So I haven't really updated this thread in a while but ive done a lot of changes.... and I mean a lot.
Starting it off, My t300 the mounting screw stripped out of the base. My fault I admit it, I like the wheel to be secure and not to move so I would tighten it more than I probably should. Thrust master sent me a new mount screw which didn't work because the treads stripped on the base not the screw. Ended up sending the base back for repair/ replacement along with my mounting attachment, New base showed up about 2 weeks later with no mount screw. Contacted, they said sorry and sent a screw about a week later. They suggested I decrease the mount and un mount time of the wheel..... yea that's not a solution.
Put the wheel on the desk, got into racing and about 15 minutes into it the wheel looses all FFB and starts to behave erratically. great another contact to thrust master. The agree the wheel is faulty and RMA it. Two weeks later, wheel returns repaired. Mount the wheel FFB works now but the steering has a clicky feel and the steering shaft postion sensor is either not working or a belt inside is slipping because any time I turn the wheel while it will still turn full rotation, in games is corresponds to random steering ratios. Fed up, I contact Thrustmaster explain the situation and they request to RMA the wheel. This is about 3 months of me already not having a working wheel and I was over it. Thankfully I purchased an extended service plan at Micro Center when I purchased it, so I went to exchange and guess what. they no longer carry the t300 setup.
which leads me to my dilemma, do I go back to the g29 which was mediocre or go to what ive been wanting which is the Fanatec and just ignore the price and how much it hurts.
so I decided to finally get off my butt and build my Sim rig. I had always planned on building one with a fully working SC300 Dash and center console. I have a Lexus SC430 sitting in the garage so might as well make it work right?
Made a run to Stargate metals and bought some 1 1/4" stainless steel square tube and decided to weld it all up. First on the docket was to get the seat working. I was able to find the wiring diagram and I was able to get the SC430 seat to have full motion capability using a standard 12v power source. so Ive now got my seat and slider setup. Next step was building the base.
here's the progress after a few days of tinkering, seat mounted and the thrustmaster pedal in place not mounted.
This then brings me back to my dilemma I had with the wheel as this is when thrustmaster said we will need the wheel back in for service. Frustrated on not having a working wheel for 3 months I said screw it and went for the Fanatec setup that ive always wanted.
heres what I ended up with,
Fanatec Clubsport V2 base
Fanatec ClubSport Shifter V 1.5 US
Fanatec ClubSport Steering Wheel Porsche 918 RSR
Fanatec ClubSport Pedals V3
Before you say it. Yes it is a stupid amount of money for this setup I am well aware of it. HOWEVER, OMG its rather amazing. The wheel feel, the pedal feel, everything is perfect like you would expect from a real car....
Back to the rig, on Sunday, I finally got the welding finished up and mounted the seat, wheel, pedals and shifter on the base and brought it home. For now, I just hooked it all up to my main PC and monitor as I haven't figured out what I'm doing for monitors yet.
I will say the experience is much better in a solid mounted setup.
All in all, Ive got about $120 in the base from materials but quite a lot of time in welding it up. I ended up not putting the dash on it or the center console because of the way I did the wheel mount but ill end up building another one id guess with the dash and what not.
as far as monitors, I'm seriously considering just going to VR. While I know the quality is decent its about the same price as a monitor setup if not a tad more but since I returned my old stuff to microcenter ive got store credit that can be used toward it. I'm still un decided yet.
