really does feel special. It’s an event, like stepping into a race car.

The 195 Pro V-Spec was still receiving some final touches, so I was unable to test the hydraulic handbrake properly and concentrated on the sequential shifter. It was positioned high, at eye level, to the left and slightly behind the wheel rim, making the reach feel a little too far for me. Of course, this would be optimised for the customer; it highlighted how important the positioning is when dealing with high-end components, as it can become uncomfortable very quickly due to the amount of force you have to exert simply to change gear.

Being near completion, the rig was already superb in terms of fit and finish. Of particular note was the cable management, which could easily become a nightmare with this number of components; everything was carefully concealed and routed through a large braided sleeve at the front, where it connected to the huge PC case. Vesaro are one of the few sim rig companies who offer optimised PC setups to complete the package, and they use the large PC case in order to house all the control boxes for surround sound, Buttkicker, and so on. It’s a very neat solution.

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SIM RACER

THRUSTMASTER T-SERIES ECOSYSTEM

T-Series Ecosystem review!

THRUSTMASTER HAVE GAINED HUGE MARKET SHARE IN SIM HARDWARE OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS WITH THEIR AMBITIOUS DESIGNS AND AGGRESSIVE PRICING. THEIR RANGE EXTENDS FAR BEYOND WHAT WAS FIRST ANTICIPATED, RESULTING IN AN IMPRESSIVE ECO-SYSTEM NOW KNOWN AS THE T-SERIES. LET’S TRY TO EXPLAIN HOW THIS WORKS...

BY DOMINIC BRENNAN

product review

T500RS PRICE: £449.99 NO BETTER PLACE TO start than the T-Series flagship FFB wheel, the T500RS. Launched 5 years ago, this is the oldest product on display here, but still a relative newcomer in a long line (20+ years!) of Thrustmaster wheels and gaming peripherals. Seeing a T500 in person, it was obvious that this was not the work of a company experimenting with wheel development for the first time. The sheer physical size of both the wheel and pedal units was far greater than the usual alternatives, such as the Logitech’s G27 or Fanatec’s 911 series. Even today, it is the largest of the consumer wheel bases, dwarfing the G29 and indeed the other three Thrustmaster wheel bases in this feature. [use DSC00592.JPG] Promoted as the official racing wheel for Gran Turismo 5, this also represented a changing of the guard - Logitech had dominated the market with several official Gran Turismo wheels, and this was Thrustmaster’s first, and what an entrance it was. It bypassed every consumer-grade FFB wheel in terms of performance, and was soon heading for a direct comparison with Fanatec’s CSW V1. It lacked some of the precision and build quality of the CSW, but held its own at a very competitive price.

It uses a brushed motor, something usually considered to be the inferior technology for this application, but in this case it is industrial grade and very high quality. Brushed FFB motors are often noisy and lack smoothness, but in my experience the T500 is no louder than the brushless motors in the TX and T300, unless spinning at high RPM, during a

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massive counter-steer for example. In fact for the more common steering inputs, e.g. quick flicks from centre through 45 degrees and back , the T500 is quieter. As for smoothness, I’d say it wins there too, but at a price.

The T500 uses an elaborate, belt-driven steering mechanism that was designed to remove almost all of the ‘notchy’ feel of the brushed motor. It succeeds, but at the expense of a significant amount of mechanical damping. If you’ve never used a belt-driven wheel before, the T500 will probably be a revelation, with a smoothness and solidity that you’d associate with a real car. It is certainly very enjoyable to steer - the torque of the motor combined with the rubber belts makes the wheel feel strong, stable and realistic. But try to drive fast, with a high level of precision, looking to shave off hundredths from your personal best hot lap, and this damped steering may begin to hinder your progress.

The included steering wheel has a rubber finish, but is one of the best, if you can deal with the fixed paddle shifters. I enjoy the fixed shifters - it suits the character of the wheel, is better when dealing with high degrees of rotation, and the majority of the road cars this wheel most faithfully represents also use fixed shifters.

The pedal set weighs over 7kg, being made entirely from metal. They can be inverted, and feel absolutely rock solid. In fact they feel over-built for the kind of pedal pressure required - the resistance is fairly light - I have no doubt they were designed with modding in mind. Indeed the Ricmotech load cell kit we reviewed recently takes this pedal set to a whole new level.

TX Racing Wheel Leather Edition PRICE: £399.99 THE ORIGINAL TX ITALIA set launched alongside the Xbox One and Forza Motorsport 5 in late 2013. It offered an excellent servo motor solution, concealed behind a toy-like replica rim and some mediocre pedals. The rim and pedals desperately need an upgrade, and now Thrustmaster offers the popular choice of T3PA pedals and the Leather 28 GT rim as a bundle. We reviewed this bundle last issue, and it was highly recommended, particularly for racers with an Xbox One and PC.

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T300 Ferrari Integral Racing Wheel Alcantara Edition PRICE: £399.99

GT. The pedals of the stock T300 set were also slightly improved over the TX Italia, with metal faces and more adjustment, but the T300 also deserves better. In the case of the T300 Alcantara Edition, Thrustmaster have bundled the T3PA pedals again, but with the new 599XX Alcantara rim. The result is a superb set that is more comparable to the T500RS, and I highly recommend it for PlayStation and PC users.

599XX EVO 30 Wheel Add-On Alcantara Edition PRICE: £149.99 DESPITE BEING A 30CM diameter wheel, the 599XX Alcantara weighs a remarkable 1032g - even lighter than the Leather 28 GT (1060g). It is a beautiful wheel, to my eyes Thrustmaster’s best design so far. It uses near-identical circuitry, buttons, paddles and rear cover to the Leather 28, meaning the reach to the buttons and the paddles is slightly extended in comparison.

The design was clearly optimised for a 28cm wheel, but crucially, the extra reach required for the paddles on the 30cm wheel isn’t too much of a stretch; I adjusted in no time. In fact, the way they are slightly recessed makes it perfect for use on a T500RS base, as you have the option to use the fixed paddles, and being the same diameter as the stock T500 rim, your hands are perfectly placed to do so, with less chance of the rotating paddles obstructing your fingers.

Also of note is the flat section at the bottom section of the rim. It is quite a subtle shape in comparison to many squared-off designs, and is largely decorative.

It means the wheel doesn’t feel unbalanced when you allow it to spin through your hands, but it’s enough to give you a tactile indication of ‘where you are’ in the rotation, which can be useful.

Build quality is equally as impressive as the Leather 28. The metal face and buttons feel solid, and the rim is accurately-wrapped with excellent stitching. The area around the thumb grips feels softer and slightly more comfortable than the leather wheel. As for the Alcantara itself, well it’s the real deal, so it feels purposeful and durable. I’d recommend using gloves however, if you want to retain the freshness for as long as possible. It is an ideal material for use with racing gloves, providing just the right level of grip.

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product review

THIS ONE IS NEW for the magazine, and highly anticipated. Much like the TX Leather Edition (pictured below), this is a servo base, this time in T300-guise, bundled with the new 599XX EVO 30 Alcantara and T3PA pedals. Sim Racer covered the original T300RS many months ago, so it’s time for a recap. Launched in late 2014, the T300RS was the first official wheel designed for PlayStation 4. At its core, it uses the same brushless servo motor found in the TX, but the mechanism was tweaked to deliver 1080 degrees of rotation, like the T500. In practice, the TX and T300 feel identical, until you drive something like the Ferrari F40 in Assetto Corsa, which makes full use of that extra rotation. For that reason alone, I’d recommend the T300 over the TX for those purchasing primarily for PC use.

Thrustmaster launched an add-on rim for the T500RS in 2013, amusingly called the “Ferrari GTE Wheel Add-On Ferrari 458 Challenge Edition”. This offered rotating paddles on a GT-style rim for the T500, and was used as the basis for the T300 rim, meaning the standard T300 set felt higher quality than the TX Italia. However, the rim was a touch on the heavy side, something that was addressed with the Leather 28

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SIM RACER

THRUSTMASTER T-SERIES ECOSYSTEM

T150 Ferrari Wheel Force Feedback PRICE: £169.99 WE REVIEWED THIS set last issue too, and concluded that it was the new entry-level wheel to beat. It has remarkable similarities to a Logitech Driving Force GT, the recommended entry-level wheel for many years.

It certainly has a bit more power than a DFGT, and it is compatible with the PS4, so in that sense it is easy to

recommend.

It uses a gear and belt hybrid mechanism, to reduce the notchy feel of the brushed motor. Unfortunately it doesn’t achieve this particularly well - the

product review

The T150 (left) packs far less punch than the TX (right)

TH8A Add-On Shifter PRICE: £129.99 THIS IS ESSENTIALLY a newer version of the TH8RS. The TH8RS was introduced after the launch of the T500RS, a set that included a clutch pedal but no shifter.

It had no dedicated port either, so the TH8RS was USB, a standalone input device. It meant it could be used with any wheel on the PC, and was very successful as a result, because it was a big step above the shifters included with the Logitech G25 and G27. It could also be used on PS3, but only in combination with the T500, and only on supported games. The same goes for PS4 - the T500RS and TH8RS can work on supported games, but there’s no guarantee that will continue.

The TH8A on the other hand, is 100% ready for console and PC. At first glance, the only difference is a black finish at the base of the gear knob, but the cable is where the TH8A reveals its true abilities. A short run terminates in an unusual 9-pin connector - a very chunky one at that, with a threaded metal locking ring. In the box you’ll find two cables that connect to this 9-pin terminal - one is USB (making the TH8A behave exactly like a TH8RS) and the other is a male Mini-DIN, which allows connection directly to a TX, T300 and T150 base. By combining with the wheels in this way, it connects to a console with a single USB, and is therefore much more straightforward for developers to support, on both Xbox and PlayStation. You’re practically guaranteed every decent driving game will support the TH8A

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shifter on console, and it functions perfectly on PC too. The TH8RS remains a great product, but unless you’re completely confident that you’ll never drive on a console, you should look for the TH8A instead.

Originally designed with the T500RS in mind, the shifter is of excellent quality, almost all metal and uses a Hall sensor so will never lose accuracy.

The plastic section of the shaft that brushes the gates of the H-pattern will show some wear over time, so it’s a good idea to protect it with some tape or heat-shrink.

Otherwise it feels like it will last forever. The mechanical feel is positive, and you can tighten or loosen the overall resistance of the ‘throw’, but it can only go so tight and doesn’t quite have the ability to feel like you’re genuinely fishing for gears. It is the closest thing at this price point however. The clamping system is brilliant, with enough flexibility to suit almost any mounting platform. The sequential mode is a hassle to engage however, and isn’t all that satisfying to use compared to dedicated sequential shifters. But again, very good for the price.

With the prevalence of paddle-shifting in race cars and many performance road cars, it is understandable that H-shifters are now optional items. I enjoyed the T500RS for well over a year before I invested in an H-shifter. But these days I would feel lost without it.

While most of my racing involves paddle shift cars, the need to drive a full manual car is ever-present. It makes sim racing so much more engaging, and once you’ve mastered heel and toe downshifting, so much more rewarding too.

wheel basically feels like a geared mechanism to me.

The brushed motor is of much lower specification compared to the T500 too, so it is noisy, albeit not quite as noisy as the DFGT. The paddle shifters are excellent as this price point, feeling very similar to the shifters on Thrustmaster’s add-on rims. The T150 rim isn’t removable, but it feels comfortable and durable.

The fact it is compatible with the T3PA and T3PA-PRO pedals is a bonus, but I couldn’t possibly recommend ordering a T150 along with a T3PA set, as your money is better spent on the stock TX Italia or T300RS. The T3PAs can wait, along with the TH8A shifter.

TX Racing Wheel Servo Base/T300 Racing Wheel Servo Base PRICE: £229.99 IT’S WORTH MENTIONING that in addition to the original sets (budget pedals) and the new bundles, Thrustmaster are also selling the TX and T300 bases on their own, which is great if you need a specific combination, for instance an Xbox One user who likes the sound of the T300 Alcantara Edition and wants a TX version of that bundle. Also very useful if you already own one of the sets, perhaps even with multiple rims, and you’ve bought a second console - you can just buy the other base and all of your T-Series products will connect without fuss.

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PRICE: £89.99

THE MOST AFFORDABLE way to add a clutch pedal to your stock TX, T300 or T150 sets. This is a strong, reliable set of pedals, using plenty of metal for strength. However a lot of plastic remains, and it can flex and creak a little in high-stress situations. It includes a conical brake

T3PA-PRO Pedals PRICE: £149.99 ASIDE FROM SOME black detailing on the pedal faces, these pedals are essentially the same as the set provided with the T500RS. This means an all-metal construction, making them feel like a much more solid piece of kit than the T3PAs. The unusual bracket design also means that you can run the set in the standard ‘F1’ position (pivot below) or inverted in a ‘GT’ style (pivoting from above). Much like the T3PAs, there is some pedal face adjustability here too.

Included in the package are two options to improve braking feel - the ‘spring brake mod’ that comes with the T500RS version, and the ‘conical rubber’, similar to what you find with the T3PAs. The standard ‘spring brake’ mod feels unnatural, and it is more effective after removing the spring and just using the dense foam section on its own. The ‘conical rubber’ option is similar to the one included with the T3PA, but offers a little more adjustability during installation, allowing you to tune the travel and resistance to your taste more precisely.

If you’re using stock pedals from the TX or T300 and want an upgrade, you may want to bypass the T3PAs and go straight to the PROs. The T3PAs are decent, but the PROs are so much more solid, and can potentially take much more serious mods if you wish to improve their performance further.

mod, which transforms the brake pedal feel, significantly increasing the resistance (you’ll want to hard-mount it), and making it seem more progressive. Compared to any of the stock pedals, you will likely see large improvements to your consistency and lap times.

Ferrari F1 Wheel Add-On PRICE: £129.99 A REPLICA OF FERNANDO Alonso’s Ferrari F1 wheel from a few seasons ago, this is was the first add-on for the T500RS, and remains the only formula-style wheel available for the range.

Suitable for TX, T300 and T500 bases, this makes the force feedback come alive, with its small diameter and low weight. Despite some of the

encoders being just for show, the rim is packed with buttons and switches, with 29 programmable inputs. It is an ideal secondary rim - perfect for single seaters but not such a good all-rounder. It’s absolutely worth the asking price if you regularly race in fast open-wheelers and looks great on the shelf when you’re using a different wheel.

FINAL THOUGHTS...

IT’S A RELIEF TO know that whether you start off with a T150 or jump directly to a T500RS, you’re getting a competitive product. The newer TX and T300 bundles offer good value. If you’re just looking for the very best hardware Thrustmaster have to offer, I’d say it was the T500RS combined with a 599XX Alcantara rim, the TH8A shifter and the T3PA-PROs (it would be ridiculous to purchase T3PA-PROs just for the conical mod by the way, but sadly Thrustmaster aren’t selling it separately for T500RS users). Would the T300 plus Alcantara, TH8A and T3PA-PROs be that much inferior?

Not really.

In fact some may prefer the brushless motor of the

T300 base. It is undoubtedly the more direct and communicative FFB system, albeit not quite as powerful or as solid. It would be a tough decision but the T500 still has the durability advantage.

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product review

T3PA pedals

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14/01/2016 03:57

SIM RACER BUDGET BUILD

WHERE TO BUY? ONE OF THE BIGGEST DRAWS TOWARDS PC GAMING THESE DAYS IS THE ABILITY TO CONSTANTLY UPGRADE YOUR GAMING PC, LEAVING YOU WITH A PLATFORM THAT WILL ESSENTIALLY NEVER NEED REPLACING AS A WHOLE. WHAT THIS LEAVES YOU WITH HOWEVER IS AN ABUNDANCE OF ‘SPARE PARTS’ THAT EITHER SEE 1 OF 3 FATES - BINNED, STORED OR SOLD. THIS MONTH WE’LL BE LOOKING AT GETTING YOUR BUDGET BUILD STARTED, WHERE TO LOOK FOR SOME BARGAINS AND HOW TO AVOID ANY TROUBLE WHILST BUYING THEM!

new build

GAMING PCS HAVE always been expensive, and even more so when buying a pre-built, ready to roll PC with all the bells and whistles. PC ‘Builders’ so to speak have been on the rise in the past half a decade, with companies appearing on a weekly, if not daily basis. What a PC Builder offers you is peace of mind. You know you’ve had a PC built by a professional who knows what he or she is doing and if you have any problems with it, you won’t have to deal with it yourself should your PC be covered by a warranty (which we would 100% recommend if buying a pre-built PC).

