One of the many quirky things here at CES this year is the abundance of driving simulator apparatuses, for lack of a better phrase. Seriously, there’s at least five different booths dedicated to full-on driving chairs.
I got some hands on time with D-Box, one of the many racing sim chairs that CES had to offer. More, after the jump.
The D-Box Motion Code is it’s offical title. They demoed it on a stage with a huge projection screen showing every move you make. They demoed it while playing GRID on stage. So far it is PC only, but they did indicate that they were planning on bringing a form of it for console gaming.
As for the rig itself, it was fun to sit in the chair, with it’s twin actuators that provided roll and pitch and rumble when you crashed. For the most part, the seat worked for me. I liked playing GRID while sitting in the chair. As i”m six foot two and over 225 pounds, I didn’t feel squeezed in the chair and overall it was a comfy ride.
I can’t say the same for my car. Even though I drove fairly well, for some reason, either the calibration was off or there was a dead spot with small movements with the steering wheel, causing every single driver that tried out the system to over steer and crash for no reason. I even found that it was difficult to drive in a straight line. I had to fight the wheel on several occasions when the car veered one way or another when I was driving down a straight shot during a race. I’m not sure what this was attributed to, so I’m hesitant to blame the D-Box itself, but it was annoying…
Overall, these things run about $12,500 and several variants for home theaters and commercial uses. Is it worth it? Heck no, but it was sure fun to try out at CES.
This post and our trip to CES was generously sponsored by Sumo Lounge. Please visit Sumolounge.com for a wide variety of bean bag furniture for all your gaming needs.
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Meh. PC owners fork over all kinds of cash for the latest Directx10 HDMI cards and what-nots.
I think the irony in these photos is that despite Grid’s excellent in-cockpit view, they chose to demo it with a behind-the-car view. Huh? Isn’t the purpose game immersion? Maybe the hands don’t sync up because the wheel isn’t calibrated?
@ OMG.. Meh? Sheesh, noone can afford one anyway, it’s a showpeice to most people, you gotta admit these things are pretty sweet peices of equipment, price aside.
Not something to buy, obviously. But if I saw one in an arcade or something? I’d want a go.
I think it does look pretty sweet, though the price is pretty steep for the average gamer, yes. I know a retired NBA player who bought several similar models just for playing Gran Turismo 4.
The staggering thing is that there were five booths just for this type of tech. I predict at least one of those companies goes bankrupt this year. Granted, if I owned an arcade I guess I’d pick up a few. If the Cruisin’ series in the arcades would have done more than vibrate the steering wheel when you crashed, I probably would have been more willing to drop some dollars on playing.
More importantly…who won the race? You or Peterocc?
The motion system on the pictures were actually announced at 2999$ at the CES.