How Often Do You Tinker With Your Sim Racing Hardware?

Community-Question-Sim-Racing-Hardware-Maintenance.png

How often do you break out the toolbox for your sim racing hardware?

  • I do it regularly

    Votes: 95 36.0%
  • Only rarely

    Votes: 36 13.6%
  • Only when I notice something doesn't work properly

    Votes: 98 37.1%
  • Never

    Votes: 30 11.4%
  • Other - please comment

    Votes: 5 1.9%

  • Total voters
    264
Sim racing rigs seemingly evolve all the time. But even if there is no new gear to add, the toolbox has to come out sometimes - how often do you do that, though?

Never change a running system - this bit of IT wisdom also extends to sim racing. Of course, we are usually looking for the slightest improvements on the track, and sim racers are notorious for making the most out of any hardware setup they might be able to cram into even the tiniest spaces. But once everything is set up to a satisfactory level, many are happy with leaving it at that.

Despite this, depending on your gear, it is advisable to breakt out the toolbox from time to time. Some pedals could use grease here and there, maybe a few bolts need to be tightened, or your seat may need cleaning from cat or dog hair as pets seem to love bucket seats. Or you simply might want to slightly readjust the positions of the hardware mounted to your rig.

Just repairs or regular maintenance?​

Other times, repairs on hardware pieces themselves need to be carried out. This is actually what led to the idea of this community question: My shifter had a small part break, preventing it from operating properly. Now that the replacement part had come in, fixing it was a matter of minutes. Yet, it got me thinking: Do I do maintenance on my rig regularly?

My conclusion: not really - only if I notice something that would warrant this. From time to time, my brake pedal feels like it loses some smoothness, so grease shall be applied. Rarely, it might feel like a few nuts and bolts may have shaken loose - they hardly ever do, but you got to make sure, of course. And do not forget the occasional cleaning to get rid of dust.

As sim racers can be very different, they probably are in this regard as well - so we want to know: Do you perform maintenance on your rig in regular intervals? Is it only occasionally when you happen to remember that it might be a good idea? Or only once you feel like something needs it or repairs are in order? Let us know in the poll above and in the comments below!
About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

basically never, for 25 years I have been the type who clamps his wheel to the desk and is happy to do so, never felt the need to do more, never felt compelled to buy a direct drive wheel either, this whole part of sim racing I'm afraid is not my cup of tea. If someone were to construct a new room next to my house which has a full rig in it and gift me the room and the rig, I wouldn't say no, but as of today: no need. I get all the enjoyment I want from my t500 and my office desk :)
 
My G25 has lasted many many years. One day when it eventually breaks I’ll probably upgrade to a G29!

I’m much more excited whenever my boyfriend upgrades specs of our gaming PC than spending on hardware, as long as can drive all my games in VR, tbh I’d rather spend my money on DLC
 
My G25 has lasted many many years. One day when it eventually breaks I’ll probably upgrade to a G29!

I’m much more excited whenever my boyfriend upgrades specs of our gaming PC than spending on hardware, as long as can drive all my games in VR, tbh I’d rather spend my money on DLC
Well Alex, the G29 has served me well for a few years but it has it's drawbacks, I've heard that the G25 is better, more robust than the G29, but never had a G25 so I can't definitely say, I am on the look out for a replacement for this as it got dropped...(very front heavy) and a clamp fixing went through the baseplate.
So if you do get a G29 make sure you don't drop it.
The short of it is, I'm gonna have to shell out for another but I'll go for a low torque DD wheel, and a chair, and another H shifter... and a room to put it in should I win the pools (win the pools, that shows how old I am)
 
Only on rare occasions.

Maybe minor adjustsments while repositioning for another type of sim/vehicle.
Otherwise more fundamentally more like on a half-yearly basis. At max.

My flexible rig consists mainly of standard components and then a few tricks and shortcuts here and there - albeit on a limited basis as I've long since realized that I'm not exactly a DIY guy and can make more hightowers collapse quicker than in my predator level doing Towering Rescue "beep beep game" in early 80ies, if I hammer the nail just a tad wrong :thumbsdown::D

However, I like to stretch myself and in my eagerness like to spend 100 times more ineffective hours on the task as the typical DIY guy, when it finally happens to satisfy my preferences for a setup that is as flexible and at the same time as robust as possible, like the jack-of-all-trades simracing guy I am :)
 
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The pedals for the G29 get dust down the ports, I've had mine apart for throttle problems several times.
I spent almost 10 years with my G27s before uneven responses.
I was surprised that the job for my first time of disassembling, vacuuming and reassembling took less than 10 troubleless minutes - even for such an all-impossible non-DIY guy like me.
So after that I did that along with the weekly thorough Saturday morning vacuuming on a weekly basis :DAnd the past 3 years just as easily with my T-LCM pair. Just for the fun :p
 
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The only real significant amount of time I've spent on my "simrig" is when I got my cockpit (GT Omega Titan) and I spent a few weeks continually & obsessively adjusting placements of the wheel, pedals and seat. I'm a massive believer in there being a very specific optimal ergonomic and anthropometric setup of equipment, and I need to get those elements right due to aiding a disability I have, so I could only do a lap and then had to pause the game and get the toolkit out. My mentality was / is that it's best to obsess and adjust to the point of perfection from the very start not only to make it correct, but also so I can then completely switch off and not concern myself with adjusting ever again.