However with an abundance of people slowly upgrading their PCs or building them from scratch, there are a huge amount of PC components now floating around, with people either storing them as spares, throwing them out or becoming part of one of the biggest growing second-hand sales categories in the world by selling their components on.

The joy of the second-hand market is you can find anything and everything, from smaller parts to repair slight damage, all the way through to full graphics cards and motherboards; usually if it has been sold at some point, you’ll be able to find it through the various selling portals. But with such a vast amount of things to buy and various places to buy them from, just where should you start?

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SIM RACER BUDGET BUILD

WHEN BUYING SECOND-HAND, THERE ARE 3 THINGS YOU SHOULD LOOK FOR.

1) Description When looking at an item, before you get overly excited thinking you may have copped yourself a bargain, make sure you read the description. Too many times I’ve had friends claim they’ve found the bargain of the century to realise all they’ve bought is a broken version, or worse… a replacement box. Reading the full description should not only give you all the information you need, but it also a little information about the history of the product. Try to stay away from anything that has zero description, and don’t be afraid to ask questions of the buyer - if you get a response, chances are you’ll have no issues with the seller.

2) Imagery

new build

NEVER BUY A PRODUCT USING STOCK IMAGERY. That’s literally the biggest hint or tip I can give you when buying on the second hand market. You should always make sure the pictures you are looking at are indeed the images of the product itself. If needs must and you’re not 100% sure on the authenticity of the pictures, ask the seller for tagged images. If he agrees you know you’re onto a winner, if he refuses then cut off all communication with the seller and report him… Chances are he’s trying to run a scam.

3) General Knowledge One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give is this - make sure you know what you’re buying, but this goes both ways. Firstly do your homework. Then try and have a conversation with the seller so you can work out whether he has any idea in regards to PCs. This will usually give you a good indication on whether the item in question has been looked after, maintained and removed correctly.

With these three criteria you can usually separate a fraud from a legit seller, however there are times these three criteria won’t help you and you’ll end up on the wrong side of a scammer. Thankfully most of the big buying and selling methods have money back guarantees so make sure you keep a record of all of your goings on when buying through them just in case… The last thing you want is to end up with a broken item and a lack of money.

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WHERE TO BUY

Hints and tips to buying

The first thing to take into account with buying secondhand is the most obvious but most overlooked part of the market - these items have been used before. Too many times in the past have I sold something through one of the various buying/selling forums to have people complain about its used state. Remember that secondhand means used, and often used heavily.

When looking to buy second-hand, there are three different places we tend to look. That being said there are various different platforms now and you shouldn’t just limit yourself to these three.

1) Family and Friends Family and friends is quite simply put the safest and easiest way of buying second-hand PC components.

Now obviously don’t be buying off of your 2nd cousin who has married to your great nan but they’re now divorced and he ran off with half of her savings… But trusted family and friends are simply the easiest and most hassle free way to buy. You can pick the item up yourself, you can test it and if it is wrecked chances are because they’re family or friends they’ll deal with it themselves as opposed to making you pick the slack up and running off with your money.

2) eBay eBay as a buying platform is absolutely brilliant… As a selling platform it’s quite frankly terrible but that’s a completely different story. eBay is huge, it’s easy to use and as a buyer you’re protected by 101 different money back guarantees and safeguards it’s quite frankly nearly impossible to be scammed through the service. 9 times out of 10 should you have an issue with something you’ve bought, you will be refunded and the money instantly taken from your seller's account.

Should the seller have 0 funds, it will simply put them into a negative balance. So essentially provided you have the correct information, eBay is safe.

3) Forums PC forums are really tight knit communities nowadays, so buying from them can sometimes offer you the greatest amount of bargains along with general peace of mind. Over the years we’ve bought and sold various items through forums and not once had a problem, purely due to the fact that everyone is there to enjoy their chosen game franchise, talk about it and buy stuff to better themselves. Sure, you get the odd lone wolf, but usually these guys don’t last long on forums and find themselves hit with a ban hammer. Essentially, find yourself a good forum community and keep an eye out for some bargains, don’t just join a forum and try buying everything in sight!

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HOW TO FIND A BARGAIN

Finding a bargain is what people dream of when scouring sites such as eBay, but how exactly do you go about finding one? Well there are a few techniques that are well known but effective.

1) Misspelling of Item Name This is the most-used technique when it comes to picking up a bargain and over the years has picked us up some real little keepers. It’s quite simple, just look for common ways to misspell the item in question and have a look! You’d be amazed by how often people put things up for auction and spell it incorrectly, ending up with very few people actually finding it!

Over the years I’ve picked up a few PC related bargains by just removing letters from words or changing numbers… It’s a little tedious, but it can pick you up some monster savings at times!

MOTHERBOARD

CPU

2) Checking Auctions

With CPUs you’ve got two options - Intel or AMD. We plan on going down the Intel route purely due to previous experience coming from Intel products as opposed to AMD. What this does though is hike the price up due to Intel being more expensive than AMD on the whole. There are various pros and cons against both manufacturers, so do your homework here.

Checking auctions is something you should always do. And by this I don’t mean looking at items that have 5 days left on them; look at items with less than 5-10 minutes remaining.

Quite often people will put reserves on items, but those stupid enough to forget to do so often find themselves selling items for 10 times cheaper than they planned on doing. So if you’re looking for a specific something, be sure to check the auction's ending soon sections and see if you can find yourself a real bargain!

Graphics Card

This is the area of the PC we were looking to drop the majority of our budget into. Again you’ve two choices - Nvidia or AMD. And again, personal preference will play a huge part.

I personally will be looking at Nvidia purely due to all my previous experience coming from the Nvidia chipset. However, like CPUs both have pros and cons, so do a little research before deciding.

3) Get Lucky

WHAT TO BUY

So we’ve gone over the ways of buying second-hand and how to pick up a bargain, but why exactly are we doing this? Well quite simply, our next build will be built purely from secondhand parts! In fact the only new parts we will be buying are a HDD and a power supply, purely down to the nature of those two products. Everything else we’ll be looking at buying second-hand, so here’s a parts list of what we’re looking for -

CASE

Firstly we need our starting blocks, and our case is one of these. We’ll be looking for a standard tower here, preferably something big to increase airflow and something that looks like it can take a beating. Personally I’ve got my eyes on something from Corsair as their tower cases have been good this year, but should a bargain present itself, all the better.

RAM

Next Month…

Sometimes finding a bargain just takes a huge amount of knowing the right person or getting the right amount of luck.

If you know someone who is heavily into their PC gaming, these are the kinds of people you might be able to pick up a bargain from because they’ve got 7 graphics cards sitting in the loft they forgot about and 6 of them are only 2-3 years old.

Other times you just get lucky through the bidding process and end up with a bargain. The amount of times I’ve been bidding against someone and they’ve just stopped is insane, and makes you think whether their PC had just crashed or they had a power cut… Ah well, their loss is my gain!

RAM is a fairly straight forward one. Buy RAM, insert RAM, done. Now there are various differences with RAM, but unless you plan on overclocking it doesn’t really make much of a difference. Just make sure you buy RAM that fits your motherboard!

EXTRAS

Extras come in the form of things such as SSDs, CD optical drives, coolers and various other items. As we’re not too sure on what our budget will cover, the only ‘must have’ is a CD optical drive purely to allow us to install our various programs onto the machine. Anything else will be looked at on an itemto-item basis to work out whether we have the money to fork out and whether it is truly a bargain.

Next month we will be taking a look at what exactly we want to build and start buying our items in as well as giving you some little pointers on what is and what isn’t a bargain!

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new build

Our 2nd building block. We’re going to be looking for something that supports DDR3 as opposed to DDR4 just due to the pricing difference on both the motherboards and the RAM itself. When it comes to budget motherboards, ASRock are firmly up there, but whether that translates to the secondhand market is yet to be seen.

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27/04/2015 15:19 02/03/2015 15:12

GAMING HEADSETS

GAMING HEADSETS SIM RACER

BACK IN ISSUE 4 OF SIM RACER, WE LOOKED AT A RANGE OF GAMING HEADSETS WE THOUGHT FIT FOR SIMULATION RACING TITLES AND GAVE YOU OUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THEM. NOW FAST FORWARD A YEAR AND WE’RE BRINGING YOU THOSE SAME HEADSETS, BUT WITH OUR EXPANDED VIEWS AFTER A YEARS WORTH OF USE. IF YOU MANAGED TO PICK UP ONE OF THESE HEADSETS AFTER READING OUR PREVIOUS REVIEW WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU TO GET YOUR VIEWS TO ADD TO OUR OWN! BY CONNOR JAMES

JUST LIKE IN the real world where race engineers and the likes will be in constant contact with their drivers whilst on the track, having a means of communication in the sim racing world is a huge bonus. Not only does voice communication give competitive teams the ability to talk to their team mates, but it also helps build a healthy community in which racers will join public voice communication servers and talk about their passion for sim racing amongst other things.

In our opinion, after the basics such as your PC and wheel and pedal set, your next purchase should indeed be a headset. Not only because it gives you the ability to talk to others, but because the sound quality is usually very high, allowing you to immerse yourself in sim racing further than before. With all of this in mind, this month we will be looking at a some of the best gaming headsets that have been used by members of the Sim Racer team. These are the criteria we’ve looked at when reviewing these headsets.

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SIM RACER GAMING HEADSETS

1

VOICE COMMUNICATION QUALITY

Of the 6 criteria we’ve used to look at these headsets, this is most likely the most important along with sound quality. Essentially you’re buying your headset for two things - to speak and to listen. Whilst most headsets will give you an audible voice quality, some are obviously better than others. Many a time I have been mistaken for someone else whilst using a new headset, so there is obviously a huge difference between some headsets!

2

SOUND QUALITY

Of the two quality criteria we have, sound quality is most probably the easier to measure. Many headsets will make use of certain technology such as Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound, however regardless of this there will be headphones out there with much better sound quality than others. If we had to pick between perfect sound quality or perfect voice quality, we’d go with sound.

gam i n g h ead s ets

3

COMFORT

4

EASE OF USE

5

ADDED FEATURES

6

LOOKS

After spending hours on end testing headsets, something that was blatantly apparent was the need for your headset to be comfortable. It's no secret that when playing any form of PC game, you will be doing so for an extended period of time so having a headset that not only performs in terms of voice and sound quality but that is comfortable as well is a huge bonus.

Ease of use covers everything from setup, to downloading drivers to use throughout the period of time the headset is in use. We’ve looked at obvious things such as initial set up, as well as smaller annoyances such as how easy the wires tangle and how easy they are to keep clean.

Added features are always a huge bonus, and on the whole people are drawn to these added features. What we’re looking at here is whether these added features are really worth the extra premium you’ll be paying for them or whether they are simply ploys to get you to fork out extra money.

Now lets be honest here, PC gamers in general are attracted to shiny things.

I don’t even want to think about the extra money I’ve spent on items just due to them looking better than others. Headsets certainly fall into this category; especially for those who attend LAN events or those who stream via streaming services such as Twitch. Whilst this is probably the least important criteria on our list, it’s still something we’ve taken into consideration.

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STEELSERIES

SIBERIA ELITE VOICE COMMUNICATION - ★★★★★ SOUND QUALITY - ★★★★★ COMFORT - ★★★★★ EASE OF USE - ★★★★★ ADDED FEATURES - ★★★★★ LOOKS - ★★★★★ (RANKINGS GIVEN AUGUST 2014)

WE GOT OUR hands on the Siberia Elite from SteelSeries back in August, and as soon as it flew into the office our Technical Editor, Connor claimed it. The headset was first reviewed in our 2nd issue, and after another 5 or so months with the headset it seemed about the right period of time to bring it back into the magazine for a more in depth review. Our first thoughts on the Siberia Elite when we first gotit were that it was an absolutely outstanding headset, andwhilst we have some slight niggling concerns 5 months on, itis still a firm favourite in the Sim Racer office. The Siberia Elite is potentially one of the best headsets on the market, combining awesome sound and speech featureswith comfort like no other headset we’ve owned. The design of the Siberia headsets has been one that people have favoured for years, and the Elite carries on that tradition withan all new take on that classic look. Unlike many headsets out there that simply use a single head band to keep it securely on your head, the Siberia Elite makes use of a ‘suspension’ head band.

This suspension head band offers unrivalled comfort, andallows for a beautiful steel arc to be incorporated for extra strengthening .

Over the course of the 5 months of use, we’ve forgotten we’re even wearing the Siberia Elite on numerous occasions! As you can imagine, this usually ends up with us pulling theheadset out of the USB connection or being pulled back as we go to smoothly walk away from our gaming stations - as you can imagine, this isn’t the smoothest thing we’ve ever done! To add to the innovative design, SteelSeries were the first company to bring retractable mics to gaming headsets, and the Siberia Elite certainly makes use of one. Not only are retractable mics absolutely brilliant for getting your mic in the correct position for you, they also make your headset highly transportable; simply retract your mic and you’ve not got to worry about any damage that might be caused whilst in transit.

Another brilliant feature is the headset controls. Whilst many headsets make use of inline controls, SteelSeries have done away with such devices, instead incorporating any controls into the headset itself. Simply rotate

the dial on the left ear cup to mute or unmute the microphone and the right dial to adjust volume. Now whilst a headset may have unrivalled features, those features are near on useless if sound quality isn’t there. Thankfully the Siberia Elite offers both features and sound quality! The Elite makes use of Dolby technology to a rich, immersive soundscape; giving the user near-on unrivalled sound. Couple that with the brilliant noise isolation the Elite makes use of, and you’ll struggle to find a better headset on the market in terms of sound quality. So far, so good, but we did have some slight concerns with the Siberia Elite. The first is that it simply comes with no added features.

Sure you’ve got the ability to mute the headset and turn the volume down via twist controls on the ear cups, but we feel a push-to-talk device with control of volume and various sound types would be a great feature for this headset to have.

Another thing we found hugely annoying was how easy the cable got tangled up.

Now obviously when sitting at our PC, we want the ability to move our head freely, so tying the cables up simply wasn’t an option, so we simply let it unwind fully.

What we’ve found has happened due to this is the cable has become a completely tangled mess now, which gives us the

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OUR THOUGHTS NOW

Having used to SteelSeries Siberia Elite for 6 months prior to the original review, we thought we’d found the headset of our dreams. It was comfortable, the sound quality and voice quality were top notch and all in all it was a solid headset. However shortly after writing our review we started to have problems with the headset. Firstly the sound on the left ear stopped working, which obviously caused issues.

Over time we also started having issues with the microphone, and whilst it never fully gave up, there were times voice communication was so bad it may as well not have worked. Now we’re always ones to check if we’d caused any of the issues, and apart from the cord becoming hugely tangled, we couldn’t see any damage. Unfortunately it got to a point where the Siberia Elite just became unusable, and has now found itself in wa box of broken things to repair should we ever feel the need to.

We would imagine that SteelSeries support would cover any damage like this, but due to having another 6 headsets on test within the office, we felt no need to go through the process.

If you’ve had any issues with SteelSeries products like this in the past, come and share your experience on our Facebook page!

