Tomakze Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Hello everyone! I have been a huge fan of the Forza franchise ever since my first experience with Forza 2. It was the only reason I bought a 360 in the first place. When FM3 came out, I bought a MadCatz MC2 wheel from Best Buy and was immediately amazed at how much more fun the game became as a result. As soon as Fanatec announced the CSR series wheels and accessories for the new FM4 game, I started saving. Well, December was a 3 paycheck month, so I decided to pull the trigger and buy a CSR wheel, CSR elite pedals, and the standard shifters. They are being shipped from Germany as we speak. (I am SO excited!) My bedroom is kinda small though, so I started designing a cockpit that was modular, meaning I could disassemble it to save space. It is also multi-purpose. I am building a TV stand which will house the inverted pedals underneath it, and for the last couple years I have had a racing seat for a real car as one of my chairs in my room, so obviously that will become the seat for the cockpit. The wheel and shifters will bolt into the underside of the chair. So far, we have finished building the frame for the chair, and have a pretty complete design for the rest. We will also be building a light weight portable wheel stand for my step-father's MC2 (I managed to get a 60 year old into racing games!) He is the one doing all the welding, and supplying much of the material. (He holds on to any junk metal he can find, thankfully!) I engineered the cockpit itself, however. Here is the seat so far, in it's early stages. The seat slides forward and back as it would in a real car: Does Ratsun have any other Sim racing enthusiasts? Quote Link to comment
Skib Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 I love Forza :wub: and I like making replica cars also have exact replicas of the BRE 240z, BRE 510 and a ton of other stuff Quote Link to comment
screamer510 Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 I played F4 at the release party back in October at the Petit LeMans. Very cool game. Nissan had the new GTR there, and you could race it on GT5, Audi had F3. Both with setups like I'm sure yours looks like, Nissan's much better though. Wish I didn't have a Wii :angry: Quote Link to comment
ariascarlos1990 Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 My GT5 setup. Quote Link to comment
ptown green Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 I knew there was something missing from my life... Quote Link to comment
Tomakze Posted January 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 Skib, that is a beautiful replica! I would love to have your storefront info, as I would like to see more! I have several replicas as well, including John Morton's BRE 510. I slapped this one together though, I spent more time on the one I had for FM3. I even had a great vinyl with a pissed off looking "hello kitty" that was flipping you off, but I was banned because of it for a while, lol. If anyone would like to do some gaming sometime, my gamertag is the same as my name on here. I am not very good to be honest, but I love the game! Here is a link to my album with a number of Forza 2 liveries I made: FM2 Paint work Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted January 5, 2012 Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 I am gonna have to get this game :D Quote Link to comment
philcas1987 Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 skib has a replica of my car! its the background on my laptop for over a year Quote Link to comment
Skib Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 skib has a replica of my car! its the background on my laptop for over a year right down to the rust spots :rofl: that was a fun one to do too Quote Link to comment
Tomakze Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 I have an update! Got a little more work done on it today. I mounted the legs on the chair, which are adjustable! We also figured out how the wheel will mount to the chair, and finished building the mount. The legs: And the way the wheel mounts to the chair: And on my trip to Ace Hardware to get the legs, I found this little beauty! It has a dent in it so I got it for half price! :D :fu: :devil: Quote Link to comment
Uber Deaf One Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 I moved on from Forza years ago (right before Forza 3 came out) and went to PC sims... iRacing ftw! iRacing makes Forza and GT looks like arcade games... which they pretty much are lol. I don't have any recent pics of my cockpit.. lol. I'll get some tomorrow! I play on a homemade cockpit with a 1st gen DSM seat (COMFORTABLE AS FUCK!!!!!!!!!) with a G25 wheel and shifter, and Fanatec Clubsport pedals. 28" LCD and a decent gaming rig that runs iRacing maxed out. Quote Link to comment
Tomakze Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 From the reviews I have read, FM4 took the franchise to the next level. I run with all of the assists turned off, and have found it feels very accurate to what a real car feels like. I played RFactor a while back, but was not impressed. The cars felt rigid and lifeless by comparison. I could not get a good feel for when the car was about to break traction. I have not played iRacing yet, but have meant to try it! RFactor2 will come out fairly soon though, and I will probably invest in it. From what I have seen it is a huge step up from the old one, and borrows a few tricks from Forza (Camera tricks, tire deformation, etc.) Sim Racing TV gave FM4 a 9/10 I believe, and they compared it to RFactor and iRacing saying it was on par with those games. They have come a long way since FM2! Quote Link to comment
Uber Deaf One Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 It's hard for people to just jump into PC sims and adapt. You have to spend a fair amount of time learning each sim.. none of them are perfect obviously, but they're all 100x more realistic than Forza. The nice thing about RFactor is the community mod-ability. I dunno if you tried a popular mod, or just drove the base content... the base content in Rfactor is pretty bad, and a lot of mods are also pretty bad. There's only a handful of good mods in RFactor.. everything else sucks and makes RFactor look bad iRacing really is 100x better than any PC sim right now... got to give that an honest try with a good cockpit and decent wheel setup. I went from Forza to iRacing like 3 years ago.. will never look at console "sims" again. I used to race in Forza with a group called Exodus Racing.. an assist free group ;) A bunch of us moved onto iRacing around the same time... and the console guys got jealous and started hating on our iRacing threads. So we left and formed Empty Keg Racing Quote Link to comment
