Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

The Ultimate Racing Experience Is Waiting For You… At Home?

CXC-Simulations-7
Image used with permission by copyright holder
As kids, our obsession with toys is socially acceptable behavior. We beg, whine, and cry until our parents either punish us or give in to our demands. As we mature, the tantrums stop (for the most part), but our fascination with toys never seems to go away. If anything, our desire for the latest and greatest gadgets only intensifies with age.

At a certain point, the adult version of our self decides to indulge — to reward years of hard work with a contemporary treat. For those of us with oil pumping through our veins, the dream of owning a race car is sovereign. “Sure,” you think, “I can’t buy a Lamborghini to race in Super Trofeo, but I can afford a $15,000 Spec Miata.”

Recommended Videos

Unfortunately, racing isn’t a one-time expense. Consumables like brakes and tires can total thousands of dollars over the course of a racing season. You’ll also need a truck and trailer to haul your race car to and from each event. If you’re a novice, there’s a chance you’ll bin the car at some point; how does $5-10K in repairs sound? Oh, and if you want to drive something with more than 100 horsepower, like, for example, a Porsche Cayman GT4, prepare to shell out $190 grand for a used model and $400-500K per IMSA GT3 race season.

Now that I’ve sufficiently crushed your racing aspirations, may I suggest a different strategy?

If you call yourself a surface dweller, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the term “racing simulator.” In fact, you may have even tried one for yourself – perhaps a friend has a Logitech G-Force wheel and a copy of Project CARS hooked up to his Xbox. You probably have a good time flinging a production sports car around a famous racetrack, chuckling when you make a mistake and plow into a wall at 120 miles per hour. Who cares — it’s a game; it’s also nothing like a CXC Simulation.

There’s another way to describe a racing simulator. At CXC Simulations in El Segundo, California, a racing simulator is an intricate combination of motion, vibration, audio, and software systems to recreate genuine racing experiences.

In the words of CXC founder Chris Considine, “Comparing a force feedback wheel and pedal set, or really any other off-the-shelf simulator kit, to a CXC system is like comparing a Ford to a Ferrari.” Mass-production systems meet the minimum viable requirements of gamers, but a bespoke setup from CXC is built for the demands of real racing drivers – CXC’s core clientele. You read that correctly: some of the world’s finest racing teams and drivers use CXC Simulators to maintain and sharpen their skills.

iRacing in the Motion Pro II Racing Simulator

To find out how the best driving simulation compares to real racing, we went hands on with CXC’s Motion Pro II unit at the company’s headquarters.

When you strap into a CXC chassis, slide into its bucket seat, secure a five-point harness, grip a Momo steering wheel, toy with hydraulic brake, throttle, and clutch pedals, and flip the wheel-mounted carbon fiber paddles, any notion you’ve had of a racing simulator until now becomes laughable. And that’s before you even hit the virtual track.

Our first test uses iRacing software to stage a Radical SR3 racecar on Sebring Raceway’s Club track. This particular CXC rig uses a Cobra full-containment racing seat and three 75-inch high-definition screens to recreate the cockpit. As we take our warm-up laps, the first thing we notice is the lack of friction from cold tires. The operative word here is “notice,” because with a standard force feedback wheel, cold tires are simply something you register in the back of your mind, but the linear vibration motors in a Motion Pro II system let you feel the subtleties of traction.

As momentum builds, so does the realism. G-force (via the direct drive steering wheel and seat motion) tricks our brain into believing we’re taking a corner at 110 mph or locking up the tires under hard braking. The lightweight CXC unit suffers zero delay in communicating the car’s unsettled chassis. With each lap, we lose more of ourselves to the experience.

After what feels like 5 minutes but is really 30, Chris chimes in, “Ready to try VR?” Massive HD monitors are a great way to experience a racing sim, but virtual reality is the ultimate in immersion. As we secure our Oculus Rift headset, the Radical SR3 cockpit comes alive. Our initial laps introduce the same haptic feedback as before, but the sensation of speed is very different. We find ourselves taking corners slower and getting on the brakes earlier than before. We’re well acquainted with the track by now, yet the visceral nature of VR, combined with the accuracy of the CXC rig, amplifies the consequence of our actions. Getting on the throttle too early, or understeering onto the grass seems like a life-threatening error.

After the trepidation subsides, however, things get really good. We’re hitting apexes more consistently, shifting more perfectly, and finding tenths of a second where we never thought to look for them. This is real racing.

After 30 minutes in virtual bliss, we emerge — sweating, heart racing, and grinning from ear to ear. Our concept of simulated racing has changed forever, and now we have some advice for you.

If you aspire to race, nothing is more valuable than practice. Even if you’re blessed with abundant time, the cost of real-world experience is tremendous. If you’ve done the math and don’t like the results, change the equation. A CXC simulator builds muscle memory and driving skill that directly translates into talent behind the wheel.

It’s the ultimate big kid toy, for the most dedicated adults.

Miles Branman
Miles Branman developed a passion for cars early on thanks to a neighbor’s collection of rare and exotic vehicles. What…
You can now join the wait list for the Range Rover Electric, and here’s why you may want to
Hurry to get your name on the Range Rover Electric wait list
Range Rover Electric now open for preorders.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) opened the wait list for Range Rover Electric (RRE)pre-orders. There's no confirmed production model release date, but JLR reports the "highest levels of client demand in our 53-history" for the Range Rover Electric.

JLR committed the Jaguar branch of the company to all EVs for new models with the announcement of the last gas Jags. Land Rover will continue to build conventional V8s along with mild hybrid (MHEV) and plug-in electric hybrid (PHEV) Range Rovers, but the biggest stir is for the new Range Rover Electric.

Read more
This Wrench Video Game Lets You Fix Cars Without Any of the Hassle
Wrench Video Game

Previous

Next

Read more
The heavenly F80: Ferrari’s newest halo car
The F80 is the fastest and most expensive yet
Ferrari F80

In our ever-expanding, attention-deficient world, we have been conditioned always to demand, "What's next?! " The lifecycles of every kind of product, from insulated water bottles to smartwatches, have slowly been cut down so that manufacturers can capitalize on the novelty of the next new thing. But there are tiers of reactions, depending on what that new item happens to be.

While a new iPhone or PlayStation typically raises exceptional amounts of fanfare among each's respective fan base, when it comes to a brand-new, top-tier Ferrari, the entire world stops and gasps at the sight of one. Even non-car people who don't fully understand what they're looking at will know the new Ferrari F80 is special. Picking up where it left off with the amazing SF90 Stradale and Spyder, Ferrari took what it learned about hybrid powertrains and literally and figuratively ratcheted up the power and performance to create the latest and greatest hyper-horse-halo-car.
The Ferrari F80 is the great, great-grandchild of the iconic F40

Read more