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gam i n g h ead s ets

indication that eventually the cable will start to break. Whilst we constantly sit here and untangle it, it simply continues to end up in a giant tangled mess. Eventually we ended up wrapping the whole wire in electrical tape, giving it that extra stiffness to stop it tangling itself, however this does take away from the aesthetics of the headset - which are hugely pleasing to the eye. Another slight issue we had with one variant of the headsetis that whilst it looks amazing, it’s available in white. White headsets tend to get dirty fairly quickly, so we’ve constantly found ourselves cleaning it with baby wipes. As I said, not a huge issue but it would be nice to see this released in more colour variants. We also had HUGE issues with the SteelSeries Engine. Not only would it not download for us to begin with, but once we finally had it installed it wouldn’t recognise our headset. We’ve been told that SteelSeries have made amends to the download now, but we couldn’t comment on whether its still having issues with picking up devices. Maybe our case was isolated, but we thought we’d mention it in case it’s a widespread issue.

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SIM RACER GAMING HEADSETS

TRITTON PRO+ gam i n g h ead s ets

OF THE THREE headsets on review here, the Tritton Pro+ is the one we’ve had the least amount of time with. When the Tritton Pro+ came into the office through the guys at MadCatz, the boss instantly claimed dibs on it, and since then it’sat in its box doing nothing. So I finally took action and stole it from him so I can put it through its paces. The first thing you notice about the Tritton Pro+ is the attention to detail in terms of the packaging. It’s by far the best packaged of all the headsets on test here and it really oozes class from the moment you pick it up. Open it up and again, everything is packaged to a top class standard. As you initially open the case, the first thing you’ll come across is the headset itself, packaged in a plastic wrap around to keep it safe. First impressions are certainly high on Tritton’s priority list here, and they’ve absolutely smashed those so far. The gloss finish on the headset stands out brilliantly against the black plastic casing, and they look absolutely amazing.

After removing the top layer of packaging that contains the headset itself, you’ve then got a second layer that contains the Tritton soundbox, along with two separate boxes that include a ton of extras - but more on that later.

Essentially the Tritton Pro+ is what I’d call a basic headset design. It doesn’t make use of any fancy design like the Siberia Elite, it’s simply your average headset that sits on the top of your head. Whilst this isn’t a bad thing as it’s a design that has been tried and tested for years, we feel that the Siberia Elite design slightly edges the Tritton Pro+ here in terms of innovation. But I'm a fan of the ‘if it isn’t broken don’t fix it’ saying so being of an original design is by no means a game changer.

What did unfortunately disappoint us though was the lack of comfort the Tritton Pro+ offered. Whilst the ear cups were hugely comfortable and the range of adjustment available was more than adequate, I felt that there was nowhere near enough padding on the top of the headset, and after a few hours of use I began to get a very sore head. Now this may be a personal thing and others may have a completely different experience with the headset, but personally I didn’t find it the most comfortable. By no means is it absolutely unbearable, but for someone who will spend prolonged periods at their PC, having a headset that becomes uncomfortable to wear after 2 or 3 hours of use just causes huge problems.

However if you’re someone who simply dips in and out of gaming, playing for no longer than a couple of hours, you won’t find a problem here. Moving onto sound and voice quality, well there’s not an awful lot to say other than it’s absolutely brilliant. I found the voice quality to be pretty much similar to the other headsets on test here in terms of clearness and sound quality, and if anything I found that the Tritton gave a better representationof your true voice, something that many headsets for some reason seem to fail at. Many a time I had people comment on the fact I sounded

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VOICE COMMUNICATION - ★★★★★ SOUND QUALITY - ★★★★★ COMFORT - ★★★★★ EASE OF USE - ★★★★★ ADDED FEATURES - ★★★★★ LOOKS - ★★★★★ (RANKINGS GIVEN AUGUST 2014)

completely different when using this headset, and after doing some in-house testing we certainly found it was due to actually sounding true to ourselves rather than our voice sounding slightly altered. Top points for that.

The sound quality was also very impressive.

With the use of four different sound types - FRONT/CENTER/REAR/SUB, it gave us the opportunity to play around with the sound received from this headset, something missing from the Siberia Elite. From gaming through to listening to music, we were very impressed with the clearness of the Tritton Pro+ and they also sounded much louder than the other two headsets. Now usually loudness isn’t something that bothers me because it usually comes with the trade-off of not sounding as clear as other options on the market, but when given both in the same package…well you’re not going to find me complaining!

In terms of ease of use, the Tritton has pretty much got everything nailed down.

Whilst you’ve got to take time to set up the ‘soundbox’, it’s hardly a difficult task. Simply plug it into a mains power supply, insert either the optical line or USB cable into your PC and you’re done. What's even better is there isn’t any annoying software you need to get your head around. It’s simply a plug and play job. The thickness of the cables means they’re very difficult to actually get tangled up, and whilst we’ve had sections of the cable occasionally twist namely from the headset to the sound/voice volume control box - it’s nothing that isn’t easily rectifiable…

Not something we can say about the other two headsets on test here.

You’ve also got a ton of extras here as well. On top of the soundbox and sound/ voice volume control box, you’ve got a completely detachable microphone, the option

to wire it into your PC via either a USB cable or an optical lead, and the ability to use it for not only your PC but also your Xbox or Playstation something that is absolutely brilliant if you play across multiple platforms.

Overall we’d say the Tritton Pro+ is by far the most well-rounded headset we’ve come across, and performs admirably in all of our test criteria. Sure the comfort can become a problem after prolonged periods of time, but this may come down to personal experience and long periods of use. And when you factor in everything else the Pro+ does excellently, then you’ll likely be able to forgive its shortcomings.

OUR THOUGHTS NOW

The Tritton Pro+ took over when the SteelSeries Siberia Elite gave in and slowly became a favourite. Whilst it still lacks the comfort of the SteelSeries Siberia Elite it more than makes up for this in design and general build quality. The Tritton Pro+ has shown to be extremely durable, and still works as well as it did when we first received it. Obviously there’s a little wear and tear though, it’s not quite as shiny as it once was and the ear pads are showing a little bit of wear, but it’s nothing that affects the headset itself, just minor cosmetic issues.

What has happened over time though is the Tritton Pro+ has found itself being used as a console headset, plugged in to the office PS4 as things stand. Why you ask?

Simply because we all have so much stuff on our desks that an added soundbox will simply get lost! However we do love this headset, so as to not completely disregard it, it became our headset of choice when jumping onto the office PS4 for any game reviews and often finds its way into our Technical Editor’s bag over weekends for use at home!

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XENON 700

GAMING HEADSET

VOICE COMMUNICATION - ★★★ ★ SOUND QUALITY - ★★★ ★ COMFORT - ★★★★★ EASE OF USE - ★★★★★ ADDED FEATURES - ★★★★★ LOOKS - ★★★★★ (RANKINGS GIVEN AUGUST 2014)

7.1 simulated surround sound, you can hear pretty much anything, including that sneaky last individual trying to get the drop on you. In a racing game/sim, the Xenon 700 beautifully replicates the sounds generated by the various cars. The microphone on the other hand ran into some issues.

Now the general sound output through the microphone was relatively good, it wasn’t £200 gaming headset good, but it certainly did the job. What we did have a huge issue with though was interference from phones.

You’ve all heard it in the past; that painfully annoying buzzing/beeping noise that happens when you have your mobile phone too close to the headset. And being someone who always has their phone to hand, I had a lot of people complain about the "feedback" as it’s known. Now if Element could work around this somehow; and we know it’ll never be eliminated; more controlled, the Xenon 700 would be brilliant in regards to audio.

So what is the verdict?

Overall the Xenon 700 is a top-notch product. Sure it has a few niggling gripes such as the feedback, but the comfort and general sound quality overrule this if truth be told.

As mentioned I wasn’t much of a fan of the overall look of the

headset, but again this really is a minor thing, and personal preference has a huge part to play there.

Once again though I find myself looking at the price, and at an RRP of £49.99, you really could do a lot worse. How it holds up long term is a different question all together though, and the Xenon 700 is definitely something we’ll look to revisit after some extended hard use.

OUR THOUGHTS NOW

The Xenon 700 is a bit of an anomaly for us. Element are very much a smaller company, but they really have caught us unaware. Since we had the Element items over for test from the guys at eBuyer, we’ve managed to spend a lot of time with them all, and the Xenon 700 is the last surviving item on our desk… The others have now firmly been stored in our spares box should we have a keyboard or mouse break on us.

The Xenon 700 has simply beat everything else we’ve owned headset wise though, and we’re not quite sure why. It by no means has the best build or sound quality, nor is it brimming with added features so good it simply can’t be ignored. Instead it’s just a solid headset. It won’t win any awards and nor will it be endorsed by a massive gaming tournament or streamer, but it will sit there and do its job, no questions asked, and it will go on about its job until you turn it off.

This is the headset that has seen the Tritton Pro+ relegated to our console headset (albeit for reasons other than general quality), and has seen us not even bother attempting to repair the SteelSeries Siberia Elite we were so happy with on first review. Instead all of those products have simply been pushed to the side, and the quite frankly ugly Xenon 700 is sitting in its place… Why you ask? Quite simply because it does its job without complaining or having compatibility issues - and it’s comfortable. And when a headset does those things, it simply doesn’t need to do anything else, and for once it’s quite nice owning something a little more bare bones that is functional above all else.

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gam i n g h ead s ets

ON FIRST INSPECTION, I really wasn’t sure what to think about the Xenon 700. Part of me really liked the look of them, but on the other hand I thought they looked like they belonged in a '70s Sci-Fi movie… But whatever it was I couldn’t quite work out whether I was a fan or not. If truth be told I much preferred the look of Neon 250; something we’ll be looking at in a future issue of Sim Racer. But again, we won’t let looks tarnish our review, as we’re here for performance, not prettiness.

On closer inspection I started to notice the quality of some of the materials used.

The soft leather ear pieces and headband are top notch, and some of the most comfortable I’ve ever worn over extended periods of gaming. The microphone comes on an articulated arm that has a 360 degree angle of rotation, meaning you can easily move it out of the way; which is rather handy should you want to eat or drink whilst still having your headset on. Each ear dome also glows a range of colours, which is always a nice touch for those of you easily distracted by shiny things!

Moving away from the headset itself, the cable is plenty long for those who have their gaming position a way back from their PCs; a full 3 meters to be precise, and half way down said cable you have access to inline controls, enabling you to turn the glow off, mute your mic, mute the headset and turn the volume up and down. This is always a great feature to have.

Adjustment of the headset is fairly easy.

Each side has a ‘screw’. Simply loosen these off and you can then make the headset either smaller or larger dependant on your head size. I’ll confess to having a fairly small head, and often find many headsets being way too big for me, but the Xenon 700 was more than comfortable once fully adjusted. However, just make sure you tighten the screw-like locking feature up tightly, as I’ve had a few mid-gaming headset mishaps due to this.

Elaborating on the comfort factor a little more, the Xenon 700 is REALLY comfortable, and I really can’t push that point across enough. Of all the gaming headsets I’ve owned over the years, there is something about the Xenon which blows 95% of them completely out of the water. Testing has seen me go a good 10 hours playing PC games with this on in a single day, with the only times it being removed due to eating, or when I’ve thrown it in a fit of rage due to my teammates being useless, and at times I completely forgot I was wearing it.

Now the important part; sound quality.

In terms of sound, and by that I mean what you hear, they’re pretty good. Boasting

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BIOGRAPHY SIM RACER

FROM THE UK&I TO EUROPEAN TELEVISION

THE RISE & RISE OF THE

BRITISH SIM RACERS

BY SEAN BRAGANZA

FOR MEMBERS KIP STEPHENS and Steve Richardson, iRacing was everything. In the years prior to 2013, late nights meant jumping into daily Oval races for hours on end till their eyes glowed scarlet while weekends meant losing their limbs to driving altogether. It was beyond fun. Yet as many others that existed within the sim’s UK & Ireland community, a strong desire was being harboured – that of being a part of a structured, virtual Touring Car Championship that would open up avenues for both professionals and rookies alike. In the four years since its launch, iRacing was yet to add Touring cars to its roster; while Touring car leagues existed with full grids, they’d involve machines that at best provided pretentious experiences. Moreover, gatherings as such would be crude and disorganized, descending into chaos at the flick of a switch. A full-fledged Touring Car Championship of the quality iRacing had nurtured over the years then,

remained but a dream.

With the spring of 2013 came an announcement – the Kia Optima GX Racecar, a touring car staple, was coming to iRacing soon. To Stephens, Richardson and several other UK&I British Touring Car enthusiasts, their chance of indulging in pure bred “British” Touring Car fun was finally here. Soon enough, members Richard Goodwin and Gary Feakins took stage, announcing the commencement of the ‘Kia World Challenge’ – a two races per week Touring Car series inspired by the Pirelli World Challenge. And successful it was, with dozens showing up for as many races as they could. The duo of Stephens and Richardson however believed the community deserved more, setting up multiple unofficial practice races in the weeks that would precede a World Challenge Race with the intention of granting racers even greater Touring car track time.

While Stephens and Richardson believed they were only encouraging touring car racing without affecting the ongoing series, the practice races had begun to upset Goodwin and Feakins. ‘Me and Gary were both annoyed by the fact that BSR had started to run a Kia series at the same time (or just before, I can’t recall) using the same tracks and setups. It all seemed a little pointless and felt like it was undermining all the hard work we had done to get it going ‘, claimed Goodwin when asked about it years later. The frustration continued to build up, resulting in near-violent arguments and abusive accusations between the two parties over the mumble server Richardson had set up, and to which Stephens, Feakins, Goodwin and the rest of the Kia Challengers belonged to. Egos took the place of good sport and soon, the Kia Challenge threatened to turn into the very Touring Car leagues they had once looked down upon.

Realizing this, Goodwin and Feakins quit the mumble server and took their series with them- ‘Neither me or Gary wanted the perceived “drama” or friction.’ Years later, Stephens reflected, ‘This idea of the practice races apparently upset Gary and he saw it as a threat, rather than as something designed to encourage people to race more. He had gone onto vent this with much abuse and profanities on the mumble server on two occasions which, at the time, was very amusing for myself and Steve. Yet when Gary decided to leave, his final words that stood to tell us how we’d never be able to run or manage anything close to a racing series in our lives, amusingly motivated us to create the best racing league iRacing had ever seen’. Unbeknownst to both of them, history was in the making.

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SIM RACER BIOGRAPHY

Season One

Seasons Three-Eight

As Goodwin and Feakins went on to build Pitlanes. com, a nonchalant Stephens moved on; putting together an eclectic ensemble of touring car enthusiasts along with Richardson. The plan was simple – an organized, disciplined and competitive series in Kia Optimas, that would follow the official iRacing season schedule of 12 weeks to provide 11 races of high octane touring car fun. Each race would span three rounds and be preceded by a 30 minute qualifier that would determine grid placings.

Friends, club members and others were invited from the UK&I forums, before finally hosting its first race at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit on the 5th of May, 2013. Response at best was lukewarm – 12 racers competing for fun at most in the absence of any prize money. While it was nowhere near in scale of the vision Stephens and Richardson had shared, it proceeded as planned before coming to a peaceful end on the 4th of July 2013. The British Sim Racers Touring Car Championship then, was already a step ahead of the make-believe touring car championships that had preceded the Kia Optima’s release.

The leap from Season Two to Three however, was far from spectacular. Sure, Cohen opened the Season Three broadcast to what now stands at nearly 1,000 viewers – 500 more than the number that visited the Season Two Finale. Shortly after though, the numbers began to dip. Several new drivers had entered the series with more than the same amount of drivers visibly absent – resulting in a grid of only 20 as compared to the previous’ 30. This continued well into Season Four, with live broadcast viewers reaching an all-time low.

