(Part 2) Best products from r/iRacing

Logitech MOMO and DFGT are at or slightly below this price range, but they're two good ones. I've used a MOMO for close to a decade now and it's been a solid wheel. DFGT is superior to the MOMO in most ways except the MOMO has actual paddles instead of just buttons, if that's a big deal for you. DFGT is like 2x the cost of a MOMO though.

If you can save up another $100-$150, or wait for a sale, you could get a Thrustmaster TX or T300RS. They share the same base, and it's one of the best on the market (TX's wheel isn't the best, but it can be replaced). It's miles ahead of all the Logitech wheels (G27,Momo,DFGT) because it's a servomotor with a belt. Logitech wheels are geared which makes the FFB less precise, weaker, and gives them a "notchy" feeling.

IMO if you're looking for a low-cost wheel to test the waters or are new to racing, get a MOMO cause they're very cheap (~$80-$90, vs $150 for a DFGT) and good enough. The MOMO's low steering lock actually makes it well suited for F1 and other open wheel racing. If you are still playing a lot after a year or whatever, put the money you saved on getting the MOMO cheaply into getting a TX/T300RS.

I would really suggest a good pair of open-back, full-cover headphones. Never mind surround, as one person said above, most 'surround' headphones really only try to simulate what a good pair of open-back stereo headphones can do.

I use a pair of Sennheiser HD 518 headphones, which aren't being made any more, but the successor to them is the HD 559, which you can see here.

They're not cheap, but they sound incredibly good for gaming, music, whatever and they're very, very comfortable to wear.

High-end open-back headphones are going to be your best bet. Not just my Sennheisers, but any headphones of comparable quality. They reach a level of comfort and audio quality that no earbud can hope to match. Really the only thing earbuds are good for are their portability.

I own 144hz triples, large 4k TV, an HP WMR headset, and previously owned a Rift.

Nothing beats the 144hz refresh rate overall. Everything is silky smooth and you have the maximum fidelity.

Large TV right in front of the wheel can be very immersive and great for just goofing around running some practice laps while drinking etc. The 60hz of the typical TV can be irritating if you're used to 144hz, but its not terrible. 1080p can look pretty rough that big, but 4k looks pretty good.

For immersion, nothing beats VR. The Rift was a little more comfortable and less 'quirky', but the Windows WMR have slightly better detail and are dirt cheap ( On sale as low as ~$100 for refurb headsets).

If you're on the fence and you have at least a 1070 or better, might be worth trying a WMR.

$150 example, note the HP is the heaviest of the WMRs....

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Reality-Controllers-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B07CSFYJKD/

Looks great! If you wanted to get super technical, you could buy this https://www.amazon.com/Trimbrite-T1114-Pinstripe-Tape-Black/dp/B00029XAYW and cover the line between the blue and yellow. It would make the line perfect, and be just like the original. Good work though, I've tried my hand at painting a few helmets with mixed results.

If you could spend a little more and don't mind trying to build yourself you could try this. Would also need a microcenter near you. The motherboard would only be available at the store listed, but you can pretty much find a comparable one at most microcenters. Also this odesn't include a windows key, but you can run unregistered Win 10 for free with some limited access.

Hard Drive $29.99
http://www.microcenter.com/product/488570/P300_1TB_7200RPM_SATA_III_6Gb-s_35_OEM_Internal_Hard_Drive

Ryzen 2200g $99.99
http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntt=2200g

Motherboard $33.96 ($63.96 open box-$30 mother board/processor bundle)
http://www.microcenter.com/product/476045/B350M_Gaming_PRO_AM4_mATX_AMD_Motherboard?ob=1&rf=Search+Results

~~CPU cooler $19.99
http://www.microcenter.com/product/477571/ETS-N31_CPU_Cooler~~

Case $23.98
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811353084

Memory $86.34
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5P755B/?tag=pcpapi-20

Power Supply $34.99 (24.99 after mail in rebate)
http://www.microcenter.com/product/483847/450BT_450_Watt_80_Plus_Bronze_ATX_Power_Supply


Total Cost: $329.24 ($319.24 after MIR)

This would run at low settings 84 fps with no problem(My a-10 7700k does) It is not the best setup but would allow you to upgrade later.(Big enough case/MOBO that will accept any regular Ryzen chip.) Case works, but is not the best. It is good for a budget and can be upgraded slowly. Also the Ryzen APU would benefit greatly with faster ram than 2666, if you have any extra cash I would upgrade to at least 4200.(integrated graphics would pull from system ram to use as vram if speed is 3200+ IIRC)

Once again not the best but for a budget PC it's not bad at all.

EDIT: Sorry didn't see the new APU comes with the wraith cooler which should be sufficient. So new total $309.25 ($299.25 after mir)

The Razer Blade Stealth is honestly pretty overpriced for what you get. You can get something much more capable for ~$700-$800 that could gladly play whatever games you want it to, and shouldn't have terrible battery life either when not gaming.

Also, keep in mind you could gladly fit a modest mid-range build that can walk all over most gaming laptops into an HTPC case for $800-$1000 and still have money leftover for a beefy work laptop if you can afford $1500 for the Razer Blade Stealth.

