The number one question sim racers get asked is, “What’s your set up?” People want to know what sim chassis you are using. What steering wheel? What pedals?
My chassis is from GranStand, a company out of California. I’ve had it for several years, but have gotten very little use out of it. I don’t think GranStand is in business anymore, but they built a good, functional, relatively inexpensive chassis.
My steering wheel is the Ferrari 458 Italia edition of the Thrustmaster TX Racing wheel with force feedback.
The pedals are also Thrustmaster. I have the T2PA pedals that only have two pedals, the gas and brake. It doesn’t have a clutch. I’ve thought about upgrading to the three pedal set, but there seems to be less and less of a reason to have a clutch. Most shifting is now done with paddle shifters, which don’t require a clutch.
As for type and number of monitors, my set up is pretty simple. I use a single monitor, and it’s nothing special. Just an RCA 55″ flat screen TV.
If this Vagabond Racer experiment takes off, I’ll want to get a better steering wheel and pedal setup. I may think about getting a better monitor too. Maybe even a three monitor set-up, although I’ve heard conflicting opinions about that type of monitor arrangement. For now, what I have should work just fine.
As far as cost goes, all of my equipment is quite affordable. I don’t remember the cost of each component, but I’m fairly certain that I have less than $800 invested in the chassis, seat, steering wheel, and pedals. The monitor is just a regular old TV that you can pick up at Best Buy for $500 or less. Every component is of good quality (Truthfully, the pedals aren’t great), but they aren’t expensive. They should serve my purposes to get started. If I get more serious about sim racing, I’m sure I’ll want to upgrade my equipment.