Today's simming equipment

[Ralph Jones]

After seeing some discussion here about flight simming, which I drifted out of a while back, I took a look at today's market for that stuff. Ho-lee MACKEREL, what you can spend on peripherals now. And then you need a new, big-bore mainframe and monitor to cope with the MSFS2020 data rate. And on top of that there are SEMI TRUCK sims, with steering wheels, shifters, pedals...sheesh.

[Russell Holton]

Did you see some of the home-built motion sims?

[Ralph Jones]

Indeed.

[Ralph Jones]

A screen capture from Reddit: https://preview.redd.it/l3d3m3g8s236...4b8cdbb7f17323

[Terry Carraway]

I am headed back into this world.

Just got a fairly high end spec gaming machine. Working towards a 3 monitor setup with curved 27" center and 2x flat 27" for the sides. Also ordered an Oculus Quest 2 for virtual reality.

And yes, the peripherals are crazy high now, but some of that seems to be supply and demand. The Thrustmaster A-10 HOTAS stick/throttle was $450 (not cheap), but right now, people who have them in stock are asking $700 to over $1000.

For driving sims, a nice setup, with load cell brake (responds to pressure, not movement), will run $700+. And a GOOD setup, it $1500 or more. A nice, but non-load cell brake, is about $400, plus about $170 if you want to add a standard shifter.

Looking at civil aviation setups, Logitech now has switch panels and radio modules. Also instrument modules to build a steam gauge panel.

[Ralph Jones]

Yeah, I looked into replacing my elderly desktop, but the new-generation GPU's are being scalped outrageously. CPU's aren't far behind. Gonna give that some time...

Understand lots of people here in Colorado are getting into truck simulation so they can try out the escape ramps on I-70...;-)

Heard there's some sort of controversy over Oculus forcing you to have a presence on Facebook.

[Ralph Jones]

...and here's a guy with a two-place cockpit. https://preview.redd.it/jafew8fvpa36...c23ea02d52e6ef

[Gil Buettner]

We have a simulator at the flight school where I work that allows you to have LIVE communications with ATC in SoCal. I haven't used it, but it's impressive. The only strange thing is the controller is one person for clearance, ground, tower, departure, etc.

[Terry Carraway]

Yeah, I looked into replacing my elderly desktop, but the new-generation GPU's are being scalped outrageously. CPU's aren't far behind. Gonna give that some time...

Understand lots of people here in Colorado are getting into truck simulation so they can try out the escape ramps on I-70...;-)

Heard there's some sort of controversy over Oculus forcing you to have a presence on Facebook.

Yeah.

I looked at building my own, but the video card I got is running close to $2000. And I only paid $3000 for the whole computer, with a high end processor, 32 GB memory, 2TB SSD, water cooling.

[Terry Carraway]

We have a simulator at the flight school where I work that allows you to have LIVE communications with ATC in SoCal. I haven't used it, but it's impressive. The only strange thing is the controller is one person for clearance, ground, tower, departure, etc.

That happens in real life.

I was flying in the Ashville area one night, and checked in with approach. As I listened, it was apparent that Approach was also Departure, Tower, Ground, and Clearance Delivery.

[Ray Tackett]

That happens in real life.

I was flying in the Ashville area one night, and checked in with approach. As I listened, it was apparent that Approach was also Departure, Tower, Ground, and Clearance Delivery.

Yep. E.g. KABE any night into the wee hours of the morning.

[Bill Bridges]

I am headed back into this world.

Just got a fairly high end spec gaming machine. Working towards a 3 monitor setup with curved 27" center and 2x flat 27" for the sides. Also ordered an Oculus Quest 2 for virtual reality.

And yes, the peripherals are crazy high now, but some of that seems to be supply and demand. The Thrustmaster A-10 HOTAS stick/throttle was $450 (not cheap), but right now, people who have them in stock are asking $700 to over $1000.

For driving sims, a nice setup, with load cell brake (responds to pressure, not movement), will run $700+. And a GOOD setup, it $1500 or more. A nice, but non-load cell brake, is about $400, plus about $170 if you want to add a standard shifter.

Looking at civil aviation setups, Logitech now has switch panels and radio modules. Also instrument modules to build a steam gauge panel.

Terry,

Where are you with your sims?

[Terry Carraway]

Still waiting for the A-10 HOTAS to come back to a realistic price.

Still over $700.

Not sure why they have not come into stock and reasonable prices.

[Bill Bridges]

Still waiting for the A-10 HOTAS to come back to a realistic price.

Still over $700.

Not sure why they have not come into stock and reasonable prices.

Greed.

They'll get caught just like those folks hording toilet paper and lumber.

[Terry Carraway]

Not sure. So many places are out of stock.