Just a few things I notice:

1. Your motherboard is overkill for iRacing. You could go with a motherboard like this one and get the same quality of play. From talking to computer people, once you get past the $150 range for a motherboard you really are splitting hairs as to noticeable performance gains. Might save $80 or so.
   
   
2. You included a sound card in your build. Most motherboards have onboard sound cards. So unless you're doing things above what iRacing is capable of, the motherboard has all the sound you'll need. So that could save you $34.
   
   
3. Computer case opinions seem to vary. But if you aren't totally in love with that case then take a look at this one. I just bought it and it seems to be a pretty good case. Lots of room inside and plenty of space for fans and cooling. It will save you around $62 if you have amazon prime.
   
   So with the $175 you could upgrade to the i7-6700k CPU that is 4.0GHz or you could upgrade to the 1080 graphics card... or you could pocket it. I'm not a computer guy by any means, but the people on the iRacing forum helped me learn a ton when I was trying to figure all of this out. Hope it helps.

Here is the link

I got it for kindle and am enjoying it. Also Ross Bentley has a podcast where you can get helpful tips.

I think for me the most important concept is "deliberate practice". You will get better by just spending a lot of time on track, but actually taking notes, practicing certain corners/techniques specifically will help you get better faster.

I bought one as my first wheel a few months ago and it gets the job done for me. Just yesterday I bought T3PA pedals to replace the ones that came with the wheel but that's only because the gas pedal started to feel lose on the original pedal set.

Keep in mind this is the only wheel I've ever sim-raced with so I can't compare it to anything else and I'm sure someone else here has far more knowledge and personal experience with different wheels but, if you're just looking for a cheap-ish wheel to try out sim-racing, I'd recommend it.

Like I said take this with a grain (handful) of salt because I'm still pretty new to sim-racing and sim-racing peripherals

It wasn't that hard to get them close enough for me, but someone more picky might go insane trying to get it perfect. I spent my insane points on getting it to line up perfectly instead lol.

Had I planned it out, I probably would have just done 3, 34 inch screens, but in the immortal words of Bob Ross, it was a happy accident.

Heres a link to the screens I have.

https://www.amazon.com/LG-34UC79G-B-34-Inch-21-UltraWide/dp/B01LW5CGIS

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-49-Inch-Curved-Monitor-LC49HG90DMNXZA/dp/B072C7TNC5

A lot of people are suggesting you build a pc, and I suggest you to build one too! My previous PC Build was good enough to run iRacing and, Including a BenQ monitor, cost around the £600 mark. I'll post my specs however some of the parts may be discontinued so I'll try and source similar components if they are.

Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P

AMD (Piledriver) FX-6300 3.50GHz

ASUS GTX 750Ti

Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB)

500W EVGA 80+ White Rated PSU

DVD Re-Writable(For Installing Windows)

1TB Seagate Barracuda Hard Drive

BitFenix Comrade Midi Tower


BenQ 22inch Monitor

Let me know if want any of the peripherals(Keyboard/Mouse etc) aswell

Total Cost = ~£543

You might be able to find components cheaper on different websites, especially American based ones(NewEgg).

As for assembly, I followed a tutorial from popular Battlefield YouTuber, JackFrags. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WQxr59KRto He uses old components but the build is more or less the same than the specs above.

You also may want to upgrade the Graphics Card, RAM or CPU. I recently upgraded the 750Ti to a 1060 3GB, FX 6300 to a FX 8350 and RAM by an extra 8GB. Remember, if you do upgrade anything like this, you will most likely need a bigger PSU.

Have fun building :P

Edit: As Raptord put, you should also think about getting a Ryzen CPU. But keep in mind, you would need to get a different motherboard as Ryzen uses an alternative socket to AM3+

You can build a really nice setup with that budget. Good gaming builds on pcpartpicker.com are around 700€, logitech G29 wheel is about 175€, good wheel stand for 130€, and a solid monitor for 400€ or so and that should leave you a little bit under.

Logitech G29-about 300$, might be able to find it on sale somewhere. Pretty solid unit.

https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Driving-Force-Racing-PlayStation/dp/B00Z0UWWYC

Thrustmaster T150-about 200$, entry level, you will probably want to upgrade the peddles later for another 100-150$.

https://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-Force-Feedback-Racing-Wheel-PlayStation/dp/B014US02ZA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1491247791&sr=1-1&keywords=thrustmaster+t150

you mean this? https://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-Officially-Licensed-Feedback-playstation-4/dp/B00O8B7D02/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1511817307&sr=1-1&keywords=T300+RS That one has the shifters on the wheel?

read this https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Speed-Secrets-Ross-Bentley-ebook/dp/B005J0K7X6

G27 is no longer available for purchase because Logitech made the G29.

G29 is mechanically the same as the G27, has the community preferences for the 27 built in, and some extra buttons. Feel is the same.

Major difference is no shifter comes with the 29.

You can use a G27 shifter with it.

Logitech Driving Force G29 Race Wheel, Force Feedback Steering Wheel

The new shifter is called the Logitech Driving Force Shifter, comes separate for 30 dollars.