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!

 

[Xr4eyes]

Maybe they want to know some extra info with that (adress ,ect )

Exactly this

 

[Paul Glover]

@Martijn van Bommel Any further news?

 

[Martijn van Bommel]

Not yet, hoping to recieve something before Christmas .

 

[Fat-Alfie]

(for you)

 

[NL-Jos]

Not yet, hoping to recieve something before Christmas .

2023?

 

[kamackeris]

I was so close to dropping cash on this but I couldn't get a decent signal at the festival I was at on the last day of the kickstarter campaign and by time I did they had all gone... Quite glad I didn't now.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Will it work with Mad Box?

 

[Brandon Wright]

Shame. When I met the guys they seemed genuinely passionate and dedicated to getting it on the market, and the wheel felt pretty dang good too. Must have been a bit more difficult than they imagined.

 

[Brandon Wright]

Update

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/feel-vr-the-affordable-direct-drive-racing-wheel#/updates/12

 

[sunrise3500]

still indefinitely delayed. still no prototype of the wheel base

 

[Mascot]

Anything at all in the past three months?

(not a backer, just morbidly fascinated by the trials and tribulations of new product launches. See also: Realtus Forcefeel)

(note to self: if launching a new product avoid the word 'feel' in the name)

 

[Stephen O'Sullivan]

The latest blog post, dated 15th August, is here. Plus the vlog:

 

[BP]

The latest blog post, dated 15th August, is here. Plus the vlog:

Not to be negative, but you’re supposed to be making DD wheels and couldn’t spring for a little clip-on microphone? Heck, a headset would have been better quality than that echo-filled presentation

 

[Caton XII]

The West Brothers got some participation in this business !?

 

[sunrise3500]

They claim first batch of pedals will start to go out end of year, and all backers will have them by spring next year.
They havent started wheel production yet, no eta or timeline. indefinitely delayed. Unless you look at their indiegogo, they updated the timelines earlier in the year to say you would get in june this year to fool more people into backing.

Keep in mind they promised late last year to be shipping pedals by end of 2018 too.. or even july last year they were telling backers *everything* is on track to be shipped in september 2018...

 

[Deleted member 197115]

And Santa is real.
Was anyone able to get a refund from them?

 

[rlslmshdy]

Look at the two markets. Demand is bigger than supply in the pedal market. In DD wheel market since this was started. There been a lot of change. Simucube 2s are very good. Also Fanatecs DDs are very good. You also have Simplicitys lower torque DD offerings. VRS has a DD in the works that supposedly a great system at a good price. So sales are not gonna be as easy as it appeared 2 years ago.

 

[Martijn van Bommel]

Not yet, hoping to recieve something before Christmas .

Uuuh, make that spring 2020 .....i hope

 

[Deleted member 197115]

More updates.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/feel-vr-the-affordable-direct-drive-racing-wheel#/updates/all

And so far they've collected.

 

[Dirk Steffen]

… collected over a Million USD in funding through the advertisement of a backyard business made product in a low labor cost environment by people with no prior manufacturing experience, producing a niche product, priced at roughly 500 USD a piece ???

I think either I am either in the wrong business or there are waaaaaay more people out there willing to buy bridges or someone is drastically overstating their borrowed money scheme numbers.