Sim-Lab Direct Drive Wheel Base To Feature Up To 35 Nm

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After teasing the device with bold claims, Sim-Lab brought prototypes of its upcoming Direct Drive wheel base to SimRacing Expo 2024 in three different versions. A new sequential shifter was also available.

Sim-Lab is mostly known as a sim racing rig manufacturer, but the company has expanded into peripherals as well - a simillar trend can be observed with Trak Racer, for instance. Pedals, a handbrake, a rally-style push/pull shifter and a replica of the wheel used in Mercedes' F1 cars show that Sim-Lab has surpassed its status as "just" a rig builder.

With its upcoming Direct Drive wheel bases, they aim to go even further. Teased ahead of SimRacing Expo 2024, the device is set to be "the best direct-drive wheelbase on the market", according to Sim-Lab's own claim. It is due to release in 2025, and at the Expo, it was available to try in its prototype form.

The base was still shrouded in some secrecy at the event, though. If you were there and saw the device, it will likely not look like what was present in Dortmund once it releases, as the casing of the prototype was not final and intended to hide its true looks.

Three Versions In Total​

More important than the looks is the performance, of course. Three versions of the base are going to be available with peak torque values of 15, 25 and 35 Nm - so good luck to anyone who sets out to try a 100% FFB challenge on the top-end model once it is out!

The prototypes at SimRacing Expo used raw FFB outputs without any filters applied. @Michel Wolk tried the bases and found the FFB to be "not perfect, obviously, but really good for a prototype. The bases felt raw, but clear and friction-less, although they had a few too many FFB peaks in my opinion." There is potential in the yet-to-be-named bases that Sim-Lab aims to be "challenging the status quo" with.

As the release is still some time away, pricing is not final yet, but the bases will likely retail for about €1000, €1400 and €2000 for the 15, 25 and 35Nm variants respectively.

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The new Sim-Lab sequential shifter (left) next to the XB1-LOADCELL handbrake.

New Sim-Lab Sequential Shifter​

While the wheel bases were undoubtedly the stars of the show, Sim-Lab also showed another new piece of gear, namely a sequential shifter. The device features a very compact housing, and its stiffness can easily be adjusted by a blue ring at the bottom of the shifter rod.

"The internals are our own design. A lot of work went into it", Sim-Lab Software Engineer Marcel de Jong told OverTake. "We had 10 or 20 prototypes." The resuting feel when pulling and pushing the shifter was rather satisfying, though it will likely be even better once the shifter is mounted in place on a rig instead of the display plate at the event.

Aside from the adjustable stiffness, further customization will be possible via future shifter rod options, which will be available separately once the shifter releases. The date for its launch is not known yet.

What do you make of the Sim-Lab Direct Drive wheel base prototypes and upcoming sequential shifter? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our hardware forum!
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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!).

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Comments

Premium
I see no reports on people trying the wheel, shouting about how much better it was to what they already own? Are they not quite bold claims for a first time product to make against a very competitive market.

We will see....

Did they announce any price for the SEQ shifter?
Does look like it will be a nice set with the pedals and handbrake though...

Also, if following the trend they have. Charge us a small fortune for additional "black" options and expensive shipping even with ordering accessories.
 
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"35 Nm - so good luck to anyone who sets out to try a 100% FFB challenge on the top-end model once it is out!"
I have been for the longest time and still am puzzled at what the point is of having wheels, with so much power, that you have to use them at a reduced power % to be useful.
Bragging right?
As far as claiming to be the best, that is easy, in a field where there is no clear specification that determine what the best is. Best in what way?
As mention above, it looks like we have way to many choices, in such a limited niche market, for what appears to be very similar offers.
 
Shipping from Sim Labs is going to be a real pain. They say it's in stock, but it actually ships in 10 to 15 days. That's not in stock! Either you have it, or you don't.

I've ordered from them once, never again, too slow. I want my stuff now.
 
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I'm no Economics Major, but a tiny village with 50 barber shops is bound to fail and make every owner suffer through the race towards the bottom. We just have too many wheel base vendors.

It's true you don't need to be an Economics major to know that variety is good. If your reasoning had any truth in it, there'd be no point in having hundreds of car models from tens of car makers on sale on Earth. And yet, somehow, they sell.
 
How much torque is actually realistic/necessary? I remember a Formula One race or two in the mid 2000s where someone's power steering failed and they carried on without it. Does anyone have an idea of what sort of torque they'd have to generate in that situation, because that's the most 'extreme' steering situation I can think of...
 
