Direct Drive on a Budget? Feel VR Kickstarter is Here, But Act Fast!

[Paul Jeffrey]

We heard about the FeelVR Direct Drive wheel project back at the 2017 Sim Racing Expo, and now the plans are a reality with a new Kickstarter campaign launched today.

The team behind Feel VR had an ambitious target to develop and ship a Direct Drive wheel and pedal set for considerably less than any other DD product on the market, and it looks like they are now finally in a position to open up the long awaited Kickstarter campaign, having already surpassed their funding target in just 75 minutes!

At the time of writing the campaign has received over $200,000 in the first day, and if you want to take home an early bird discount you only have the rest of today to act!

I spent a considerable amount of time on a Skype video call with the team at the back end of last year, and it looks like the plans they have in place are very solid and well thought out, with several demonstration models already in action even back in 2017. In fact, the team would be at the Sim Racing Expo in September of last year, although unfortunately we didn't get an opportunity to pop over and say hi whilst we were on site ourselves.

So what is it the team are offering exactly? Well if done correctly, this could be something of a game changer for sim racers looking to invest in direct drive wheel technology - the team are offering a full Direct Drive wheel, and pedals, for the same price as a traditional mid range standard wheel setup.

At present "early bird" investors on Kickstarter can order a DD wheel, two rims (GT and Formula), all the cables and a set of load cell brakes for.... $549! That's cheap.. very cheap indeed..

So what does it look like, and what are the specs? Read on to find out..

The Wheel

As for the pedals, the team at Feel VR have developed an affordable load cell unit that promises to offer a more detailed and consistent performance that traditional spring loaded versions, as anyone who has tried loadcell can testify I'm sure, and if you wanted to pick them up as a standalone item, early bird prices are $149!

The Pedals

All sounds pretty good on paper, let's see what happens once the units begin to ship towards the end of the year...

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Like the look of these offerings from FeelVR? Will you be investing? Can a budget DD set such as this compete in a competitive marketplace, in your opinion? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[ronniej]

err, no Canada shipping? lol.

 

[delpinsky]

I'm tempted to buy the bundle. The price is nice also with shipping to Italy.
I need a good wheel and pedals, so this once would be perfect.

Also the reviews of the prototype by Shaun Cole and SimRacing Paddock are positive and the flows this wheel has, are mostly software, since it's beta, and cosmetic, because it's a pre-production model, so it needs to be polished.

 

[el_mattpro]

err, no Canada shipping? lol.

Welcome to my world, i'm argentinean, 80% of the world don't ship to my country.

 

[ronniej]

Welcome to my world, i'm argentinean, 80% of the world don't ship to my country.

Oh wow....I couldn't imagine that. At least I can cross the border to the US and physically bring most goods across into my country.

 

[Will Mazeo]

Welcome to my world, i'm argentinean, 80% of the world don't ship to my country.

To Brazil they even ship but you have a risk of paying 60% tax

 

[Alexandre Costa]

60%? The Brazil I live it's 100%.

 

[ronniej]

I heard that Brazil was brutal regarding this...Some don't even receive their items. Corrupt.

 

[KittX]

Russia is currently OK but I feel it will follow this tendency real soon

 

[Will Mazeo]

60%? The Brazil I live it's 100%.

The import tax is around 60%, but then if you are buying from a shop there are other tax every time it is on different hands that makes the total tax way above 100% but this happens to every product in the end, not only stuff that comes outside the country

 

[youkatei]

err, no Canada shipping? lol.

Australia as well. looks like my option on upgrading pedal is back to only Clubsport v3 (double the price)

 

[motoliser]

Sounds great looks awfull

 

[el_mattpro]

Oh wow....I couldn't imagine that. At least I can cross the border to the US and physically bring most goods across into my country.

Yeah is hard to be honest, i saw that the other guy say Brazil 60% taxes, and i need to say in my country is 75%+ what a seller up the price, sometimes... well most of the time, if you want to buy something that come from outside of the country you pay +100% or +140% the original price. For example Iphone X original price lets say 400 U$S -> In my country 800-900 u$s.

 

[Carlitox]

Yeah is hard to be honest, i saw that the other guy say Brazil 60% taxes, and i need to say in my country is 75%+ what a seller up the price, sometimes... well most of the time, if you want to buy something that come from outside of the country you pay +100% or +140% the original price. For example Iphone X original price lets say 400 U$S -> In my country 800-900 u$s.

Uruguayo here, glad to know we're not alone. Fanatec isn't even retailed here. Best wheel on the market is the G29 at USD 500. Want VR? Only USD 1500. Need a GPU for the VR? Have a 1080, just USD 1300. Oh, want to get that one from Amazon? We'll apply 60% tax and you need to hire a person to do the paperwork, for reasons. Also you gotta pay administrative fees because you're not a company. Yay! /s

 

[Nico]

I'm surprised by the amount of Latin American people here, feels good to not be alone but is the same story as ever, we don't count as potential customers because we live in countries nobody in the "developed world" cares about.

I like the idea, that set looks like something I could easily store when not in use. Doesn't take too much space and you can use any chair you want. I would still need to modify my "desktop" a bit to fit the pedals.

However, if I could purchase this I would skip the headset. Fill me with disagrees if you want but I don't care about VR. Would rather spend that money on better PC parts. My PC is relatively new and powerful (built in 2015) but I have trouble with AC at times, reaching 99% of memory usage and it's really annoying when it does happen.

 

[Icky427]

seems like a deal. im glad these are turning out to be good. if wasnt satisfied with my csw id probably pick one up

 

[NL-Jos]

Only to buy with creditcard
Wich i don't have
Not with pay-pall

 

[Kurupt CDN]

Ships across the ocean but wont ship to canada? ......theres only 2 states between calgary and cali.
Weak

 

[Alexandre Costa]

The import tax is around 60%, but then if you are buying from a shop there are other tax every time it is on different hands that makes the total tax way above 100% but this happens to every product in the end, not only stuff that comes outside the country

In the end it's the same thing. You pay around 100% taxes.

 

[thepharcyde]

Since when was the G25 belt driven - sceptical myself until these start despatching and get reviewed