Simucube 2 your thoughts?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Turtle Power, Apr 3, 2019.

  1. Turtle Power

    Turtle Power Well-Known Member

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    Not cheap, seems like a new step forward or is it? Unfortunately, I don't have spare xxxxxxx dollars but it will be interesting to see how it performs in comparison to our old gen Direct Drives. Send it to Sim Racing Garage for the review :D
     
  2. ravey1981

    ravey1981 Well-Known Member Beta tester

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    I'd say DD wheels are now into the realms of smaller gains rather than the massive step up from belt/gear driven wheels. The hardware is fairly mature and software is well developed. The all in one solution is a big bonus as they can give it to developers and say "here, support that....." OSW wheels have the disadvantage that they are not all the same, different encoders, different motors, different software or iterations of software etc. Giving them full support must be very difficult.

    The simucube 2 looks to be very well thought out, the integrated QR is very neat. Not sure how the wireless wheel will work, will it need to be a specifically developed wheel or will there be a wheel plate for existing wheels etc.... Interesting stuff.

    I hope the move to one box solutions by simucube and fanatec can ultimately create more sales and in turn gradually bring the price down due to economies of scale. I can see in a few years time well developed DD solutions in the £600 bracket, much easier to justify for the average sim racer.

    We have never had it better in terms of sim gear, in the 10 or so years I've been involved in the hobby the equipment that has come out is incredible.... Just wish I had deeper pockets!!
     
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  3. sbtm

    sbtm Well-Known Member

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    i think it's "cheap" for a DD-system. I guess it performs slightly better than current/old gen DDs... but for me I don't see a need to get the Simucube 2, I'm pretty happy with the (old) Simucube System.
    It's definetly more attractive than a Podium DD.

    First differences I noticed are: SC2 is fanless, so no noise. And the much sleeker design. Podium has more look of a toy compared to the SC2. SC2 has two power bricks, Podium only one.

    DD1_normal1-1000x666.jpg vs sr_874370_largeish.png

    your choice ^^
     
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  4. sbtm

    sbtm Well-Known Member

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    what I dislike about the all-in-one solultion is that you cannot upgrade single components anymore. The thought of the original simucube was to be able to upgrade every component. the cables, the encoder, the motor, the mainboard, the PSU, the Servo Drive.... in SC2 it's now all-in-one, which takes this possibility. "oh there's a better encoder released.... oh wait.. I probably need to buy a newer revision of my Simucube" ... or maybe it's possible to exchange the back part of the simucube where the electronics are stored. hm. But I don't really need to think about it since my Simucube (1) is alive and kicking
     
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  5. ravey1981

    ravey1981 Well-Known Member Beta tester

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    Yeah there are definitely pros and cons to both approaches. I suppose though now that the DD concept is well tested they know what works and what doesn't. If something works well then upgrading for something that may be only a tiny bit better is pointless. A lot of users would probably prefer just to have a sealed system that works, not everyone likes to pull things apart. I see that VRS are in the process of building a one box DD wheel too which looks promising.
     
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  6. Ablaze

    Ablaze Well-Known Member

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    Is someone here who bought one of those wonderful new motors? Would like to hear some opinions. :)
     
  7. G.Deurwaerder

    G.Deurwaerder Well-Known Member

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    @sbtm : said -
    (( SC2 has two power bricks, Podium only one. ))

    differs on models, sport has only one power supply, pro has two and the Ultimate also 2
     
  8. biancazzurro

    biancazzurro New Member

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    I have bought a SC2 pro and I come from OSW small mige sincos and big mige biss C.
    SC2 is definitely a step forward in terms of smooth and feeling from the FFB.
    Furthermore it has some new features like the Static Force Reduction that change my life in RRE and Rfactor 2, it reduces automatically the force when you turn the wheel if it is too strong. In RRE there are some cars (like DTM 1992 or WTCC classic for example) that were impossible to drive with the old OSW, the wheel became too strong and they had no feeling from the road.
    Consider that the development of the new firmware is just started, other new features are about to come.
    If you watch the review of Barry Rowland you can see that is not so difficult to change the electronic parts of the new all in one system, maybe (if they want) future hardware improvements can be possible.
    Watch the review of Sim Racing Garage for further information.
     
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  9. Ablaze

    Ablaze Well-Known Member

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    Done that already 1 hour after it was posted on YouTube. Was very interesting to watch. :)

    What I would like to know how long the battery last and how the ultimate version compares to a Bodnar V2 system.

    Just out of curiosity, do you need to have the True Drive software open all the time? Even if using a steering wheel with USB connection? I'm asking because with my current wheelbase, if I want to play a sim I simply switch the power on at my rig and can jump directly into the game without launching a program for the motor first. Is that possible with Simucube2?
     
