I have been an avid racing game player since the mid-90s but 12 years ago is when I discovered sim rigs or chassis which added a whole new, semi-realistic feeling to playing race games.
The first chassis that I owned was a light and flimsy thing called a HyperDrive, by today’s standards it was junk but back then it was amazing. From there I moved up to a Playseat Revolution, then to the Playseat Evolution to a Extreme Sim V 3.0. Each of them fit my needs for a time, each was an upgrade over the previous but each had flaws. As I started racing more and spending a lot of time in the drivers seat one thing always led me to upgrading and buying a new one, the seating position. None of them offered a realistic position or a position that was similar to any real car that I was racing. I decided to yet buy another. Before going on, I should note that the 80/20 type of chassis that have become the normal leave a lot to be desired for me. Their versatility and adjustability is great but I find them very boring a ugly which for me is important, form should never come before function but there are great looking sims out there that are just as good, if not better than an 80/20. The chassis I bought was the TrakRacer TR8. It is or was the very best sim chassis that I had ever used, the seating position is almost perfect, it’s strong, it does not creak or make any noise and their GT style fit is comfortable. The downside of the TR8 is that the seating position after a couple of hours led to fatigue and cramping in my hips and back which was due to a poor general design of seat and pedal angles/placement. While being adjustable, it was impossible to find a perfect position.
I was happy and content then it happened, at the 2022 SEMA Show I passed the RaceTech booth while on my way to a meeting, on display was their new sim chassis, it looked amazing. Later that day, I skipped eating lunch and went back to their booth. RaceTech is a New Zealand company that makes some of the very best race seats available, seeing that they had a sim was exciting. Before getting in, I talked to their staff at length about the features, options and construction. If I was going to consider buying my 6th sim chassis in 12 years, I wanted to make sure that it would be the last one that I’d ever buy. After getting all the right answers to my questions it was time to get in. After three sessions around Laguna Seca, I had to have it! But upon getting out, their rep told me the price, $2100 and that didn’t include accessories like a PC shelf nor did it include a Direct Drive mount, all in, the way I wanted it the price was $2500. Nope! Isn’t gonna happen. I walked away bummed out.
Over the next couple of months I thought about the RaceTech sim a lot and decided to visit their site. There it was, my dream chassis along with it’s absurd $2100 price tag but then to the right of it, there was the same chassis without a seat for only $800. Yes RaceTech seats are great in a real World race car, but I don’t need a FIA approved seat for sim racing that costs $1300. Loving the TrakRacer GT seat I came up with a plan.
I ripped the GT seat off of the TrakRacer TR8, replaced it with a NRG seat and listed it for sale. Within 24 hours it was sold and for the asking price (the second hand sim market is crazy, you can get retail out of good used stuff all day long). The sale price totally covered the purchase of the RaceTech along with all the accessories that I wanted.
Right out of the box is was evident that the RaceTech is quality, just like their real race stuff, everything is built top notch, strong and the finish is perfect. Putting it together was easy, everything fits perfect and again, like their real race stuff is all engineered to perfection. Well almost, here is where it gets shitty. For some dumb reason, RaceTech designed their chassis for Logitech and Thrustmaster wheels and pedals to be used, having to purchase a Direct Drive wheel mount is normal, I have no problem with that. What I have a problem with is that there they didn’t design their pedal plate to be used with anything other than Logitech or Thrustmaster. My Fanatec Inverted V3 pedals didn’t fit at all. My bad for not checking first and just assuming they would have done a better job. I had to take half of the chassis apart to remove the pedal plate and then spent another 3 hours making a template, measuring everything multiple times and then drilling the brand new piece to work with one of the most common pedals used for sim racing. Fucking ridiculous! Luckily I got it right but even being off a little bit would mean doing it all over again or having crooked pedals. RaceTech, if you aren’t going to add Fanatec mounting then at least offer a pedal plate that can be purchased for them. After another two hours putting the sim back together and a few hours fitting the monitor, running wires, getting accessories added and dialing it in I ran into another issue that I hadn’t thought of. RaceTech does not offer any mounts for Buttkickers or other bass shakers, luckily I still had the mounts I made for the Extreme Sim chassis so drilling a couple of holes to use them was easy enough. But easy enough shouldn’t be good enough. RaceTech please take notice. You are making a high dollar sim chassis directed to hardcore sim racers, 90% of what you have is perfect but ignoring Fanatec and other equipment that serious sim racers use is just poor planning and execution.
Finally it was time to race. This is where I get back to the positives and how amazing the RaceTech sim chassis is. Sliding into the seat and firing everything up, it felt like I was getting into one of my normal race cars (excluding the Formula Vee of course), everything was at the right angle, it felt natural. That first night I only raced for about 2 hours. That was a week ago, since then I have well over 20 hours racing including a 4 hour stint in a Daytona 24 Hour race. No discomfort, no fatigue and no issues at all. I absolutely love it! RaceTech did an amazing job, they recreated a GT, production, rally car feeling in a sim chassis. The design (pedal plate excluded), the construction and the hardware is like a true race car, it is all thought out and planned very well. The chassis is so rigid that the slightest vibration from the Buttkickers is felt and for the first time I am able to feel the difference in the vibrations for wheel slip, apex curbs, car contact and so on. None of which transferred through previous chassis well, it was always the same vibration.
Will it be my last sim? Like with real cars, I could say yes but I would probably be lying, I am sure that something better will come out eventually but for now, this is it. Would I buy it again? I would but not until they either add Fanatec and other pedal fitment to the stock pedal plate or provide a plate that can be bought.
