Not really sure where to put this post, but it feels like VR when you're in it, so I'll put it here
First some links.[youtube-hd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Pl9h1-vlk[/youtube-hd]
[youtube-hd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sRChDX9uqo[/youtube-hd]
The two videos are there to provide an idea of what the experience is like from an over-the-shoulder perspective (where you obviously can't see the 3d effect), and a first person video to show what the 3d effect is like. I prefer the hood camera to the cockpit camera because I figure that the wheel in front of me kinda is the cockpit anyways
I eventually plan to give this a shot with the Oculus Rift + head tracking as well.For anybody that doesn't know, the idea of a 2DOF motion sim is to simulate the experience of gee-force and orientation by tilting the chair you're sitting in. The SimXperience setup is capable of 200 updates per second! This means they are able to simulate the lower frequencies of engine vibration through the chair as well. The chair is a kit you put together yourself, and they have a software suite used to capture the telemetry from the game as you play it. I believe their software is heavily based on the X-Sim software, with a graphical front end.
My initial impressions are that the 2DOF isn't that great at large gee-forces, because although you feel the steering wheel pushing on your hands when you brake, you don't have the accompanying feeling of deceleration in your chest. Smaller changes in acceleration are picked up really well though, such as the slight jolts as the car shifts through gears or swerving into corners. Road "noise" is also very well simulated, especially in the Dirt series as you can see from the video.
The real strength of the SimXperience chair is in the orientation part of it, obviously because this can be mapped 1 to 1 onto real life. For example, as you sit on the start line in Dirt 2 revving the engine, the torque from the engine tilts the car slightly; this is picked up perfectly by the 2DOF chair. Subtle, but extremely immersive. Also, when your left tire slips into the gutter at 75 mph your heart will know true panic. Jumping is another huge immersive kick, as you feel yourself tilting just a little too far to make the landing
What does 3d add to the experience? Oh just the feeling that you're looking out of an actual car window into an actual world that's spinning by at enormously unsafe speeds
A new update that just went into the SimXperience software is an ability to run a subwoofer via game telemetry through a secondary sound card. I have this setup with a buttkicker bolted onto my gas/brake/clutch pedal assembly. Through this I pick up engine vibration through the pedals, but also impacts and changes in road surface. I can't stress enough how important this is for immersion. I plan to add a second buttkicker to the chair in a future update.
Basically, if you know what the capabilities are, and can struggle through SimXperience's poor build instructions, I can tentatively recommend the 2DOF chair. At about a tenth or less the cost of competing products, and extremely low latency and high update rate, you won't be seeing a better at home simulation experience any time soon