Despite the low however, things continued to stay on the track to order. BSRTV’s portal was brimming with regular news, the live broadcasts had fancier banners and the entire BSRTC had set up base on a private Facebook group after a mildly amusing, yet deemed inappropriate image posted by Stephens had resulted in his being banned from the iRacing forums indefinitely. Here, members of the BSRTC could be seen organizing impromptu races and practice sessions, sharing their lap times and car setups – a homely, disciplined community was now in greater effect. By the end of November that year, a host of alternate challenges and cups had cropped up – The Spec Racer Ford and Volkswagen Jetta Junior Challenge seasons served as ‘Support Races’, aimed at providing newcomers to the community a feel for the Touring Car championship while the GT Sprint Cup along with two seasons of the Carrera Cup team championship would run well into April 2014 with live broadcasts and $100 in iRacing credits to be won.

As Season Five drew closer however, Cohen, Richardson and Stephens began to realize that if BSRTC was to break out of the mould that had begun to form and reach out wider, a spark of reinvention was necessary. And so for the first time in its history, the BSRTC had set an £15 Entry Fee for every participating driver in its fifth season. The Reason?

To facilitate a $1000 prize money fund that was to be divided amongst the top 4 teams and drivers’ champion, along with a physical trophy that would be delivered personally. A stylish new introductory video

THE BEGINNING

Season Two

EXPANSION TEAMS AND THE BSRTV If the next season however- the start of which was scheduled for August 1st 2013 – was to truly be unique and grander, sweeping additions were necessary.

And so, in the days that ensued after the first, the duo of Stephens and Richardson would set out on a community-wide recruitment binge. Official iRacing championship races were attended and those that displayed sufficient talent & drive would be handpicked and convinced to race in Season Two of the BSRTC - regardless of nationality, club affiliation or experience. While world of mouth acted as catalyst, official British Touring Car Championship liveries were brought in - facilitating the formation of teams within the BSRTC for increased competition.

On the 1st of August, 2013 – the first race of BSRTC’s second season opened to a grid of 30 drivers and 12 teams, more than twice as large as that of Season One. Meanwhile, a young Chris Cohen – BTCC enthusiast and online radio presenter had entered the fray. Despite having dabbled in a few of the races that season and prior, Cohen’s true calling lay in commentating- a fact that Stephens and Richardson were fully aware of as they brainstormed on how it could be used to the BSRTC’s advantage. Cohen complied and so on the 15th of August, two weeks post the season’s launch – the BSRTC’s 7th to 9th Rounds at the Okayama Race Circuit were for the first time in its history, recorded with live commentary and uploaded to the newly created BSRTV.net portal. Remaining rounds would follow suit with the last two garnering an average of 700 plus viewers – The BSRTC then, was here to stay.

044

ONWARDS

was rendered to symbolize the BSRTC’s skin-shedding before going live with great panache on the Season’s opener at the Silverstone Historic GP on the 1st of May, 2014, 4 days prior to the BSRTC’s 1 year anniversary.

By the end of the season on the 16th of July however, there was grim news – Real life had come in Chris Cohen’s way and he would no longer be able to handle live broadcasts or commentaries any.

Stephens, Richardson and the rest of the BSRTC turned pensive. One of the BSRTC’s biggest draws had been its outstanding true-to-life broadcasts and to run without it would be to undo all that had been created.

Meanwhile, word was fast spreading about Alex Simpson and Andrew Woodhouse – lead commentators of the Sim-Racing broadcast team ApexRacingTV, known to have conducted a fair amount of professional broadcasts at a variety of IRacing events and more. Having got wind of a charity event that the ApexRacingTV team were organizing one weekend, Stephens and Richardson went on to attend with the aim of possibly getting in touch with Simpson. Unbeknownst to all, the result would be an unrivalled partnership of broadcasting finesse – consisting of Woodhouse and a young sports commentating enthusiast Adam Bath, while Alex Simpson would run his magic on the cameras - that would go on to become synonymous with the BSRTC in the years that followed. The deal also entailed that broadcasts would continue to be uploaded and attributed to the BSRTV. Strangely enough, while the £1000 prize fund of the previous season had been significantly instrumental in luring iRacers from the community over, Seasons 6 to 8 would go on to omit the prize fund – charging entrants instead a £10 fee that would cover the Trophy and £500 of the broadcasting deal. When asked about it a year later Stephen would say, ‘We only did the £1k once, because it would have been unimaginative to do the same thing again and again. We decided to return to it only once we had a bigger fund to draw in attention.’

Prize money or not, in the months that

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preceded Season Nine, the BSRTC would only go on to cement itself as iRacing’s most professionally competitive Touring Car championship, attracting not only virtual legends but the best of the best real-life achievers as well. Two time iRacing’s official NASCAR $10,000 championship winner Ray Alfafa and his Slip Angle Motorsport team mate Bryan Blackford are known to frequently haunt the BSRTC races; Official BTCC Team BMR member and 2015 UK Clio Cup Champion Ashley Sutton is a series regular while once Inside Sim Racing and current Simpit legend Shaun Cole swears by the BSRTC’s adrenaline offering - ‘The racing in the BSRTC is rather intense and contact is inevitable. During the races I have been bumped, I have been pushed, I have been bruised and I have done a bit of that to everyone around me as well. I often feel as though I am in the middle of a Mixed Martial Arts fight being punched until submission. Perhaps before the race instead of telling us to start your engines, the racers command should be to protect yourself at all times.

The end result has been some of the most fun and cut throat racing I have ever been a part of. With 50 cars on the grid you would expect a huge difference in talent, but in reality the grid is very tight and the times are relatively close with me usually somewhere near the back. What started out as a test running with a new league, has become one of my favourite races of the week. I know in advance that it will be different than most races I attend. A chance to give a little chrome horn, or to hold that middle line 3 wide going through corners. It is racing at its best.’

complied and rightfully so – the British Sim Racers Touring Car Championship was undergoing a revolution of phenomenal proportions.

As Season Eight was past its halfway point in January earlier this year, an unexpected announcement went up on the then two month old Britishsimracers.com blog. Written by long-running BSRTC member Jamie Rushworth, it pitched the idea of taking the series to another level, 36 rounds, a £5 entry fee and a $10,000 prize fund to be split between various winners to attract more coverage.

After reaching out to the 40-50 drivers that had then been racing in the series, the idea finally bore fruit. The organizing team that was once confined to the trio of Stephens, Richardson and Cohen had now grown to a whopping 20 – Fee collections, scoring system maintenance, sponsor schemes upkeep, rule amendments, website updates, driver outreach, stewarding, catering to unhappy drivers – the list was endless to ensure the most professional experience provided ever.

The field was split to ensure everyone competed in championships as per their experience and skill – The actual PRO championship, A Team Championship and the AM driver’s championship for amateurs, each with their piece of the $10,000 reward. A series of five week ‘Showdown Races’ were established to end the season with, wherein only the top 10 drivers along

with 2 other wild card entries would contend for the Championship title on behalf of their teams – ensuring the winner couldn’t be determined till the very end.

Yet perhaps the BSRTC Pro’s greatest act of genius was it’s all new ‘Sponsorship Structure’ – Whether it was a youngster advertising his upcoming venture or an existing business tycoon, anyone would be permitted to have their name associated with the BSRTC Pro live broadcasts by contributing to the prize fund. The BSRTC had turned itself into a brand.

And so on March 12th, 2015, the BSRTC Pro , not one to leave style behind, kicked off its first ever Media Day with 12 laps around Monza, a full grid of 50 and Simpson, Bath and Woodhouse on mics and cameras, as an introduction to the tale it was about to inscribe in history. A week later on March 19th, 8 P.M GMT then – Season Nine of the BSRTC Pro kicked off to a phenomenal start at Philips Island, just as it had back in Season Three, only grander. ‘This first week of the BSRTC Pro Series was everything we could have hoped for: amazing battles, big crashes and close finishes. The week has set the bar for the season extremely high, but I am sure that the next 3 rounds at Road America will live up to expectations and hopefully even exceed them!’ – wrote Jamie Rushworth in a BritishSimRacers. com race report soon after.

He was right, not just Road America but every one of the next 16 Races of three rounds each would go on to outdo the previous’ adrenaline packed racing action, outreach and broadcasting finesse – until of course the cherry arrived. Jay Wright was back with news – a deal had been struck that would have MotorsTV UK air to its growing audience base of nearly 9.2 million UK homes, every one of the remaining 19 races of the BSRTC Pro. With the once lowly Touring Car Championship of 12 drivers now metamorphosed into a proud iRacing phenomena, history had very clearly been made.

And yet, the fact remains that the BSRTC has only just begun. It has moved through time and lows where other thriving communities have failed in the past – achieving a status in online gaming circles in barely two years that

Season Nine

MOTORSTV UK From late 2014 to early ‘15, word had begun to spread within the iRacing forums of MotorsTV’s newfound sim-racing interest before being picked up by one Jay Wright, then Team Leo Bodnar member at the BSRTC. A Business Development professional, Wright could barely contain himself as he rushed to Stephens and the others with the proposition of speaking to the TV about the possibility of a BSRTV-MotorsTV partnership. Stephens

others work through decades for. Tales that cross the realm of gaming to the thing we call the real world are commonplace – iRacing being one such tale in itself.

Yet to get out from under the shadow of a long-running legend and make an unprecedented mark for itself on a continental level – the BSRTC’s vision of leaving an impact on mainstream gaming, with us at Higher Eclectic Ground by its side,might just be a lot closer than we imagine.

Sean Braganza is the founder of

Higher Eclectic Ground – a curated

Video Game & Art community platform in the making. Visit www.highereg.com for more

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SIM RACER

OLD SKOOL

AFTER LAUNCHING SEVERAL SUCCESSFUL F1 AND NASCAR TITLES, ISI PRODUCED THE LEGENDARY RFACTOR. WE LOOK BACK AT ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SIM TITLES EVER BY BOB SIMMERMAN

A LOOK c o m m e n ta ry

BACK

I’LL NEVER FORGET the first time I came into contact with rFactor. It was a little over ten years ago and I was a fledgling writer for AutoSimSport magazine. My memory is a bit hazy on the matter but the general story was this—word on the street was that someone was going to let loose something related to the upcoming rFactor racing simulator and it was something we couldn’t miss.

The magazine staff were spread the world-over so this ultra-top secret meeting would be taking place online using one of the chat programs available at the time. I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed but even I had the smarts enough to know that we wouldn’t be getting an early copy of the program to drive…but what could it be? What could be so earth shattering that we all had to carve time out of our busy schedules and differing time zones?

As it turned out, we were to get a sample of the…sounds of rFactor. What? What in the Sam Hill kind of nonsense was that? Sounds? Good grief, how is that going to help us be better sim racing magazine writers? Sounds? Give us the damn sim already! Of course, back in those days, I threw a fit about everything but this was over the top ridiculous. I may have complained, at length, to the editor of the magazine and he may have, briefly, instructed me to keep my mouth shut and figure out how to join the online chat thing, it was not to be missed. Fine. Let’s go then. And go we did…

The scheduled day came around and there we all were, spread across the globe in various stages of interest and anticipation of what was to come.

Our contact with the goods joined the chat and, for a while, there was silence. And then there was not ence. Once those sounds started flying out of my meager PC sound system my skepticism was replaced with wide eyed wonder and what had been an annoying few minutes before the sounds turned into a more than mild obsession for rFactor acquisition after the sounds. “Give us the beta, we won’t say anything! Promise!” Yes, not long after those magical sounds leapt from the speakers the groveling began. But our top-secret contact

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was having none of it. He may or may not have risked his life to get us a clip of those sounds but he wouldn’t budge, no files were transferred and before we got on his nerves too much he left the chat and left us wanting for more.

One of the things that makes sim racing so fun is the memories we make along the way. I’ll never forget my first win in NASCAR Racing—a 500 lap event at Atlanta, I’ll never forget my first encounter with Flugplatz in Grand Prix Legends—I crashed, I’ll never forget the first time I broke the nine minute barrier at the Ring in Grand Prix Legends, I’ll never forget my first win in Grand Prix Legends— Goodwood, a real nail biter, and, as long as I live, I’ll never forget the first time I heard a sample of the sounds of rFactor.

Our brief encounter with those sounds was from a small clip of the formula type car driving around one of the shipping tracks. Difficult to describe on paper, the scream of that engine as it blasted around sent chills down the spine and the equally well-done sounds of the car downshifting completed the package. It was as if the air in the room between the speakers and my ears became a living, breathing, visceral thing and only having the actual game in my hands would suffice from that point on. The wait was maddening but well worth it and not long after we heard the game we got to review an early beta of the game and the rest, as they say, is history.

Upon release rFactor was well received but

there were many in the community who wondered how it would stand up to the test of time. While Image Space Inc. was no stranger to the racing simulator world it is without question that rFactor was quite a departure from what had come from them in years prior. For one it was based on fictional cars and tracks and offered little in the way of a simulated single player experience such as those found in the EA Sports published Formula One and NASCAR simulators that ISI was involved with, and bore little resemblance to the legendary Sports Car GT. Instead, rFactor offered something entirely new, and potentially, something entirely risky—a sandbox-style game with a potential limited only by the community who were prepared to embrace it for what it was, and more importantly, for what it wasn’t. A bold step perhaps but one that quickly proved to be a step in every

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c o m m e n ta ry right direction. Not long after release it was clear the community was fully on board with the concept of a sandbox racing simulator and before we knew it third party mods were becoming an almost daily occurrence.

Fortune may favour the bold but fortune also favours those who know what they are doing and in the case of rFactor, ISI had the bases covered.

Based on the isiMotor2 code base, rFactor offered a lot of bells and whistles beneath the hood and ISI put their extensive experience coding racing simulators to good use. Notable among those bells and whistles was an advanced 15 degree of freedom physics engine, a new and advanced tyre model, 4 link rear suspension support, modelling of engine boost and an advanced aerodynamic system. Further enhancements included a graphics engine based on DX9, real time day to

night transitions, and, as alluded to earlier, some really awesome sounds.

Though there wasn’t a licensed car or track to be found with that initial release, rFactor did include a basic career mode that allowed the user to upgrade their car as they progressed with changes to the appearance, performance, and sound of their chosen car. Fortunately for me there was a secret code that allowed you to unlock a king’s ransom worth of money to upgrade the cars else I’d still be driving around in the stock Rhez to this day. And though the tracks were fictional there were several of them and a few offered alternate layouts to liven things up. As an added bonus, in 2006 ISI struck a deal with Intel to release the Intel sponsored BMW Sauber Formula One car for the game.

The open architecture of rFactor provided all that was needed for ambitious modders to create content for the game and it wasn’t long before that content came rolling out. And it’s still rolling out as a quick look at rfactorcentral.com reveals— literally hundreds, if not thousands, of cars and tracks have been created and new content is still being produced for this simulator ten years on.

Higher praise no reviewer could give than that of a community producing content for a sandbox simulator ten years after release.

I’ve covered much of what makes rFactor a landmark product but no discussion of this simulator would be complete without a mention of what is, arguably, the most impressive part of the rFactor product—the multiplayer. Previous products using the ISI codebase provided multiplayer capability but they were not without their problems and if one criticism was recurring in discussions of ISI based games it was the multiplayer component. Not so with rFactor.

Stable, robust and featuring a one click dedicated server option, in no time at all the multiplayer of rFactor was the de-facto gold standard of online racing, a fact that all but solidified rFactor’s status as one of the most unique and influential simulators to ever be released.

The follow up to rFactor, rFactor2, has been available as an advanced beta for a few years now and while there is no doubt that it has improved and expanded the rFactor concept the memories formed nearly a decade ago will forever remain.

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WHAT’S ON OUR DESKS?

OVERCLOCKING FOR BEGINNERS t e c h n i cal d e s k

THE PROCESS OF OVERCLOCKING REFERS TO PUSHING YOUR COMPUTER COMPONENTS BEYOND WHAT THE MANUFACTURER ORIGINALLY INTENDED, AND AS A PROCESS IT SOUNDS LIKE A VERY APPEALING ONE. SIMPLY GO OUT AND BUY YOURSELF A SLOWER, LOW COST CPU, APPLY THE LAWS OF OVERCLOCKING AND YOU HAVE YOURSELF AN ALL SINGING, ALL DANCING CPU!