Tomakze Posted January 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 My CSR was delivered today!!! It probably goes without saying that I played the crap out of it. The cockpit isn't done yet, so a folding chair and table had to suffice. My analysis? Wow. What a difference. I thought I was a pretty good driver with the MadCatz wheel, but this new wheel brought a level of realism I did not think possible. I could pull of down right heroic driving moves with that little MC2, but the Fanatec makes me look like a five year old behind the wheel. I cannot believe how much harder the game is now! I have never used a wheel with force feedback before, so i didn't know what to expect... Let me tell you- it changes everything! Uber Deaf one, I would encourage you to try out FM4 with a good wheel. It is as close to 100% simulation as I can imagine! The cheap wheel I had made the game more arcade like than I ever realized. This game is HARD now, but in a good way! :) Plus, there is something special about blazing down a straight and actually having to use the clutch, and bang through each gear. I just feels... right. The CSR Elite pedals I bought are amazing. The pedals are very stiff, and shockingly heavy. (I turned up the pressure of course) They feel very close to the real thing, and I am sure they will be even better after inverting them. The force feedback on the wheel is STRONG. It jerks the little folding table around sometimes if I am panic steering. I had to turn it down some, actually. After a few races, my arms would get tired. Pretty impressive from such a small package. I am having a ball with this thing... easy motivation to finish the cockpit! I am spending a day at the go-kart track tomorrow, but after that, expect some more updates! :cool: Quote Link to comment
Tomakze Posted January 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 Got a bunch of work done on it tonight! It is really starting to come together now... I will paint it tomorrow, and begin working on the pedals. :devil: Quote Link to comment
gcs16 Posted January 12, 2012 Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 That is most excellent! any plans for a cupholder and an ashtray? or radar detector!? Quote Link to comment
Tomakze Posted January 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2012 That is most excellent! any plans for a cupholder and an ashtray? or radar detector!? Haha! Actually, the cupholder idea had crossed my mind! Perhaps I will drop by wally world on the way to work on it tomorrow and pick something up! I need somewhere to put my beer... Quote Link to comment
fuzz's '71 510 Posted January 13, 2012 Report Share Posted January 13, 2012 Haha! Actually, the cupholder idea had crossed my mind! Perhaps I will drop by wally world on the way to work on it tomorrow and pick something up! I need somewhere to put my beer... Hey, no drinking and driving!! :fu: Quote Link to comment
CharlieW Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 I'm an avid Forza fan myself...have had a Microsoft Wireless Wheel for some time now with no issues....I took the base off of it and mounted the assembly to an old high school desk...I cut a hole in the center of the wooden platform for the wheel hook to go underneath and clamp to the bottom of the desk. Its pretty rigged up but it gets the job done...I've been fantasizing about building a proper cockpit for a couple years now. I suppose its time to pony up lol. I even mounted a clutch pedal to the original pedals and wired it to the 'a' button...it works very well, but it feels weird to clutch and shift a paddle lol...I am dying to figure out how to wire and build a gearbox setup. Quote Link to comment
Tomakze Posted January 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 I'm an avid Forza fan myself...have had a Microsoft Wireless Wheel for some time now with no issues....I took the base off of it and mounted the assembly to an old high school desk...I cut a hole in the center of the wooden platform for the wheel hook to go underneath and clamp to the bottom of the desk. Its pretty rigged up but it gets the job done...I've been fantasizing about building a proper cockpit for a couple years now. I suppose its time to pony up lol. I even mounted a clutch pedal to the original pedals and wired it to the 'a' button...it works very well, but it feels weird to clutch and shift a paddle lol...I am dying to figure out how to wire and build a gearbox setup. Don't wire one up, just do yourself a favor and get a Fanatec!!! 6 speed shifter, paddle shifters, and a sequential shifter with a clutch you can actually slip! (Not to mention compatibility with PS3, PC, and XBox...) :D Anyways, I think it is time for an update... Sorry I haven't in a while. I have been busy/tired, lol. We finished painting the seat, and have moved on to building the TV stand/pedal stand! I will let the pics speak for themselves... I also modded the pedals a little bit... I put extenders on the brake and clutch in an effort to add some realism... Seeing as how my brake and clutch sit further out than the gas pedal on my real car: Quote Link to comment
bonvo Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 all i have to say is doooooooo waaaaaaaaaant Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 Then next level indeed! :cool: Quote Link to comment
KC Phirus Posted January 25, 2012 Report Share Posted January 25, 2012 GT5 raep Quote Link to comment
Tomakze Posted January 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 Got a lot more done on the project over the last two days, unfortunately, my phone was dead tonight so I have no pictures of what I did tonight. Yesterday's progress I did capture, though! We finished the frame for the pedal base... I inverted the pedals, and also extended the throw on the gas pedal. :D I also finished assembly on the steering wheel portion!!! It is all bolted together! (I am so excited!!!) I will finish the cockpit next week, all that is left is sanding, paint, attaching the table top and floor, and then hours of playing with it! Quote Link to comment
KC Phirus Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 Cool man! Panatec have good force feedback? Quote Link to comment
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