Sim racing

Yeah sorry i meant Germany. After buying some Merrell Boots for a present for someone and having them sent back to me for No reason at all when trying to return them it’ll be the last thing I probably buy from the EU. Seems that it’s quite common for packages to be sent back to sender. Guess they’re not even trying to bother with all The processing and paperwork with I guess the sheer volume of parcels being sent their way.

Do believe Fanatec are setting up a repair/stock shop in the Uk though.

Delivery from Germany can be a bit slow and for goods over £250 (I think) there can be duty payments. Vat is payable to the courier at import rather than paid at point of sale. I think I may have paid about £15 of duty on top of tax when I bought my wheel and pedals last year.

However provided you've done a bit of due diligence and know the cost there's no reason to let that put you off. I think a combination of faff factor and low stock has also meant then fanatec gear holds its value really well. You could expect to get back most of what you paid if you changed your mind and sold it.

Personally I think it's worth considering an ecosystem with upgrade potential like Fanatec, assuming you're reasonably sure it's a hobby you're likely to stick with.

That said nothing wrong with Logitech wheels, I had three in the 90s and 00s and they let you have a lot of fun. The force feedback is enough to give an idea of what the car is doing. However load cell brake are a game changer, feels much more natural and it's so much easier to come off the brake smoothly and avoid unsettling the car.

Gone with the g29 for now. Thrustmaster seems to be hard to get hold off at the moment. £260. So not the cheapest it’s been but would a good £100 cheaper than the 300gt. If I get hooked I can just sell it and upgrade. If it’s something that ends up the in the closet I havn’t lost too much money.

Will pick up a play seat challenge next week, credit card changes over in a couple of days, so I’ll spread out the cost a little bit. Hopefully by the end of next week I’ll be Up ans running. Got F12021, GT sport, WRC9, dirt 5, Dirt Rally 1/2 so got plenty to check out before GT7 arrives. Notice Asetta Corsa is £5 in this week
Sale too

I'm thinking of putting up a month long Dirt Rally 2 championship sometime in the next few weeks.

dirtrally2.dirtgame.com/clubs/club/179065

Tried DR2 earlier today with the 540 rotation and it's a marked improvement. Already feel like I'm in more control of it.

Talking Rally. I'm quite tempted to get wrc 10. It's on sale on psn for £24.99 and I have around £7 in credit.

I want to like DR2 but I find the distortion in the side screens really off-putting plus I don't have a shifter and using paddles just feels weird.

The rally chat inspired me, so I had a first go at iracings dirt road rookie events. Quite good as a change of pace. The truck's a bit 'meh' but the Beatle is great fun.

Took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that on the dirt sections I needed to stop just pinning the throttle on corner exit as I normally would. You really have to listen carefully to the engine note to deduce when the rears are spinning. Felt very unnatural to begin with. Don't think I'll spend much time on this mode but it's a fun distraction and I'll definitely do the odd dirt race from time to time.

My playseat arrived this afternoon, so just set that up with the wheel, and played GT Sport for 45 minutes. That was the quickest 45 minutes I think I have spent gaming. That was a lot of fun. Took me 10 or so minutes to get used to it, it not really like driving but is once you get used to it. Its kind of odd. I was all mixed up for a little while, like I hadn't driving a car before, but it didn't take too long to get a feel for it. Don't normally play games in MT, but seemed to pick it up pretty quick, will take a while to figure out what corners to take in what gears, I guess thats where you miss the actual weight of a car.

Its a lot more immersive for sure. Already a lot more respectful towards breaking points (breaking a lot earlier to feed myself in and get the best line, slow in , fast out!), actually feel like you are looking into a corner. Yeah this is good fun. Honestly, I can see my self just hot lapping tracks for the foreseeable future. Not fussed about racing people at the moment.

I kind of now don't want to overplay GT Sport and wait for GT7 haha.

Got thrashed by LMP2 Le Mans driver Job van Uitert on Iracing tonight. He just disappeared up the road after the first few corners. Still, pretty cool to race against an actual pro.

I guess I am looking forward to it, after the first few corners of course.

People wrecking within 30 secs of a 8 minute lap always makes me chuckle.

I am not great here, I think i tend to lean on the brake pedal a bit too much.

This race should fix your SR if nothing else

Oh cool, I'll get it downloaded.

Actually they've put a bit of an effect on the brake trigger.

Nah it was just to have a look at it, I'd only ever really play it on the wheel. It was fine once I changed view anyway, it was mainly the guys hands going insane whenever you touch the stick that was ruining it.