Vroom

2020 has been kind of a weird year to say the least. With working at home being a thing, one thing that has also been a consequence has been free time during the week. Obviously on the weekends I prefer to go to the water, but a funny thing happened on the way to the lake.

Early in summer, my uncle had asked if I had ever tried iRacing. At the onset of the pandemic, NASCAR had actually been running virtual races using this service, with the racers in their homes running on computers and steering wheels. I think this is what prompted the question due to the increased exposure. But iRacing.com isn't just for NASCAR races. There are plenty of race types, cars, tracks, and experience levels. One of these avenues is dirt track racing, something that my uncles and family had been involved in for years. Perhaps this was some of the motivation as well.

A few months back, I decided to take him up on this offer, and signed up for an iRacing account. They are running still a promotion on a yearly subscription which costs far less than many forms of entertainment. I believe plenty of drinks at Starbucks would also singly exceed the monthly cost of the service. Costing a little more than a caffeine fix, I also picked up a second-hand racing wheel - a Logitech Driving Force GT. While it's many years old, they're a solid starting point. It clamped to my desk, and the pedals sat on the floor under my feet. It provided a good learning curve for me, learning the challenges between sitting in a real car, and in a chair at my computer. 

It became time to replace the carpet in my bedroom, opting for a laminate option to ease the keeping of it. At the same time, a lot of changes fell into place like dominoes clattering. As I sat back and saw my lowly desk sitting in the corner, I outlined it:

My current computer was still plenty strong enough to run anything I needed to do it. It was an i7-7700k, with 32GB of RAM and a GTX 1070 FTW video card, all housed in a Genome II case with integrated water cooling. I had an older 43" 4K TV sitting on the top, and my work computer to the side. 

Admittedly, part of the urging for an upgrade was spurred on by the announcement of the 30-series graphics cards release. I started thinking about different situations, and the next thing I knew, I had new goodies and a plan. First, the computer. 

Out with the old, in with the i7-10700k, newer faster RAM, and a shinier motherboard than previously installed. I kept my existing case - the cooling has been fine, and I like the look. So the new parts were chosen to compliment that look as well as a performance bump. Sadly I must keep my existing 1070 video card until stock comes back in the newer generation. I also traded out my big tv for a more modern ultrawide monitor, to better serve my racing playtimes. I then built a new desk, one that gave more space, but tighter to the wall, moved the tower up to the corner on the wall for even more room, and reassembled my goodies.

One issue became apparent after I renovated the flooring in my bedroom, from carpet to wood, and my pedals no longer stayed where they started. It's quite hard to stop an imaginary race car when you push a brake pedal that darts away from you. So next it became time to make myself more comfortable. 

A new chair, and a new wheel. The T300 RS GT edition comes with the 3-pedal setup, and seems to be a proper upgrade in quality too. The Driving Force GT was a great start, but it did nothing more than make me yearn for better. And in the T300, I've found better. Smoother, more precise, and combined with a better seating position in the Playseat Challenge, it made me quicker the moment I strapped in. Granted, I'm still slow. But it did improve my own times at least. The advantage is that when I'm done, it simply folds up and out of the way like a lawn chair, wheel still attached. When I want to race, I take it out of the closet, roll my desk chair out of the way, and plug it in.

The worst part of a new hobby is telling yourself that you're satisfied with what you have. In truth, it took a half an hour in my new setup to decide I need even more. Time will tell.