compare peripheral systems

[maxman]

Ηello moderators
I believe that would be very useful to create a topic (or more) to compare peripherals.
(wheels ,pedals ,games ,actuators ,monitors....)
E.G. I like to start building a home simulator .What is the special characteristic for the different games that Xsim supports?
What is better for a beginner ? What if I am scheduling a professional simulator?
The same for other peripherals.
I am not familiar to forums ,maybe I must post somewhere else.
Thank you and congratulations agene for the great job.
maxman

[Carl]

Hi Max. I am still a bit of a noob on this forum having just 12 months experience building sims whilst mainly playing RFactor2. I built a basic 2dof sim with 2 wiper motors, 2 jrks, two 30a psu's and a kit car fully adjustable bucket seat.

Peripheral wise I think you will find almost all kit commercially available is compatible with x-sim so it just comes down to budget and taste. I myself went for the Fanatec GT3 wheel, I can change lots of settings and indeed whole wheel setups on the fly plus it has a really nice alcantara grip. I also went for the club sport v1 pedals from Fanatec. The pedals are truly a work of art. The load cell and rumble motor on the brake makes riding corners right on the edge of available grip predictable and an awful lot easier. The problem with this kit is its very expensive. I shopped around a fair bit and picked all this up much below market price. Think I got the wheel for £75 and the pedals for £180 so £255 all in... worth every penny IMHO. I have used this kit incessantly for the last 12 months and it still feels like the day I got it... quality!

I started in 2011 with a very cheap wheel and pedal setup after the F1 2011 game was released. It was a Thrustmaster RGT which was a bad experience when I look back. I was happy with it at the time like a child with bad eyesight... I knew no better. The FFB died within a month. The wheel was shot to pieces within a year and the pedals were just plain awful.

Games wise I dont play many. RFactor 2 (my choice) is an awesome sim racing game, hard to learn and very realistic but downloading the tracks is a PITA. The F1 series gets some use in our house too as my 8 year old is obsessed with F1. Its a bit arcade like but has its place. I also play Dirt3 when I just want to mess about drifting and rallying.