Got to play in a DOF3 and DOF6 yesterday. Some thoughts

[Mr_sukebe]

At the recommendation of a chap on these forums, I contacted a newish kit supplier, i.e. SimReality, based near Horsham in Surrey (UK), booked a dem and went to meet with Theo about some of their gear.

 

It wasn't perfect, but Theo was very positive and helpful. As I understand it, he's a dealer for DOF kit, Pimax and Moza.  Unfortunately, he's currently waiting for a Moza AB9 and the release of their rudders and he didn't have DCS installed.

Making up for that, he did have FS2020 running with the DOF6 setup, using a Moza throttle and Yoke.  I tried that with both a monitor and a Pimax light.

The DOF3 kit was used in driving mode with Asseto corsa on a monitor.  Sorry, can't remember the FFB wheel/pedals.

Thoughts:

• First off, a thumbs up to Theo
• The DOF6 has a significantly larger footprint on the floor, when compared to the DOF3
• The DOF6 is something like twice the cost
• Turns out that the DOF3 can pitch, yaw and roll to wider angles than the DOF6.  Linked to the cost difference, that would make the DOF6 a very hard sell
• Both of the units were using race style seats bolted to steel framework.  I forgot to ask about using an aluminium profile setup, which is what I currently have, but with the pics/vids online, I assume that it's more than possible
• The seat on each of the frames was very low on the frame, meaning that mounting a joystick base "low" would have been difficult.  I use my AB9 centre mounted.  To achieve that on a DOF3, I'd need to have the seat on a thicker platform.  Maybe 160mm, or a combo of that would work
• Maybe it was the tuning of the software, but both left me a little underwhelmed on the first try in each.  It was less about the amount of roll, but more the speed of response.  Neither felt truly natural, e.g. the squat you get under breaking whilst driving
• As mentioned, I got to try the Pimax Crystal light.  Yes, noticeably sharper than my current Quest Pro.  What I couldn't quite manage was to get it "dialled in" for myself.  I found the periphery to be far less consistent, though sweet spot was pretty big and as mentioned, the visuals were a step on from the QP
• Whilst I wasn't that impressed with either DOF unit whilst using a monitor, that impression changed when in VR, which I got to use with FS2020.  I can't explain why, but when I was in VR, the feeling of immersion from the DOF was significantly more effective
• Apparently SimReality are planning to stock the Dream Air, and I've already asked to be notified when they have an SE version, such that I can revisit them.  For one thing, they'll hopefully also have an AB9, pedals and DCS by then (anticipated for early 2026)

[MAXsenna]

Thanks! Great write up. Why people insist on using racing seats is beyond me. It just makes AAR so much harder. Oh, well!  

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk
 

Edited August 21 by MAXsenna

[Mr_sukebe]

I assume the choice of seat was two fold, i.e.

• SimReality were I believe primarily focused on the racing sim market
• As the units can put you at some somewhat unusual angles, being fairly well held it is probably rather prudent, especially so as they're demonstrating the units.  Imagine if a customer fell out and hurt themselves?

Personally I use a seat from an older (NB) MX5, which I find much more comfortable than say a race seat, cost peanuts and makes me smile having owned three of them.

[MAXsenna]

5 hours ago, Mr_sukebe said:

As the units can put you at some somewhat unusual angles, being fairly well held it is probably rather prudent, especially so as they're demonstrating the units.  Imagine if a customer fell out and hurt themselves?

Don't they come with seat belts? The one I saw even had "force feedback" belts. That's the one I want. Don't remember what kind of seat it was though, but was tested with DCS F/A-18C.  

[Mr_sukebe]

During the demo yesterday, I don't remember seeing any belts.

As it happens, I put a 4 point Willans on my own right, which doesn't move (though does have a jetseat).  I just like the slight improvement in immersion, and they were peanuts from Ebay.

[erniedaoage]

21 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

Don't they come with seat belts? The one I saw even had "force feedback" belts. That's the one I want. Don't remember what kind of seat it was though, but was tested with DCS F/A-18C.  

Do you mean bergisons g-seat? https://bergisons.simpit.info/motion-integrated-g-seat I think he has also a thread somewhere on here, but haven't looked for it.

[MAXsenna]

Do you mean bergisons g-seat? https://bergisons.simpit.info/motion-integrated-g-seat I think he has also a thread somewhere on here, but haven't looked for it.

No, another one.
But thanks for the reminder.

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[Hillman]

I have had this setup with DOF H3 and Pimax Crystal Light for a year now and have some input:

First I think it's very important to also get a motion compensation device if you are in VR. There are a few ways to do this, but I chose the Witmotion sensor that SRS (software vendor) recommends. Without the motion compensation you will get strange motions around inside the cockpit since the headset will pick up the headset moving around in the room in the real world while you are actually sitting relatively still in your cockpit seat in the virtual world.

Some remarks on the OP input:

>Maybe it was the tuning of the software, but both left me a little underwhelmed on the first try in each.  It was less about the amount of roll, but more the speed of response.  Neither felt truly natural, e.g. the squat you get under breaking whilst driving
The speed and reaction is actually very fast/strong. This can and must be tuned. I experienced the whole rig jumping around on the floor when for example crashing because I had too high speed. There are many sliders for max angel, speed, boost, smoothing etc. and this needs to be tuned. (There are some example profiles to be found, but not many for DCS. Hopefully more people will have this setup over time and we will see more examples.)
So I don't think you should be worried about the speed of the response. Of course it's electric motors and some inertia is unavoidable, but I have not experienced this as a problem.

>Whilst I wasn't that impressed with either DOF unit whilst using a monitor, that impression changed when in VR, which I got to use with FS2020.  I can't explain why, but when I was in VR, the feeling of immersion from the DOF was significantly more effective
The combination of visual input in VR and physical input combined is very strong. A complete roll or loop won't feel totally realistic of course, but banking and pitching feels very real. Even though the banking angle of the rig is much less than in the VR world the combination makes it feel very real. Having a motion rig without VR don't make sense to me, at least not for flightsims. 

Below you see some of the parameters that can be tuned for the motion part. 

a27d24_39919c0801394f14b84b2ad3909056a7_mv2.avif

Edited 9 hours ago by Hillman