OF COURSE, LIKE ALL things it’s not as simple as first expected, and whilst overclocking can certainly improve your system speed you’ll have to make sure it’s done correctly. This article is going to take a look at some of the basics of overclocking - what overclocking is, some of the very basic math behind overclocking and how you yourself can push your own system that little bit more through the process of overclocking.

Overclocking is a subject that you could literally talk for hours about providing you’re talking to someone highly knowledgable, and can be one of the most complex skills to learn if your plan is to get the absolute most out of it. However the basics are always a good place to start, and that is exactly where we will be starting.

These basics will also look at core CPU

multipliers and memory clocks, and how the two co-exist, and how simply pumping up the speed of one may not always yield the performance improvements you’re seeking.

THE ART OF OVERCLOCKING The first thing you need to understand is just what overclocking is. Put simply, overclocking is the process of setting your CPU and memory to run at speeds higher than their official speed grade.

Almost all processors ship with an intended speed grade which relate to the speed they are currently running at. For example an Intel Core i7 may run at 3.5GHz out of the box. The art of overclocking then looks at pushing this clock speed higher than the 3.5GHz to improve the speed of your CPU.

The joy of current processors is they don’t just instantly melt when you overclock them. Modern CPU speed ratings refer to the speed at which every processor in the same manufacturing batch can run, and is a number considerably lower than the maximum speed your CPU is actually capable of.

In general, CPU yields are so good these days due to the manufacturing process being skewed towards the making of better quality chips, that the speed grade locked into the CPU is astronomically lower than the speed the CPU can actually run at.

UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS Whilst we’ve mentioned we won’t go into a huge amount of detail, we do have to give you a basic understanding before you just jump straight in, so here goes.

All CPUs have a fundamental clock rate which gives you all of the other clock rates related to your CPU. Various sections of the processor take this fundamental clock speed and multiply it to get an internal clock speed for that specific area within the CPU. To give you some examples, the fundamental clock rates within AMD and Intel processors have specific names - within the i5/i7 series from Intel, this is called ‘base clock’ or BCLK and is usually set at around 133MHz. AMD call this same thing ‘CPU bus frequency’, and is usually set at around

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STRESS TESTING The one other thing you’re going to have to get used to should you plan on overclocking is stress testing, so getting used to the programs needed to do so are a plus.

For serious stress testing, the combination of FurMark and Prime 95 really can’t be beaten.

Simply run FurMark along with four instances

of Prime 95 and you’ve got a formula that has been used throughout the ages by some of the best overclockers. Both of these programs have specific modes for conducting repetitive stress testing. Setting up that test takes a little work and knowledge, but running the two tests concurrently pushes a system hard. If all you want to do is test CPU stability, Prime95 should work fine by itself.

You’ll also want to grab something like CPU-Z to make sure your overclocking efforts are actually working and your CPU isn’t just resetting to defaults every time you attempt to overclock.

Thankfully all of the programs mentioned here are available for free download, so should you need them head over to Google and get searching!

FINAL THOUGHTS Overclocking is something that can definitely save you a little money over the years and provide you with a platform that allows you to draw out every ounce of power from your CPU. You’ve then got the realm of memory overclocking and CPU overclocking to get your head around. Pushing all three PC subsystems simultaneously though is an advanced topic that requires a lot of time, patience and stress testing… So be aware you’re in it for the long haul if you begin meddling with all three!

All we can add is if you’re serious about learning the basics of overclocking, tune in next month where we’ll be giving you a step by step guide on overclocking an Intel i7 through ASRock’s ‘OC Tweaker’!

t e c h n i cal d e s k

200MHz. This fundamental clock rate and the rated speed are different things, but they also work together. Say for example we have an Intel CPU with a rated speed of 2.66GHz and a fundamental clock rate of 133MHz. The CPU will take this fundamental clock and multiply it to get the rated speed, and this multiplication gives you your ‘CPU multiplier’ which is 20 in this exact instance.

Now most retail processors are ‘clock-locked’ which essentially means you can’t increase its multiplier beyond its rated speed, meaning if your CPU is locked at 2.66GHz and the clock multiplier is 20, it won’t go any higher than this. Some motherboards have built in ‘cheats’ that will make the effort to bypass these clock locks, but 9 times out of 10 this will be unachievable.

You can however adjust the settings for Intel’s base clock or AMD’s CPU bus frequency to any value you want. That’s not to say you should instantly go and set the value to 1,000,000,000,000 or some other ridiculous figure because you’ll soon find yourself with an extremely dead CPU. Instead it is a process that should be done slowly and with a lot of stress testing; something we will come to later on.

working with. Most motherboards on the market now will offer either automatic or semi-automatic overclocking options. Whilst the automatic process is handy, we’ve found it best to avoid. Whilst the automatic BIOS program will run all the necessary tests for you and set the various clock speeds for both your CPU and memory to the highest speeds it considers stable, we’ve often found these speeds to be a little unstable once booting into Windows and using various different applications.

That’s not to say they’re completely redundant though as in many BIOS screens you’ll be able to see the numbers they’re clocking your machine at, giving you a slight indication as to what you can get away with.

Now what you’ll need to do in preparation for the next feature on overclocking is just have a little play around with your BIOS. Play around with the automatic settings and what figures you get with them, and just get acquainted with your BIOS in general as you may be spending a lot of time within it, tweaking various different numbers.

You may even end up finding that your built in presets are perfect for what you need and not end up having to go down the hard, long road that is overclocking!

OVERCLOCKING FOR ‘NOOBS’ Now the first thing to mention is overclocking isn’t something you can achieve by just following a pre-determined guide and numbers achieved on one product may not be achievable on another.

Now that’s out of the way, we can take a look at the process.

First you’ve got to understand what you’re

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PROJECT CARS

Project CARS and the rise of eSports With Project CARS continuing to make waves across the racing genre, Creative Director Andy Tudor was on hand to answer our questions...

BY DOMINIC BRENNAN

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- This is the first time we’ve caught up with Slightly Mad Studios since the launch of Project CARS. The figures speak for themselves - it has been a huge success. With all the hype leading up to the launch, you must’ve expected this to some extent - were you surprised by the sales across all platforms, and what has the mood in the studio been like since that launch window?

console features like Career mode and visual presentation to the PC, and sim features like pit stops, cutting-edge physics, and overwhelming customizability to the consoles. Were one set of fans easier to please than another? No ;-) Both communities were very vocal in their love and expectations of what Project CARS should be and hopefully, we did both proud.

Having made Project CARS alongside the community and had their feedback through its development there was early indication that maybe/hopefully we were onto something with what we were doing but until it was put into both the public’s and journalist’s hands there was noguarantee of success. So going to bed the night before and waking up like Xmas morning seeing the first review score of 9/10 was an absolute delight and certainly the sign of things to come later that day and week. So yeah, we’re all very proud of how it’s been received and it’s a great justification for that bold vision we had all those years back to do things differently and include the players from day one. To see racing fans embrace the game so positively and for it to disrupt the market so much is humbling to see.

- Using the community-assisted approach was a new style of development for SMS. It was a revolutionary concept, and no doubt it helped shape the game in a certain way, but did it really have the impact internally that you were expecting? From my perspective, it seemed like many people signed up to contribute to the project, only to try the odd build here and there without giving much feedback, and it seemed like a small vocal crowd was doing most of the heavy lifting on the forums actually being constructive.

Please give me your thoughts on that.

I think it’s fair to say out of the tens of thousands of people that joined the WMD community, certainly there was a broad range of people’s involvement.

Some were absolutely devoted to the development process and either generated their own discussion topics or were fiercely active in others. Some enjoyed getting the new builds and gave feedback where they thought appropriate, some were dedicated to one particular aspect such as track or vehicle accuracy, and others expressed their love for the game in more artistic ways such as creating visual assets, or championing the title outside of the development forum on Reddit or Facebook or various sim racing forums. So it was common to see the same names popping up in threads which was nice but equally there was a broad range of opinions in all the various threads and certainly once the game launched that net was cast even wider and the microcosm of

- In our review, we noted the impressive level of parity across all three versions of the game. However, the PC version had different competition in the form of the many PC-only simulators on the market. Did you see the PC and console versions as different animals, and did you consider the PC crowd to be harder to please It’s a matter of perspective... For console gamers, Forza/GT are sim racing games. But for PC sim racers, they’re seen as ‘sim-cade’. Forza/GT have an audience of millions compared to PC titles like iRacing or rFactor. Console gamers play using gamepads whilst many PC racers have dedicated rigs.

So with Project CARS we took a step back and simply treated everyone as racing fans, bringing

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- Being able to see a game evolve from a pre-alpha state to a final release was a fascinating insight into the processes that studios go through all the time. However, it also meant that your work was exposed to the world far earlier than a traditionally-developed title, which must have been a PR nightmare at times! As the public ‘face’ of the Project CARS team, you must have felt the brunt of that?

I don’t think there’s many companies were you have direct access to the CEO and can make jokes with the development team as if you yourself were a member of staff. And that’s how it was treated – that our community were standing alongside us making the game with us. Obviously there was a learning process on both sides in terms of how that relationship worked and why things were done in a certain way, and obviously there were swings & roundabouts with that in terms of ensuring everyone behaved in a professional manner whilst also allowing a certain amount of levity. But when you work in a goldfish bowl with everyone looking in and nowhere to hide it really ensures that we stick to our core values that we’re always honest and open about things.

We always got asked about car licenses for example and we always said that as soon as we know, you know. And therefore new manufacturers onboard were announced as soon as the ink had dried on the legal documents. Occasionally there were leaks, occasionally some info was taken out of context but ultimately the word-of-mouth that the community brought us by spreading news about the game was also our biggest PR asset and by continuing to both support and talk to that community even still now, we couldn’t be more thankful and I hope we’ve remained consistent in our message of truthfulness and ‘open’ game development.

- With the benefit of hindsight, is there something about the development of Project CARS that you would have done differently?

Many, many things! But as you say, that’s with the gift of hindsight ;) We were pioneering new territory on Project CARS, shaking up both player’s expectations of a sophisticated racing game and how it’s created in the first place. And obviously that maverick spirit paid off but also this time around we’re doing a lot more planning and pre-production than we did on the original title so that it’s not quite so seat-of-the-pants as much ;) - Less than two months after the launch of Project CARS, you announced Project CARS 2. The reaction was mixed, as the public was surprised by the speed of the reveal, particularly when

there were outstanding issues to be fixed with the first game. Why did you announce the sequel so soon, and why have you taken the crowd-funding route again?

So to break the fourth wall here, staff working on another title straight after the first has finished is totally normal. You just don’t ever hear about it publicly until a year or two later when a demo is revealed at E3 or something. That’s just the way it works.

You do however hear about sequels happening immediately (sometimes even before release) in the movie industry. As soon as Captain America: Winter Soldier came out, the third was announced We always stated that Project CARS was going to the start of a brand-new franchise and the support of the fans at launch solidified that plan and allowed us to continue it on. The announcement of the sequel therefore was very much therefore a celebration that the game had been received so well that it made a sequel viable, and also started the crowd-funding process once again so we could start on it immediately. Internally though, we broke off a portion of the team to be dedicated to On Demand content and continuing to update/fix/enhance features in response to the community feedback whilst early work on the sequel began. We saw some questioning the announcement but once we explained that it wasn’t a matter of ‘abandonment’ but one of ‘continued growth based on success’ I think any confusion was cleared up - Since then, it has been reassuring to see SMS continuing to support Project CARS with fixes and content updates, along with a push towards competitive gaming. Multiplayer sim racing is certainly not new; almost all racing games have an online component of some kind. However, you’ve grabbed the “eSports” moniker and run with it - something that we’ve not seen in the sim racing space before. Can you explain your thoughts behind this?

Exactly – we always said Project CARS had a long-term strategy and our continued On Demand content that’s continuing to add new stuff and bring new experiences to players each month, the work on the sequel and forming new partnerships in the background, and our purposeful growth in the world of eSports have all been part of one large plan (muhahahaa).

We saw on Shift 2 Unleashed that the concept of honing your skills and beating your friends leaderboard times in a very asynchronous way via Autolog was a key motivator for players who would keep coming back to the game just to beat their friends rather than playing other game modes.

And we also knew from the PC sim racing space

Check out the new Sim Racer skin in the Renault Sport Car Pack!

that there were some players who were absolute aliens at their preferred racing game of choice and there was a degree of demand to watch or become the best virtual drivers out there. Simultaneously, the world of eSports was growing around us with Starcraft 2 and DOTA becoming key players.

Hence, we launched with a virtual season that we hoped would attract and cultivate the fastest Project CARS players, and right from day one it absolutely did with both individuals and later teams of dedicated drivers participating in each round. Once we saw this kind of pro play, it was clear that our hopes for this new way to play were coming true and would not only help the game be taken seriously as a sim title but also would bring sim racing to a larger audience that were already playing shooters and MOBAs and strategy games at this elite level.

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passion we’d seen for 2-3 years then exploded into something that engaged with the game in wildly different ways.

- You’ve partnered with the Electronic Sports League in order to promote a particular style of competitive online play. This is the domain of cultural phenomenon such as Dota 2 and Counter-Strike. Do you believe a racing game can hold its own in this sort of company?

Absolutely. As soon as we saw we had teams such as BAM eSports and Alternate Attax (who already compete in other ESL events) we approached ESL with our plans and how pro players were already engaging with the game and we did a tester event with a PlaystationPlus Cup. The reaction was fantastic and we got the same number of players as FIFA so it was clear there was a demand to play Project CARS in this manner. Since then we’ve gone on to dominate the racing genre in the eSports space and with our Weekly Cups we’re now the most successful racing game on the platform which led to us recently then launching in Asia, and also being available on both the time2win eSports platform as well as Sony’s own territory-specific eSports platforms – PlayStation Plus LEAGUE in France and LigaOficial in Spain.

ESL is also the home of the Intel Extreme

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Masters tournaments, the pinnacle of ESL competition. It seems the most popular eSports are Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas, i.e. team and strategy-based. Racing is more about the individual, although the potential is there for team management and strategy, much like real-world racing. Do you see a future of virtual racing teams competing at top tournaments like this, with a similar fan following and huge prize incentives that we currently see with MOBAs?

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Yup absolutely. We talk to ESL each week about tweaks and changes to how competition happens with Project CARS at the eSports level and there are changes and growth coming in this area.

You can see that at our Paris Games Week event also where we had a showdown match between the top two teams battling it out for valuable points in the SMS-R Driver Network Championship. They sat on either sides of the auditorium with hundreds of people sat watching and commentary in native French for the fans both at the event and at home watching on Twitch. So we’re not quite at the levels of League Of Legends just yet! But even at this stage, there’s clearly a demand and an aspiration to not only watch but become the fastest drivers in the world with Project CARS. - I watched most of the racing at Paris Games Week, where Project CARS took over the ESL Arena. The broadcast was interesting, with good commentary (from what I could understand; my French is limited!), but I’m not sure what the reaction was like, in terms of the live and online audiences. Are these events successful from your perspective? Please could you describe the level of planning and effort that goes into a show like this.

Each live event we go to we try to learn from the

previous, grow the experience, and out-do it. So we started at Gamergy in Madrid last year with an organised tournament and invited sim racers from other titles such as Gran Turismo and iRacing to come and participate and they all loved the game and were converted. At Gamescom we then partnered with Logitech who were releasing their new G29 wheel and Red Bull who we’ve been working with on our Red Bull Air Race game that we announced there too. We also had live music and crowd giveaways too, and tested streaming of the event on Twitch. At EGX in Birmingham we partnered with ESL and this time added dedicated shoutcasters to the event who Twitch-streamed the end-of-day races and did interviews. And at Paris Games Week we did full-day streaming and opened the experience up to a seated audience as opposed to convention passers-by.