How much torque is actually realistic/necessary? I remember a Formula One race or two in the mid 2000s where someone's power steering failed and they carried on without it. Does anyone have an idea of what sort of torque they'd have to generate in that situation, because that's the most 'extreme' steering situation I can think of...
The most extreme situation is an Indycar around a high speed oval like Texas. Most wheelbases on the market, if any, can't reproduce 1 to 1 forces on the wheel.
 
35 nm = Marketing . What's the encoder capacity ? 300 000 ppm like a simagic alpha ? 5 millions ppm like a simucube?
 
How much torque is actually realistic/necessary? I remember a Formula One race or two in the mid 2000s where someone's power steering failed and they carried on without it. Does anyone have an idea of what sort of torque they'd have to generate in that situation, because that's the most 'extreme' steering situation I can think of...
Some Japanese formula cars generate about 30Nm~ sustained torques IIRC based on a paper I read once.
An anecdote is that sometimes the EPS on some LMP racecars can clip and you'll still get 20-30Nm through, with clipping being something like 90-100Nm, that means you could very well get 100Nm+ in geos made for PS in extreme racecars on the highest peaks.
 
I'm no Economics Major, but a tiny village with 50 barber shops is bound to fail and make every owner suffer through the race towards the bottom. We just have too many wheel base vendors.
Nope, they won't fail because they're just a front for money laundering going on behind the scenes. You must know that, right? Same with nail bars, and other "businesses" that simply require premises for minor services, and not products as such.

On the other hand, with wheelbase vendors I do tend to agree. It's not the kind of industry that lends itself to money laundering as it requires a tangible product. Hence, in this instance a race to the bottom is quite likely.
 
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How much torque is actually realistic/necessary? I remember a Formula One race or two in the mid 2000s where someone's power steering failed and they carried on without it. Does anyone have an idea of what sort of torque they'd have to generate in that situation, because that's the most 'extreme' steering situation I can think of...
No amount of torque is realistic...not until A) FFB hardware undergoes a revolution (they've basically been the same for the past 10+ years) and B) FFB "software tech" undergoes a revolution - Windows Direct Input was created in the 1990s, barely updated since, and not designed with high powered DD devices in mind.

It would be ignorant to simply look at some "on paper" Nm #s of FFB wheels and compare them to real life Nm racing situations. They're 2 incredibly different systems. For starters, real life is simply a passive ie. reactive system whereas FFB wheels are active systems. That simple fact alone is a humungous difference in how the steering feels/behaves/responds.

Not the perfect anology but it's kind of like throwing a ball to bounce against a wall and holding a ball in your hand while moving it towards the wall mimicking as if it was in free flight then making the ball touch and then un-touch the wall while still holding it in your hand mimicking as if the ball bounced off the wall in free flight.

In the first scenario, right after the ball is thrown and therefore leaves the thrower's hand, the situation is purely "natural" & passive/reactive, the 2nd situation is an "unnatural", active scenario that constantly has the person controlling & forcing the ball around.

FFB uses an active method in an attempt to reproduce passive (ie. reactive) forces therefore the entire system, from it's very basics & fundamentals, is just wrong and the complete opposite to real life (not to mention other limitations on top of that such as Windows Direct Input and more).
 
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OverTake
Premium
35 Nm will make it the most powerful mass-produced wheel, I guess?
Sounds kinda bonkers. :O_o:
They will presumably have to have the driver submit a disclaimer before enabling high-torque mode! :)
(Perhaps the high-end Simucube wheels already have to do that, given the insanely high torque they also offer.)
 
OverTake
Premium
It's true you don't need to be an Economics major to know that variety is good. If your reasoning had any truth in it, there'd be no point in having hundreds of car models from tens of car makers on sale on Earth. And yet, somehow, they sell.
But the point being made was taking the market size into consideration (hence "village"). Hundreds of car models from tens of makers is fine given that there are over a billion cars on the planet. If there were a billion sim racers, having dozens of FFB wheel makers would be of no concern. But there aren't.
 
They will presumably have to have the driver submit a disclaimer before enabling high-torque mode! :)
(Perhaps the high-end Simucube wheels already have to do that, given the insanely high torque they also offer.)
They do. You need to scroll through a disclaimer in their software before you can activate high torque mode, and if you want to activate high torque mode permanently you need to wait 10 seconds after scrolling to the bottom of the disclaimer before the checkbox to do so becomes available.
 
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