So, what did Santa Claus bring you?

[racinric95]

A netbook to take on the road to upload pictures

Ric:)

[dbratten]

A few weeks ago he sent me a GoPro HD camera to take racing. Yesterday we went around to a couple of houses in Santa Clara and collected two sets of scrub Kumho 710's to get me to next Christmas.

Hope he was a good to all of you. :)

--Dan

[Gary_44]

SimSeat for the 360 steering wheel. All day I had to keep repeating to family, "It's not a racing game...it's a simulator!"

My little nephew really got into the spirit, though. He gets me.

http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh473/GForce944/140.jpg

[miatacrosser]

Great setup, Gary. I'm hoping to get a PS3 in the next month or so along with an HD tv so I can play Grand Tourismo 5 when it come out next month.

I really like the steering wheel and pedal setup you have. Is it just for the XBox or do they make for all the systems? I'm really curious if anyone knows of a good steering wheel and pedal kit for these games. I want one that is the closest thing to the real deal in the way that it drives the cars in the game. I've tried some that have no "on center feel" at all which makes holding the car in a straight line near impossible. I hate it when the car is constantly veering to one side of the track or the other. Kinda reminds me of some of the drivers I've seen on the road this week.

[Gary_44]

Mine is the Microsoft wheel, specific to the Xbox360. It has good force feedback and stays centered well. I would really like to find a setup that has clutch and stick shift so I can practice my heel-toe, but the xbox units cost like $300+, so I'll make due with my paddle shifters until I find a deal on them.

Logitech make a fantastic one for PS3 and PC, I think it's a G37...or something like that.

[BryanH]

That's a cool setup Gary! The way racing games (err, simulators ;)) were meant to be played.

You're thinking of the G27, Gary. At $270 it's a good value -- useful features and solid construction. It has a clutch and 6spd shifter, and great force feedback. Nobody knows yet how well it will work with GT5. From what I understand (but don't quote me on this, since I don't own a PS3) the G27's predecessor, the G25, works on the just-released GT5 time trial demo (GT Academy). I've had a G25 for some years now, using it for countless hours on my PC racing sims, and it's still in great shape. These are built well.

The wheels we know 100% will work with the Gran Turismo series are mostly GT-branded, the latest being the Driving Force GT or DFGT for short. It's a good wheel with plenty of buttons on the face, but the shifter is sequential only and the pedals (all two of them) are basically crap. Not much precision, no braking feel, and poor longevity.

For true pedal realism a set from Cannon Simulation Technologies (CST) is the way to go. Fully adjustable everything and a load cell on the brake pedal for braking by force rather than by pedal position. They're $600+ but, from what I hear, worth it for the serious sim racer. I want a set. :)

And if you want to get really crazy.... www.force-dynamics.com . :D

This is all just a brief summary of a few products. I've been sim-racing for a long time (longer than I've been autocrossing) so this stuff is really up my alley. Steve (or anyone), if you want to go in depth, feel free to email me and we can discuss various options! Including some software that blows Gran Turismo out of the water. ;)

[glieb]

I'm so lucky I got a whole bag of coal, Heat for the whole winter & global warming to shorten it. :rolleyes:

[Itsuki]

it was a marvel themed christmas for me (this geek rejoices) with a marvel scene it trivia game, marvel ultimate alliance 2 for ps3 and some spiffy shirts.

speaking of gran turismo 5, the playstation network has released an demo of sorts. its a time trial for the street course at indy (i believe) and you can choose a stock 370z or a tuned one. the person with the lowest time on the online scoreboards wins a vip pass to an indy race. i heard the game is supposed to be played on a steering wheel and if you play with a regular controller you have no chance of getting close to the best time (about a 5 sec. gap or more). i played it maybe 20 times, the physics is getting more accurate but i always laugh at the fact that gran turismo lets you set your traction control from 0-20 (just like in real life, right?). btw this demo doesnt have car damage shown in the gt5 trailer, trust me i tried.

[realseals13]

Damn GT5 is coming out and i'm still stuck on Gran Turismo on the PSP...:( On a good note i got some rollers (It's like an indoor trainer) for my road bike. On a bad note, Santa didn't leave a me a SR20 on my door step as promised