best simulated driving?

I want to get a gift for my husband - he has mentioned he would like a simulated driving system for his computer (windows xp) with a steering wheel and pedals. Can anyone recomend the best one and where I can purchase it? I'm in Canada but can also get it on-line if I have to. Thanks very much.

"mercedes-amg" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... >I want to get a gift for my husband - he has mentioned he would like a > simulated driving system for his computer (windows xp) with a steering > wheel and pedals. Can anyone recomend the best one and where I can > purchase it? I'm in Canada but can also get it on-line if I have to. > Thanks very much. >If you are looking for the best I believe it is the ECCI system. I have used most of the high end wheel and pedal combos and find it to be by far the best. The only drawback is the price as being the best it is quite expensive. I believe I paid around $1500 US dollars for it but find it's worth every penny MILO:)

On Apr 14, 5:45 pm, "mercedes-amg" <[email hidden]> wrote: > I want to get a gift for my husband - he has mentioned he would like a > simulated driving system for his computer (windows xp) with a steering > wheel and pedals. Can anyone recomend the best one and where I can > purchase it? I'm in Canada but can also get it on-line if I have to. > Thanks very much. Try Best Buy. Get a Logitech Momo Racing wheel, and try to find a copy of a racing simulator program called GTR2. GTR and GTL would be OK too. Copies of those programs are usually on the shelf at my local Best Buy. They always seem to have the Logitech Momo in stock too. Pat Dotson

On 14 Apr 2007 14:45:43 -0700, "mercedes-amg" <[email hidden]> wrote: >I want to get a gift for my husband - he has mentioned he would like a >simulated driving system for his computer (windows xp) with a steering >wheel and pedals. Can anyone recomend the best one and where I can >purchase it? I'm in Canada but can also get it on-line if I have to. >Thanks very much. About the wheel/pedals: The Logitech MOMO mentioned by Pat is a good entrylevel steering wheel/pedal combo, the ECCI mentioned by Milo is more for the 'professional' sim racer. Personally I would advice the Logitech G25, a bit more expensive than the MOMO, but well worth it in my opinion. (it looks better, has better Force Feedback, 3 pedals, and a separate gearchange unit) About the software: Put a few simracers in a room, aks them what the best racinggame is, and after a while they'll continue their discussion in the ER... Some games are more directed to fun, and don't simulate the cars as realisticly as possible, the so called arcade games. You hardly have to brake, can bounce of other cars, but you get a great feel of speed, and those games look often fantastic. Need for speed carbon, for example. Others are more directed to simulation. The game tries to simulate the cars as real as possible. It takes time to learn to drive, and can be frustrating at times. Most of these games do have options so you turn it into an arcade racer. The question is, what kind of game does your husband like? Does he seem to like arcade racers, get Need for speed carbon, is he more a racing kind of guy, go with the advice of Pat, get GTR2. Cheers! Remco

For a simracing starter system, I'd also recommend the Momo DFP for a wheel as an entry-level steering device, plus rFactor and GTR2 as sims of choice. GTR2 works ok out of the box, while rF may require some hunting down of new cars and tracks online, but once you've got the hang of that, it's better than GTR2 in nearly all aspects in my opinion. All the best, uwe -- GPG Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

I would only add the the Mrs, that asked the question, and to Remco's great info is, if he watches TV racing, or goto tracks locally (dirt roundy rounders) or even in bigger cities the go-cart tracks, to watch once in a while or??? What does he watch? This helps us find you a "sim" or game that he might be more interested in, more likely to enjoy and invest just a little bit of time to adapt to racing on a computer. Except for arcade games for playstation & nintendo, there are games and mods that take a decent amount of sacrifice of time, just to get "decent" at, let alone expect to beat others, which is your "payoff" or reward for the efforts you put into racing. Also, Is the hubby a guy who knows much about cars & performance more than in general, some of my buddies barely know where to check the oil... But are dang good coaches etc... Remco Moedt enlightened us with:

