Maybe this has been asked before, but to the people who have both: if you had to pick one, which would you choose? SFX-100 or Next level V3?
I had have quite a few motions systems in the past and considering all pros and cons here's my final rating
1. SFX-100
2. GS-5
3. GS-4
4. NLMv3
5. SimXperience motion kit
As you can see the NLMv3 is in 4th place and the SFX100 is in first. It's not that i did not love the NLMv3,
i really did. It's a very close tie between the GS-5 and the SFX100 at the first place. The NLMv3 and the SimXperience motion kit are also very close. If sound levels and footprint are not a factor to consider, i would put the SimX on the 4th and move the NLMv3 to 5th since the motion of the SimX kit is better, but it's very noisy.
Besides the immersion of driving, reliability is also a very important factor to me. The SFX100 is very serviceable and i have a spare piece of each component lying on the shelf. If something would break i will be up and running within an hour. I have been running the SFX-100 for over 6 months now, i was the very first public builder to complete one. Never had a problem once. Very reliable, great software.
The GS-5 is build like a tank and even though it still has to prove it's reliability in the long term, i'm very confident that it will last a very long time. After 1,5 hours of driving at max settings i took of the seat cover once and felt one of the servos. It was stone cold.
The GS-4 is known for having 16 servos which can all fail. But.... again you can fix this yourself and i always had some spare ones laying around.
The NLMv3 worked great for over 1,5 years, but i always feared it breaking down on me. The wobbly seat, caused by the slack in the gearbox, is not the cause of it breaking down, but it does make the construction feel less solid. When it did break down, i had to send the 25Kg package to the UK, from there on it was shipped to Poland. It took weeks and weeks before i was up and running again. That's my main gripe with the NLMv3. If it does breakdown, you are f...ed
Motion wise the SFX100 simulates the car, while the NLMv3 simulates the G-forces (to some extent).
There's a lot more detail coming from the SFX100. The NLMv3 provides better surge and sway.
It's not that the SFX100 can not do sway are surge, it does this very well. With the NLMv3 your position to the steering changes which makes these movement more pronounced but also less real.
With all 5 motions systems i have tried, you really can't go wrong, but the SFX100 is the clear winner in immersion, reliability and serviceability. On top of that the motion is just freaking awesome and a very special note must be about the pitch capability of this platform. With 10cm of movement you have
a lot of pitch available when going up or down the hill. In games like Dirt Rally 1/2 or even a lap around the Nordschleife this is a game changer and one of my favourite effects of the platform.