VRoom VRoom
I never considered myself a "car guy". Since getting behind the wheel at 14, driving was about navigating from one parking space to another via an orderly grid of streets - specifically without dying. Growing up in Metro Detroit, one was never far from the threat of extinction by potholes, deer crossings, black ice, and so much more.
I considered driving the thing you did between activities, so for the past 16 years, I've proudly driven my Honda Civic like a grandpa (but not my grandpa because he drove like a madman).
So to my great surprise, a vehicular awakening came upon me in February 2021 after watching Drive to Survive on Netflix; a documentary series chronicling the lives of Formula 1 drivers. I started streaming live races; utterly mesmerized by the speed and skill needed to drive at 200mph mere inches from the wall. The next year, I flew to Mexico City to see my first GP.
I started an F1 fanclub slack channel at work, and when asked to give a lightning talk (a very short presentation of a hobby or passion), guess what I gave mine about?
Pretty soon my YouTube recommendations were full of gear heads doing burnouts in muscle cars, animated diagrams of the 4 stroke cycle, go-karts, etc. The speed demon had it's claws in me, and I admit, I was terribly tempted to upgrade my Civic.
But common sense kept me in check.
Right up until I began playing Gran Turismo 7 on PS4 and had the realization that instead of buying one decent car in real life, I could enjoy hundreds virtually - assuming I could get close(ish) to simulating reality.
This is my journey getting pretty damn close.
Phase 1
A proper wheel & pedals were needed, so I picked up the Fanatec DD Pro with a Boost Kit to increase wheel torque from 5nm to 8nm, and Metal Pedals because they're pretty.
While an improvement to racing with a controller, I quickly realized that using a flimsy table wasn't going to work. Even with 70lbs on top and another 50 on the pedals, everything was shifting & wobbling around - imagine driving a car made of jello.
Phase 2
I decided to pickup a wheel stand to bolt everything to, and could be somewhat mobile in case I needed to reclaim the space. I decided on the GTOmega APEX because it was compact and relatively inexpensive. Around this time, a major update to GT7 was released that added VR support - which resulted in me picking up a PS5 with the PSV2. I also bought a Shifter to teach myself how to drive manuals, and upgraded the brake pedal to a Load Sensing Kit so the brake responds to pressure instead of travel depth. Turns out getting a place to bolt more gear onto results in....more gear.
I kept the above setup for some time as it was very convincing and tactile. I even added a small fan that made it feel like a window was open. Yet there was still the issue of stability; the stand would still slide back even with weights placed in front, and the chair would shift around. I decided to wait until after I moved from LA to Raleigh for the next set of upgrades since way more space was needed.
Phase 3
Time to get grounded. I picked up the GTR Pro Simulator rig, which included an adjustable seat and pedal tray for the perfect fit. In the time between Phase 2 & 3, another update was released that allows you to read the car's internal data from the PS5 over the network on a Windows PC. Using software called SimHub, you can add numerous hardware add-ons to increase immersion. So I fired up an old Windows laptop I rarely used and put it to work.
Bass Shakers
I picked up a 100W 2-channel bass amplifier and 2 35W Bass Shakers. Imagine subwoofers but meant to create vibrations instead of sound. These are the kinds of things under DBOX theater seats that let you feel explosions and other effects. With one mounted under the seat and a second under the pedal tray, I can now feel curbs, the texture of the road, the revving of the engine, the clunk of shifting gears, wheel slip, and much more. Each setting can be dialed in to get the perfect feel, similar to a mixing engineer's job in a music studio (an subject I know quite well).
Wind Simulation
And lastly (for now), I found a small company on Etsy that makes custom hardware for SimHub's Wind Simulator and picked up two fans that bolt to side of the wheel base. They spin up & down with the car's speed, giving you the feeling of acceleration and helping keep you cool in VR.
The Whole Setup
To tie everything together, I picked up a bookcase for organization, an adjustable laptop arm with a small 1080p monitor velcro'd on to navigate the menus outside of VR, upgraded the audio to the Sony Pulse 3D Wireless Headset for deeper sound immersion, and mounted it all on industrial vibration dampeners to keep the bass shakers from pissing off neighbors.
This thing brings me so much joy. In under a minute I can hop into hundreds of cars that each feel so different from one another. I can feel the power of an American V8 muscle car, the insane torque of an EV, all day every day.
I finally get why people obsess over cars.
For the record, I still drive my Honda Civic like a geriatric gentleman because humans break easily. But these days I definitely consider myself "car guy".