After spending a few thousand on piffles such as the Kodak OLED photo-frame and Sony P-series netbook, it would be time to consider something really radical.
Fortunately, there are products that will fit the bill just fine, and one such foible is the APEX SC830 from SimCraft.
Forget the plastic steering wheel with fiddly bits because the APEX SC830 is what you want. The company's bumf will tell you that it was designed to aid professional racers when injured, but it'll double-up as an over-the-top toy.
The whole shebang - from tubular structure, PC, Recaro seat, and controls - is provided by SimCraft and then installed and configured in your home.
The triple 19in monitors can be upgraded to 27in models from Dell, and a whole host of extras, from the colour of the tubing to whether the seat is velour or leather, can be chosen.
Linked in to the PC via a bunch of sensors, the SC830 is able to provide 40° roll, 25° pitch, and 40° yaw. The top-of-the-range model uses three displays with custom software to run them correctly. A bunch of racing titles is supported, including DiRT, GRID, iRacing.com. GTR2, ARCA SimRacing, and GT Legends.
Watching folks have a go, the cockpit, pushed around hydraulically, responded well to changes in the racing environment, with braking and acceleration mirrored accurately.
It's all cool and funky, yes, but the killer is price. Starting at a base $44,500 (yup, you read that right), the AT830 is for non-professional-driving folk who just feel the need to burn cash.
For those on a budget there's the SC320 - a budget offering costing just $17,000. :)
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