Manufactured in Marietta, GA USA | Installed Everywhere
Manufactured in Marietta, GA USA
Installed Everywhere
 

FAQ for SimCraft Motion Simulation technology, APEX racing simulators, Simucube2, and SimCraft Tilton Simracing Pedals

P/N SD110-500
Input 230 – 240V AC 50HZ 2.2 A
Output 110V AC 500VA

 

The actuators used in SimCraft systems are designed for extensive usage over long periods of time. They are rated at 50,000 hours MTBF and are warrantied for repair or full replacement for three years at no extra cost.

Yes.

We have developed custom hardware and/or software solutions for our customers in several cases. Whether you are looking for custom chassis work, development of software interfacing, specific support for a third party component, and everything in between, we can help. Just give us a call or send over your requirements and we’ll get to work.

You bet. Although our exe and dll files are not yet compiled within the 64-bit instruction set, you can run our software on any Windows OS since Vista.

This depends on the product, the country you are in, and how fast you want it. We have shipped APEX units to many countries in 4 continents. Give us a call or send us an e-mail and we’ll let you know what your shipping options are, and in some cases can tell you want import duty and taxes were for your country of origin.

We have several programs for dealers, local area manufacturers, agents, and web based affiliates. The best thing to do is give us a call @ 877.SimCraft, (ext 2 for sales), or send us an e-mail ( [email protected] ) telling us a little about what you have in mind.

Yes, software is included with all SimCraft systems. At a minimum, CraftCon, Craftware and select racing or flight integration titles are included. Currently all racing and flight integration software is included, in addition to a “free software for life” offer that will provide free updates and free future integrations, but this offer will not last forever.

This is indeed possible and our system does it by providing the rotations as you would expect. This is hard to convey without actually getting in a sim but what you feel in the seat coupled with what your inner ear perceives provides a correct simulation of making a turn or losing traction.

The system is very very user adjustable in terms of the level of motion and intensity that you can adjust in real time. Different “titles” will behave differently. A good example of this is if you watch the videos posted on the simcraft website and notice the difference in movement between how the cockpit moves between “Grid” and the one demonstrating iRacing. You would not expect to the thrown all over the place in the Mazda in iRacing for instance as the steering is quiet small, smooth, deliberate adjustments and definitely not an arcade style game. With Grid loaded it is a completely different experience.

When I first started with the motion system I felt the roll and pitch effects dramatically to the degree I was concentrating so much on them I was initially missing my normal turn in points. All of a sudden you had all these sensations that you had never had to deal with happening and it took a little while for the body to adjust and just “go with it”. I started with the levels turned down from default and over time adjusted to what feels realistic to me now, everyone is different. Different cars and tracks need a different setup. I would confirm that there is zero latency and turning a fast left to right definitely gives the sensation I would expect. Good example is the Road Atlanta track in iRacing, after reaching the top of the hill after turn one, going through the shape right and then flat out for the right hand turn at bottom of the hill leading into the small and very quick right / left bend. It happens so quickly that always brings a smile to my face when I nail it. Sometimes I look at the cockpit in motion and you can get a sense sometimes that it isn’t moving that much, but this does not translate to what is felt. It is probably very much what you are describing with trick the mind into believing that the transition is actually much farther along than in reality?

In actual fact I am only moving the wheel slightly right to left to take the bend but the force I feel as it happens very quickly is greatly enhanced. There is no problem for me imagining I am actually on the track and driving the road.

On this point I would say that one of the best immersion factors is the ability to now feel the elevations in the track. I know and feel when I am going up or down a hill where in the past this has always been one of my biggest disappointments that all the tracks felt flat, even though you knew they were not. Same is felt with braking and planting the foot down.

John Christie, SimCraft customer

G- Force and road textures – both definitely yes. I personally think I feel it much better even up through my wheel (g25) but the real differences is slight variations in the track are also felt through my cockpit that add a lot. Sometimes it’s just like a knock I feel in my back or from somewhere under my seat or a larger one that will actually cause a movement even though the steering wheel was not moved. It does a good job in giving feedback from the track surface.

John Christie – SimCraft customer

Would one day love to upgrade to the 3DOF model and it’s on the list of things to do. This however calls for a much more complex design and build process than the 2DOF model. I think the 3DOF would be incredible and I would imagine add a lot to oval type tracks for the banks etc.

John Christie – SimCraft customer

SimCraft has first class support. I have had two instances where I have needed to get simcraft to remotely connect to my PC to fix an error for me. Can’t really say what happened but I think it was something I had done that lead to a corruption in the program somewhere. Quick email and arranged a time to suit us both and made correction in matter of mins. During my build process I emailed several questions all of which were answered very promptly as have been any email I have sent. I have made the comment before on a post I did on Iracing, that I swear Sean, doesn’t sleep as it seems as soon as I send an email he has replied no matter what time of day it is. I cannot speak highly enough about their customer support or service it has always been fantastic and a pleasure to deal with these people.

