Sidney

The idea of virtual cockpits where players sit hunkered down in racing seats behind racing wheels, in front of big screens and speakers that bring the myriad of adrenalin-pumping sounds of hi-performance cars tearing down tracks and through city streets to life, is nothing new. Arcades were doing it long before today's high-powered consoles and PCs, although arcades have nothing on what you're likely to find in living rooms and on desktops today.

Racing games on PCs and consoles have come a long way in terms of realism and visual quality, enhanced by the latest wheel and pedal sets-particularly the ones with Force-Feedback technology. Clamped to a desk, table, or placed in the lap, they lack one important element of immersion: the ability to put the player in the same seating position as an actual race car driver for maximum comfort and control while playing their favorite racing game or simulator-until now.

Consisting of a racing-style bucket seat attached to a compact frame, with mounting points for wheels and foot pedals, virtual cockpits are making a comeback as centerpieces of sophisticated Digital Lifestyle home entertainment systems, to more modest settings in living rooms, basements and dorms. They come in every configuration from affordable, to "your-significant-other-screaming-at-the-top-of-her-lungs-while-filing-for-divorce" expensive. Today, we're going to look at a simple, yet high-quality, well-designed and reasonably priced unit from Bob Earl Racing-the Virtual Racing Chassis.

Review Link: http://www.barrys-rigs-n-reviews.com...re/vrc/vrc.htm

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lazyman

Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II

Sidney

Where is the cup holder for beer?
Where is the 42" screen?
Where is the seat belt?
Where is the headrest and helmet hold down tie?

Unacceptable!

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lazyman

Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II

jmke

close to $400 is WAY TO expensive, and from the photo is seems that setup is simply sitting TOO low for him as he has to stare UP to see the monitor.

getting a seat out of a sportcars which is scheduled for scrap will give you a more "realistic" setting . That's my plan at least

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Bosw8er

http://www.bobearlracing.com/morphing.swf

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"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

jmke

what's your point? his monitor is sitting TOO HIGH...it should be RIGHT BEHIND his steering wheel, like in the F1 / any racecar

not 30cm up.


+ I have found that in any decent Race Sim (rFactor, LFS) the F1 class of racecars is most likely "too hot to handle" for 90% of the people out there, the game recreates the whole experience quite correctly, and with 400BHP (in LFS) and 800BHP (rFactor) sitting in the back of a lightweight car with massive downforce, makes the drive blistering fast, too fast for most, and any error = crash.

in LFS I have enjoyed races in the Slower GTI (peugeot 105BHP) much more.. and in such a car you don't sit as in a F1

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Bosw8er

I ment to emphasize the very lousy merchandising/publicity

- the insinuation that the average joe can be a F1-driver is displayed in a very tacky way
- look at the very hip & funky person behind the wheel ... a real pilot !!

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"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

jmke

aha! should express yourself more than just with " "

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Barry Little

There is nothing in the VRC's marketing that ever remotely suggests that the VRC will make the average person or gamer an F1-driver. The VRC was designed for entertainment, and nothing more.

As for the unit's height, I am 6' tall, and the montior I used was a 20" LCD display. I had a comfortable line of sight with the montior and did not have to look up at it.

As the VRC does sit low on the floor, someone who is not as tall as I am would probably take a small table (the ones for computers that you find in office superstores for $30-$50 will get the job done), and sit it in front of the VRC and put their monitor on top of it, and they wouldn't have a problem.

There are other units similar to the VRC on the market that have either built in monitor stands or offer them as an option, for this purpose, because they also sit low on the floor. These units also cost a lot more than the VRC.

Cheers!

Barry Little
Editor-in-Chief
BRnR

jmke

at the end of the day I would go with DIY material + old seat from junkyard to create a virtual driver seat

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