  10. biancazzurro

    biancazzurro New Member

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    If you use a specific preset of settings and save it as default, at the moment you have to launch the TD software because you have to enable high torque mode, in the future maybe this feature will be loaded automatically and if you use an USB you wheel you will not.
     
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  11. fl0wf1r3

    fl0wf1r3 Well-Known Member

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    I don't care about the fan of the dd2, I wear headphones anyway :) But the design of the dd2 is not nice, to playful, unfortunately. Why the heck they used carbon? and FANATEC everywhere, ufff. But I bought one because I have already three wheels from Fanatec and I didn't wanna spend more and more money in adapters and so on. But for the dd2 I had to bought a new mounting bracket for my Sim-Lab P1 :/ that sucks. No front mounting option for Fanatec DD wheel bases.
     
  12. FormelLMS

    FormelLMS Well-Known Member

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    No matter how it looks, it matter how it feels.
    At least for me.
     
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  13. Wilko Jones

    Wilko Jones Well-Known Member

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    The eventual plan is to go direct drive, but I am still wondering what way to go. I like the Simucube 2 Sport a lot, although the price is a bit higher than what I would want to spend on it. I wonder if an OSW would still be buildable in a couple of years, when I am ready to ditch the belt driven wheel?
     
  14. ravey1981

    ravey1981 Well-Known Member Beta tester

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    OSW will never go away, and DD prices in general are bound to start dropping the more players there are in the market. If you're not ready yet then wait, technology will be better and prices lower. Early adopters always pay the highest price, that's the way the world works, they pay for the privilege of having the best things first (and in turn allow the rest of us to benefit later down the chain)
     
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  15. sbtm

    sbtm Well-Known Member

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    DDs won't get much cheaper in the future, a bit, but not like 30% less.
    OSWs more or less don't exist anymore and you can't buy an "OSW"
    OSW was the predecessor of known DD wheels, current DD wheels evolved from the OSW idea.
    People often say OSW when they mean Simucube, but Simucube is not an OSW, it's a Simucube.

    But yeah... you will always be able to build your own OSW if you want the hassle with the DIY part :-D
     
  16. ravey1981

    ravey1981 Well-Known Member Beta tester

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    Yes fair enough on the OSW terminology, I was using that to distinguish from the new breed of one box solutions (fqnatev and simucube2). But you can still buy original flavour DD setups from various places at various prices..... I disagree with the price not coming down statement though, as the technology has been perfected over the last 5-7 years or whatever the price has come down. From when you could only get a bodnar for £3k you can now get a DD setup for around £1k new. Technology always trickles down in any field, and hence is accessible at a lower price. It won't be overnight, it may be 3 or 5 years but it will happen.
     
  17. sbtm

    sbtm Well-Known Member

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    Yes but what I meant was that a Leo bodnar won't get that much cheaper and a Simucube also won't be 800 bucks suddenly. What's more likely to happen is that there will be (more) cheaper DD solutions but with less power. But I think that a bodnar will always be the highest priced, a 20 to 25Nm kit will be around 1000 and 1500 and the 7 to 12 nm will be 700 to 900. But I don't see a 20Nm base at a today's cost of a 10 Nm base anytime soon.
     
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  18. Bull Shark

    Bull Shark Well-Known Member

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    I have zero knowledge of DD wheels. But is 7Nm to 10Nm not more than enough to drive a DD?
    Or do you miss a lot of small FFB info if the Nm is lower?
     
  19. sbtm

    sbtm Well-Known Member

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    It is enough power-wise if you only drive GT3 and similar cars. They are around 7 to 9 Nm in real life.
    If you drive open wheeler and especially older ones you need much more power. An 80's formula 1 car was measured with a peak of 28Nm steering forces by Niels Heusinkveld.
    Having more power has some advantages like being able to give you detailed ffb even on higher strengths. When you drive a smaller motor it will always be on higher levels like 80 or 90% strength and it won't have any headroom left for peaks and details because it will go into clipping.
    Also the motor will get very hot because it's always near the limit.
    I drive my 20Nm MiGE (Simucube) at around 40% to 50% and it stays cold even after hours. Clipping is far away and I have plenty of room for cars with higher forces... Except for old formula 1 cars :-D

    On YouTube you can find a test by I think Simracing Paddock where he's testing a 10Nm DD and it's getting pretty hot on the surface. I can imagine that it won't last THAT long when it's always so hot. Only thing you can do is dial it back to a level of belt driven bases. You don't have much power but plenty more details than belt-driven.
    So if you don't want "real forces" and are more interested in a more detailed ffb, then smaller DDs could be an option.

    But trust me, fighting the higher forces is much more fun :-D
     
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  20. Bull Shark

    Bull Shark Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the info. Will take a look at the vid..