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My Gran Turismo 5 Racing Seat

Started by bombsquad83, July 13, 2012, 01:17:46 PM

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bombsquad83

I realized that I didn't want to hijack Phil B's thread, so here we go.

Here are the pictures and description of my home made racing seat for Gran Turismo.  It goes great with my 100" 720p LCD projector setup in my basement.  Here is the list of features:


  • 8-way power seat from a Chrysler LHS (got it from a junk yard, cleaned it up and used a leather dye to make it black)
  • Power seat is powered with an AC to DC converter mounted behind the seat
  • Height Adjustable steering wheel (steering column from a Dodge Neon)
  • Steering wheel is a Driving Force GT with pedals
  • Steering wheel mount was cut and welded up from scrap square tube steel from a table, and painted gloss black.
  • Stereo Bass Shakers powered through low-pass filters from a 100W amp.  It gets stereo signal from the RCA output from the PS3.
  • Base is plywood and 2x4s on 4 large caster wheels with a black rubber bumper mold, aluminum laminate, and wood trim painted black, and aluminum threshold as kick-plates.
  • The base is upholstered with black trunk liner material.  As you might be able to tell from the pictures, it sucks up dog hair and won't let it go.  Other than that, it's a great material.
  • My father-in-law custom upholstered the headrest with the GT logo on the front and back with a blue carbon fiber look fabric inlay.

CLICK PICTURES TO ENLARGE







These two pictures show how the steering wheel height adjustment works.  You just push down the lever and you are free to move it up and down through about 2 in of adjustment.





Video of the power seat in action.  I forgot to show the reclining adjustment, but it works too.


And a couple pics of my buddy racing on it.  It was a while ago before it was completely done with all the trimmings, but you get the idea.  Helmet and gloves optional  8).



Phil B


bombsquad83

Thanks.  A lot of people go with racing style seats for their cockpits.  I figure that I'd rather be nice and comfy.  After all, you are just playing a video game.

PachmanP

Quote from: bombsquad83 on July 13, 2012, 01:42:57 PM
Thanks.  A lot of people go with racing style seats for their cockpits.  I figure that I'd rather be nice and comfy.  After all, you are just playing a video game.

But what about the lateral g loads?!??!
'04 F to an E to a wreck to a Wee Strom?
HEL stainless brake lines
15W fork oil
Kat 600 Rear shock
K&N drop in and Buddha jets
It wants me to go brokedie.

ver4

93 GS500 Stock - Sold
04 Yamaha FZ6

bombsquad83

I'm always looking for people that wanna come try it out by the way.  I'd love to ride GS's and race in the basement for a while if anyone wants to come to Normal, IL.  Unfortunately a newborn in the house might put a damper on that for a while.  :angel:

yamahonkawazuki

i was ggiven a leather seat out of a gmc yukon. which resembles a private jet seat. car lto bought it for a part ( a hinge pin) and offered me the rest. the power motors and switches and relays still in place, so i can adjust it on hte fly. to the OP. that is a NICE setup. if im back up htat way, i may stop in and see it. always looking for new ideas
Jan 14 2010 0310 I miss you mom
Vielen dank Patrick. Vielen dank
".
A proud Mormon
"if you come in with the bottom of your cast black,
neither one of us will be happy"- Alan Silverman MD

bombsquad83

Added a picture of the underside.

yamahonkawazuki

NICE you added thumpers to her. bass thumpers that is have plans to do that with mine
Jan 14 2010 0310 I miss you mom
Vielen dank Patrick. Vielen dank
".
A proud Mormon
"if you come in with the bottom of your cast black,
neither one of us will be happy"- Alan Silverman MD

Waterbeds

this is awesome, i got a kick out of you wearing your helmet and gloves...keepin it real!>?

yamahonkawazuki

Quote from: bombsquad83 on July 13, 2012, 01:42:57 PM
Thanks.  A lot of people go with racing style seats for their cockpits.  I figure that I'd rather be nice and comfy.  After all, you are just playing a video game.
ive got the racing buckets in my rx7. thats where theyre staying. the denali seat is going to be my gaming seat. decided against the f4 seat ( phantom pilot seat saw CHEAP @ surplus store. guy was offering me to work for a few hours in exchange for it. may still do it. but wont use it for that
Jan 14 2010 0310 I miss you mom
Vielen dank Patrick. Vielen dank
".
A proud Mormon
"if you come in with the bottom of your cast black,
neither one of us will be happy"- Alan Silverman MD

dougdoberman

Hmmm, mine's not quite as elaborate as yours.  :)  Unfortunately, I don't have room for a big seat & cockpit.  (If I did, it'd be flight sim focused anyways.)

