Everyone, I’m proud to announce the completion of my VR Simpit, that I built from the seat of a BMW Convertible!
The project took me roughly one year, although I worked on it on and off, inspired by a post on the Hotas subreddit. The base is built out of aluminum profiles, and it includes a bass shaker for vibrations, a dedicated amplifier, an electric PSU to power the seat’s electric subsystems, and a powered USB hub for the Hotas / pedals / mouse / keypad.
The seat came with built-in Airbag and a Belt Tensioner (!) that I did not found a way to disable! Hopefully they won’t cause problems and/or go off while I play.
The peripherals I used in this build are the HOTAS Warthog, an Azeron keypad and the MFG Crosswind rudder pedals.
I have been filming myself while building it, and I even went as far as editing everything together with a nice tune - and this is the end result:
Very nice. You may find Elite Dangerous is even more comfortable after a few hours if you lean the chair back, tilt the stick forward, and raise the pedals (like an F-16).
Interesting! The pedals cannot be raised yet, although that could be arranged with minimal effort. My position however would not match my avatar at that point.
Ah, I think the F-16 designers knew more than FDev about flight deck ergonomics.
More seriously, a slightly forward tilted stick at the right distance does reduce tension on the thumb side of the wrist and the sense of heaviness, all while increasing dynamic range in terms of how much force can be put on the stick. The latter aspect is very important to flight sims.
Not sure if g-forces are still something that have to be considered in year3300-spacecraft-cockpits. But probably don’t have to be considered in an virtual cockpit at all.
Would be nice to know if the seats of large airliners are also tilted. This would be more comprehensive to most elite-ships. Nevertheless certain ships in elite could have indeed a tilted seat. At least the 30 degree for the F16 seems to be a value that isn’t used anymore and shouldn’t be mentioned as reference?
But I must admit I’m curious by myself but can’t easily adapt my desk at the moment.
For reference, from wikipedia:
" The F-16’s ACES IIzero/zero ejection seat is reclined at an unusual tilt-back angle of 30°; most fighters have a tilted seat at 13–15°. The tilted seat can accommodate taller pilots and increases G-force tolerance; however it has been associated with reports of neck ache, possibly caused by incorrect head-rest usage.[83] Subsequent U.S. fighters have adopted more modest tilt-back angles of 20°.[44][84]
I am referring to the tilt of the side-stick (joystick). Tilting the back of the chair, and lifting the pedals, can help with knee and posture issues, but tilting the side-stick forward makes a huge difference in wrist and elbow comfort. Especially when it is frequently necessary to pull back on the stick, which even for space ships in zero-g, is often the case.
The more recent US aircraft seem to use a forward tilted stick as well.
