I like that, graphics take a hit tho. Whats the cost of a projector for that and how do you make it work?
If OP is interested in this we could talk more about it. I dont like to be accused of highjacking. btw has OP seen these? http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/12638-Cockpit-buying-advice-needed! http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/9073-The-Rig-I-Drive
You just need a flat surface to project. Your wall is an obvious solution. (you can go for a curved screen too, but that is a different discussion) If you want to have screen closer you must construct your screen and find ways to secure it (many propositions and solutions if you search) I would go for a clear plexiglass cut to size I want and I would go for back projection, in which case plexiglass should be painted with goo paint. As for projectors I think one is enough for such size of screen. Two choices for projectors: 720p and 1080p You can find nowdays a full 1080p under 800$ and a 720p under 500$ I think. Im not sure if you see much difference between them, they are made to project at home theaters so they should be really good at smaller screens such as gaming. I think above video is with 720p and notice there is ambient lighting in room, if it was dark it would be much better. I suppose you can see the difference in resolution with a 1080p if you sit so close to screen as in the video. I bet Panigale knows much more than me about it.
This sounds great I was thinking of doing a 3 monitor system but this has really got me thinking now , is it washed out graphics like the video Nikos put up or is that just the camera washing it out ? With that Optoma ML500 how far from the wall or screen is it and at what height does it sit in the room to clear your head and is there any distortion from the angle ? How far from the PC can the projector be ? By cutting a hole and bringing your screen forward does that alter the graphics clarity and does it pose problems with your shadow on the screen ? Thanks Rod
Hi Rod, Projectors are affected by the amount of light in a room. The more light the brighter the projector (available lumens) needs to be. Watch some vids on youtube for the ML500 and projectors around that price range. They are very sharp and don't require a completely dark room but too much light, as you see in the video, will affect the image.[/QUOTE] Most if not all projectors have keystone correction. This allows you to shoot the image at an angle and still have it perfect on the screen, simple setting in the menu. I have it mounted on a tripod about two feet behind and half a foot above my seat. Total distance is probably around six feet. As far as your HDMI to DVI cable will reach. I can't commit on this since I haven't done it but I don't feel it is absolutely necessary. In terms of clarity, anytime you move your projector or screen you will need to adjust focus. Simple process and takes only a few seconds, isn't something you usually need to repeat. If your rig is up against the wall the in-game seat adjustments and FOV will get you to the point where you feel seated in the car. I look forward to when low cost 21:9 (ultra-widescreen) projectors are available. Paired with a slightly curved screen (e.g Draper Inc) mounted above your feet in the rig would be simple and immersive. I don't think rF2 currently has OOB support for ultra-widescreen or perhaps this is a limitation with my GTX 555. I bought a 660Ti for a computer build so I'll test rF2 on a 21:9 monitor within the next few months. If someone already knows the answer please feel free to share. Cheers.
Can you check please if you see any pixels when you move your head near the screen? Distance of eyes to my wheel is approx. 40cm. If screen is 20cm more, can you check what is the picture quality 60cm away from screen? I cannot find definite info of picture quality of 720p vs 1080p and since you have 720p do you see any pbs? btw what is the size of your projected image? You said you like 1:1, what size of screen is needed for that?
Thanks for that Panigale , Ive been researching like crazy on this and will definitely go the Projector way . Im looking at this unit http://www.justprojectors.com.au/w1070.htm . I dont have a big room and from screen to other wall is 3.5 mtr and 2.4 ceiling height , going by the Throw calculator this unit can have a screen size from 2.5mtr wide 1.3 high down to about 1.5 mtr x 900 in that that room , I will need to ceiling mount it . http://www.projectorcentral.com/BenQ-W1070-projection-calculator-pro.htm Have you played FPS on your projector if so how do you find it , I play alot of Arma and BF type games which is one reason Im looking at 1080p units . interested in your answers to Nikos as well . Thanks Rod
Hi Nikos, 60cm is about 2ft, at that distance (screen would be almost directly behind the wheel) I begin to see some pixelation with 720p content. It becomes very noticeable from 1ft (roughly 30cm) away. To play it safe you may want to consider placing your screen at 70-80cm, reducing the size of the image, or buying a better projector than what I own. 720p vs 1080p is noticeable (IMO) on anything larger than 42" however 720p still looks great even at 70"+. I'm not familiar with what pbs is. If I could get 1080p on an inexpensive LED projector I would have gone that route. Diagonal image size I'm projecting is about 65". More ideal for 1:1 is probably 60" however some cars are harder to make right than others. GTs are fairly easy but open wheelers tend to be a bit off one way or another. i.e. Either the tub is a bit too large or the wheels are a bit too small. I usually drive with the wheel set to off. Wheels and suspension only (via plr file) might be the ideal display setup for open wheelers but requires a tub for a rig. Take your time and enjoy the process as it takes some trial and error to get right. FOV and in-game seat placement are important as is image placement from the projector. Every car mod is different so I usually record the FOV and seat postion in the notes area of the saved settings.
