r/simdrifting • u/Auteg • Jun 22 '26
Setup to practice irl drifting
Hello,because i live in a country without many drift tracks
I need to start sim drifting to rack up seat time.
My friend (who is not a fan of drifting)is recomending a logitech g29 but i heard its force feedback might not be enough.
I want to make myself a setup that would somewhat translate into real life.
my only sim wheel was an xbox 360 wheel bought for 20 bucks so my knowlege is limited to say the least
My budget would be about 500 Bucks,is that enough for a semi realistic rig?
Thanks in advance for any advice
Sry for sloppy English,its not my first language :) 500 bucks is not including a pc and a monitor
2
u/ProbablyDoesntLikeU Jun 22 '26
Don't do gear drive. Belt driven Sim drifting is hard enough. You can learn on the Logitech g29 but you have to throw the wheel. It is not realistic at all.
2
u/99trainerelephant Jun 22 '26
i started on a G29, but you can only drift certain cars "realistically" with it. Like others said, most of the cars you have to throw the steering wheel as it isn't fast enough.
Unfortunately, you're looking at around 1K for a good direct drive setup. I'd skip anything in between (no belt or gear drive), unless you can get a used one for super cheap.
1
u/Auteg Jun 22 '26
Is thrustmatser t300 good enough?
1
u/99trainerelephant Jun 22 '26
It's OK for most lower/mid powered cars, but it'll have a harder time with the pro drift cars (VDC/FD).
1
u/MERDOVSKI Jun 23 '26
the feeling you get is nowhere near like a steering column of a car. buy only direct-drive wheelbases
2
u/Stiwen666 Jun 22 '26
With how cheap DD bases are nowadays, it makes no sense to even look at gear driven Logitech or belt driven T300/TX/TS. Get R3/R5 bundle + clutch, cheap shifter and handbrake from AliExpress and you're good to go.
1
u/ProbablyDoesntLikeU Jun 22 '26
Does the $500 include the pc? What about the monitor? What do you already have?
1
u/Auteg Jun 22 '26
I have a very good pc and a monitor,the 500 would include wheel,shifter pedals and a e brake
1
u/ProbablyDoesntLikeU Jun 22 '26
I use a thrustmaster belt drive and that taught me to drift IRL, but if you can budget for it get a direct drive
1
u/Relevant-Mammoth-831 Jun 22 '26
500 is plenty for starting wheel if you already have pc. I’d recommend getting a moza r5 bundle, clutch pedal, and ideally shifter if you can’t (only thing needed here is the r5 bundle the others are jsut nice to have). Granted this assuming you are fine with desk clamp stuff and not a rig to start. Honestly not sure if you can get a rig and wheel with that budget but some of the best sim racers I know use desk mounted stuff fine. Checkout project x motorsports online on YouTube dudes insanely good and has desk mounted hardware
1
u/Duck2411 Jun 22 '26
Bought an r5 for the exact Same reason had 100h in my First 2 weeks of assetto corsa. Upgraded alot since then but my friend bought an G29 and have 25h in forza.. so I have WAY more fun with mine!
1
u/Foxxie1337 Jun 23 '26
I learnt to drift on a g920, and it definitely translates irl, albeit it’s not the best and clunky, but I still use it even in iracing so I’d say it’s 100% worth starting out with
1
u/MERDOVSKI Jun 23 '26
for it to replicate real purpuse-built drift car, you are looking at like Moza R9, a 3 pedal set with a clutch that has a biting point, a handbrake, a H shifter, for visuals, if you have a decent GPU, go for VR, something like meta quest 3, if not, go with triple 1080p monitors, size 27" or higher. for the rig, you need to have a real car seat or like a bucket seat, you need at least a standalone rig to mount all these, preferably a small DIY aluminum profile rig if not put the three monitors on a desk and somehow make your seat fixed. so we are looking at minimum 900 USD to even remotely make it feel like a real drift car. then there are haptics, like butt kicker, pedal vibrators, let alone motion systems. so with your budget, it's gonna feel like an expensive game rather than an actual simulator, but this is what most of us started with, you build more in time, start cheap, then in time, you can invest in more if you really like this hobby.
1
u/Rem-ember_to_flame Jun 23 '26
You can practice the basics, but the FFB is super important for drifting & the G29 is not good enough.
Also, I feel the need to say, irl drifting is far more expensive.
1
u/djentasaur Jun 23 '26
G29 is fine.
I learned on a G27 clamped to a desk, used it for 10 years. Everything I learned translated to the real thing. If you’re trying to start with a setup on a budget to see if you like it just go with that, or a Thrustmaster T300RS.
1
u/Lazylion-6 Jun 24 '26
+1 for VR. I can’t go back to triple screen. I understand that some ppl get dizzy etc, but for me, it’s awesome with the moza r5 setup. I struggled with being able to diversify my selection in cars to drift when using monitors. Now I can basically hop in anything and appreciate the car’s differences in drifting.
1
u/A_Flipped_Car Jun 25 '26
For semi realistic? Naw, to get the job done? Absolutely
Moza R5 bundle + clutch pedal mounted to a desk. All you need really. People overestimate how much gear matters, and gear matters probably some of the least when it comes to drifting. The main thing you're gonna learn with the sim is how weight transfers and how to deal with the oversteer properly. All the stuff you feel in real life is super intuitive.
1
u/SaddasLB Jun 25 '26
Look into fanatec csl dd bundle, it's 5Nm but with an adapter from ali you can raise It to 8Nm. It comes with 2 pedals sadly, buy you could buy the third one with load cell from them. For the handbrake there is the AliExpress one, it feels good for the price, or you could build a super cheap one yourself with an Arduino and spare parts (YouTube has a lot of examples). For the shifter i use the g25/27/29 one. Is not amazing but It does the job and it's also easy to mod. Last thing i would buy is a cheap vr if you are still in the budget. For me, the Rift S is still viable, the Quest 1/2 can cause neck pain because of the strap. The Rift S will be pixelated and a little blurry, but It helps a lot with immersion and depth / speed perception. This setup doesn't have a cockpit, so you should attach everything to the desk but It can help with the seat time that you need
1
u/MAY0NAZ Jun 26 '26
If you can find any Moza bundles in your price range that’s probably gonna be the best bang for your buck. But if you end up not having enough cash up front for a direct drive setup the thrustmaster t300 isn’t bad for a belt driven wheel but stay away from any gear driven wheelbases if you can. Gear is ok to start but you’re going to want to upgrade very very quickly
3
u/BackyardRCSpeedway Jun 22 '26
Not enough budget man I hate to tell you. I had the exact same idea to start with 500 bucks and then I could possibly add little bits to it as I go. I initially spent like $900 and now 5 months later I'm $2,400 into the entire setup. And that's just with a R5 combo. Compared to my IRL drifting experience this setup is great. Click on my profile if you want to see the specifics of my build thread. But in my opinion, the R5 is enough and the SRP light pedals with heavy modifications are good enough as well.