寒い

This has to be the coldest winter we've had in a long time. It's already 三月 but it's still in the 20's and too cold to do anything car related, so i've been keeping myself busy with other things such as upgrading my GT6 racing simulator and making stickers for my car once i finish putting the body kit on.

It's been over 6 months since i built my racing simulator for GT5. Since then, i've put a good number of hours into playing GT5, then GT6 after it was released. As awesome as the simulator was, the Logitech Driving Force Pro that I had mounted to the rig was starting to feel cheap and not really simulator-like. Don't get me wrong, the DFP was an excellent piece of racing sim gear some 10 years ago when i first picked it up, but in comparison to the offerings they had today, such as the new Logitech G27, Thrustmaster T500RS, and the Fanatec Clubsport set up, the DFP was more like a toy than a racing sim. So, after much deliberation, i decided to splurge a little and buy the Thrustmaster T500RS. It seemed like a good balance between price and build quality, and plus it was an officially licensed product of GT6, the only racing sim i play. I've been playing Gran Turismo since the original was released back in 1998, which just so happened to be the same year i got my driver's license which is probably why i have such a strong attachment to the game. I even purchased a Mad Catz racing wheel to play the original GT on Playstation. It's hard to believe how far we've come in terms of racing simulators in both games and hardware.

Here's a picture of the new wheel and the shifter:


Since the new wheel was considerably larger than the old one, i had to adjust my rig to accomodate the new wheel. Not only that, i also had to reinforce the frame using screws since the force feedback was stronger on the new wheel. The best part of the new set up was the H-pattern shifter. Have this and the clutch pedal increased the simulation aspect of GT considerably because now timing your shifts became even more critical. When i built the simulator, i had accounted for the shifter so adding the extra arm for it wasn't too much extra work. Unfortunately, i used the rest of my wood that i was saving for the shifter table in the garage, so i had to use some scrap wood that was a little smaller than i wanted for the shifter table instead. For now, it will have to do.

Here's the new set up


And with all car related things that i own, i just had to add a little something to make it more personal.


I plan to add some more stickers later on down the road, but i might do that after i paint the frame and the table.

As i mentioned earlier, i've also been keeping myself busy with making stickers, trying out various designs, looking for new designs on the web, and cutting them out to see what they'd look like. So far, i have most of the stickers that i plan to put on the car once the body kit is done, but i'm sure i'll come up with some more ideas for more stickers later on. Anyway, here's a shot of all the new stickers i've made recently



I also made myself a new license plate cover. I got tired of having to edit each picture i post online to block out the license plate, so i figured now that i can make my own stickers, why not just make my own license plate cover, so i did:



And lastly, i finally got my tires in! Now i just need to get them mounted and balanced on my RTs.



Well, that's it for now...i hope the next time i make a post, the weather will be much warmer and i'll be more motivated to work on the car. じゃあまたね.