Does better sim racing equipment equal better lap times?

It's not uncommon to read reports of new personal bests in VR after getting comfortable. That tends to take a while due to the overall VR experience being rather distracting at times; looking at the scenery or opponent cars, checking mirrors, noticing details that were missed before, etc.

When I have been truley immersed in the experience, silly things such as reaching for my sunglasses or resting my arm on the armrest and almost falling out of my seat may happen; while very distracting, they can also be priceless moments.

There should be no doubt that the benefits of better spatial awareness / distance in regard to opponents, apex, edge of track / walls / guard-rails is significantly improved in VR. The next couple of generations of VR-HMD's should be very interesting to follow and there are already lot's of low-cost versions coming for more people to have their first experiences but, I hope the main players in VR continue to push the tech forward pretty rapidly and offer some advanced options too.

 

There is no monitor with 1 ms input lag, because that´s the pixel-response time often just measuring a pixel changing from light grey to dark grey, so a bit of a useless BS-number to attract gamers. 9 ms are the fastest according to this list: Best TVs & Monitors for Gaming: Input Lag Database

My Samsung 4k TV is not that far behind with 20 ms. And you will not find these numbers in the specifications because they are measured with the Leo Bodnar input lag tester.

The moment of inertia of any belt-driven wheels is probably higher than 10 ms. If the graphical wheel is in sync with the wheel, you should be fine.

And driving without FFB certainly don´t make you fast at all. Some guys did this in iRacing ovals, but probably not on any road-tracks. And even if, you don´t want this in AMS. But driving with low forces is certainly recommended. I just don´t care and want to sweat while driving.

 

A lively DD-wheel at higher torque levels can definitely add some excitement and intensity to Sim-racing - no doubt about that.

 

Intensity check, consistency check, but i still suck in qualifying or this TT-Challenge
At least i´m like always gaining a couple of places in races if surviving the first lap, just because most "faster" guys seems to suck at repeating their pace lap by lap. Some guys can deliver and something between 3th to 7th place is quite often my outcome.

Feeling more what´s happening in the car is maybe one (small) reason why i´m not that fast with hot laps. I try to drive as fast as possible without overdriving or risking the car and there are days with a couple of races even online and no damage at all to the cars.

And i would do the Time Trial stuff like in iRacing. Not one fast lap counts, you have to go a couple of valid laps and the average pace putting you in place. This hot lap challenges have barely anything to do with real racing without damage and tyre wear.

 

Good quality pedals will surely give you better laptimes, just because you can modulate better and have much more detailed control. and most important better consistency.

not sure about the wheel, but i do think for me personally when i went from Logitech G27 -> G29 -> TM300 then Fanatec CSW V2 and CSP V2 -> OSW and H-Eng Pro Pedals. for me it made a difference because i can feel the cars movement better and can tell and feel what the car is doing while driving/ understeer and oversteer better control and more detailed control.

 

I'd say a good seat is just as important as the hardware. A friend of mine who only does F1 got himself a rig with a racing seat and improved close to1 second per lap from his office chair.

 

A couple of weeks ago i tried something extreme compared to my odd rig: high quality pedals + OSW + motion seat + 3x 40" monitors.
2 seconds slower
but the immersion was AWESOME.