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> On 14 Apr 2007 14:45:43 -0700, "mercedes-amg" <[email hidden]> > wrote: > >> I want to get a gift for my husband - he has mentioned he would like >> a simulated driving system for his computer (windows xp) with a >> steering wheel and pedals. Can anyone recomend the best one and >> where I can purchase it? I'm in Canada but can also get it on-line >> if I have to. Thanks very much. > > About the wheel/pedals: > The Logitech MOMO mentioned by Pat is a good entrylevel steering > wheel/pedal combo, the ECCI mentioned by Milo is more for the > 'professional' sim racer. Personally I would advice the Logitech G25, > a bit more expensive than the MOMO, but well worth it in my opinion. > (it looks better, has better Force Feedback, 3 pedals, and a separate > gearchange unit) > > About the software: > Put a few simracers in a room, aks them what the best racinggame is, > and after a while they'll continue their discussion in the ER... > > Some games are more directed to fun, and don't simulate the cars as > realisticly as possible, the so called arcade games. You hardly have > to brake, can bounce of other cars, but you get a great feel of speed, > and those games look often fantastic. Need for speed carbon, for > example. > > Others are more directed to simulation. The game tries to simulate the > cars as real as possible. It takes time to learn to drive, and can be > frustrating at times. Most of these games do have options so you turn > it into an arcade racer. > > The question is, what kind of game does your husband like? Does he > seem to like arcade racers, get Need for speed carbon, is he more a > racing kind of guy, go with the advice of Pat, get GTR2. > > Cheers! > > Remco

On Apr 16, 8:32 am, "Plowboy" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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> I would only add the the Mrs, that asked the question, and to Remco's great > info is, if he watches TV racing, or goto tracks locally (dirt roundy > rounders) or even in bigger cities the go-cart tracks, to watch once in a > while or??? What does he watch? This helps us find you a "sim" or game > that he might be more interested in, more likely to enjoy and invest just a > little bit of time to adapt to racing on a computer. Except for arcade > games for playstation & nintendo, there are games and mods that take a > decent amount of sacrifice of time, just to get "decent" at, let alone > expect to beat others, which is your "payoff" or reward for the efforts you > put into racing. > > Also, Is the hubby a guy who knows much about cars & performance more than > in general, some of my buddies barely know where to check the oil... But > are dang good coaches etc... > > Remco Moedt enlightened us with: > > > > > On 14 Apr 2007 14:45:43 -0700, "mercedes-amg" <[email hidden]> > > wrote: > > >> I want to get a gift for my husband - he has mentioned he would like > >> a simulated driving system for his computer (windows xp) with a > >> steering wheel and pedals. Can anyone recomend the best one and > >> where I can purchase it? I'm in Canada but can also get it on-line > >> if I have to. Thanks very much. > > > About the wheel/pedals: > > The Logitech MOMO mentioned by Pat is a good entrylevel steering > > wheel/pedal combo, the ECCI mentioned by Milo is more for the > > 'professional' sim racer. Personally I would advice the Logitech G25, > > a bit more expensive than the MOMO, but well worth it in my opinion. > > (it looks better, has better Force Feedback, 3 pedals, and a separate > > gearchange unit) > > > About the software: > > Put a few simracers in a room, aks them what the best racinggame is, > > and after a while they'll continue their discussion in the ER... > > > Some games are more directed to fun, and don't simulate the cars as > > realisticly as possible, the so called arcade games. You hardly have > > to brake, can bounce of other cars, but you get a great feel of speed, > > and those games look often fantastic. Need for speed carbon, for > > example. > > > Others are more directed to simulation. The game tries to simulate the > > cars as real as possible. It takes time to learn to drive, and can be > > frustrating at times. Most of these games do have options so you turn > > it into an arcade racer. > > > The question is, what kind of game does your husband like? Does he > > seem to like arcade racers, get Need for speed carbon, is he more a > > racing kind of guy, go with the advice of Pat, get GTR2. > > > Cheers! > > > Remco- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text -

Wow, thanks for all the information everybody. That's very helpful! To answer your questions, Plowboy, yes he knows a lot about cars in general. He has a great garage (the garage-ma-hal as known to his friends) with a lift and every automotive tool you can imagine. the shows he watches are usually on the Speed channel or the various channels that show fast high performance cars like mercedes and such. One of the shows he watches is called Top Gear. No, he doesn't go to local race tracks, although we did go to the Champ car racing thing that was here last summer. I don't think he's an Arcade type player, I think he's more interested in the driving aspect of racing. Does that make sense? Sorry, I admittedly don't pay much more attention to the subject than that.

