Leading sim racing cockpit and wheel stand manufacturer, Trak Racer, will soon make the leap into electronic hardware.
Known for its simulation rigs – such as the TR8 Pro for racing and the RS6 for flight simulators – it will also start entering the electronic hardware market, with load cell pedals, a gear shifter and a handbrake.
The aim isn’t to offer high-end premium lines, at least not initially, with the goal to democratise more realistic technology.
“A long time ago, I thought that for people to actually get into sim racing it needs to be affordable to the masses, and not the top five per cent,” said Matt Sten, Founder and CEO of Trak Racer to Traxion.GG on our latest podcast episode.
We have learnt that a new, upgradeable in some form, load cell pedal set will complement a range of planned devices, all controlled by Trak Racer’s own proprietary software.
“We’re just finishing up prototypes, which we hope to show a few different parts at the ADAC SimRacing Expo at the start of December in Germany,” continued Sten.
“It’s a bit of a race against the clock. But I’m pretty confident that we’ll have at least our pedals shifter and handbrake to show at the event.”
In terms of the production timeline, the global company – with Australian roots – is focussing on producing its Alpine Racing TRX cockpit, with the first deliveries due in December 2022.
“First half of next year,” said Sten when asked about a pedal set release date.
“I’ll be pushing the team for Q1, but I don’t want to make any promises yet because we’ve already got so much on our plate.
“I’ve always kind of worked on the idea of ‘stack them high and sell them for a low price’, as opposed to making a huge margin but only selling a couple here and there.”
Alongside the approachability of the pedal set, its shift will also aim to deliver a new experience to the sim racing market.
“One of our engineers is a race car engineer and driver. So, the shifter is not just a simple ‘click on, click off’ design,” explained the Australian native.
“We’ve developed a clutch mechanism to really give you that true feeling and sound as you would expect in a [real] car. Little details like that will set us aside from the competition.”
Trak Racer won’t stop there, with its software compatibility perhaps a hint at what’s to come.
“We’ve finished our own proprietary software,” said Sten
“This software has a lot of the game plugins already completed and it will allow us to plug in different peripherals including steering wheels, pedals, handbrake, shifter, motion etc.
“We see this as an important part of our future… which may or may not include the most affordable motion platform ever to be seen…”
Traxion.GG will be onsite at the SimRacing Expo later this year to try the prototype devices, and you can hear more about Trak Racer’s plans by listening to the latest episode of our podcast – out now on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and Spotify.
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