The RacingCube Is The World's First Affordable Motion Simulator

After years of drooling over expensive racing sims, we just couldn’t hold in our excitement when we found out about a newly founded company called FaseTech, and its new project, the RacingCube. The RacingCube works with SimTools 2.0 professional software, and it is compatible with over 50 racing titles (with more to come). These include some of our favourite titles like Assetto Corsa, Project Cars, the Need for Speed series, iRacing, DiRT 3, F1 2014 and more. All the player needs to do is install the SimTools 2.0 software and start racing.

Three quick-response actuators control the movement of the simulator, and there is no need to bolt it to the floor. The product ships ready to assemble, and it is likely compatible with a racing wheel set up that you already own. During the KickStarter campaign, the RacingCube prices start at about $1800 for a one monitor stand, a base motion platform with two servo actuators and a custom hand brake. The complete system with a seat, a three monitor stand, a base motion platform with three servo actuators and a custom handbrake is available for about $2500.

FaseTech began as a partnership between Tommy and Steffen, two of the coolest guys we’ve ever met. Tommy is the ‘tech guy’ who designed the motion platform. He saw a huge potential for his product but lacked the knowledge of getting it out to customers. That’s when Steffen joined the project. He brought his expertise in marketing and customer relations, and he set the stage for selling the RacingCube.

We spoke with Tommy and Steffen to find out more about this fascinating project:

CT: What was the biggest motivation that drove you to design this system?

Tommy: My biggest motivation for designing the RacingCube was that I was developing interface devices for virtual reality. I learned that if my body movement didn’t correspond to the movement in game, I got motion sick. I then built a motion platform, and the motion sickness disappeared.

In my search for a suitable seat for my motion platform, I constantly came across racing rigs fitted with a steering wheel and pedals, but they couldn’t move. I then learned that motion simulators for racing games are very expensive and quite often over-engineered. I then thought to myself that this just can’t be right. I then bought a racing rig, mounted it on my newly constructed motion platform, and I suddenly had a racing simulator for a fraction of the cost of a commercial simulator. I am not a gamer, but this was so fun, and I wanted others to have the same joy I had experienced.

CT: How were you able to keep the consumer cost down without sacrificing quality? Until now, we’ve only really seen immersion cockpits with insane prices.

Tommy: I am very much into simplicity and functionalism, the concepts which are characteristics for Danish design. That’s the reason I don’t like over engineering. A motion platform is a very simple machine. It basically consist of motors with feedback to a controller, and a simple metal frame.

The hardware has dropped to a very reasonable price during the years and by buying the hardware in bulk, it is then possible to keep the cost down. So, keep it simple and buy in large quantities. By saying this, I have to stress that those who support us on KickStarter are getting the RacingCube for a special price for believing in our project.

CT: What have been the best and worst moments in undertaking this project?

Tommy: The best moments were when people started to respond and acknowledge our project. We have gotten a lot of very good feedback and suggestions from passionate fans and backers and we’re truly happy about it! A worst moment is a bit hard to say, but pricing and going public with the project is no doubt the hardest thing, there’s so many things you have to consider. Though, we’re quite happy about the performance / price ratio of the motion platform.

CT: What’s your favourite car to race virtually?

Steffen: Under the development of the platform we mostly used Live For Speed, it’s customisable and supports VR. The time we’ve spent in it we learned that the platform acted very different to each car model. Our favourite cars are the low powered ones, as they’re easier to control!

CT: At Car Throttle, we love racing games. What is your favourite racing game of all time?

Tommy: OutRun for the Amiga, Live For Speed if should pick a newer one.
Steffen: Test Drive 2, I’m not sure why but I spent hours in it when I was younger!

CT: Is there anything else you would like us to know that we haven’t learned from your website and campaign?

Tommy: We have encountered a concern about safety of the RacingCube, while we have a lot of videos on the internet we haven’t implemented much safety yet. We’re still developing the platform and the KickStarter campaign helps us to meet requirement and implement safety features for the consumer market.

We would like to extend a big thanks to Tommy and Steffen for talking to us about turning this dream into a reality. You can support their KickStarter campaign here or follow their progress on the FaseTech website. We hope their success will teach others a lesson about over engineering and over pricing…