Not only is attending these events always a thrill to meet the fans, but they themselves get to have a great experience getting their hands on precious swag, rocking out to live music, hearing from the developers first-hand, seeing exclusive content first (ie.. driving upcoming On Demand content before it’s released), and seeing the best-of-the-best play the game.

As such, planning for these events is done many months in advance – everything from hardware to

the design of the booth, partnerships, the logistics of getting everything sent to the venue on time, getting the content we want to show off available in time etc.. And from what we’ve seen so far, the reaction is always positiveand continues to grow the game both in terms of audience and ongoing sales. We’re still refining our live events, devoting dedicated teams to them, and getting slicker at the production side but it’s definitely something you’re going to see more of – and bigger! In 2016.

- I noticed that a large proportion of the action was being broadcast from a ‘chase’ camera, rather than being in-car or via TV-style angles, and the ‘Guiding Line’ was also enabled. This certainly gave it a different look compared to most sim racing broadcasting that we see (mainly on other PC sims) on YouTube - was this an intentional choice?

Nope ;) Our shoutcasters are free to use whatever camera angles and overlays they prefer. At Paris Games Week, our shoutcaster Kijooki usually plays Need For Speed so she preferred the action from that angle but over time we encouraged her to transition to the ‘broadcast’ view more.

- The use of standard spectator controls meant there was sometimes awkward switching between drivers, missing some of the action.

The camera interface was also on display, when ideally you’d have a proper broadcast overlay.

It feels like Project CARS requires more robust broadcast and spectator functionality in order to cover the action properly for a slick eSports presentation - will we see further developments to this?

Yes ;-) And for Project CARS 2 we have a bunch of shoutcasters helping define a dedicated system

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- In addition to these live’arena’ events, the ESL is about regular online competition. Project CARS has been running ‘Go4ProjectCARS’ Cups every Sunday on ESL for the past few months along with a ladder system. These appear to be 1-on-1 events. Can you explain the idea behind this type of competition, and how you see this evolving?

The ‘Driver Duel’ format is the default format for many ESL events so they’re already set up for this kind of tournament structure and score reporting.

It really does pit you on an even playing field with another player to find out who’s best with the least distractions or variables that could otherwise influence the result too. Knowing you’ve progressed through the knockout tournament by earnestly beating each wannabe driver in succession is a very rewarding feeling and now that we’ve changed to fixed vehicle setups too it really does come down to masterful knowledge of the course, and precise control of the cars rather than the mysterious world of vehicle setups or the randomness that can occur in a multi-car race.

Having said that though! We’ve also been talking to the participants of the ESL events over on the forums and through a recent poll survey and we know players would also like to see these larger races that we only reserve for the Monthly Finals currently and we’re working on that for 2016.

- So far, the raceshave forced default setups and allow unrealistic driver aids. No doubt this attracts a wider audience and levels the playing field to a degree, but some sim enthusiasts will frown at this decision. Will we see purer simulation events on ESL, or is that not what you’re going for?

Right now we’re focused on growing the audience in the eSports space so we want as many people to be able to participate and feel like they have a chance of winning as possible. Jumping in randomly and having the other player burn off the starting grid because they have insider knowledge on the tuning of the car isn’t a pleasant feeling for newcomers and casual players and immediately has that Buyer’s Remorse feeling after waiting eagerly through the sign up and check-in process to play your first match.

So, with minor rule tweaks, timing changes, vehicle/ track combos and increased coverage of these events the aim is to get more players engaged and then start providing events for the best-of-the-best or more sim-oriented players to showcase their skills in.

- Sim racing in general already has an incredible level of competition around the world. In

particular, iRacing has lead the way in terms of deep multiplayer systems. Of course, regular sprint racing, endurance racing and leagues happen organically on Project CARS as the community gets together, but the ESL provides a level of stewarding and organisation that could eventually draw some comparisons to iRacing.

Are you expecting it to head in that direction, or are you being careful to steer your own path?

I think you know us by now to know that we’ll always steer our own path ;-) We certainly look at other titles and there are lessons to learn and things to avoid also, but we’ll always continue to listen to the community on the direction we head in and work with our partners to push sim racing and Project CARS to greater heights and larger audiences.

Both ESL and MLG are well-established platforms with multi-millions of users and existing systems for event structures, broadcasting, adjudication, player/ team wrangling, and media coverage so they’re perfect partners for us right now, but we’ll also continue to grow events and tournaments outside of these next year with the evolution of the SMS-R Driver Network Championship 2016 season.

- Some final questions about Project CARS 2 - how is the development going and how does the team split its time between supporting the current game and developing a new one? It must be great to have such a solid starting point this time around!

Absolutely! As I said before, the success of the first game proved that we could take on the big guns in the sim racing space and be compared equally to them rather than nipping at their heels as we’d done on previous titles. We always wanted to tackle ‘loose surface’ racing but decided to focus on tarmac-based racing first, and now we get to visit that and do it in a big way. We also listened to the community who want to be able to create championship structures so we’re adding that, and of course more cars and tracks! Those are just three highlights of a vision we have for the game that we’re doing pre-production on at the moment whilst the legal team are talking to various partners and license holders in the background. So every day some new piece of the puzzle seems to come together and everyone in the team gets energised all over again.

And that’s in addition to the new content we’re adding as part of our On Demand program. I said we had a long-term plan before the game even launched and I hope readers understand that now as

we continue updating the game with new features, re-balancing or attending to existing ones, bringing in new vehicle manufacturers and race locations, and providing support for new hardware out there like Oculus Rift.

- Much of Project CARS’ successis attributed to its stunning visuals. It also had limited competition at the time, particularly on PS4. Next time around however, it will be up against refined offerings from the Forza and Gran Turismo franchises, and being the second game on the same generation, it is surely impossible to create the same wow-factor from the visuals alone.

What do you think will stand out about Project CARS 2, and what are you most excited about?

I can’t give too much away right now but even though the benchmark is incredibly high now on console visuals (no matter what genre you’re in) our Madness Engine is going to see some big additions for the sequel. With those changes plus the additional features and content we’re adding, Project CARS 2 is definitely going to have the wow factor and some really exclusive, innovative content.

- Project CARS has beenoffering limited VR support on PC for devkits, and while it is still a work in progress, there seems to be significant performance and visual problems. Are you hoping to have this figured out by the time consumer headsets are widely available, and are you hoping to support both Vive and Rift? As for PlayStation VR, is your focus more on Project CARS 2, or is there still a chance that the current game on PS4 will receive a VR update to coincide with the launch of Sony’s headset?

Check out Feature Update 7.0 that just came out ;-) VR continues to be not only a highly exciting technology internally for the team to play with, but also is a great benefit to players (giving them a better sensation of speed and distance) making them better drivers, and the hot topic right now for those that maybe didn’t think the jump in visual quality from last-gen to current was significant enough.

I’ve used them all a few times at this point and the possibilities are fantastic for VR so watch this space and yes, if you buy an Oculus Rift at launch, Project CARS will work out-of-the-box on day one.

- Please could you give us some clues as to what we can expect from Slightly Mad during 2016?

More, and bigger eSports! More On Demand content!

More live events! More reveals from Project CARS 2!

More on our Red Bull Air Race game! More cryptic answers! Longer printed interviews! ;-) Many thanks for your time!

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based on what they’re used to in other games, how races are broadcast in the real world, and the direction eSports are heading in currently.

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SIM RACER

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Growing up in the Digital Age

BY BOB SIMMERMAN THE RELEASE OF RFACTOR a little over ten years ago presented what is, arguably, one of those watershed moments in sim racing. A bold endeavour, rFactor broke the traditional mould of racing sims with its lack of licensed content, a bare-bones career mode, and both feet firmly in the sandbox game arena. The release was met with scepticism but in no time at all the community embraced rFactor for what it was and began to shape the sandbox to their own desires and within a year’s time there was little doubt—rFactor was a must have for any serious sim racer.

The much anticipated release of the follow up, rFactor 2, occurred in 2013 and it didn’t take long after the release to realize that the strengths of rFactor had been emphasized and the weaknesses were largely addressed.

Featuring revamped physics modelling, an improved tyre model, real-time day to night transitions, excellent AI, dynamic weather, improved damage modelling and representation, and the innovative RealRoad system, rFactor 2 left no doubt that ISI was all-in with the sandbox simulator concept.

As it was in rFactor, the multiplayer component of rFactor 2 was rock solid, all but assuring the online success that rFactor had enjoyed.

One notable difference was, of course, the inclusion of licensed content this time around. As of this writing there are nearly 30 cars and over 20 tracks available, many of them painstaking and brilliant recreations of their real-world counterparts.

The Dallara DW12 Indy Car, Marussia-Cosworth MR01 and Brabham-Repco BT20 Formula One cars, Corvette C6 Z06 and the Gen 6 NASCAR are but a handful of the real-world offerings on the automotive side. And the best part? All are available for free!

As far as the tracks go, ISI has those well in hand.

Beautiful and brilliant historical realizations of Monza, Monaco, and Belgium give us a glimpse into the past of Formula One where success was measured

in blood and bone as much as it was with podiums and trophies. Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motorsports Park, Lime Rock Park, Silverstone and Malaysia are a few more of the real world offerings on tap and when all the tracks and their various offered layouts are tallied up, there are around sixty or so unique opportunities for the sim racer to explore.

And, like the cars, all are available for free.

With core game engine advancements and significant changes to the physics and tyre models over the previous release, building mods for rFactor 2 will present new challenges for modders but a quick glance at the tools available for content creators reveals that ISI is fully committed to supporting the modding of their latest creation. The rFactor 2 SDK, gJED gMotor 2 real-time mesh and materials editor, modding resources for cars and tracks as well as instruction on the rFactor 2 internals plugin can all be found at the rFactor 2 Developer’s Corner, http:// rfactor.net/web/rf2/devscorner/.

I’ve had a lot of fun with rFactor 2 since its release and some of the most fun I’ve had with a racing simulator has been with rFactor 2. Shortly before the release, a few videos were posted of the gameplay

and one in particular caught my eye—the 1960’s type Eve fictional car at the Historic Belgium track. The sounds, the movement of the suspension components as the car navigated the lengthy and treacherous layout, the period specific advertisements around the track and the wandering livestock at various points seemed to transport one back to those days of yesteryear when racing was, literally, a matter of life and death.

Once I got my hands on the game I immediately loaded up the Eve and headed for Belgium. I didn’t do so well. In fact, before long, it became an exercise in frustration simply completing a lap! It took a few hours, but I was finally able to complete a lap.

Far from any world record it was nevertheless an extremely satisfying reward for the practice put in, reminiscent of how I felt years and years ago when I broke the nine minute barrier at the Green Hell of Grand Prix Legends.

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with co-founder of ISI Gjon Camaj and VP of Sales, Marketing and Licensing Tim Wheatley, giving us a glimpse behind the scenes and, possibly, what might be in store for the future.

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SIM RACER

RFACTOR2

We’re quite lucky that our tyre model simulates tyres accurately enough that you can throw almost anything at it, and it will work with those parameters. It took a long time to develop.

With changes like what has becomwe known as “CPM” (Contact Patch Model) we found ourselves needing to enter parameters the tyre model couldn’t in fact cope with. We updated the tyre model and can t Many software titles in past and present had a different underlying or tweaked tyre models for every car, this often leads to many more issues and can be much more difficult to bug fix.

Recently iRacing released a new feature that simulates the buildup of a groove during an event. How does their implementation compare to the Real Road of rFactor 2?

As far as we can tell they have done a fantastic job with their implementation. While the overall effect might be the same for anyone driving, theirs might be more advanced in terms of heat transfer, etc, wh How important is it that rFactor 2 supports VR technology?

It is more important to us from a commercial revenue stream perspective than a retail one. If we felt we wouldn’t be wasting time we don’t have, we’d have ramped up in this area a long time ago. We’re choo It’s very important – once ready – to support some of this technology. People who use our software want it, people who want to license our software want it.

The car and track list offered by ISI is extensive. What is involved in obtaining a car or track for the game?

Usually it is a process of finding out who can issue a license and then seeking a price. Sometimes that price seems too high and we negotiate and/or walk away, other times we sign an agreement.

Sometimes there are agencies in the way to mess things up and reduce our profits, sometimes not. Licensing really isn’t very interesting. :) What was involved in the decision to bring rFactor and rFactor 2 to the Steam platform?

It was always intended to have some kind of implementation. Back in 2012 Steam had a little bit worse reputation than it has today though, so ignoring it for a few years made sense. There’s no rush.

Are there any plans to bring the rFactor family to the consoles?

No.

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At the time of release, many in the community Given the success of rFactor and the extent of GC: The packaging system was the biggest were sceptical of the sandbox gaming nature of its support by the sim racing community, the Will we see rFactor 3…? challenge. It was envisioned to be a way to allow the rFactor platform, which, in turn, led others development and release of rFactor 2 seemed ourselves and mod groups a practical way to in thetowards community to be sceptical that the game all but we always going to see an While we are looking the future (any developer would at this stage), rF3certain. isn’t on Were the board at the moment.

Something else is. update and host intact complete mods. deliver, would have any success at all. Years later it is rFactor 2? What factors were involved in the Unfortunately the environment for modding apparent thatseen not the onlyrFactor was the rFactor car driven decision to follow rFactor?

Fans of NASCAReasily will not doubt have 2 sponsored

by Joey Gase atup the recent Cup event at Phoenix International Raceway. was involved in At thethe process of sponsoring a NASCA completely changedWhat during that period. concept a success, but a smashing one at that. same time there was a shroud of perceived What the internal concerns GC: It a logical progression, notdue a clearly Opportunities like thiswere havesome come of and gone over the years. about The sponsorship atwas Phoenix in November camebut about to the recent release ofthat our stock car, coupled potential commercial clients who complexity the system could with neverthe shake. reception of the by the sim racing defined Our development pipeline right, the budgetthe was there from the product commercial revenue stream we operate, andone. it proved very successful in thatwas sector.

Creating content for rF2 requires more time community at large? always one of refinement rather than starting and effort. This coupled with the dismantling of I’ve never really felt that advertising of that sort makes a huge impact onover. retailWe sales, but the peak wetosaw in our sales a nice additional bonusmeant on top few of the commercial of course continue refine what wefigures was most major mod groups were up to revenue.

GC: didn’t take the typical approach of trying to had but at the same time were able to create the challenge. The packaging system was singled introduction of stock to rFactor 2, how has we oval racing been implemented intoforward the sim?from Whatwhere are some challenges involved with implementation of oval racing rules and proced With the recent address a single typecars of racing.

We also knew new systems large steps rF1 of theout as the main culprit sothe no one took the time couldn’t offer hundreds of cars on hundreds of could get to. The physics system and tire model to really embrace it. Of course it also had some The biggest challenge, is actually knowing the rules.that Cup it drivers get how they restartanimations, a race almost every week, doneeded too. tracks.by Sofar, there was some apprehension areconfused obvious about examples.

Character quirkswe that to be worked out, this just wouldn’t have enough focus to stand out. content packaging and delivery, climate system made a frustrating situation worse.

Can you give us a hint at what be inthe ISI’s future?

However wemight felt that depth rF was and parts of the online experience are others. offering along with the ability to tinker with Could you discuss the continued tire model Unfortunately you caught us aaspect little bit to bethis able to answer that. nearly every of too the early sim that would As :) might be expected, rFactor 2 has brought advancements in the sim, in particular the recent appeal to a core group of racing enthusiasts. improvements and new features across the board.

CPM update?

What do you think Luckily sim racing be didn’t like tenhave years now? forwill us we tofrom answer to a Excellent AI, multiplayer, physics, FFB, tire model production or design schedule, so we were able and weather to name a few. Of the improvements TW: We’re quite lucky that our tyre model I think it will remain quite similar. people to think that means you canwhich do more, but in reality just means can do the same that things in can more realistic ways. Whether th to learn from and Lots workofwith thelike community to increased seenPC in power the rFactor 2 release presented the it often simulates tyresyou accurately enough you create the product we now know. most challenges from a development point of view? throw almost anything at it, and it will work with those parameters. It took a long time to develop.

