FLAT OVER (VIRTUAL) CREST

Should you buy a rally car or a sim racing rig? This build makes a compelling argument for the latter

WHAT I LEARN HERE IS TOTALLY applicable in real life,” says Arjun Rao, one among the breed of young up-and-comers in the INRC. I’m here to check out a rig that is being talked about in reverential tones in the Indian sim racing community and bump into Arjun honing his rallying skills on it. “There’s no place I can practice,” says Arjun, highlighting the handicap most north Indian drivers have, what with all the rally testing facilities based in the south. So Arjun turned to sim racing and ended up getting faster in his actual rally car!

Sanjay Sikand is a former rally driver who never lost the bug for rallying. To satiate that thirst he built himself the ultimate gaming rig. It starts with the Simicube 2 Direct Drive Sport wheelbase – a high-end force feedback system, delivering one of the most powerful and communicative experiences you can buy, with next to no lag, and an authentic feel since you can mount on a steering wheel you’re familiar with like the OMP that Sikand relieved off his actual rally car. I tried it out, and it feels more communicative than the hydraulic steering on my last-gen Swift, forget about the EPS on the new one. You feel every tug, slip and slide that your virtual car is doing, it is surreal.

Sanjay also installed the OMP seat from his rally car onto the frame built by his company, SS Sim Solutions. Whatever you touch and feel is almost like the real thing. This includes the Heusinkveld pedals, which feel solid — like they could handle an elephant trying to left-foot brake — and provide

feedback too. They’re made of metal, have customisable load cells and electronics, allowing for almost infinite fine tuning to match how the brakes on your rally car feel when you’ve disconnected the booster. The Heusinkveld rally-style handbrake gets a tweak-able load cell and adds to the sense of driving a rally car, as does the Asher Racing push-pull paddle shifter. The latter is made out of carbonfibre, and has an incredibly satisfying click.

Now, if you haven’t heard of Heusinkveld, that’s alright, because I hadn’t either despite being an active eSports racer myself. Think of Heusinkveld like Pagani — it doesn’t sell as many cars as Ferrari, but has an even more obsessive attention to detail. Made in the Netherlands, Heusinkveld produces in smaller numbers than Fanatec or Thrustmaster, but provides premium quality.

Driving is all about the sensations from your palms and bum and, for the latter, there’s the Sim Racing Studios ShakeKit — a cushion that relays the vibrations of the engine, clunk of the gearbox, and the surface of the road directly to your backside. To me, it’s the one thing that really blurs the line between the game and reality. All this adds up to probably the best sim racing rig in the country.

I couldn’t just stand and stare, so I hopped into the OMP seat, to pilot a virtual Ford Fiesta R5 at Rally Australia on the widely lauded, Dirt Rally 2.0. And, to be frank, I was pretty terrible. Arjun, though, was brilliant. He’s even managed to get (virtual) stage times that rank among the top five in the world! When he’s doing serious practice he uses the Ford Fiesta R2, which is front-wheel-drive like the Polo he actually rallies in and he’s set up the pedals, steering, and handbrake, to make it feel exactly like his Polo.

Now a setup like this costs a fair bit, but it isn’t merely for hobbyists — it’s more for those who are looking to make a career in motorsport. Each component can be fine-tuned and tweaked to mimic different cars, including your own rally car! Sanjay actually trains Arjun on this rig, teaching techniques like left-foot braking, weight transfer, and even how to bring the car home in one piece. Sure, you cannot replicate the g-forces of the real thing — actually you can with the addition of something like the Motion Simulator Kit from Sim Xperience, although it would set you back the cost of an actual Rally Gypsy — but you can practice all day without shelling out on the inevitable wear and tear of your rally car. And if you crank up the air-con you won’t be completely soaked through in sweat either. ⌧

“YOU FEEL EVERY TUG, SLIP AND SLIDE THAT YOUR VIRTUAL CAR IS DOING”