This article was taken from the May 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
Wired and Williams F1 development driver Susie Wolff (pictured), who will compete in Grand Prix practice sessions this season, tested these racing simulators using the latest PC racing software. iRacing charges a $99 (£60) annual subscription, with extra cars and tracks costing between $12 and $15. We also tested two Codemasters games: F1 2013 and Grid 2, which cost between £20 and £30 each through the download service Steam.
Vesaro, Stage 8 -- V-Spec Motion
With Vesaro's modular sim you can choose parts based on your budget. The basic £2,400 Stage 2 rig comes with the Logitech G27 racing wheel, but you can swap in the pro-level Fanatec Clubsport +
TH8RS Shifter for £1,800. The top end is the Vesaro Stage 8 model, which features the Fanatec control system and a Cobra Evolution Pro fibreglass seat. The powerful PC, surround sound and triple-monitor display feel high-end. Motion technology from Canadian firm D-BOX powers the physical feedback and can deliver up to 2Gs, and four accentuators replicate pitch, roll and heave. It's a world away from a console on your sofa, says Wolff: "The seating position, steering and pedals are much better than using a control pad."
WIRED Highly customisable
TIRED Slightly nauseating at times
£27,200
Whereas the other simulators tested are based around a cockpit-like chassis, the TL1 is more enclosed. The shell houses three projectors beaming an ultra-wide image in front of you. The seat slides up and down so you can quickly move from standard car positions to the more extreme angles of an F1 car. The TL1 offers the most immersive racing experience of all the simulators we tested, although the noise from the computer, projectors and many fans became intrusive.
WIRED Immersive experience; sort-of portable design
TIRED Fiddly seat setup; fan noise
£20,000
Runcorn-based Aeon Simulators uses high-end components from D-BOX and Fanatec for steering and motion feedback. Aesthetics come from owner Geoff Turton, who collects and repairs real cars in the same garage as he builds his simulators, using similar techniques. It's cheaper than the others in this test because it doesn't come with a display, speakers or the computer needed to play games -- Aeon's focus is on the cockpit rather than the AV surrounding it.
WIRED Bespoke chassis; cable management
TIRED No AV elements as standard
£15,000
Although the latest simulators impressed Susie Wolff, they're still some way off the bespoke sims she
and her fellow development drivers use to test F1 cars. "Every team develops their own simulator, and every one is different," she told us. "Some of them even have hydraulics which are connected to the helmet to simulate g-force." Expect virtual-reality headsets such as Oculus Rift to improve future racing-simulator experiences even further. Physics and realistic damage modelling are also still in their infancy; with the continued increase in processing and graphical power, we'll see vast improvements in visuals and impact modelling in future simulations.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
