How about military technology in your racing simulator? That’s what AXSIM offers with its state-of-the-art simulators. Ready to take your simracing setup to the ultimate level? Let’s get started!
What is AXSIM?
You’ve probably never heard of them, yet AXSIM offers the very best in car simulation experience. It’s a far, far cry from simple fixed cockpits with Direct Drive steering wheels, or simulators on jacks. This is a whole new dimension.
AXSIM is the simracing range of the Cranfield Simulation brand. Sound familiar?
That’s understandable..
Yet it’s this brand that equips some twenty armed forces around the world with flight simulators.
And they didn’t get into military hands by chance. Quite simply, they offer the most advanced and realistic simulators on the market.
With a track record like that, you’d expect their range of car simulators to be very, very heavy.
So let’s take a look at the 3 cockpit categories AXSIM currently offers simracers.
Home, business and racing professional.
The AXSIM range for private customers
This range, open to the public, includes 3 types of simulator. Let’s look at them in ascending order of price before tax, to avoid you giving me a heart attack right away..
AXSIM GFQ Simulator
AXSIM’s entry-level model is the GFQ Simulator. Aluminum base, steel frame: in short, it doesn’t move a millimeter, and it’s designed to handle endurance simracing competitions.
The chassis is equipped with jacks and is fully customizable. You can choose the color and, above all, the on-board hardware. And here again, AXSIM doesn’t cut any corners:
- Base: Simucube 2 Sport or Simucube 2 Pro
- Wheel: Tahko GT-21 or PSE Range
- Pedalset: Heusinkveld or OBP range
- Seat: Cobra Nogaro Circuit or Cobra Sebring T FIA Motorsport
- Screen (with stand): Samsung 49” Odyssey G9 curved or Triple Samsung 32” Odyssey G7 or Samsung 49” CJ89 curved
- PC: High Spec Mini ITX or Super High Spec Mini ITX
- Sound: Samsung T400 bar or KEF LSX speakers or SteelSeries Arctis 9 headphones
And where do we stand on price ? If you’re wise and take it without options, you’ll get it for €19,400. If, on the other hand, you go crazy with the setup and add every conceivable option, you’re looking at around 28,500€.
Still alive? How’s the heart? Ahh, that’s reassuring. Let’s move on to the next model then!
AXSIM GT Simulator
Here we take a big, big step forward in realism… And in budget. But it’s for a good cause, because this is the Holy Grail of simracing.
Forget the jacks, they’re for the poor. Here, the entire cockpit is mounted on a platform that can be moved in all directions. Not just suspension movements, but lateral movements too.
And because that wasn’t enough, you can install a Cranfield G-Seat. But what is this strange seat?
The revolution. In fact, in a real racing car, most of the sensations are transmitted to the driver via the seat. And that’s exactly what the Cranfield G-Seat does, thanks to airbags that let you feel exactly what you’d feel in a racing car.
Every bend, every acceleration, every braking action is felt with fidelity.
As for the rest of the on-board hardware, it’s all top-of-the-range, of course. And for the price, this time I invite you to take a breath… Is it done? Okay, so if you just want the suspension movements, you’ll have to spend a total of €35,400… If you want to add the lateral movements, you’re looking at 59,000€. And finally, if you can’t resist the Cranfiled G-Seat , you’ll be charged €106,300.
Well, personally I don’t have the money, but I imagine that if I had 2 or 3 million lying around in an account, I’d be tempted. And if any of you get one, please contact me, we need to do a full test together ^^
AXSIM Formula Simulator
Molded on the shape of a real Formula 1 car, the AWSIM Formula Simulator cockpit puts you precisely in the driving position of a single-seater.
It includes the same features as the GT Simulator and the same 3 levels of customization. Suspension movements (€47,200), lateral movements (€70,900) and Cranfield G-Seat (€118,120)
Once again, if you’ve got one at home… let us test it!
Words from an AXSIM engineer
Here’s what Cransfield engineer Nikita Miliakov has to say about the company
About on-board technology
When you’re on the track, the most important feedback you get is from the head office. You don’t necessarily get it through the steering wheel or the pedals or through the chassis. It’s the seat that transmits everything to you. It’s often said that riders have a sensitive rear end, precisely because that’s where all the sensitivity should be.
We try to focus less on what the vehicle does and more on what the driver feels, because that’s where immersion lies. For example, the sensation of yaw is not something that can be reproduced with simple cylinders. You need to have an additional sliding axis. It’s this axis that will fill a gap in your brain, and that’s how you’ll be able to truly find the limit of your vehicle.
Every day, when you turn your car on a street, it’s not the steering wheel that tells you that you’re slipping. It’s that yawing sensation and the force of the G’s on you that until now has been impossible to reproduce.
That’s where our G-Seat comes into its own: it’s able to give you precise information on both traction force and vehicle handling.
About custom designs
We plan 12 weeks of work. We only build to order, and it’s a bit like buying a sports car in some ways.
It’s a pretty exciting stage, talking about the color to be applied, the interior trim, the seat molding… After that, we work on the pedal positions. In short, these 12 weeks are here for a reason.
We’re also constantly working with riders and taking their feedback into account.
To go further, if there’s a particular circuit or bend they’re having trouble with, they can come and spend a whole day working on it. We coach them in real-life situations, acting a bit like F1 race engineers!
Car simulation at the highest level
For us mere mortals, car simulation boils down to Direct Drive basics and, with a bit of luck, cockpits with jacks. But there’s still something missing: the feeling of being in a real racing car. And that feeling can only be found in the forces exerted on our bodies during a race.
The Gs experienced by real drivers enable them to feel everything their vehicle does with incredible precision. AXSIM has succeeded in breaking through this boundary to “trick” the body into experiencing the sensations it would in a real race.
It’s something I’m extremely enthusiastic about, and I’d love to try it out and give you my full impressions! Let’s hear it ^^
But I’d love to hear from you, dear reader! What do you think of these cockpits? And how many years do you think it will be before this kind of technology is available to the general public?
See you in the comments to discuss 🙂