Love all the feedback in this thread. Just to give you a summary, here's how the survey ended. I had a total of 40 responders. Thank you all. Many of you also left very interesting detailed comments in the "Others" fields. Thanks! Here's the isiforums.net folks ideal simracing rig * Multiple monitors (three or more) (57.5%) * High quality speakers + subwoofer (52.5%) * Thrustmaster T500RS (60.0%) * Fanatec Club Sport Elite V2 pedals 62.2% * Fanatec CSL Seat and a generic Playseat seat, both with 29.2% What people can't do without is, surprisingly, multiple monitors. I expected a motion seat/rig to be the first place there. Here's all the answers I got on the "your advice for someone that wants to build his first simracing rig" (me, f.ex.). I think that's the best part of the survey. Enjoy:
Well, the multi-screen option isn't all that hard to guess as a "must have", after all, that's giving so much more immersion on its own than any other parts. A chair is a chair, and although a nice wheel is better than a budget one, they're both wheels... Once you're playing you don't Think all.that much about it. Three screens takes some getting used to, and takes some work setting up, but it gives a huge "wow" once in place...
So, four months after last post, here's the status. I got myself the Thrustmaster T500RS, and it's been a blast so far. Great machine. Just ordered F1 wheel add-on too and TH8RS shifter. They should arrive by next week I hope I pondered a lot on the type of rig I want to build, and read lots of articles, reviews, watched videos... and I concluded that what I want is a triple screen setup, as the survey indicated To build that kind of setup like I want to (check out this if you haven't yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rri19PqJ3qU), I will have to get a good gaming machine, with (probably) a GTX 780. Next up I think I'm going to get a cockpit. I've seen the GT Omega Pro Supreme with triple monitor stand (http://www.gtomegaracing.com/gt-omega-pro-racing-simulator-supreme) that is almost exactly what I need. Any opinions on it? Anyone here has it? Alternatives? Stay tuned
OMG Nikos, noooo I have read quite some articles and posts about the rift, and people seem to always say that it's too low resolution and it's too stressing on the eyes if you keep it for too long... That said, if a new high-res one comes out, it won't be before summer 2014... that kind of sucks, doesn't it? If anyone has more info...
+ you won't be able to see your shifter, your steering wheel, your button Box and and and.....yes, it's very impressive, but not a lot practical for sim racing!
^ Agree, Triples and build ur own rig my advise nothing you can buy even most expensive comes without movement, you want a complete solid rig. I made my own very cheap and used money for csw etc heres old pics of mine, box section and unistrut I can also adjust it to anywhere I want.
Hey Sean, how did you build yours? I think if I had to do it, I would surely use wood, but I seem to notice that yours is steel or welded metal.
I used Unistrut as my 2 base lengths this allows me to adjust seat, wheel, monitors and pedals position if you have a search for this on google you will see how it works. I then made frame for wheel from 50mm box section 2 legs with bottom part welded 50mm flat bar like T to bolt to Unistrut. Wheel stand part is a flat plate welded to small sleeve tapped with grub screws that lock it in position to round bar that is welded 40mm box section at the ends which fits into the 50mm box section of the main stand legs. Simply welded a nut to holes in box section where I had drilled holes this allows to tighten bolt against inner box section to lock it into desired position. Used 25mm box and 5mm flat plate for vesa mounts to make my triple monitor stand and this then fits into the 40mm box section on the wheel stand and same method to hold it in place of welded nut and bolt. Pedal base was originally cut out for g25 pedals it was cut out of 10mm flat plate and welded to hinges and then to 50mm flat bar which then connects into unistrut base and the bottom side of the pedal mount. The top section has 16 mm thread bar which connects to the side of pedal mount with nuts and the same 50mm flat bar at bottom, this allows me to change angle on hinges and move them to any position along Unistrut I want. When I got the clubsport pedals I just added a flat piece of wood to screw pedals to and the screwed this to my original base. Im mechanical fitter to trade but not really good at welding but its pretty simple to do with little knowledge, im lucky enough to work in engineering and at time I built it was able to borrow metal from work lol to make this but I think even if I had to buy the metal to do this it would still have worked out cheaper than most rigs you can buy. Its well and truly solid and probably slight overkill with the size's of box I used etc. Ill try and get up some pics of how it connects and things to show exactly how its connect you cant really see them in those pics. I was planning on painting it etc once in final position but haven't got around to that yet but think I will do once im finally happy that i wont be modding it anymore maybe in future ill have some kind of motion rig added that would be about it i think. I went for adjustable and solid when thinking of making it as nothing i seen was solid enough for price you have to pay and i would quite happily part with the cash if I seen something that I would been happy with but even most expensive still has slight movement, I know insidesimracing has a good plan for building 1 in wood and maybe you would find this easier if not really confident in using metal.
I have the GT Omega Pro (with single monitor stand). It is very well built and the chair is good quality. Slight problems, - It was a pain to attach speakers to the rear speaker mounts as the pre-cut hole is in an odd place. Also my elbows hit the rear speakers a lot if the chair isn't fully forward on the sliding rail. - Getting the perfect seating position took a long time - I had to cut some of the metal extender tubes so that the pedals were the correct distance away. This was also a side effect of wanting to have the chair fully forward on the rail (due to the speaker problem above). - The steering wheel feels quite high even on the lowest adjusted setting. Not uncomfortably so, but I would still like to lower it another inch or so. Again it was difficult to find the best distance for the steering wheel (the same as the pedals). - It's very easy to scratch the metal frame on the monitor stand when adjusting height etc (almost unavoidable). Overall though it's probably the best sim frame for the price. I have attached a picture of my final rig - many pieces of time and money were spent on it, and if you look closely you'll even see my 'good luck' Sparky.. View attachment 10273
