The crew at ProtoSimTech (PST) have been working on bringing quality, yet affordable pedals, to the sim racing market for nearly three years and are now closer than ever. The team has released a video showing were the project currently stands after having to make a tough decision.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/KWnstxh8RUg[/youtube]
The tough decision was to powder coat or not. The idea was to powder coat the pedals black but that plan was squashed after the quotes came back at a much higher price than anticipated. Instead of passing the expense on to the consumers, PST decided to go with plan B…which was originally plan A. That plan is to sand blast the pedals instead (much cheaper), which leaves the pedals with a sparkly silver look. I think it looks better myself.
There isn’t a release date yet but it’s certainly getting closer. The first batch of pedals are done (around 20 pedals). They are powder coated but they will still cost the regular price of $319 for the two pedal set and $379 for the three pedal set. All sets after the first will be sand blasted.
If you’re interested in being one of the first people to purchase the pedals, head over to PST’s website and sign up. I’ve been following the development of these pedals for a long time and I can’t think of potentially a better ‘bang for your buck’ situation in the sim racing world then these. You should be excited.
Features
Aluminum and Stainless Steel Construction
50KG Load Cell – Brake Pedal
Industrial Quality Potentiometers (rated for millions of turns) – Throttle and Clutch Pedals
Multiple Pedal Face Positions
Adjustable Pedal Height
Adjustable Spring Tension
Adjustable Pedal Travel
Adjustable Potentiometer Travel
Adjustable Clutch “Feel”
Can Be Inverted or Placed Right Side Up (with each pedal separately)
Adjustable Load Cell Position (for lighter or heavier braking)
Clutch Mechanism Can Be Removed While Retaining Full Clutch Functionality
Argh. They are offering only a 50 kgs loadcell option? It’d be wise for them to offers an alternative as well.
The product itself seems winning: if it’s really ‘invertible’ (like the TR500 pedals) it’s the choice to do. Fanatec in fact offers V2 clubsport pedals @ 250 €, which is a reasonable price, accounting for the overall building quality (not to um, mention, er, the lousy loadcells, which ‘crisps’ like egg shells in a bigfoot event (this although only happens if the full force is operated on the brakes continuously e.g.: a F1 race, in which a real brake should withstand forces up to 100kgs).
Then, if we think Fanatec CS V2 pedals aren’t invertible, haven’t got a personal clutch adjustment, and the pedal travel is fixed (this sounds as useful as the invertible option, especially when it comes to switch from a ’60 gt-style brake behaviour to a modern prototype brake behaviour) – I’d say I’d buy them.
Perhaps… I might consider it as a future upgrade from my Fanatec V1 CS pedals.
If one might have all the rims he’d need (with Fanatec or Thrustmaster) – why not considering the chance of having fully customizable, different, ‘pedals’ as well?
I hope these guys will create a rock-solid peripheral (perhaps with a slightly extended warranty as a proof of good faith?). I wish them all the best. 🙂
From what I have read on load cells, and no I am not an expert, they are too fragile for my usage. I keep breaking my aftermarket brake springs, but they are cheap and easy to replace. My other thing is just the price is still too high. Looks like a real nice setup though. I might buy a used one…