With changes like what has become known as “CPM” (Contact Patch Model) we found ourselves needing to enter parameters the tyre model couldn’t in fact cope with. We updated the tyre model and can then alter the tyres for further accuracies.

Many software titles in past and present had a different underlying or tweaked tyre models for every car, this often leads to many more issues and can be much more difficult to bug fix.

Recently iRacing released a new feature that simulates the buildup of a groove during an event.

How does their implementation compare to the Real Road of rFactor 2?

TW: As far as we can tell they have done a fantastic job with their implementation. While

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odel and can then alter the tyres for further accuracies.

ansfer, etc, which is something we’ve chosen to ignore at this point.

ago. We’re choosing to wait until the technology is ready, even if that irks the retail customers a little.

ent.

the overall effect might be the same for anyone driving, theirs might be more advanced in terms of heat transfer, etc, which is something we’ve chosen to ignore at this point.

o rush.

How important is it that rFactor 2 supports VR technology?

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TW: It is more important to us from a commercial revenue stream perspective than a retail one. If we felt we wouldn’t be wasting time we don’t have, we’d have ramped up in this area a long time ago. We’re choosing to wait until the technology ready, if that retail oring a NASCAR Sprint Cup Car? DoesisISI have even any plans forirks thisthe type of promotion in the future? What other types of promotion might we see from ISI? customers a little.

It’s very important – clients once ready to support ial clients who might want to use it. (Commercial being–people trying to attract visitors to their stand at a trade show, or even a bar that wants to use rF2 in an arcade machine, etc). The timing was some of this technology. People who use our software want it, people who want to license our software want it.

ules and procedures?

The car and track list offered by ISI is extensive.

What is involved in obtaining a car or track for the game?

board at the moment. Something else is.

Fans of NASCAR will not doubt have seen the TW: Usually it is a process of finding out who rFactor 2 sponsored car driven by Joey Gase at the can issue a license and then seeking a price. recent Cup event at Phoenix International Raceway.

Sometimes that price seems too high and we What was involved in the process of sponsoring a negotiate and/or walk away, other times we sign NASCAR Sprint Cup Car? Does ISI have any plans an agreement. for this type of promotion in the future? What Sometimes there are agencies in the way other types of promotion might we see from ISI? ays. Whether that is an increase textureupresolution, or our shifting more physics from lookup tables into real-time processing. to messinthings and reduce profits, sometimes not. Licensing really isn’t very TW: Opportunities like this have come and gone interesting. :) over the years. The sponsorship at Phoenix in November came about due to the recent release What was involved in the decision to bring rFactor of our stock car, coupled with the potential and rFactor 2 to the Steam platform? commercial clients who might want to use it.

(Commercial clients being people trying to TW: It was always intended to have some kind of attract visitors to their stand at a trade show, implementation. Back in 2012 Steam had a little or even a bar that wants to use rF2 in an arcade bit worse reputation than it has today though, machine, etc). The timing was right, the budget so ignoring it for a few years made sense. was there from the commercial revenue stream There’s no rush. we operate, and it proved very successful in that sector.

Are there any plans to bring the rFactor family to I’ve never really felt that advertising of that the consoles? sort makes a huge impact on retail sales, but the peak we saw in our sales figures was a nice GC: No. additional bonus on top of the commercial revenue.

Will we see rFactor 3…?

With the recent introduction of stock cars to GC: While we are looking towards the future (any rFactor 2, how has oval racing been implemented developer would at this stage), rF3 isn’t on the into the sim? What are some of the challenges

involved with the implementation of oval racing rules and procedures?

TW: The biggest challenge, by far, is actually knowing the rules. Cup drivers get confused about how they restart a race almost every week, we do too.

Can you give us a hint at what might be in ISI’s future?

TW: Unfortunately you caught us a little bit too early to be able to answer that. :) What do you think sim racing will be like ten years from now?

TW: I think it will remain quite similar. Lots of people like to think that increased PC power means you can do more, but in reality it often just means you can do the same things in more realistic ways. Whether that is an increase in texture resolution, or shifting more physics from lookup tables into real-time processing.

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VEC RECAP

SIM RACER

Roun d2

Fuji

Mount Fuji, Oyama, Japan

race r e po rt

BY ANDREW DICKMAN

QUALIFYING The Virtual Endurance Championship rolled on to the highly technical Fuji Speedway for a Halloween qualifying session. The second round of the VEC saw a rules change in which qualifying was extended for each class from the original 25 minutes to 30 minutes. As per VEC rules, this is the first qualifying session where the top three in points in each class would be exempt from relegation to server two regardless of their qualifying position.

First up were the LMP1 cars, which saw Lars Brugman in the Doug Henson Racing #8 Audi set the early pace. He was able to fend off the remainder of the field for pole being the only driver to break into the 1:21.928 bracket. He was followed

by Michael Kalenbach for PRL Racing and Pashalis Gergis for FEEDER Sport Poland respectively. The big story of the day was the failure of TXL Racing, last year’s champions, to make it into the top split and guarantee themselves the five bonus points that come with it. Post qualifying review found Brugman and Kalenbach both to have cut on their fast laps. This gave Gergis the official pole position, with Brugman second and Kalenbach fourth. Kyran Parkin in the other Doug Henson Racing Audi was promoted to third.

As the LMP2 cars took to the circuit, heavy pole favorite Anthony Jans jumped to the top of the leaderboard early in the Team Spirit Racing entry.

Jimmy Broadbent of Doug Henson Racing and Anthony Marras of Kyushu Motorsport saw their final lap of the session ruined by an errant Sikania Endurance car driven by Franco Scalet, who lost it under braking collecting the other two drivers. Jans held pole all the way through the session, finishing with a 1:28.199. Late efforts by Dennis Hadlak for

PRL Logitech Racing and Tim Brockmeyer for the KSM Simracing Team ultimately came up short, leaving them in second and third respectively.

Next on track was the GTE Pro division. Rudy Van Buren was blindingly fast, and set the pole time with a 1:35.609 in the SVRN Ferrari. David Greco in the Frecce Azure Porsche timed his last outlap impeccably, with barely a second to spare before the checkers, giving him last chance at Van Buren’s time.

He was unable to capitalize on the opportunity, as he failed to better his time and remained in third place. Niki Djakovic split the two to start in second position. A post qualifying review saw Risto Kappet move into third and Greco relegated to fourth due to track limit infractions.

The last session of the day saw a massive twenty five GTE Am cars take to the track for qualifying, which meant drivers had to contend with the clock as well as traffic on the relatively small Fuji Speedway. Finding space for a clean lap was difficult for some, but not for defending race victors Dark Racing; Adam Taylor claimed pole for the second consecutive race. Valentino Mazzatenta for Texas Drivers and Angelo Luigi Sileo of Scuderia GTItalia rounded out the top three.

RACE The VEC grid was in for a wet and wild 6 Hours of Fuji as intense rains started almost immediately as the green flag dropped, catching out the entire

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race r e po rt

field on dry tyres. The end of lap one saw the entire field dive into the pits for wets, save for the Sikania Endurance LMP2 of Roberto De Fillipis. De Fillipis led the race on lap two but he ultimately gave in and pitted for a tyre change too. The first few laps also saw the field get shuffled up due to post race penalties from round one at Silverstone, with offenders serving various stop/go and drive through penalties. After a fair few spins throughout the grid, the end of the first hour saw Kuba Brzezinski in the FEEDER Sport Poland LMP1 Porsche emerge as overall leader. The first hour was not as kind to Marius Bert and the 3Wide Motorsport LMP1 entry, as they were 10 laps down to the race lead at the end of the hour. Borja Milan for Flatline Racing led P2 after an Anthony Jans’ pitstop. GTE Pro saw some epic fights throughout the first hour, with Joerg Vogel and the Allstar Racing Team leading the way at the one hour mark. The GTE Am field was headed by the favourite Dark Racing Ferrari, driven by Adam Taylor.

Hour two was only slightly less chaotic after drivers had a chance to adjust to the monsoon-like conditions. Lars Brugman was able to find his way

by Brzezinski to lead for much of the hour before pitting just before hour three. In P2, Jans regained the lead and held a decent gap over Per Rosenly for Odin Racing. Joerg Vogel held a full lap lead in GTE Pro and Adam Taylor was also a lap clear in GTE Am. Hour three had its fair share of drama as GTE Pro podium contenders Frecce Azurre had electrical issues and were forced to retire. As the rain stopped, Kuba Brzenzski took a big gamble by switching to the dry tyres but that decision would be met with much regret after heavy contact with the Magenta Warriors GTE Am Viper driven by Rhys Gardiner. After repairing the damage, Brzenzski stuck to his guns and rejoined the fray on dry tyres, a tactic that would ultimately pay off as he would be back in the lead by the end of the hour after a sensational recovery effort. Hour three was even more unkind to Christen Michel and the defending champions TXL P1 Racing. Michel lost it under braking into 100R and contacted the barrier, and he would have to pit for repairs before continuing on. Martin Furmann and P1-Gaming Racing held the overall lead for much of the third hour as he made the most of his wet rubber before turning it over to Mats Huthsfeldt, who would re-emerge from the pits in third position behind Brzezinski and Brugman. The lead in the remaining three classes would remain unchanged.

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Hour four was saw the return of the wet stuff, catching out Brugman on dry soft compound tyres.

Brzenzski made easy work of him after switching to wets and would shoot off into the distance. Brugman brought in his Doug Henson Racing Audi on the next lap and handed off to Lewis McGlade. Team Spirit Racing remained in the lead in P2 after Cyril Renault took over for Anthony Jans. SVRN’s Ferrari now driven

by Rudy Van Buren took the lead in GTE Pro after making up some time in the pits, and Dark Racing continued to enjoy over a minute gap to the second place m.TechnologyFrucht24.de entry driven by Wolfgang Hans, even after Adam Taylor handed the car off to Pedro Ramada.

With two hours remaining, FEEDER Sport Poland was in complete control of the overall lead. After overcoming early troubles the team turned in an absolutely dominant performance to be over a lap ahead of second place Doug Henson Racing. Hour five also saw Nikodem Wisniewski get behind the wheel in the leading FEEDER Sport car and Frederic Schornstein take over for Christen Michel in the TXL P1 Racing car in fourth place. Team Spirit continued their perfect drive and led P2 over Federico Soave in the Scuderia GTItalia P2 entry and Joe Ciampa for Odin Racing at the end of the hour. Franco Scalet spun in the Sikania Endurance P2 and remained stationary for an extended period of time adding to an already disappointing day. They would finish 26th overall and 23 laps down.

The final hour of the race was marred by a red flag due to technical difficulties with race control. After everything was sorted out, FEEDER Sport Poland took the overall and LMP1 win by a full lap over second place P1-Gaming Racing and rounding out the podium was Doug Henson Racing for a hard-fought third place. The LMP2 victory went to Team Spirit Racing after an utterly perfect effort, with Scuderia GTItalia and Odin Racing rounding out the top three. SVRN won GTE Pro in their Ferrari, followed by yet another Scuderia GTItalia second place and Flatline Racing in third. Dark Racing captured their second victory in a row in GTE Am, Scuderia GTItalia, always the bridesmaid, came in second in their GTE-Am entry, with M.TechnologyFrucht24.de in third.

After Round 2, Doug Henson Racing enjoyed a slight 3 point lead over FEEDER Sport Poland in the LMP1 point standings. Team Spirit Racing went perfect on the season in LMP2, 14 points clear of Odin Racing in second. The GTE-Pro standings saw SVRN vault into first place, followed by Sim Racing For Holland and Northern Light Racing tied for second. Dark Racing also went perfect on the season in GTE-AM, sitting 16 points clear of both 3wide Motorsport and Banzai Motorsport.

THE FINAL RACE OF 2015 at Interlagos reverted to the original 25 minutes of qualifying as opposed to the 30 minutes teams were given at the event in Fuji. Tyre management would be crucial for the teams at a circuit notoriously hard on rubber.

QUALIFYING LMP1 - Marius Bert set the early pace in the 3wide Motorsport Porsche. Kyran Parkin was able to knock him off the top spot mere minutes later in the #7 Doug Henson Racing Audi. Parkin would remain on pole throughout the session holding on to the P1 pole by less than a tenth over Bert. Federico Leo made a late charge to try and get the last spot in server one but ultimately came up just short, losing out to FEEDER Sport Poland, victors of the previous round.

LMP2 - As has become commonplace in the LMP2 category, Anthony Jans and Team Spirit Racing took pole early and were never really in danger of losing it. Continuing their phenomenal season so far, with two poles and two victories, Jans and Team Spirit would end up with over a tenth gap to second place.

Pedro Gomez put in a flier for SimHQ Motorsport as the checkers came out to steal away P2 from Jimmy Broadbent in the Doug Henson Racing effort. Kyushu Motorsport had both of their LMP2 entries make the top split and were thrilled with their qualifying effort, ending up fourth and tenth in class.

GTE-Pro - Risto Kappet in the Walk Racing Porsche GT3 took the early pole as the GT cars came out for their qualifying session. However, as the track rubbered in, it was Niki Djokovic and Team Vires that would snatch pole away from the field. Conspicuously absent from the starting grid was Frecce Azzurre, who were desperately trying to make up for a disappointing round at Fuji where they DNF’ed. On the other end of the spectrum were Revolution Racing, who saw both Dodge Vipers qualify for the first server.

GTE-Am - As the threat of rain had loomed overhead for the entire qualifying session, it was the Am drivers that would ultimately have to deal with the wet stuff.

Michele Rizzo and Scuderia GTItalia were able to correctly set up their Ferrari for the rain and take pole after Adam Taylor’s lap in the Dark Racing Ferrari was found to have exceeded track limits. Last week’s victors and class points leaders would start seventh in class.

RACE Hour 1 - Under the ever present threat of rain, Henning Wollert paced the field to green in the

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VEC RECAP

SIM RACER

São Paolo, Brazil.

3wide Motorsport Porsche at the tight and twisty Interlagos Circuit for an 8 hour sprint. As is typical of the bullring style circuit, traffic played a huge part in the race almost immediately. Franco Scalet in the Sikania Endurance P2 had a huge shunt half an hour in after contacting the m.Technology Frucht24.de GTE-Am Corvette. Scalet was attempting a three-wide manoeuvre lapping the Corvette and passing #75 PRL Logitech Racing LMP2 for position simultaneously.

Scalet bounced off the #75 before spinning and collecting Wolfgang Hans in the Corvette, slamming both cars into the wall on the back straight. This brought out the code 80 full course caution protocol just half an hour into the event. Adding to the drama was Jimmy Broadbent’s DNF just as the green flag came out to resume the race. At the head of the field at the end of the hour was Yuri Kasdorp in the Revolution Racing Audi R18. Pedro Gomes led in LMP2 after Anthony Jans encounted early troubles in the Team Spirit entry. Pole sitter Niki Djakovic was doing a spectacular job of holding off Walk Racing’s Risto Kappet for much of the hour before the Scuderia GTItalia entry driven by Salvo Sardina took the top spot during the pit sequence. Ed Trevelyan-Johnson and Group95 Racing enjoyed a half lap lead over second place Adam Taylor and Dark Racing in GTE-AM. Hour 2 - Halfway through the second hour the skies finally opened up, forcing the field to pit for wet tyres.

This would mark the second race in a row the field would have to contend with rain on a tight, twisty, bullring of a track. After the field was done pitting Henning Wollert emerged as overall leader closely followed by Kyran Parkin in the Doug Henson Racing #7 Audi and Kuba Brzezinski for FEEDER Sport Poland.

