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This has been a recent pet project. VR has completely flipped my gaming preferences upside down. First, I played console racing games for a long time before getting burned out. The years of no cockpit view were the dark ages. Cockpit view made it last a little longer but ultimately playing on a single screen just didn't cut it anymore and I lost interest.
Second, I work on flight sims professionally. Definitely had worse jobs but it's still a job and flying real-world planes for fun didn't appeal to me.
Then VR happened. Being in the cockpit again made all the difference. Being able to look at switches and press them with a HOTAS button instead of having to memorize separate mappings for each plane is tremendous. Staring at your AI drivers as you pass them like Luigi makes it all worthwhile.
Alas, while an Xbox controller will get me through the majority of my gaming, a steering wheel/HOTAS it is not.
I needed a rig that supported both flying and racing and that is no easy task. Yes I could have made something. Got the tools and the know-how. Also have the attention span of a fly.
First iteration was a HOTAS on the desk. The Thrustmaster 16000 FCS. Works excellent on a desktop, highly recommend. I needed more buttons and wanted to at least get off the desk.
Those posts are Ikea laptop stands with the table surface removed and the Saitek X52 Pro stuck on with 3M double-lock. That actually worked great but the Saitek crapped out in less than 2 weeks. Would have continued to use the stands but they wouldn't really accommodate a heavy HOTAS, only the unfortunately shitty Saitek that weighed about an ounce.
I bumped up to a WheelstandPro Warthog model (but didn't take pics with the HOTAS) and really can't say enough good things about this thing. Really solid, mounting holes for pretty much anything on the market you would get as far as a HOTAS or wheel. Except Fanatec wheels. More on that. I decided to stop using it, not for any fault of it's own, but because my office chair wasn't really compatible. Too tall (it is actually a "big and tall" model), and I never came up with a way to lock the pivot. Having my ergo's thrown out of whack in VR can be hard to notice until the aches set in, but that is me.
Bit the bullet on a Playseat Air Force. Maybe a little pricey for what it is, but damn if it doesn't do a great job of it. And when they say they deliver in 48 hours from the Netherlands, buddy, they aren't kidding. It was on my Vegas porch two days after leaving. Good customer support so far when I was emailing pre-purchase about measurements.
So flight sim rig complete. What's that? Fanatec is blowing out their CSL Elite racing bundles for Black Friday '17? I'm your huckleberry.
Aside from drilling three holes to mount the wheelbase to the center post of the WheelStandPro, it went right on with the nuts and bolts that WSP provided (which is a really good assortment because HOTAS/Wheels usually don't come with anything at all).
One power, one USB are all that connect the Fanatec setup. Pull them, toss them under the seat, and just pick it up out of the way.
If I had to do it all over again from scratch I'm not sure what I would end up with right now. Very happy with what I have , but boy did I learn some hard lessons along the way. Hopefully anybody else interested in something like this can avoid the same mistakes.
Second, I work on flight sims professionally. Definitely had worse jobs but it's still a job and flying real-world planes for fun didn't appeal to me.
Then VR happened. Being in the cockpit again made all the difference. Being able to look at switches and press them with a HOTAS button instead of having to memorize separate mappings for each plane is tremendous. Staring at your AI drivers as you pass them like Luigi makes it all worthwhile.
Alas, while an Xbox controller will get me through the majority of my gaming, a steering wheel/HOTAS it is not.
I needed a rig that supported both flying and racing and that is no easy task. Yes I could have made something. Got the tools and the know-how. Also have the attention span of a fly.
First iteration was a HOTAS on the desk. The Thrustmaster 16000 FCS. Works excellent on a desktop, highly recommend. I needed more buttons and wanted to at least get off the desk.
Those posts are Ikea laptop stands with the table surface removed and the Saitek X52 Pro stuck on with 3M double-lock. That actually worked great but the Saitek crapped out in less than 2 weeks. Would have continued to use the stands but they wouldn't really accommodate a heavy HOTAS, only the unfortunately shitty Saitek that weighed about an ounce.
I bumped up to a WheelstandPro Warthog model (but didn't take pics with the HOTAS) and really can't say enough good things about this thing. Really solid, mounting holes for pretty much anything on the market you would get as far as a HOTAS or wheel. Except Fanatec wheels. More on that. I decided to stop using it, not for any fault of it's own, but because my office chair wasn't really compatible. Too tall (it is actually a "big and tall" model), and I never came up with a way to lock the pivot. Having my ergo's thrown out of whack in VR can be hard to notice until the aches set in, but that is me.
Bit the bullet on a Playseat Air Force. Maybe a little pricey for what it is, but damn if it doesn't do a great job of it. And when they say they deliver in 48 hours from the Netherlands, buddy, they aren't kidding. It was on my Vegas porch two days after leaving. Good customer support so far when I was emailing pre-purchase about measurements.
So flight sim rig complete. What's that? Fanatec is blowing out their CSL Elite racing bundles for Black Friday '17? I'm your huckleberry.
Aside from drilling three holes to mount the wheelbase to the center post of the WheelStandPro, it went right on with the nuts and bolts that WSP provided (which is a really good assortment because HOTAS/Wheels usually don't come with anything at all).
One power, one USB are all that connect the Fanatec setup. Pull them, toss them under the seat, and just pick it up out of the way.
If I had to do it all over again from scratch I'm not sure what I would end up with right now. Very happy with what I have , but boy did I learn some hard lessons along the way. Hopefully anybody else interested in something like this can avoid the same mistakes.
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