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> Wow, thanks for all the information everybody. That's very helpful! To > answer your questions, Plowboy, yes he knows a lot about cars in > general. He has a great garage (the garage-ma-hal as known to his > friends) with a lift and every automotive tool you can imagine. the > shows he watches are usually on the Speed channel or the various > channels that show fast high performance cars like mercedes and such. > One of the shows he watches is called Top Gear. No, he doesn't go to > local race tracks, although we did go to the Champ car racing thing > that was here last summer. I don't think he's an Arcade type player, I > think he's more interested in the driving aspect of racing. Does that > make sense? Sorry, I admittedly don't pay much more attention to the > subject than that. >

With his mechanical background I would bet he would be interested also in the setup area. Rfactor, although maybe a bit confusing to a newcomer, might be the best bet. There are so many different types of racing you can do with it along with setups and mechanical adjustments you can actually feel on the track. If you do go in that direction, you can send him to this forum and there are many folks who will explain how all the mods work and gladly help as much as possible. Ed

On Apr 16, 10:16 am, "Ed Medlin" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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> > Wow, thanks for all the information everybody. That's very helpful! To > > answer your questions, Plowboy, yes he knows a lot about cars in > > general. He has a great garage (the garage-ma-hal as known to his > > friends) with a lift and every automotive tool you can imagine. the > > shows he watches are usually on the Speed channel or the various > > channels that show fast high performance cars like mercedes and such. > > One of the shows he watches is called Top Gear. No, he doesn't go to > > local race tracks, although we did go to the Champ car racing thing > > that was here last summer. I don't think he's an Arcade type player, I > > think he's more interested in the driving aspect of racing. Does that > > make sense? Sorry, I admittedly don't pay much more attention to the > > subject than that. > > With his mechanical background I would bet he would be interested also in > the setup area. Rfactor, although maybe a bit confusing to a newcomer, might > be the best bet. There are so many different types of racing you can do with > it along with setups and mechanical adjustments you can actually feel on the > track. If you do go in that direction, you can send him to this forum and > there are many folks who will explain how all the mods work and gladly help > as much as possible. > > Ed

Thanks again. I'll be checking out all the suggestions!

"mercedes-amg" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> On Apr 16, 10:16 am, "Ed Medlin" <[email hidden]> wrote: >> > Wow, thanks for all the information everybody. That's very helpful! To >> > answer your questions, Plowboy, yes he knows a lot about cars in >> > general. He has a great garage (the garage-ma-hal as known to his >> > friends) with a lift and every automotive tool you can imagine. the >> > shows he watches are usually on the Speed channel or the various >> > channels that show fast high performance cars like mercedes and such. >> > One of the shows he watches is called Top Gear. No, he doesn't go to >> > local race tracks, although we did go to the Champ car racing thing >> > that was here last summer. I don't think he's an Arcade type player, I >> > think he's more interested in the driving aspect of racing. Does that >> > make sense? Sorry, I admittedly don't pay much more attention to the >> > subject than that. >> >> With his mechanical background I would bet he would be interested also in >> the setup area. Rfactor, although maybe a bit confusing to a newcomer, >> might >> be the best bet. There are so many different types of racing you can do >> with >> it along with setups and mechanical adjustments you can actually feel on >> the >> track. If you do go in that direction, you can send him to this forum and >> there are many folks who will explain how all the mods work and gladly >> help >> as much as possible. >> >> Ed > > Thanks again. I'll be checking out all the suggestions!

A G25 by Logitech is about $260 from amazon.com and is a high quality force feedback wheel. A DFP by Logitech is probably the best budget wheel and can be had for about $80. As for sims, I'd recomend rFactor because it has almost every type of car and track, and there are places he can race online (R.A.C.E.R. or Race2Play) that are extremely well organized and can give him all the help he needs to make the most out of his new hobby. -- David G Fisher