Here's the setup I used when I first got my Driving Force GT.  That's a piano bench I bought for 5 bucks in order to better play the drums in Rock Band.  :)



I then moved on/up to a Fanatec setup which necessitated an auxiliary board and clamps.


I've since built an adjustable stand, as I game at two different seat heights.  When driving on the PS3 or X-Box 360, I'm usually seated on the couch.  The chair at my gaming computer across the room is higher though.  I didn't want to have to pull the gear off the stand and mount it to my desk every time I wanted to compete in iRacing or GPL or whatever, so I just slide the thing over in front of my desk and sit in my computer chair.  I'll get a pic posted of the stand soon.  Took just a couple hours and like $20 worth of materials to make.  (Assuming one already has the tools required.)
If you can't be a good example, at least try to be a horrible reminder.

Phil B

nice! and hey.. rock band, woo! :)
that reminds me, I need to buy rock band 3 with the MIDI adaptor, so I can use my full sized electronic piano keyboard as an instrument, woo! :)

Flux Maven

Quote from: dougdoberman on July 17, 2012, 05:05:38 PM
I then moved on/up to a Fanatec setup which necessitated an auxiliary board and clamps.

How do you like your Fanatec setup? I want to get a wheel for GT5 and Forza but there aren't many wheels that work cross platform. Do you think the Fanatec is worth the investment?
99 GS500E, 72 TS125 Pics thread http://tinyurl.com/fluxmaven

dougdoberman

Quote from: Flux Maven on July 18, 2012, 08:13:13 AM
Quote from: dougdoberman on July 17, 2012, 05:05:38 PM
I then moved on/up to a Fanatec setup which necessitated an auxiliary board and clamps.

How do you like your Fanatec setup? I want to get a wheel for GT5 and Forza but there aren't many wheels that work cross platform. Do you think the Fanatec is worth the investment?

If you want one wheel to do double console duty (or triple if you race on the PC as well), then I think that Fanatec is your only choice, isn't it?  There were some people working on adapters that'd let a Logi G27 work on an Xbox, but I can't imagine that kinda kludge would work very well.   

Unless there's been some new stuff released since I picked up Forza & the Fanatec last year, there are precious few 360 wheels available period, let alone cross-platform wheels.   So Fanatec is really your only viable choice if you want a decent setup.

As to the quality / worth of the Fanatec gear itself, I'd say that I'm pretty happy and find it worth the cost.  I've got the CSR wheel with the CSR Elite pedals and CSR shifter.  Sorta their middle of the road package.  I don't love the wheel itself, but that's mostly due to where I prefer to place my hands.  I hold at 10 & 2 where it's a sorta slick plastic, instead of 9 & 3 where the Alacantara is placed.  I've been meaning to wrap the slick part with tennis racquet grip tape or something.  The pedals are fantastic.  They take some getting used to if you're coming from something with very little resistance such as the Driving Force GT, but I feel that I'm able to be a little more precise than I was before.  Plus, you know, a clutch.  I come from the days when cars had a stiff-ass clutch pedal and four on the floor.  Clutchless paddeling through the gears?  No thanks.  I love that I can set the brake pedal to vibrate at a certain percent of travel so I can have a little physical feedback about impending lockup.

I did have an issue with my shifter being faulty out of the box.  Took me well over a month to get it replaced.  Terrible communication with customer support.  The head of the company even saw me discussing the bad service on a forum and said he'd look into it.   Didn't seem to have any impact on resolving the issue, as it still took weeks to finally get a working shifter.  This seems to be outside the norm though, as most people have reported good interactions with customer service.



If you can't be a good example, at least try to be a horrible reminder.

yamahonkawazuki

10&2 is traditional. 9&2 more recent. so yeah im a 10&2 person myself. but a few cars ive driven that was uncomfy cause wheel wasnt made for this
Jan 14 2010 0310 I miss you mom
Vielen dank Patrick. Vielen dank
".
A proud Mormon
"if you come in with the bottom of your cast black,
neither one of us will be happy"- Alan Silverman MD

ShowBizWolf

Super duper bump... don't hurt me please !!!

But I couldn't resist... I stumbled across this thread and had to say how cool it is  :embarrassed:
Superbike bars, '04 GSXR headlight & cowl, DRZ signals, 1/2" fork brace, 'Busa fender, stainless exhaust & brake lines, belly pan, LED dash & brake bulbs, 140/80 rear hoop, F tail lens, SV650 shock, Bandit400 hugger, aluminum heel guards & pegs, fork preload adjusters, .75 SonicSprings, heated grips

bombsquad83

Hey thanks!  It's still put to good use.  Not as often as I'd like since the little one is running around wanting to play Lego Star Wars most of the time.

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