Thankfully I've not had any repairs to deal with as yet, but I've recently noticed my CSl Elite V2's throttle pedal squeaking a little on use so I need to investigate that. I admittedly don't know / wasn't aware if those pedals require maintenance so hopefully I haven't neglected them.

Aside from just giving it all its weekly clean down, what else is there to do? I personally don't feel a need to check that everything's tight as my equipment just doesn't come loose, and if / when it does I'll just address it then. Obviously it's not good to mess around with equipment often / unnecessarily due to stripping of heads or any other damage that could occur from excessive handling / adjustment.

The worst pitfall for myself with my simrig is that I'm tweaking it in my mind far too much. I'm currently very often contemplating adding items like a handbrake, possibly shifter, and definitely a keyboard tray, plus I want to put some old racing posters on the wall along with hanging up my VR headset. I'm currently saving funds for some life responsibilities but if I wasn't I'd just buy and install those items asap just to shut my mind up and finally be done with upgrading.

I like to strive for a balance of ideal vs realistic (with a little perfection thrown in if that doesn't cost extra) and I therefore don't want to be one of those types who spend a dispropartionate amount of time working on their simrigs, constantly throwing more and more at their setup almost for the sake of it. I respect those enthusiasts, but that's just not for me. I've been in Facebook groups for people showing off their simracing setups, but I've also left those groups as they often boil down to being just social media based schlong and wallet waving.

Someone who'd thrown everything at their setup asked "where does it stop" - my answer was "It stops when you have good enough equipment to just enjoy racing, and / or when you just spend your time and attention on what you have instead of on what you don't".
 
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Premium
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "tinkering" really.
I have a G29 but it's been heavily modified...
I built a wooden "Deathmobile" rig using an old car seat off ebay.
DIY bass shakers... pedal shakers... wind fans... ambiance LED strips... handbrake... button box...

I get as much "fun" out of making stuff and getting it to work as from actual use TBH.
 
basically never, for 25 years I have been the type who clamps his wheel to the desk and is happy to do so, never felt the need to do more, never felt compelled to buy a direct drive wheel either, this whole part of sim racing I'm afraid is not my cup of tea. If someone were to construct a new room next to my house which has a full rig in it and gift me the room and the rig, I wouldn't say no, but as of today: no need. I get all the enjoyment I want from my t500 and my office desk :)
Same here.
I.e. Right up until 4 years ago when I found Next Level's F-GT Lite flexible solution.
Of which can easily be put into my wardrobe and yet is incredibly robust, if you just remember to tighten the joints for the bearing points every time you reposition to the several more positions as the title suggests qua the many DOFs that the joints' settings provide.

For ~€275 at the time, I think it was well spent.

Of course, it takes getting used to with gymnastic exercises each time for unfolding and folding
However, the reward for that means I don't hold back.
 
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OverTake
Premium
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "tinkering" really.
I have a G29 but it's been heavily modified...
I built a wooden "Deathmobile" rig using an old car seat off ebay.
DIY bass shakers... pedal shakers... wind fans... ambiance LED strips... handbrake... button box...

I get as much "fun" out of making stuff and getting it to work as from actual use TBH.
That certainly qualifies! I know a bunch of people who love building steering wheels, displays, LEDs and whatnot just as much as racing, probably even more :D It's just as much a part of our hobby, and rather fascinating what can come from this tinkering.
 
Mostly preventative maintenance. Dusting, lubricating, torquing down bolts, inspecting high wear areas. Used to dabble with adjusting seating, pedal and wheel base positioning and angles more frequently...but that's stopped since landing on a hybrid position that seems to suit everything I drive well enough (which is a little bit of everything).
 
Premium
My computer is 10yrs old, wheel 8yrs, pedals 3-4yrs and monitors at least 15yrs old. Other than ghost buttons on my wheel and a broken throttle spring, haven't touched anything.
Do have a new shifter that I'm making a mounting bracket for and that should be it for a while.
 
Premium
I just had someone over my house who spent three hours geeking out over the things I've designed for my rig.

I dumped out a box of previous 3D printed parts, to go through solutions that might work on his current rig.
 
my rig is in a constant upgrade mode.
Started 11 years ago with a TM TX at the desk and, the 2 stand allone rigs made of wood.
Finally it became a 4080 alloy rig, DD base and many DIY addons like my custom buttonbox, wind sim etc. Thats why my toolbox is stand by
2024-02-29 10.14.57.jpg
.
 
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Author
Yannik Haustein
Article read time
2 min read
Views
4,509
Comments
39
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Shifting method

  • I use whatever the car has in real life*

  • I always use paddleshift

  • I always use sequential

  • I always use H-shifter

  • Something else, please explain


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