John Christie – SimCraft customer

What I will leave you with is this. I have on occasion started iRacing for a session without my motion enabled to compare my times. I can honestly say that I can now no longer do it for more than 5 mins without being bored. The track is dead, lifeless and it feels like I am playing a game. I could never go back and I am very satisfied with my purchase and love climbing in the sim whenever I get the chance. I honestly don’t get that much free time so tend to jump in and do an hours practice to unwind and have some “me” time. Racing with the motion is definitely physically tiring compared to just driving with no motion. Mentally and physically it does place demands on you that you don’t otherwise experience. This is how it should be and does translate successfully with the Star motion cockpit. I feel like I have had a race rather than just played a game, if that makes sense.

John Christie – SimCraft customer

You do not need a lot of yaw to feel “seat of the pants” feel. Just a few degrees really. The exception is off road rally racing with DiRT where large quantities of yaw are thoroughly entertaining. Turning it down or tuning it to your liking requires a few keystrokes, WHILE, you are driving.

It does this very well through roll and pitch. You can also feel compression of the suspension when you hit a quick uphill like you find at Limerock.

Our opinion is severely biased but our opinion would tell you, there is no comparison. SimCraft was born and lives in the simulation world and our technology has been compared to the performance of multi-hundred thousand dollar hexapod designs. Realism is what we study and strive to perfect.

Totally incorrect, you will feel every bump. It doesn’t translate as the whole car moving up, then down. You feel the front wheels hit and then the back wheels hit…within milliseconds.

Skip Barber racing schools would not have selected our simulation technology to train car control if the simulation wasn’t ultimately realistic – including bumps.

Seat-mover refers to a motion system in which only the occupant’s seat is moving, the controls and visual display remain stationary.

Please read our Educational article about <a rel=”nofollow” href=”http://www.simcraft.com/education/3″>Motion Systems vs. Motion Seats</a> for research on this topic.

1. SimCraft is a COCKPIT mover, not a SEAT mover. The entire simulation environment (seat, controls and visuals) is in motion.
With the introduction of the SimCraft, it would also be possible to incorporate seat moving or vibrating inside a motion enabled cockpit, although this is not a SimCraft endorsed experience as it tends to break the immersion in the simulation.

2. SimCraft range of motion is much, much larger. The range of motion on a seat-mover system is very small (<10°) compared to SimCraft which allows for up to 50° of roll and up to 25° of pitch ( up to 50° of yaw on the APEX).

3. SimCraft has yaw capability <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_freedom_(mechanics)” target=”new”>rotating about the center</a>. Some seat-movers allow for a small amount of translational sway by pushing the seat side to side.

4. SimCraft rotates about the <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_o … and_centers_of_mass” target=”new”>center of mass of the occupant</a>, seat-movers do not. The rotation of a seat-mover occurs at a fulcrum below the seat, which is not how actual vehicle physics perform. Rotations around the center of mass of the occupant are much more compelling and immersive. We know egg-headed physics can be a bit overwhelming; as we are fond of saying, “just get in it.” Meaning you need to physically experience a full-motion simulator to understand and appreciate it.

5. SimCraft is used by the military for training, seat-movers are not. The APEX is used by the United States Army for training, and that endorsement should say something. It is also used to teach Car Control at Skip Barber Racing schools and TEAM O’Neil Rally School,

6. SimCraft’s <a href=”http://www.simcraft.com/craftcon.html”>motion control software, CraftCon</a>, has real-time motion control, allowing you to customize the motion experience while you are driving. We have demoed to over 1000 people over our five years of development and one thing we have found is a constant – everyone is different. Our software has been designed to allow for easy, real-time adjustment so the driver can modify the range of motion and the intensity of each independent axis of rotation. Furthermore, the driver/pilot can also specify how much G-Force they want in their simulation as well as how much orientation – ALL in real-time.

7. SimCraft motion control uses orientation in addition to accelerations, seat-movers use force motion cues only. If you are racing at Watkins Glen or Road Atlanta, there are plenty of elevation changes that impact the orientation of the vehicle in 3D space. If orientations are not used in positioning the sim, the experience will be lacking a very important element.

8. SimCraft allows for XML based settings saving, sharing, etc. Different cars on different tracks, each have different setups in the real world so the same is true in the simulated one. Adjusting motion settings in real-time and saving the setup to a file for future reload is an operation that takes seconds in CraftCon’s motion control system.

