iRacing Equipment Guide To Get Started Sim Racing

Hello and welcome to my iRacing equipment guide.  I’ll be covering all matters of sim racing gear to help you get started on your sim racing journey.

A little about myself. If you are a first-time reader welcome and I hope you enjoy my site.   I have been sim racing since the age of 8 on the Commodore 64 right through to modern-day titles. I have been active on iRacing for over 6 years.  Without further ado, let’s get started with the guide.

iRacing Equipment Guide

iRacing Computer

Computer requirements for iRacing are quite a low spec when compared to a lot of modern FPS and other sim racing titles. Any modern PC can handle iRacing without any issue. If you want to go with VR and triple screens especially if you are looking 2k or 1080p using a high refresh rate you will want to look at PCs with higher-spec graphics cards like the 20 series Geforce cards.

iRacing Pedals

iRacing pedal sets are one of the more important pieces of sim gear that you will need.  A good pedal set will make for more consistent braking and throttle application. This will provide at the very least more consistent lap times not necessarily faster as that also depends on your ability.

There are a couple of different types of pedals.  The more budget orientated sets normally the ones that come with a wheel as a set the brake uses a spring were the position of the brake determines how much brake the car is going to use.  The more expensive pedal sets use a load cell for braking which instead of brake pedal position determining brake force the load cell uses pressure to determine how much brake force is being used.  The load cell is more effective as muscle memory on the braking application is easier to control.

iRacing Wheel

If pedals are one of the most important items for consistency than the sim racing wheel comes in second.  This is the piece of the equipment that will provide feedback of what is happening to the car on the track.  There are two main types of wheel which are belt driven wheels that provide their feedback via cogs and belts and they can be budget-friendly to quite expensive depending on what you are looking at.  The other type of wheel is the direct drive wheel.  These wheels have the shaft directly connected to the electric motor and deliver a lot torque and feedback they will cost you an arm and a leg though.

Depending on your budget one of the other things to consider is the “ecosystem” you are looking for.  Thrustmaster on their higher wheels offers a number of aftermarket wheel rims that can be swapped out depending on what you drive.  Fanatec also has a number of rims that can be attached to their wheelbases.  So this may also influence your decision.

iRacing Cockpit

One of the great things about sim racing is how to mount all of your iRacing equipment.  There are a number of aftermarket iRacing Cockpits you buy and they can be quite budget-friendly to burning a hole in your wallet expensive.   If you are creative you can build your own sim rig using a number of different materials.  There have been many sim racing rigs made from wood, PVC and 8020 aluminum.  Take a look at different sim racing forums as they normally have a topic dedicated to DIY cockpits as well as reviews of aftermarket sim rigs.

iRacing Headset

Depending on your plans for sim racing. Whether you want to live stream your racing or just want to be able to communicate with your fellow racers.  A good headset can make a difference to your gameplay.  There are many headsets on the market from ones that plug directly into your sound card, like standard headphones to USB ones that have their own dedicated sound card inbuilt to wireless headsets.

If you are planning to just communicate with your fellow racers or wanting to use voice commands with some of the apps that are available. A headset with a built-in mic will work well.  If you are looking to take streaming to the next level a dedicated mic will be your best bet.

Thank you for reading my iRacing equipment guide. I hope it gives you a bit of food for thought to help you get started in your sim racing journey.

Looking forward to seeing you out on the track.