ULTRA WIDE MONITOR SIM RACING SETUP

So after tackling my new rig build, which i wrote about in an earlier article here on pitlanes.com, i wanted to see just how big a monitor would fit into my sim racing cupboard.

I am currently running an LG 25″ wide screen monitor for my non VR racing sim titles but no matter how close i sat i could see the edges of the screen breaking that all important immersion factor.

I broke out the tape measure and although my sim cupboard was 89cms wide i had to take in consideration the stair treads so i had about 86cms of safe room to fill with an ultra wide monitor.

After a fair bit of researching and checking out the various online vendors i settled on the Samsung 34″ flat WQHD monitor with a resolution of 3440 x 1440 that i found at a great price on eBay.co.uk.

This monitor was right at the limit of what i could fit in the space available and would if i had got my measurements and research right just squeeze in my little slice of sim racing heaven.

My first job was to pull the newly built rig out of the cupboard which would allow me access to my rather old home made monitor mount and take out the original screen.

With everything stripped out it was time to cross my fingers and see how i was going to mount and install new ultra wide monitor.

As a temporary measure i decided to reuse my old wooden mounting system i just needed to move the vesa plate up a bit so rig would slide in underneath, just in case it didn’t fit after all and i hadn’t wasted time and materials for now on building something new.

As you can see in the above picture it just about slide in but what you dont have a record of is my swearing, having to call for the assistance of my wife to get the flaming thing in through the opening and the held up in place while i attached the mount to the side wall !

But it was all worth it once i powered it up and got rig slide back in i can tell you, and some how i got everything just right and it sits in my cupboard perfectly with just a few millimetres or so to spare all around.

All that was really left to do was have a play, i mean test, the new ultra wide monitor out.

I tried RaceRoom first and what a difference having such a wide screen as it fills your whole field of vision and once the lights are out you are fully focused on that screen and you cant see anything else to break the immersion level.

I do have to sort out wheel height as its sits a little low and the final FOV settings need to be calculated, but that will come with a bit more seat time, for now though i couldn’t be happy that i can once again get down to enjoying racing in my non VR titles once again with a large enough FOV setting help with attaining a level of immersion that’s important to me and my sim racing.

I might even get round to tidying up and little man cupboard now there is less of it to deal with with as this new monitor blocks most of whats behind as my next project !

For more info about the Samsung monitor check out this link –
https://www.samsung.com/uk/monitors/professional-sj550/