The three way battle for first continued through the end of the hour. Pedro Gomes continued his stellar

BY ANDREW DICKMAN

drive at the head of the LMP2 field, as did Risto Kappet in GTE-Pro, and Ed Trevelyan-Johnson in GTE-AM. Unfortunately the second hour also marked the retirement of the second place overall #003 Revolution Racing Audi with Sam McDonald at the helm.

Hour 3 - Just prior to the start of the hour, Kuba Brzezinski overtook Wollert for the overall lead. As the rain intensified it caught out many drivers including Risto Kappet, who spun while attempting to let the faster prototypes through. There were many other local yellows as well, as drivers struggled with the conditions. At the end of the hour it was Woodbury in the overall lead followed by Wisniewski. Many teams were on a double-stint strategy and many performed driver swaps throughout the hour. Nikodem Wisniewski took over for Brzezinski in the FEEDER Sport Poland car, and Nick Woodbury took over for Parkin in the DHR #7. Jan Vinnan took over the class leading LMP2 SimHQ entry and continued their so-far-flawless effort.

In the GT categories, it was Bram Beelen who led the way after taking over the SVRN Ferrari in Pro, and in Am it was Robert Soos for Vod:Bul Racing in their BMW Z4. Hour three also saw another retirement as Daniel Miebach was forced to call it a day in the m.Technology Frucht24.de Corvette after their earlier accident.

Hour 4 - The sun broke through once again as the race got to the halfway point. The second code 80 of the day came when the #33 GTE-Pro Revolution Racing Corvette, the #77 La Biela Racing LMP1 Porsche, and the Sikania Endurance LMP2 had a major three wide accident.

Hour 5 - The fifth hour saw more retirements as the 8 hour race turned into one of attrition. Vod:Bul Racing ran their BMW Z4 out of fuel, and the #80 P1-Gaming Racing LMP1 Porsche also DNF’ed. As the track continued to dry, Wisniewski found his way by Woodbury and took overall lead. Sim-HQ continued their dominance of the LMP2 category, as did SVRN in GTE-Pro. In GTE-AM the #033 Revolution Racing Viper of Matej Lakota found their way by the #43 of Peter Grau after Scuderia GTItalia had problems.

Hour 6 - Two shocking retirements - the Team Spirit Racing LMP2 and the #845 Dark Racing Ferrari. Both teams had been leading the points and were clear favourites for victory again before DNF-ing the second half of the race. As the headlights came on, the lead in LMP2, GTE-Pro, and GTE-Am were all over a lap ahead.

The front of the overall classification, however, was a different story. FEEDER Sport Poland and the #8 DHR Audi were separated by under 30 seconds.

Hour 7 - As darkness fell, Lars Brugman took over in the second place DHR Audi #8. Per Oqvist got behind the wheel of the class leading SimHQ LMP2. Bram Beelen continued to enjoy a full lap advantage over Remco Majoor and Team Vires in GTE-Pro, and Matej Lakota also had a large gap over the second place in class 3wide Motorsport Aston Martin now piloted by Sandro Petrozziello.

Hour 8 - While the rest of the field was just trying to bring home a solid finish, the overall victory would not be certain until the checkered flag flew over Nikodem Wisniewski in the #30 FEEDER Sport Poland Porsche, giving them their second consecutive win and the points lead. Brugman put in a blistering stint, finishing just 10.5 seconds behind the winners. The other DHR Audi of Parkin and Woodbury would be on the bottom step of the podium, on the tail end of the lead lap.

Per Oqvist was able to cap off SimHQ Motorsport’s absolute dream of a day and close the gap to points leaders Team Spirit Racing in LMP2. Scuderia GTItalia and Odin Racing rounded out the podium in that class.

Bram Beelen secured SVRN’s second class victory in a row, and extended their points lead over second place Northern Light Racing. The #99 Team ViresPorsche of Niki Djakovic and Remco Majoor came home second and the #106 Scuderia GTItalia Aston Martin would finish third. The #033 Revolution Racing Dodge Viper team of Trevelyan-Johnson and Lakota got their first win of the season, breaking Dark Racing’s stranglehold on the top step of the podium. The 3wide Motorsport Aston of Faber, Grau and Petrozziello came home second while the #666 FireHorse Racing Aston Martin of Silveiera, Santos and Kaufmann would be third on the day.

The drama was not over on the track however, as Dark Racing would be DQ’d and stripped of their points following the race for an undisclosed infraction.

This would demote them to fifth place in points after winning the first two races of the season.

The VEC is off for the holidays, with the first official race being the 24 Hours of Daytona on the 6th of February, 2016. As is tradition, the teams will have a test at Daytona to ring in the new year. The Roar Before the 24 as it is known is optional for teams who would like to participate, although it is not an official points scoring race. Stay tuned to see what the new year will bring for the Virtual Endurance Championship!

For more information, full results, and schedule please visit www.rf2vec.net.

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TAKE A BREATHER AND CHECK OUT SOME OF THE GREAT SIM RACING HARDWARE WE’VE BEEN TESTING RECENTLY, INCLUDING A NEAT SHIFT LIGHT ALL THE WAY FROM AUSTRALIA!

FANATEC FORMULA CARBON REVIEW LAST ISSUE, WE covered the Fanatec ClubSport system in detail, with the CSW V2 at its core. The wheel base was tested with the Universal Hub, a brilliant solution for fitting any style of wheel rim to the base. We used the Forza Motorsport rim, a 32cm diameter GT-style wheel finished in leather. It was praised for its versatility; despite being fairly large, it was suited to a wide range of vehicles. However, it didn’t really make sense when driving high-performance single-seaters, LMP1 or even certain GT3 cars like the McLaren.

This is where the formula-style rim enters the arena.

Of course, it’s possible to fit such a rim on the Universal Hub, and short paddles are included

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in the package for this very purpose. But the Universal Hub isn’t designed to quickly swap between rims and is much better suited to being assigned to one rim and used in a single configuration. Ideally, you’d have a large rim for most road cars and GT-style racers, and a dedicated formula-style rim with its own quick release. Fanatec must have thought along the same lines with their initial CSW V1 launch, offering a large BMW GT2 rim and a Formula Rim. Today, we have the Formula Carbon to review, an updated version of the Formula Rim introduced for the ClubSport system. Bear in mind this lacks the Xbox One functionality introduced with the Universal Hub, so using the Carbon is limited to PC and PlayStation 3 and 4.

The key differences are the carbon fibre finish, the exchangeable grips and revised button colours. Firstly, the carbon fibre - it’s the real deal, but it is a thin, decorative piece that sits on top of what is still a predominantly metal rim.

It has stunning looks, with the weave catching the light at different angles, but it would be nice to see a fully carbon-fibre rim from Fanatec one day.

Secondly, the Alcantara grips. Alcantara is a great material, feeling both luxurious and highperformance. It is very grippy with bare hands or using gloves, and is fairly durable. However, the sweat and oils from your hands will quickly leave their mark. It can be cleaned, but never to its perfect original state. Using gloves is highly recommended. Plus, it feels more authentic

anyway - when was the last time you saw anyone drive an F1 car without gloves? But if you insist, and they become grubby beyond the point of no return, you can at least replace them with fresh grips.

The changes to the button colours makes for a smarter appearance, but there is less contrast between colours now, so perhaps marginally harder to hit the right button in a high-stress scenario. Otherwise, the rim is the same as the original Formula Rim, which is no bad thing. It was favoured over the BMW GT2 rim due to the huge difference in weight; on the CSW V1 this had a huge impact on its FFB delivery. Using the CSW V2, the heavy Forza and Hub combination (albeit not as heavy as the GT2) doesn’t feel like it is causing the motor too many problems. However, switch to the Formula Carbon and the difference in FFB communication is still dramatic. Weighing in at 1.2kg, it is a full 700g lighter than the Forza rim, meaning less inertia and less-diluted feedback.

Being able to ‘hot-swap’ the rims without even leaving the vehicle is a clear demonstration of the difference. The Forza rim still remains far more suitable for a wider range of cars, but having the option to use the

quick release as intended, on a sim like Assetto Corsa or rFactor 2 that both have incredible road cars and formula cars is very satisfying indeed. The Formula Renault 3.5s in both sims truly come alive using this rim.

In some ways, the Formula Carbon is the better design. Button placement is less compromised, there is an analogue stick that can mimic a mouse, the LCD display much larger and brighter than on the Universal Hub and it has a glorious row of shift lights. It even has two vibration motors built into the rim, something that the Universal Hub doesn’t offer. They can be activated using the Fanatec SDK to produce additional feedback, or they can combine with the ABS motor feature of the ClubSport pedals. Either way, the motors honestly don’t seem to deliver much beyond a slightly strange vibration frequency through your hands; all of the great communication already comes directly through the standard FFB. For the PC and PlayStation user, the Fanatec Formula rims are highly recommended, being the perfect companion to a larger diameter wheel.

Let’s hope Xbox One owners can also enjoy a Formula rim in the near future.

FROM: WWW.FANATEC.COM PRICE: €339.95 ($249.95)

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DXRACER PS/1000L/N RACING SIMULATOR TABLE

THANKS TO A CUNNING strategy of providing chairs to (seemingly) the entire population of Twitch and YouTube streamers, DXRacer’s logo pops up everywhere, and the company has become one of the leading forces in the ‘gaming office chair’ market. Less well-known is their “racing simulator”, of which the PS/1000L/N is a key component.

This “Racing Simulator Table” is in fact the front section of a fairly conventional racing rig - combining with the DXRacer PS/2000/N (fixed rear base) or PS/3000/N (height-adjustable rear base), and the PS/F03/NR (racing seat), although these items appear to be less-widely distributed.

As a standalone product, the PS/1000L/N’s basic functionality can be compared to the similarly-priced Wheel Stand Pro - a support for your wheel and pedals that can be placed in front of a seat, and folded away after use.

However, their approaches are very different.

The Wheel Stand Pro is relatively lightweight and designed specifically for this scenario, whereas DXRacer’s solution is literally the front end of a racing rig, so it is fairly cumbersome, and awkward to fold away.

But there are obvious benefits to DXRacer’s design, being more stable than a Wheel Stand Pro and generally feeling more substantial. The wheel mount is supported by struts on either side (unlike the central pole of a Wheel Stand Pro), meaning your legs are free to dance around the pedals without restriction.

The PS/1000L/N arrives mostly assembled, in its folded position. Four feet screw into the base and can be adjusted to compensate for an uneven floor. The main struts pivot on a couple of bolts, and then a second pair locks the angle in place. An Allen key is provided, as it has to be used every time it is unfolded, but you’ll probably want to use a wrench as well. There are five holes to select the angle of the struts, but with a standard chair, only the most upright option is really usable. The other angles bring the steering wheel too low, and extending the struts simply makes it increasingly more difficult to reach the pedals. Using a standard-height office or dining chair is already at the limit of this stand’s flexibility - it’s more suited to a lower seat height, such as the one provided with

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the full racing rig.

A word about those extendable struts - we tested two units and both examples arrived with the sliding sections of box tubing seriously jammed. Perhaps the cold weather contributed to the problem but it was a painful process trying to loosen them. We’d suggest this kind of sliding system requires more precision parts; in fact the overall build quality leaves something to be desired, with some untidy welds and a fairly rough powder-coated finish.

The other issue with the DXRacer is the presence of a very similar ‘steering wheel stand’ from GT Omega. This is only marginally more expensive, yet sports a more

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refined design, with mounting holes for many more wheels and pedals (the DXRacer is only drilled for Logitech gear). On the positive side, the DXRacer feels just as durable once assembled, and comes with a shifter mount for either side, and some useful fabric cable straps.

Like any product of this type, your controllers are more secure than simply placing your pedals on the floor and clamping your wheel to a desk, but they are still disconnected from your seat. This means you can still rock the entire structure from side to side, and you can end up pushing yourself away from the pedals. This may convince users to upgrade to the full rig, or at the very least find a way of securing the unit to a seat.

Bottom line, this is a straightforward product that will get the job done, and a significant improvement over simply using a desk for your racing.

FROM: WWW.OVERCLOCKERS.CO.UK PRICE: £84.95

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MSPEC SHIFT LIGHT REVIEW THIS LITTLE WONDER comes from Australia, a simple LED light that connects via USB, and flashes at a predetermined (and adjustable) RPM to assist your upshift timing.

The unit arrived well-protected in bubble wrap along with a high-quality USB cable. The body of the light is carbon fibre, a great look for any racing rig. We’ve been testing the popular red LED version. Looking carefully at the detachable stand and the end section with USB connector, these have been 3D printed in black, and feel very sturdy. The base of the stand is metal, with a small amount of weight to it, but not enough to feel secure as a freestanding unit - any movement of the cable would cause the base to move. There is an adhesive pad underneath, but it would be nice to have some alternatives for mounting, such as a small clamp. It takes a while to decide the optimal position so having just a piece of adhesive means you have one shot at getting it right. It’s also not the most secure way of attachment, but being a non-critical component in terms of driving input, it’s not a total disaster if the light suddenly dislodges during a race.

Using the version 1.6 software, the device was very straightforward to install. After all, this is a neat and simple product that shouldn’t require a complicated setup. The default behaviour functions as you’d expect, with the shift light coming on at a set RPM for each car. Adjusting the shift point is a keyboard shortcut away (Right Ctrl + Up or Down arrow). The Spec Racer Ford’s shift point, for example, was too high at default.

It remembers the new setting for the next time you launch the sim. Alternative drivers called iLightMyShift have been created by a fan of the product, allowing for more precise

control over your light, including being able to adjust shift points per gear for every car, plus the ability to run multiple lights for different purposes. For example, you could run a red light for shifts, a yellow for yellow flags and a blue for blue flags.

But perhaps the most useful feature is the speed limiter indicator. In the heat of the moment, it is never a good feeling to have doubts whether the speed limiter is on in the pit lane, so the MSPEC flash is confidence-inspiring. It also produces a solid glow as you approach each pit entrance, warning you that your speed is too high for the pit speed limit.

This product is brilliant in its simplicity, and you only realise how much you relied on it when switching to a different sim, and that is indeed its only downside - it is iRacing-only at this point.

Hopefully the popularity of this great product will result in more comprehensive support across all sims.

FROM: WWW.SHIFTLIGHT.COM.AU PRICE: $39.95

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AWARDS

THE TIME HAS FINALLY COME TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNER OF THE FIRST EVER SIM RACER AWARDS! WE HAD A HUGE NUMBER OF VOTES CAST, WHICH LEFT US FEELING TRULY HUMBLED. AFTER HOURS OF COUNTING THE VOTES UP, WE CAME TO OUR RESULTS - SOME BEING NECK AND NECK TILL THE FINAL, AND OTHERS HAVING REAL RUNAWAY VICTORS. SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, HERE ARE THE WINNERS OF THE FIRST ANNUAL SIM RACER AWARDS! WINNER OF

1 BEST SIM

D R IVE R AWAR D S

WINNER OF

2 BEST RACING GAME

RACING EXPERIENCE

WINNER OF

3 BEST GRAPHICS

WINNER OF

4 BEST CARS IN SIM 068

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THE 2015 SIM RACER DRIVER AWARDS SIM RACER

WINNER OF 5 BEST CARS

IN GAME

WINNER OF 6 BEST PHYSICS

WINNER OF 7 BEST SOUND

RACING EXPERIENCE

WINNER OF 10 BEST PEDAL

WINNER OF 8 EASIEST

LIVERY DESIGN

WINNER OF 9 BEST WHEEL

WINNER OF

WINNER OF

13 BEST RACING

11 BEST SHIFTER

RIG - STATIC

WINNER OF 12 BEST

HEADSET WINNER OF 16 BEST FORUM

WINNER OF 14 BEST RACING

RIG - MOTION

WINNER OF 15 BEST DIALS

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SIM RACER NEXT ISSUE

RALLY SPECIAL!

DIRTRALLY,SÉBASTIENLOEBRALLY EVO ANDWRC5SHOOTOUT!

NEXT ISSUE LAUNCHE S MARCH 10TH! 070

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