Sim Racing games are becoming more advanced and realistic as time goes on, however realism and fun factor can be greatly increased with the use of hardware not only through the use of somewhat expensive equipment of wheels and pedal sets but more importantly an appropriate position and place holder for yourself and your equipment.

GT Omega has provided a very impressive and sturdy solution for those who have been longing for a comfortable place to sit while having a stable platform to hold the pedal and wheel systems while providing more realism than a wheel clamped to a desk would provide which most sim racers in today’s community are still using while racing.

GT Omega Racing Simulator Pro

The Pro model offered by GT Omega comes complete with all the essential things you require to have complete racing platform that houses everything you may need whither you are a console player or a PC player. The pro model comes complete with a Monitor stand allowing you to bolt any monitor with the vesa standard mounting holes to, providing a stable, virtually movement free monitor stand. The rig also comes complete with a console tray, rear speaker mounts with mounting holes, gear shifter mounter and a swivel tray providing a place for your keyboard and mouse to sit.

The rig comes complete with a wheel plate giving you the choice of two ways to mount your wheel. The plate itself is more than adequate in size allowing you to use the conventional table clamp built into most of the wheel on today’s market. While the plate is more than adequate in size as a stable clamping solution for the wheel, the plate itself comes pre-drilled for hard mounting your wheel for a more sturdy mounting solution.

Hard mounting your wheel is something than we highly advise, with the sturdy build quality of the GT Omega it provides you with a stable racing platform. Not only can you hard mount your wheel using the bolts supplied, your shifter and pedal plates also come pre drilled with holes for hard mounting manufacturer specific pedal and shifters.

The rig is fitted with a full adjustable red and black synthetic leather racing seat. The seat padding is made of high density foam giving you ultimate comfort during your race. The seat is adjustable in both forwards and backwards along with the ability to recline the seat for a fully customisable driving position to suit your driving position needs.

Unpackaging & Assembly

The GT Omega Racing Simulator Pro arrives in two large boxes, the first containing everything needing for the main chassis including all the powder coated steel and the nuts & bolts. Included in the second of two boxes is the stitched synthetic leather racing seat all assembled ready for the runners to be bolted on, in preparation for mounting to the main chassis.

Both boxes weight in at around 42kg due to the sturdy material used on the chassis of the GT Omega Racing Simulator. Everything shipped in the boxes from the metal tubing to the synthetic leather racing seat are well packaged and protected in bubble wrap to prevent any damage that may happen during transit.

Building the rig from start to finish took around 1 hr 30 mins, supplied in the box is all the nuts and bolts needed along with most of the tools required, the only tool you require is a standard Philips head screw driver for attaching the console tray to the wheel deck support and monitor stand. Along with everything in the box included is a simple single sheet showing what your rig should look like at each stage of buildings. However we were sent a full colour instruction guide by GT Omega Racing via email which we highly recommend you use while building as it gives a very detailed guide to building the rig.

Assembly was a really smooth process, however the only problem we encountered was that our 22″ monitor does not have the standard Vesa mounting holes used by the monitor stand  for hard mounting your monitor to the rig. This got our DIY mind’s working and we soon came up with a custom mount for the monitor that bolted straight to the standard Vesa mounting holes on the stand.

Build Quality

The sturdy make of the steel, powder coated tubing that makes up the GT Omega Racing Simulator pays off as it offers brilliant all round stability while racing. As previously stated the wheel deck and monitor stand have the smallest amount of wabble, at first bringing a daunting thought to your head of what may be about to happen to your monitor as it wabbles in front, however as long as you tightened the bolts mounting the monitor tight enough then your monitor is more than safe.

One problem i found while testing out the GT Omega Racing Simulator Pro was that the shifter mount, when bolted to the rig chassis has some side to side wobble when using it. No matter how tight or if you use all three bolt holes to secure it to the chassis, it still moves. Hopefully it is something they can refine for future rigs they may develop.

The seat of any rig is an area that is constantly under load and threat from daily wear and tare from racing. The synthetic leather covering the seat, after over a month of racing and testing of the rig still looks like it did when it first arrived, holding up well to the constant threat of wear and tear that a sim racer would put it through. Also the high density foam used in the seam also stands up very well to constant use as the chair still retains its comfort present from day one of use.

Impressions 

Upon your first outing after building the rig, especially if you are like myself used to racing at a desk for so many years you will straight away notice how much of a different it brings to your driving feel and experience as a whole. One of the first things you will notice is the seat and how much comfort it brings to your driving position, enabling a more pleasurable experience while racing. With the seat offering adjust-ability in both the reclining back and seat runners allowing you to change the position the seat to your needs, further improving the please you achieve while racing as you can adapt the position of the seat for a more favored seating position for both comfort and realism.

One of the key features of the GT Omega Racing Simulator both in the standard, cheaper model and the more expensive pro model is the adjust-ability of just about every aspect of the rig. While the adjustable seat can make all the difference to your driving position, the wheel deck can also be adjusted in both height and distance from the driver. This is done through removing the bolts from originally placed and tightened during the construction of the rig, one downside this takes time and patience. If you are using the rig for multiple drivers of different seating and wheel positions then unfortunately it will take valuable time out of your gaming session.

With your monitor attached to the mount & wheel and equipment bolted or clamped into place the rig features virtually no wheel deck or monitor stand wobble. We have only experienced the slightest wobble in both the wheel deck and monitor stand when violently moving the wheel, something not normally done during racing only for stability testing purposes.

Wither you see yourself as a more novice sim racer or term yourself as one of the pro’s in the sim racing community, the GT Omega Racing Simulator Pro will make sure you have everything you need at your finger tips. The a keyboard & mouse tray, speaker mount and console tray everything is just an arms reach away. The speaker mount offers you the option for users of a 5.1 surround sound system to have the two rear speakers neatly placed for the best sound experience. The console tray also allows you a stable platform to locate your PS3, Xbox 360 or whatever gaming console you may have, within arms reach.

Conclusion

Overall the GT Omega Racing simulator is a welcome addition to any sim racers inventory of hardware. The rig itself provides a stable platform for hard mounting wheels, shifters and pedals supplied by big name manufacturer such as Fanatec, Thrustmaster and Logitech. While racing the rig features virtually no wobble, only experienced during high force feedback moments or violent movements of the wheel not commonly performed when sim racing.

The Pro model offered by GT Omega brings many advantages over the standard model to the user, offering speaker mounts, shifter mount, monitor mount, keyboard & mouse tray and console tray, all allowing the user to access the most commonly and frequently used items of a sim racers all at arm’s length.

At the current reduced price of £298.94 for the GT Omega Racing Simulator Pro it becomes one of the cheapest yet sturdiest rig available on the market today. The complete package means you don’t need to fork out any more money on extra parts for your rig as they are all offered in the Pro model. However those triple screen users can purchase a monitor stand as extra from the GT Omega website.

Click the banner below to  go straight to the GT Omega Website, to learn more about the great GT Omega Racing Simulator Pro or to but one for yourself or maybe a friend if you are feeling generous.