SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Review: TrackIR3 in Motorsport Sims

NASCAR SimRacing supports TrackIR3 and Vector Expansion right out-of-the-box. As in GPL, when you move your head closer to the monitor, the view changes to reflect that you are taking a closer look at the dash and instruments. Very cool.

In NSR I discovered that there are some things that are worthwhile looking at now that I never bothered to check out before I got TrackIR3. Exiting the pits and heading for the pit exit I heard a car at speed coming towards the same spot I was aiming for and I just moved my head a bit to the right and I could follow that car as it passed the point of the track where it meets the pitlane exit. Without TrackIR3 I would never have looked at that car.

Live for Speed S2 Alpha Demo

If you're wondering why LFS S1 does not get a mention; That's a sim I haven't got round to getting yet. Testing the recently released S2 Alpha demo, I found that looking left / right, as well as up / down works fine, and the only setting up that's involved is actually putting on you TrackIR3 cap and starting the software.

Conclusion

"Now can this be used in racing, and will it bring me any competitive advantage?", I hear you ask.

To be fair, I think you will achieve the same racing results using look left and right buttons on your steering wheel, or perhaps a "glance-to-apex" function, but what you will be missing out on if you don't get TrackIR3 is something that I hadn't considered much before actually trying it out: It adds hugely to the immersion in most of my sims. It takes some getting used to, at least that was my experience, but after a short while you'll adapt to it and find it a great addition to your racing hardware. I'll be using it in GPL, Richard Burns Rally, GTR, NASCAR Racing 2003 Season as well as NASCAR SimRacing simply because it adds to the overall experience of being there.

I think TrackIR3 works remarkably well in sims that were designed with TrackIR3 in mind: NSR, Richard Burns Rally and GTR come to mind here. For sims where you can get TrackIR3 to work, I found the result to some degree to be a little dependent on having good frame rates in-game. In other words, despite TrackIR3 not taking up much of the resident memory — in fact it is impossible to see TrackIR3 taking up any system resources — being at the back of the grid and behind 19 cars at the course Monaco Rocks v2 results in the on-screen movement lagging. But then I don't get a solid 36 fps on my computer under those circumstances without TrackIR3 either.

If I could make any suggestions, I'd say that for racing sims, possibly even for flight sims, I'd like to see some "newbie-friendly" profiles included in the software. Profiles that ensure smooth and not too violent on-screen movements to facilitate the entry for newbies.

Overall, TrackIR3 with Vector Expansion is the gizmo I didn't realize I wanted. New titles like Live for Speed S2 and Cross Championship Racing will support it out of the box.

From my initial thinking about packing TrackIR3 and Vector Expansion away when the article tests were concluded, this device is now a fixed and permanent part of my racing setup.

Reviewer's System Specs

Intel Pentium 4 2.53GHz CPU
512MB RAM
128MB Geforce FX5900XT / NVIDIA drivers v61.36
AC97 onboard sound
DirectX Version 9.0c
Windows XP Home with SP1
Logitech Driving Force Pro

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