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Full Motion Cockpit with VR


melchionda

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Does anyone have any experience with full motion cockpits, I'm particularly interested in their use with VR.  I'm getting the feeling that they are not all that necessary for flight sims but I also do iRacing, and I think it would be a huge benefit for driving sims.

 

I don't want to spend like 10,000 but I would spend $2000 to get started with a 2 degree of movement kit.  For example these guys can do a 2 degree kit for about $2K USD.  -> https://dofreality.com/  I have no idea how good it is though and there is no way to try it out.  

 

If this is the wrong place to ask about this let me know.  I looked around a bit but couldn't find a thread about full motion cockpits.

 

 

CPU: Intel Core i9 10900K  -  GPU: ASUS ROG Strix 3090 OC Edition  - Mobo: Asus ROG Maximus XII Formula Motherboard  -  RAM: 64 GB HyperX  -  EK Open Loop liquid-cooling  -  PSU: FSP Hydro+ PTM 1200 Watt liquid-cooled Power Supply   -   PIMAX 8KX Headset

ThrustMaster Warthog Throttle and Stick  -  Winwing Landing and Combat Panels  -  MFG Crosswind Rudder Pedals

 

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Hi melchionda, have a look at my video of my diy platform. It uses the sfx-100 diy actuators and I added a g-seat and a wind sim controlled by the same system. If you watch the landing at the end you can see that it is very responsive while it is smooth in the air. I use it vor iracing and fs2020 too and I'm more than happy with it. The price for the platform actuators is around 2000 €. Over 400 people built the system mainly for racing and you find a lot of info in the net and you can start here https://github.com/SimFeedback/SimFeedback-AC-Servo/wiki.  The combination of platform and g-seat including a 4 point harness for the negative g's is the optimum for me. If I had to choose between platform and gseat for flying only I would prefer the gseat. But despite it is cheaper (around 1300 €) it's not as easy to build as the platform and to gain some expeence with the platform helps a lot. You find more videos for the gseat in my channel. 

 

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@harryharry - Thanks for your reply.  After a few days of focused research I'm beginning to see that the SFX-100 design is a great entry point if you are ready to do the work.

 

CPU: Intel Core i9 10900K  -  GPU: ASUS ROG Strix 3090 OC Edition  - Mobo: Asus ROG Maximus XII Formula Motherboard  -  RAM: 64 GB HyperX  -  EK Open Loop liquid-cooling  -  PSU: FSP Hydro+ PTM 1200 Watt liquid-cooled Power Supply   -   PIMAX 8KX Headset

ThrustMaster Warthog Throttle and Stick  -  Winwing Landing and Combat Panels  -  MFG Crosswind Rudder Pedals

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have a full Next level racing rig and using VR. Have started building a cockpit around it so havent used it alot yet. But I think its awsome in both helis and planes! 

NLR software is a blast to use. The only thing im missing is the option to have the motion use G-force telemetry instead of pitch/roll. (Does when you are on the ground though)

 

Feel free to PM me for questions. 

Link to my build: 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

Hi Melchionda. I built a 2 DOF system based on the Next Level Racing Motion Platform V3 using it move the entire cockpit. I use Oculus CV1 for VR with motion compensation enabled and it is excellent fun, but...... I have flown rotary wing aircraft in real life and in commercial simulators, including fixed as well as full 6DOF with collimated displays. I found that my budget 2DOF system motion cues were actually detracting from the immersion of flight experience. I also found that bass shakers have increased my immersion particularly when taking off and landing, firing guns and releasing weapons as well as manoeuvring. Next Level Racing software offers a great VR compensation for any moving platform. However, I found that the fidelity of motion cues, (initiation, rate and duration) was lacking in my build. To the point that I have decided to revert back to a fixed cockpit which I find to be better.

 

I did a fair bit of research into motion cueing to better understand what my issue was. I found that whilst there was some accurate motion cueing in my platform, the absence of some of the cues that I experienced in real life detracted from the overall experience. Essentially, what was being delivered through a 2DOF platform was outweighed by what was missing. If i ever go back to motion platform for my sim, I will aim to build a 3DOF system incorporating pitch, roll and up/down axis. I think the up/down axis was what I was missing the most (particularly given I only fly rotary wing aircraft with an occasional sortie in the a10-c. Another consideration for a motion platform is the rate control of movement (speed) of your actuators. There are speed thresholds which are detectable by the brain (particular applicable when using VR) and these can be used to induce a motion cue and return to a neutral seat position without being registered by the brain in the absence of any visual cues of movement in relation to the external environment. For example: you enter a 15 degree turn and hold it through a full 360 degrees. Your platform will roll and remain in the roll applying pressure to one side of your body (through the seat). At this point, ideally, you want your seat to return to a neutral position to spread the pressure through the seat to equal on both sides of your body and effectively simulate a 1G force directly down through the seat and not through one side of your body. This is possible to program if your return rate is below a certain speed and not registered by your brain.

 

I also found that whilst using the VR, I have reduced the "stroke" of the movements of my platform. I found that 10 degree roll and pitch were simply too great and in the end I was only using around 2 degree deflection in each of the directions. What I did focus on setting up was the rate of movement. A crisp and immediate response over a shorter distance was excellent in the VR and this was achieved by reduction of actuator travel and increase of sensitiveness and speed. I also do simracing using Automobilista 2 and I found that for racing it is opposite. I need a larger movement setup with a smoother directional change as there is more lateral motion cueing rather than vertical. So for simracing I found the setup to be the inverse of the flight sim setup. I think traction loss simulation is a must for simracing so my next project is to build a 3DOF platform to incorporate a combination of pitch (accelerate/brake), roll (turn left/right) and yaw (traction loss/slide/spin).

 

Anyways, that's just a few thoughts on what I found in terms of motion platform (2DOF) for both flight and sim racing. I am a fan of bass shakers though, I think that they provide a lot of immersion into both flying and racing sims. I use two AURA bass shakers on my flight sim and three on my racing sim (for a chassis and engine setup), I hope this gives you some ideas.

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