There are many different flavours of seats to install on your sim rig. And the choice for a new seat might be difficult. We’ll try to explain what’s available, and which seats fit on an aluminium sim racing rig. Down here you can also find some sizing graphics to show which of our seats fit you best.
GT VERSUS FORMULA POSITION
When looking for a new seat, the first thing you’ve got to decide for yourself is which position you want to drive. There are mainly two positions: GT and Formula. The first is the most ‘normal’ one. Sitting with your back straight up like you do in a normal road car. We call this the ‘GT position’, because this is used in GT3 and GT4 cars, but also rally, NASCAR, and other non high-tech racing series. The second position is called the ‘formula’ position. This is a more laid back stance, where your lower legs are much higher compared to the GT position. Sometimes even horizontal. This position is used in formula cars, such as F1, F2 and F3, but also prototypes that race in Le Mans.
If you only fancy the F1 racing games, the formula position might be something to go for. If you’re racing a lot of GT3 and other touring cars, we recommend the GT stance.
SWITCHING BETWEEN THE TWO POSITIONS
When using an aluminium sim racing rig, we recommend going for only one position, and not switch between the two. Changing the setup of your pedals, seat and wheel is not a short job (20+ minutes). You might also scratch and wear out the aluminium parts of your rig while doing so. We think you’ll be happier in a perfectly set up sim rig, in which your body also gets used to the same position. The muscle memory of the force to apply on your load cell brake also changes when switching between different angles of your legs. Settling for only one position nullifies this problem.
You can however use seat and pedal sliders to make a ‘family rig’ of your GT position. With these accessories you’ll slide your seat or pedals forwards and backwards, without the need for tools. And you won’t mess with the angle of your seat this way.
GT RACING SEATS
We offer a range of GT bucket seats, from Treq, Sabelt and Sparco. Bucket seats are something you’ll find in real race and rally cars. These are made from one mold of glass fiber (or carbon fibre for the more expensive ones) and are usually very sturdy and stiff. These seats ‘clamp’ your body, giving you the impression you’re in a real car. This makes choosing such seat a difficult task, because a bucket seat will clamp too much and cause discomfort when it’s too small. To help you out, we did a survey with our customers and asked them how their own seat fits them. This gave us the results below. Body length is in centimeters and body weight is in kilograms. If you track your own length and weight down the graph, it gives you an idea if a seat is suitable for you.
Treq: We offer the STS and the ST1. Similar sized seats, but with a different look. Looking for a bigger sized bucket seat? We have the STX: the widest seat on offer in our shop.
Sabelt: Sabelt has 3 sim racing seats on offer. The GT-style SRS and SRX seats, and one of the most comfortable formula-style seats on the market, the Sabelt SRP-1.
Sparco: We sell the very popular Sparco Grid Q, together with the R100, a more OEM-style type recliner seat. This last one is not a bucket seat, but fits almost everyone.
I’M QUITE LONG. IS THAT A PROBLEM?
Length is never a problem when choosing a seat. Width of the body is a much more important factor for choosing the right seat.
MOUNTNG A SEAT TO A SIM RIG
We offer two mounting options for seats: Seat Brackets and the Seat Slider. All bucket seats that feature side-mounting are in need of Seat Brackets for mounting it on a rig. And since we offer all bolts and nuts with it, that’s all you need extra. For seats that have bottom mounting (holes underneath them), the best way to mount these is using a seat slider. First mount the slider to the seat, than mount the slider with the seat to the rig. You can also use both the slider and the brackets. This way you can slide your side mounted bucket seat back and forth. An instruction of how to mount this is feature over here.