PJRed2008

The winter Corvette QTRLY magazine has a good article on high-end driving/racing simulators. From what I’ve seen on the web, IFS, GTR2 and rFactor appear to be leading the pack and I think two have Corvettes (C5R and C6RS).

Looking at the Logitech G25 wheel system and these sims. Is anyone using these? If so, do you think the Corvette programming is realistic and fairly true to the car?

I have no interest in racing, but I would like to learn more about the mechanics of driving and what is involved at that kind of speed.

QbnSuperman

i'm a big fan of forza2 on the 360

johnodrake

I don't have a clue about the game, but if you really want to learn about the car's performance and the mechanics of driving them fast, look into one of the High Performance Driving Schools like Spring Mountain or Bondurant. You will learn a lot and have more fun that you have ever experienced with your pants on.

PJRed2008

Don't have a 360, but my PC is probably faster I'll see if that is available for PCs.

I'd love to do either of the schools, but there is no priority, and I have other things to spend money on.

talon90

Here's my setup in action in a C6-R in a lap around Limerock. This is in GTR-2 but I also use rFactor.

PJRed2008

Way super! Did the C6-R come with GTR-2 or is it an addon Paul? Haven't gotten into much detail with any of the programs yet, but those two looked like the best. I already spend way too much time with flight sims, and am not planning on getting into the car thing very heavily, but I did want something to match the Vette if it was there.

Phil

Tzzird

GTR2 is supposed to be one of the most realistic driving simulators.

Forza 2 on the xbox360 is the most realistic console racing game.

talon90

I needed to download the C6 and C6.R for both rFactor and GTR-2. There are a couple of C5.R's in the sims.

My same setup changes over for flight simming as well.

c6_rob

ok, this is the coolest thing i have ever seen, how do I do it???

PJRed2008

I agree, I may have to hate you now

How are you driving the monitors? Did you have to pay for the C6-R templates?

QbnSuperman

i have both; 360 and fast pc. PC for fps games and console for racing and such. (fps games on 360 are platformers like GoW and Halo). I do understand you wanting a pc sim game if you get g25, that thing is studly. It works on the ps3 also, but i don't think it does on the 360.

QbnSuperman

btw, Talon;

i'm jealous too lol

(what are the specs on your system?)

Wayne O

Although I far prefer the real deal in my own car, I enjoy PGR2 on xbox...it's fun and their track depictions are amazingly spot on. I may have to look into GTR 2 for my PC though, I've heard good things about it.

Paul...that's an impressive setup...good job!

talon90

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. It really is a lot of fun and I've been working at it over the years. I am as passionate about flight sims and driving sims as I am about Corvettes so in keeping with my personality, go big or stay home. I'll try to answer some of the questions that I've received in PM, email and here in the thread since posting my sim setup.

Driving the 3 main monitors is actually made very easy by a little piece of kit from Matrox called the Triple Head to Go (TH2G).

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/

With most of todays video cars having dual outputs it makes six screens a very real possibility. The bottom 2 instrument monitors are powered by a second PCI video card in the system. These are pretty much only used in my flight sims unless I need the real estate for photoshop work or general research.

The hardware list is as follows:

Off the shelf HP media center PC running Windows XP with an AMD 64 X2 5000+ processor and 4 GB of ram. You can find the specs under model m7640n.

The main video card is pretty low end by todays standards as a NVidia GeForce 7900GS Pci express with 256 mb of video ram.

The secondary video card is extremely low end but I needed to find a pci card with dual output. It is an Nvidia GeForce FX5200 with 128mb ram. Since it only displays 2D information in the form of panels for a flight sim it is pretty low overhead from an output standpoint.

The controls all become a matter of personal preference. For driving sims I use an Actlabs force RS wheel (discontinued) with discreet Actlabs gas, brake and clutch pedals and an Actlabs six speed shifter.

For flight controls my choice was CH Products. I use the CH Combat Stick, Pro Throttle which make up a nice HOTAS setup for military aircraft. Rudder pedals are also CH Products with independant toe brakes and for commercial and general aviation flying I use either a CH Products Yolk with included throttle for single engine or a seperate CH Products throttle quadrant for multi-engine.

I'd say on todays market and with the cost of pc peripherals and hardware priced as it is the whole setup could be put together for well under $2,000.00 US.



Regarding the downloads for GTR-2 and rFactor, nope, they are all free. I have all of the tracks for the ALMS series in both sims as well as a few select favorite european tracks including the Nurburgring and LeSarthe (24hrs at LeMans track).

There is an awesome C6 that two users had modelled and it is a very, very good adaptation of what driving the actual C6 feels like. The developer of this car did extensive research in to the weight, balance and power transfer of the Corvette C6 as well as center of gravity and shock loads. The really is a treat to drive.

You can download the latest version here:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail...0Corvette%20C6


Here's a link to a video of it in action.



Here is another from the creator with in cockpit footage (embedding is disabled for this video.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY5ssFnBTCI

Here is the developers version 3.0 (which I didn't know was out ) Z06 at the ring.



If you have any more questions feel free to ask.

Paul

talon90

Thanks everyone. The specs and some details are posted above.


Wayne, thank you. I don't get to take my car out on the track very often so this keeps me in the game so to speak.

QbnSuperman

very nice setup you have... but you need more GPU power! you can pick up an 8800gt or 9800gt for a little more than $100 on newegg.com

man, with a setup like that, you should get into building your own pc. run a new core i7 cpu with a mobo that does sli, you can run 2 gpu's. up the graphics settings by like 10 on all your games. other than cars and guns and well.. studying, my other hobbie is building computers. its something you should explore. flight sim X looks great on higher settings.

70454

Wow...Impressive!!!

talon90

I ran my own PC consulting business as a sideline for 10 years. I've built far more than my share of PC's. I absolutely agree about the GPU and I've been looking at a 512 8800gts card. We just have a few financial irons in the fire currently and I've been avoiding spending money on non-essentials.

I don't spend as much time as I used to for simming so my desire to keep up or keep trying to win the technology race has waned a little bit. This box is over two years old now and for me previously, that was unheard of.

C6HOKIE

Great setup.
Where did you get the little light on the lower left?

sgrinavi

I have the MOMO wheel and Grid software. Fun, but not even close to realistic.