Building your rig:
position and measurements

First: it must not move

If the wheel shifts when you turn it hard, everything else is beside the point. Two reasons, and both matter:

• False information. Part of the force that should reach your hands is spent moving the mount. You feel less, and what you do feel arrives late.
• Fatigue. Your body compensates for the movement without you noticing, and half an hour later your shoulders are gone.

How to check: sit down, grab the wheel with the sim closed and pull hard towards you and to the sides. If anything moves or creaks, that's your first job.

Fixes in order of cost: tighten every bolt and add brackets; anchor the desk to the wall; move to a dedicated rig. And if the problem is the desktop itself, a rigid board under the base spreads the load and fixes a lot for very little money.

The correct driving position

The reference is a real racing car, and it has three points that must all be true at once:

1. Back against the seat, always. If you have to lift it to reach something, something is placed wrong.
2. Elbows slightly bent with your hands at nine and three. Arms fully extended means the wheel is too far; very closed means it's too close.
3. Legs slightly bent with the brake fully pressed. Never straight: you need force and travel.

Quick test that the wheel is at the right distance: with your back against the seat, rest your wrists on the top of the rim. If you can reach with your back still against the seat, it's right.

And the detail most people overlook: the wheel must be centred with your body. A couple of centimetres off and you'll feel it in your neck and back over a long stint.

Reference measurements

There are no universal numbers because they depend on your height, but there are relationships that work:

• Wheel height: the centre of the rim roughly level with your sternum. Higher in a GT position, lower in a formula one.
• Wheel angle: tilted slightly towards you, not flat like a ship's helm nor vertical like a bus.
• Seat height: hips level with your knees or slightly below. Knees much higher loads your lower back.
• Backrest angle: between upright and about 25 degrees. More reclined only if the seat supports your shoulders.
• Pedals: aligned with your hips, not offset to one side.

Tip: set everything up with the brake fully pressed, not with a relaxed foot. Your real driving position is the braking one.

Pedals, which are half the job

A load cell brake pedal needs a genuine push: somewhere between twenty and forty kilos depending how it's configured. That has consequences for the build that people discover late:

• The pedal base has to be anchored. If it slides on the floor, you can't repeat a braking point.
• You need something to push against. As you press the brake, your body goes backwards: the seat back has to take it. Without a firm seat, you're pushing against air.
• The angle matters. Very flat pedals force an awkward ankle angle; very upright ones load the knee.
• Set the distance with the brake fully pressed, not with the pedal at rest.

And one calibration worth doing: set your maximum brake force so that your 100% is a pressure you can repeat when tired, not the hardest you can push once. If you have to push flat out at every braking zone, you'll be wrecked in twenty minutes and braking worse.

Placing the screens

Three rules:

• Screen centre at eye level, or slightly below. Looking upwards for an hour loads your neck.
• As close as is comfortable. A near screen fills more of your field of view, which improves both the sense of speed and your judgement of distance.
• Field of view set to that real distance. It's the step almost everyone skips, and the one worth the most lap time. Explained in triples or VR.

If you use three screens, they also need anchoring so their angle doesn't shift: if they move, the sim's configuration no longer matches and your references drift.

Mistakes you pay for in aches

• An office chair on castors. It rolls backwards every time you brake. The most common mistake and the one costing the most performance.
• Wheel too far away. Forces you off the backrest and loads shoulders and lower back.
• Loose pedals on the floor. Every stop shifts them a little and your reference changes without you knowing.
• Force feedback strength too high. Tiring without informative. Set it as explained in the force feedback guide.
• Screen too far with a wrong field of view. Everything looks slow and you brake earlier than necessary.
• No airflow. On long stints heat tires you more than the effort itself. A small fan changes a surprising amount.

The definitive test that the rig is right: an hour-long stint with no need to reposition yourself. If you're shifting in the seat after fifteen minutes, something still needs adjusting.

Frequently asked