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Hi guys,

So lately I’ve been getting the urge to get back into racing. I used to do a bit of Speedway in my teens, and was going to have a go at a 24 Lemon’s race this year, but Covid put an end to that. Apart from that, it’s the occasional Go Kart race here and there

Watching these E Series races has started to ignite the flame. I figure it’ll be far more affordable than real racing, and much safer. I’m doing some research, the idea of building a PC sounds interesting also, so I’m hoping to get some advice from fellow racers.

I read the thread about iracing, and while that seems the most obvious place to go, I’m worried it might need more time commitments I don’t have. I’m looking for something where I can pop in, maybe spend an hour or 2 over the occasional weekend.

Track and car wise, I’m an Indy fan, and love ovals, so that would be ideal.. again, the appeal of iracing is I can work my way up, and can limit my purchases to Indy until I get an urge to race other series.

Is there any other series out there worth looking at? Also any tips or advice on hardware, wheels, PC requirements would be awesome!

First off, kudos for wanting to build your own system! It's not only more economical than buying a prebuilt machine, it's a rewarding and frustrating hobby in its own right.

For what you want to do, there's a good chance that iRacing really is the best option. It has a very large and (mostly) serious player base, and has ovals and Indy cars. One of my other recommendations, Assetto Corsa Competizione, is aimed only at GT cars and wouldn't fill that niche. Another important consideration is graphics requirements: iRacing is an older engine at this point, and can be run very well on a modest computer. ACC is much newer and shinier, and needs a modern gaming rig to show its best.

Do you have a budget in mind for the setup (PC and wheel/pedals/etc)? It's difficult to make any recommendations without knowing at least the rough range to be thinking in.

Exediron wrote:First off, kudos for wanting to build your own system! It's not only more economical than buying a prebuilt machine, it's a rewarding and frustrating hobby in its own right.

For what you want to do, there's a good chance that iRacing really is the best option. It has a very large and (mostly) serious player base, and has ovals and Indy cars. One of my other recommendations, Assetto Corsa Competizione, is aimed only at GT cars and wouldn't fill that niche. Another important consideration is graphics requirements: iRacing is an older engine at this point, and can be run very well on a modest computer. ACC is much newer and shinier, and needs a modern gaming rig to show its best.

Do you have a budget in mind for the setup (PC and wheel/pedals/etc)? It's difficult to make any recommendations without knowing at least the rough range to be thinking in.

Thanks, Im a bit of a tinkerer, and looking for a new hobby. DIY'd the landscaping on the house, once that was done, got into home brewing, so now Im looking for the next thing to tinker on in the garage while drinking the home brew.

I think you're right about iracing, plus it'll give me an opportunity to explore other events if I wish. I didn't factor in the graphics requirements, so that might help with the cost of the PC build as well.

I don't have a budget in mind at this stage. I'm still looking around at the moment at costings, and coming up with a proposed budget for Mrs LeBrad to approve. So at the moment Im looking into what's the minimum required to have a long term crack and I won't need to worry about upgrading soonish. Im actually looking forward to knocking together the frame to house everything. I've seen some good timber and pvc pipe designs... but that'll come later

I also have a PC I use for when I work from home, so I think the sensible thing would be to see if that can run iracing. Then from there I can get the wheel and pedal set up, have a go and if its for me, then I can go to town with the frame/building PC etc. No point doing the PC build if I don't get into it

Charles LeBrad wrote:I also have a PC I use for when I work from home, so I think the sensible thing would be to see if that can run iracing. Then from there I can get the wheel and pedal set up, have a go and if its for me, then I can go to town with the frame/building PC etc. No point doing the PC build if I don't get into it

That seems like a sensible plan.

Picking the right initial wheel / pedal setup is the main thing then. You'd want something good enough that you won't want to ditch it instantly if you decide you like sim racing -- and also good enough that you'll get a fair impression if you do like sim racing.

The thing to focus on (in my opinion, at least) is the brake pedal specifically. Every set is going to have a pretty similar throttle pedal, and while clutch feel gets better with better pedals it's not so important. Force feedback on the wheel likewise is more of a quantitative than qualitative thing. All of those improve with better hardware, but the brakes is the big thing.

Basically, my recommendation is to make sure you get a set of pedals that has a load cell brake. This cuts out a lot of the entry-level hardware, but I personally find it so weird to try to race with a linear travel brake that I just don't enjoy the experience at all and I'm not fast. My first wheel was a Logitech G25, but it wasn't until I got a Fanatec pedal set that I really started to feel like I could drive the sim without ABS on.

Im thinking I might get this G29 as my starter

https://www.gamesmen.com.au/cont-pc-ps4 ... gitech-g29

Then if I get into it, I can either upgrade the pedals, or get a Load Cell upgrade kit for the existing pedals