We had a great time at the SimRacing Expo 2019! For the first time we had a booth and brought two proper sim racing rigs featuring the upcoming VRS DirectForce Pro hardware – the wheel base and our brand new pedal prototypes. A lot of VRS members stopped by to say hi and try the hardware, as well as groups of drivers from multiple WCS teams. The feedback universally is extremely positive (some quotes below). People who’d never experienced proper high end hardware were completely blown away. And people who own or have tried the proper hardware found the VRS products to be as good or better than the best on the market. That’s what we aimed for, so it was very reassuring and rewarding to hear that feedback.
The most frequently asked questions were when we’ll release the hardware and how much the wheel base and pedals would cost. We don’t want to announce narrow pricing and release dates until we are very close to having product ready to ship. We can reiterate that we are aiming to bring top quality products to market at very competitive pricing. The wheel base is making good progress towards production but the last 1% tends to take the longest. We’re just diligently working through the little details, so we can deliver an awesome product, which was worth the wait. For those of you who didn’t have a chance to visit us at the expo and want to learn more about the pedals, we plan to publish a blog post with more info in the coming weeks. To get latest news on VRS DirectForce Pro, follow our Facebook page, or register to our hardware mailing list here.
Last but not least, here are quotes from some of the drivers who stopped by our booth and tried the hardware:
Alex Simpson (Team Owner, Apex Racing Team): “I tried the VRS pedals and steering system at the 2019 SimRacing Expo. I have only a couple of points to make, 1. it was nice to test a rig that had been setup correct. FOV, FFB, Seating Position were spot on. 2. I couldn’t tell the difference between my SimSteering 2 and HE Ultimate Pedals compared to the new VRS DD Steering System and Pedals. Great work from the team in producing this kit. More competition in this hardware area is good news for us sim racers. I hope to try them on my own setup sometime soon.”
Deni Raets (Driver, Radicals Online): “Comparing it to my own OSW the VRS wheel feels really smooth with very detailed feedback, which makes the car easy to point in the correct direction. If the price is good as they are trying to aim it for I would consider selling my OSW for VRS. Also nice detail the controller box is very tiny which makes it easy to mount on your rig without it taking much space. The pedals offer a lot of adjustability and good precision for braking. They also look very rigid and well built which will make them last very long.”
Jarl Teien (Driver, ineX Racing): “I was pretty impressed honestly, instantly confident and ready to explore the limits of the car. I didn’t know iRacing could feel that good.”
Michele Costantini (Driver, Apex Racing Team): “I really enjoyed driving the VRS hardware during the 2019 SimRacing Expo, especially the direct drive wheel. I felt each bump and curb I was hitting, I knew exactly where I was placing my car and how much I could push it with just a couple of laps experience on what was a totally new hardware level compared to what I’m used to drive on at home. In terms of the pedals, I only had the chance and the time to test the soft spring setting, but I could easily manage it from the very first few braking zones and I could be very precise with it. The VRS rig was without any doubts the best one I tried at the SimRacing Expo this year in terms of both hardware and software settings.”
Michele Ricci (Driver, Apex Racing Team): “The wheel provides a very wide range of feedback: you can really feel all the bumps and curbs on the track at all times. The feel the car gives you is also great, it’s always possible to predict what the car is doing in terms of oversteer or understeer.”
Paschalis Gkergkis (Driver, Coanda Simsport): “The VRS DirectForce Pro wheel as well as the prototype pedals that were presented at the SimRacing Expo are a must have for any casual or hardcore simracer looking for immersion and precision.”
Rob Cuss (Team Owner, Radicals Online): “I found the wheel extremely well detailed with great feel. I have used many different wheels but this is hands down one of the best in the wheels I have ever tried, astonishing! The feedback is tremendous and the smoothness is out of this world.”
Sage Karam (real-life IndyCar Series driver): “For me it was my first opportunity to drive any type of direct drive system. I drove multiple different systems and to me the VRS was the smoothest and most consistent out of any of the ones I drove. I could really feel the car better such as a slide and because the response was so great it was super easy to drive what would be a difficult car to drive on most other steering systems. The pedals were also great. I was really impressed with how the brake pedal in particular performed. It was a very lifelike feeling for me coming from IndyCar racing. I was able to set it up super stiff and felt really natural to me. The spring system is really nice as it makes the pedals very smooth from 0% to 100% there’s no notches in any of the travel which made pedal modulation a breeze. Ultimately all these things enabled me to be more consistent and also faster to unlock another level of overall performance to my sim racing.”
Simone Maria Marcenò (Driver, Altus Esports): “I use a non direct drive wheel and once I tested the VRS wheel it was immediately the best feeling I ever felt in terms of force feedback. In just few laps I was fast and consistent like after doing a hundred lap race preparation. I usually must do a lot of laps with my wheel in order to be competitive, but immediately felt I can obtain the same race preparation level in few laps with the VRS wheel.”
Over the coming days and weeks we’ll be sending email invitations to US reservation holders to place their orders. The invitations expire after 48 hours and if an order is not placed, the reservation will be put on hold. Then the next reservation holders in the queue will be invited to place an order. If you miss your order window, resume your reservation and you’ll be added back to the queue at your original spot and will receive a new invitation when more units are available. You can manage your reservation here.
Often, datapacks are requested for series that are either not very popular, or were not used very much on VRS in the past. Datapacks take significant time investment to prepare, so we have to make hard decisions on which iRacing series to cover. Beginning in Season 3, we’re testing the “add-on” concept to be able to offer additional datapacks. We’re trying two different ways of going about this: a bundled add-on of 6 iRacing series, and an individual add-on for the NASCAR Legends Series. Two of our best coaches and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series drivers, Bobby Zalenski and Keegan Leahy, will be preparing these datapacks.
Over the coming days and weeks we’ll be sending email invitations to EU reservation holders to place their orders. The invitations expire after 48 hours and if an order is not placed, the reservation will be put on hold. Then the next reservation holders in the queue will be invited to place an order. If you miss your order window, resume your reservation and you’ll be added back to the queue at your original spot and will receive a new invitation when more units are available. You can manage your reservation 
The VRS DirectForce Pro Wheel Base consists of:
The VRS DirectForce Pro Wheel Base passed all certification tests and we are setting up the first production batch! 
