Ford Motor Company apparently selected this racing simulator to demonstrate ride experiences, but if you afford one, your living room could turn into a testing lab too. After all, there’s an F1 wanna-be in all of us, we know it, so why not start off the right foot. Is it a rich men's toy? Most likely yes, but by the looks it’s worth the money.
As you probably have already guessed, “The Most Realistic Racing Simulator” is currently on salem being offered by the exclusivist Hammacher Schlemmer store and easily makes it in the top 10 expensive gifts. But let us see if it's worth the money.
The simulator uses linear servo actuators that cause its suspended, monocoque fiberglass chassis to roll, pitch and rotate 360 degrees at up to 0.5G acceleration. Just like on the race track, almost.
According to the retailer, turns at 200 mph are faithfully reproduced, likewise is moving up a bank in the slipstream of an opponent. The chassis’ front dips when braking at hairpins, pushes forward when accelerating during passes, and rumbles when driving on an apron. And it can do all these with drivers that can weight up to 300 lbs (136 kg).
All conditions are replicated, which means there’s an actual racing seat, seatbelt, and “doors”. Its two paddle gear shifters, steering wheel, accelerator, brake, and clutch - all from real race cars and modified for simulator use - provide rapid gear changes and adjustable travel for optimal realism.
Hammacher claims the simulator generates 10 times more feedback than other similar systems, thus being able to provide accurate race feeling. In terms of car models, the simulator provides a large list of options that includes stock, GT, F1 and F3 models, while the backgrounds are precisely modeled as real life tracks. As we mentioned, this is not a video game kids play with, and the $185,000 price tag is there to confirm it.
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