9. SimCraft allows for SimRacing AND FlightSim. Most people aren’t into both, but you might start to like simulated 1 v 1 air to air combat in an F-22 when you try it with your SimCraft application. Seat-movers only provide motion cues for ground based vehicle forces.

One available USB port (2.0) is all you need for your PC to drive our sims.

This depends on the system. Contact SimCraft for current promotional offers and details….

It is important that a safety perimeter be maintained during usage. Great care has been taken to make these systems safe, but we will always emphasize that a motion sim is not a toy.

Degrees of Freedom: Roll, Pitch, & Yaw

Roll:
Max Range of Motion is +/- 25° (50° total)
Max Velocity is 50 °/s
Max Acceleration is 167 °/s2

Pitch:
Max Range of Motion is +/- 15° (30° total)
Max Velocity is 30 °/s
Max Acceleration is 86 °/s2

Yaw:
Max Range of Motion is +/- 25° (50° total)
Max Velocity is 50 °/s
Max Acceleration is 167 °/s2

Values are dependent on mounting radius of 21″ for Pitch and 11″ for Roll /Yaw

No, only these currently supported titles.

SimRacing Titles: http://www.simcraft.com/racing_integrations.html
FlightSim Titles: http://www.simcraft.com/flying_integrations.html

10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, with 24-hour e-mail turnaround 6 days a week.
Send your e-mails to [email protected].
Or call us toll-free at 877-746-2723.

Initially, 6′ 5? – 250 pounds. If you are interested in a system and do not meet these requirements, contact us for a customization.

Almost all PC based controllers will work just fine. The mounting of the controllers has been designed to be as universal as possible to support as many types of controllers as we can. There is also an adjustable floor board for your racing or flight pedals.

At this time, two systems cannot be linked to the same machine, however all multiplayer capability is supported as long as separate systems for each motion platform are used and the system requirements for the titles themselves are met.

The system uses electromechanical actuation which requires electricity and gears. There is marginal noise from the actuators, but inside the cockpit during “play” you will hardly hear them if at all. This depends on how loud you like your audio and whether you wear headphones or use external speakers.

We would suggest a flat floor that is carpeted.

SimCraft maintains regular stock of Simucube 2 Pro units.  Our website monitors our inventory, so if it lists them in stock, they are in stock and can ship immediately.

Yes, you will need a mount to be able to attach the motor to your cockpit.  They are not included in the price of the Simucube itself.  Mounts may be purchased with your Simucube or separately.   The Ultimate DOES include a mount.

Simucube wheel bases ship via UPS Ground

We take orders right through simcraft.com.   Payments are accepted on all major credit cards.   We do not accept Paypal, Google Pay,  or Amazon Pay at this time.   We will however accept Bitcoin and arrangements can be made in this regard.

There is no expedited shipping available yet.

We currently only ship to the United States through simcraft.com.    Other Simucube distributors may handle all international shipments.

The Pro offers higher torque and is slightly longer than the sport.  The Pro unit is rated at 25 Nm of direct drive torque, the Sport is rated at 17 Nm of direct drive torque.

The Ultimate offers higher torque and is slight longer than the Pro, the Pro is rated at 25 Nm of direct drive torque and the Ultimate is rated at 32 Nm of direct drive torque.  The Ultimate height and width is slightly smaller than both the Sport and the Pro.  The Ultimate comes with the upgraded emergency stop and additional software features.

Yes, you can – after your transaction, please feel free to set up an appointment to visit our facility.

The simucube ecosystem has multiple options.  Take a look at Precision Sim Engineering (http://www.precisionsimengineering.com), Cube Controls (http://www.cubecontrols.com), and Asher Racing (https://www.ascher-racing.com) for options.  SimCraft currently stocks the PSE GT3 wired wheels.  Please contact us for pricing and availability.

Yes, you can modify a Fanatec wheel to adapt to the Simucube.  Options for this can be found at http://www.simracingmachines.com

Yes, they operate with a separate USB connection to your computer

Our brake is load cell based.   We do not offer a hydraulic options due to the maintenence headaches required and the real possibility of leaking fluid all over the sim.

We include a GT Brake Cylinder (Long Brake Throw) and a Formula Brake Cylinder (Short Brake Throw) that can be swapped in about 3 minutes.

Each cylinder is adjustable assembled, but also has variable spring and damper components which are included.

Units ship with the short throw for easier packaging.

Pedal sets ship via UPS Ground

We take orders right through simcraft.com.   Payments are accepted on all major credit cards.   We do not accept Paypal, Google Pay,  or Amazon Pay at this time.   We will however accept Bitcoin and arrangements can be made in this regard.

There is no expedited shipping available yet.

We currently only ship to the United States through simcraft.com.    Our distributors handle all international shipments.

Yes, they operate with a separate USB connection to your computer