Next Level Racing F-GT Pro Formula and GT Racing Simulator Cockpit - Black Edition (NLR-R003)

Well worth the $.Coming from the mediocre NLR F-GT Lite Pro foldable racing seat, this rigid tubular framed F-GT Pro cockpit is a sexy tank.Assembly went pretty well. Nothing worth complaining about at this point. Nothing was missing or required jerryrigging to make ends meet.I mounted my Thrustmaster T598 and TLCM pedals to the equally solid wheel and pedal plates. No issues there. The adjustablilty is perfect. The seat is comfortable enough to do multiple back-to-back races.The best seat angle for me is one notch down from full upright GT position.I went ahead and upgraded the cockpit with (2) bass shakers, front and rear, via a Nobsound NS-10G, a few feet of 16ga speaker wire, my laptop via the included Nobsound USB cable, and Simhub. My PS5Pro/GT7 sends telemetry data to my laptop/Simhub via my home network, which gives me car and road vibration effects for better immersion in PSVR2 (aka my racing helmet).I'm definitely IN the car. I SEE, FEEL, and HEAR the race.I ran all cables down the left front tube for a very clean look.I used to two metal coat hangers to fashion VR and headphone hooks to be kept at arms length between races.

Okay let me start off by saying that this rig is amazing and I truly love it even with its flaws. I race formula and this puts you in a (almost) true formula position and let me tell you it feels like you are in a formula car which is awesome while sitting in my room. with that said lets get into the review!This is a long read but if you are seriously considering this rig I highly recommend reading through as it will provide some very important details.Assembly:I have built a lot of things in my life and its so nice to see a company care and think about the consumer when it comes to putting their product together. NLR have done a fantastic job here. This rig comes in three main pieces and has possibly the best instructions I have seen. The instructions are not some cheap folded paper in black and white that is thrown in the box as an after though. Its a very high quality printed colored BOOK with every detail you need to put this together. It even has little tips to show you what to look out for while putting it together. Everything comes in labeled bags so you know what's what. This was such a breath of fresh air as I have built other rigs that just throw all the hardware into one bag and tell you to figure out what screw goes were. NLR even includes a screw sizing card so you can CHECK if the screws are the right ones even though they already come in labeled bags. One thing you will notice throughout this review is the attention to detail NLR put into this product. Its very impressive. 10/10 for assembly. Anyone can put this together its that easy. For me it took about 45 mins but I am very experienced with building things like this. So Depending on your skill level it could take an hour or two but you will be able to put it together.Adjustability:The adjustments on this rig is incredibly vast. its crazy how much adjustability this thing has. Nearly every part that you interact with is adjustable. From the pedals and steering wheel length, height and angle to seat position, and backrest angle this rig has it all. Just keep in mind if you are on the smaller side in height (I'm 5"4) you might not be able to sit in the full formula position comfortably. It works great for me but just keep that in mind if you are shorter then I am because I'm right at the limit.We also need to talk about how you adjust things and this is where it needs improvement. The pressure knobs are high quality, made out of metal and even have these plastic discs so they slide easy. (NLR really put a lot of attention to detail throughout this whole rig and I love when company's go the extra mile.) The problem is while they work great it is extremely inconvenient to go between different positions as you need to loosen and tighten 11 knobs (not including the back rest angle that requires an allen key). So while they work great for *finding* your seating position they are less then ideal for true duality which is disappointing as this seat does GT, Formula and Hybrid positions extremely well. My recommendation if you are going to buy this rig is to find a position you love and keep it there. Do not buy this rig if you want to switch positions all the time or you will be disappointed as its incredibly inconvenient to do so. There are other profile rigs that do this much better.Build quality and size:The build quality of this rig is top notch. From the moment you sit in it you feel like you are sitting in a very premium product. The seat has suede and foe leather and is plush. The thick 50mm aluminum tubing is overkill in the best way. The design in my opinion is beautiful and looks super cool in my room. The biggest selling point of this rig though i think is the size. Its insane how small of a footprint they were able to get this rig to. I can fit it inside my room with an L shaped desk perfectly as the length and width is the shortest I have seen for a rig like this. If you are tight on space this rig is great. strength of this rig is incredibly good. There is some slight flex but while racing its unnoticeable and I have to force it to get it to move. With that said this still is a tube rig and no matter how thick they make the tubing there is going to be more flex then on a profile rig but I think Next Level Racing did a great job minimizing it as much as possible and its in not only an acceptable range but an extremely good range for sturdiness. This thing barely moves with a 200kg hydraulic brake and a 18nm direct drive unit.Comfort:Next this rig is so incredibly comfortable even though I know it doesn't look like it. Let me tell you once you get it dialed in you can sit in it all day with no pain at all. ( don't be like me though get up and move!) One other thing to note when it comes to comfort is that this rig gets more comfortable the closer you get to the formula position and is the most comfortable in the formula position. The reason for this is in the formula position you are pretty much laying down and it takes all the pressure off your lower back and butt. It pretty much just distributes your weight perfectly so there isn't any hot spots.To conclude this rig is nowhere near perfect but what you get is great. While it is expensive for a tube rig I think the price is justified when you realize what went into making this. How high quality every piece is, and the attention to detail NLR put into every single part of this rig. Everything about it feels like the price. I hope this helped you in making a purchasing decision. thanks for reading!

This would get 5 stars but mine arrived with a connecting bracket bent and some of the tubular frame has scratches and scuff marks on the paint. The bent part prevented me from putting the two main halves of this cockpit together. It appears it had received damage prior to shipping, because this arrived well packaged with bubble wrap around most of it. The scratches and scuffs on the paint were under areas that had bubble wrap, so again, it appears this damage happened prior to shipping to me.I was able to use a hammer and then a foam rubber shoe insert to dampen the blows, and got the bent part straightened out enough to get the two halves together. But because of the damage, it was extremely difficult and maddeningly frustrating trying to get all the bolts in place! I'm guessing that whatever caused the above part to become bent also tweaked the tube it was attached to just enough to cause the bolt holes to be just slightly misaligned, which in turn caused the trouble getting the bolts in. After a long time of manipulating the two halves, and a lot of unsavory words, I was able to just barely get the bolts in and the two halves together.With all this said......now that it's together the darn thing is solid! I only gave this 3 stars because it lost a star due to the damage it had upon arrival and the fact that although this baby is extremely adjustable, it's very difficult to switch from one seating position to the next. You have to unscrew multiple large bolts (they are heavy duty, large hand bolts) and then manipulate them to get them to move from pre-slotted positions. There are many videos showing how this adjusts, I don't think I need to go into great detail. Suffice it to say that the design works, you can adjust from GT1 thru F1 seat positions, and you can adjust the pedal floor mount forward and backwards, up and down, angle it, etc. And then you can do the same with the wheel base mount. So there is a massive amount of movement available. But....the design could have been made to move much, much easier IMHO.Do I recommend this to others? Yes and No. I have very limited space for my sim racing rig and the F-GT Pro fits nicely in that limited space. This design allows for very easy access to the seat, although it's very low to the ground, which I needed due to the limited space. It allows me to do what I want, go from GT1 to F1 positions, to create the immersion I was after for my VR experience. You simply cannot accomplish this with anything else in this price range that I know of. For me it works great!