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Home Racing Simulator | |||||
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Don't know what to do with that extra space under the stairs? Build yourself a racing simulator! I bought Grand Prix 3 a few years ago but never liked playing at a desk. The pedal angles were totally wrong and the wheel was always in the way when not gaming. I had a spare computer and wanted to create a dedicated gaming area. It took a few days to work out the bugs but was well worth it. |
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The monitor platform is made from a 2" X 12" and screwed up into the bottom of the stair tread with about 12 #10 X 2.5" screws. A piece was added in between the stair runners to screw the platform up into as well. The wheel mount / desk was built with a 2" X 10" , a couple of old hinges and some custom supports made from 1" flatbar. It is attached to the wall with a piece of 2" X 12" to spread the load to the wall studs. A heavy duty handle from a toolbox was lag bolted to the bottom of the stair runner to make it easier to get in and out of the bucket seat. |
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The monitor swivel base caused some problems. When people go up and down the stairs, they vibrate just enough that the monitor swivels out of position by itself. I drilled three holes in the base and installed some 8/32 screws to lock it in place. |
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The pedal angle was corrected by building a "pie" shaped platform to mount it on. I drilled a couple of holes thru the Sidewinder pedal base at the front and attached a "L" bracket at the back to secure it. The box is just made from scraps of half inch plywood and has a heavy border stone inside to give it some weight. To keep it from moving around, I made three sets of "teeth" to dig into the carpet from 20 gauge sheet metal. |
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The steering wheel will move around on you during game play so I drilled a couple of holes in the clamp and screwed it to the bottom of the mount (desk). Logitech X220 2.1 Speakers give great sound and keep the volume control near the Ricarro leather racing bucket seat which is mounted on a piece of 5/8" plywood. |
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There is a great website located here for Grand Prix 3 with lots of free downloads for improving the game. They also have a forum with good information about setting up and using GP3. Thanx grandprixgames dot org! |
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You can see in the left pic why I had to add the "carpet teeth" on both sides of the pedal box. It is slipping sideways on my buddy. For the ultimate simulated racing experience I put my leathers and helmet on. Now I just need a big fan moving air past the whole thing. |
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Hardware Info | |||||
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