rec.autos.simulators

Tim

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It's actually more like <cough>750 quid</cough>, with the pedals coming in
at an extra 150.

Serious money, for sure, but let me put that into perspective: having raced
sims since 1994 I've already binned 250 Pounds worth of wheel/pedal combos
(TM1+TM2+LWFF).
The MOMO Force cost and additional 180 pounds to buy and, in total, I guess
I must calculate well over a 1000 pounds in man-hours repairing/modding my
wheels over the years just to keep them going and/or improving their feel.

As with any worthwhile hobby one takes seriously and intends to pursue (just
with GPL, NR2003, GTR and LFS I can't see myself ever growing tired of
"driving"), the tools of the trade don't come cheap. E.g. I also like to
design, build and repair a variety of electronic circuits. To this end I own
an entry level rework station (soldering/desoldering) at a cool 1500 pounds,
a CAE (computer aided engineering) design suite (Proteus) at 175 pounds and
a digital storage oscilloscope worth 2200 pounds.

All of which pales in comparison to actually competing in any competitive
real life racing series, where you'd be lucky to spend less than 7500 pounds
a year and still be ahead of the also rans.

The problem with racing sims (and the hardware used to *play* them) has been
the fact they've been viewed as part of a toy/entertainment market, which
has led to a lowest bidder mentality and, consequently, dropping quality
accross the board. If any good is to come from the failure of the various
"true sims" to compete with yer Counter Strikes and Everquests it's through
its limited customers willing to pay a valid price for a valid product.

Jan.
=---

I have had many wheels, but only one FFB wheel, the MS Sidewinder.  It
may not be the best wheel in the market, but I found it to be pretty
sturdy and with a good feels and has last a good 4 or 5 years now.

Sim racing is a niche market.  And will never compete with games like CS
and everquest.  You have to invest alot of time just to get good at
racing sims, and really need a lot of real life car knowledge to get the
best of them.  Most people are not willing to put that time in, CS is
realtivly easy to play, its just a mulit-player FPS.

If you can afford a quality product to go along with your hobby then go
ahead, but even for poeople that enjoy the hobby, the better end of a
grand is hard to justify for one product consisting of only a wheel and
pedals which you can pick fairly decent FFB wheels for 50.  Then again
if I could afford to spend that much on a wheel my opinion might be
different :-)

--
Transplants save lives! - Have you signed up to be a donor?  
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Do something amazing today. Save a life, give ***.
http://www.***.co.uk/

My games collection and Live games:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

-Larry

found it, retailing at 399! I think most people will have to stick

Curious... I had similar problem with MSFFW when comparing it with
Guillemot Ferrari FF that I had before. I've solved the problem by opening
MSFF and bolting it to the desk (with real bolts going through the bottom
of the wheel and through the desk). That works amazingly well, the wheel is
not going anywhere anytime soon :) Should work with any wheel... I wonder
why no genius has come out with such a simple idea ;)

Alex.

-Larry

Curious... I had similar problem with MSFFW when comparing it with

With MSFFW problem is in up-down direction. There's nothing that holds the
front of the wheel from going up.