It’d take a lot to ruin sim racing for me. It’s something I’ve been doing ever since I stumbled upon my uncle’s disc of Gran Turismo as a tiny child, and has over the years grown into a full-blown obsession.
Throughout that time, I’ve used everything from the PS1’s stickless controller, the various DualShocks, a brief spell of weird third-party controllers and pretty much every form of racing wheel there is. At no point have I ever worried about switching between any of those and having the experience of sim racing ruined for me, but that’s changed – in a good way.
For the last few weeks, I’ve been trying out a whole new range of sim racing products from Nitro Concepts. The firm has recently decided to branch out into our niche world following an introduction of more general gaming furniture, and it’s gone in guns blazing.
Nitro Concepts R300
We’ll have a full review of the whole setup for you shortly, but one bit of kit – which I’ll point out now is comfortably the most expensive of the lot – has really grabbed my attention. That’s the Immersion Metahaptics.
It consists of three cushions designed to fit the brand’s R300 bucket seat as a direct replacement for the comfy padding it comes with out of the box. Within those are a series of motors, all connected to a bass shaker that’s easily strapped underneath the seat. It’s all neatly integrated, too – save for a couple of cables that can be hidden nicely within an aluminium profile rig, you’d never know it was there.
At least until you fire up one of the currently supported games. You’ve got a pick of any of the Assetto Corsa titles, including the recently-released Evo, and iRacing.
Nitro Concepts IMMERSION Metahaptics, bass shaker
Right now, the Metahaptics use proprietary, free software rather than taking the route of the widely-used SimHub which would in theory open up more support. That’s a slight mark down on it, and hopefully, that’ll change, but at least what’s there is easy to use and requires very little input beyond plugging the unit in.
Fire up your chosen game, and it’ll immediately come to life. AC Evo was my chosen choice of game to start with, and immediately I felt much more immersed. It’s not just a case of violently shaking the seat as you run over kerbs – rather there is real fidelity to the system, and the nuanced difference in surfaces really do feed through your bum.
It’s not overly intrusive either. After you get over the initial “oh what on earth was that”, it’s surprising how quickly it begins to feel a natural part of the simulation. The immersion is certainly there.
Nitro Concepts IMMERSION Metahaptics, seat cushions
Despite not ‘officially’ supporting more titles either, you can still take advantage of the Metahaptics to some degree in other games. Leave it as your sound input and that bass shaker on the bottom will still activate and provide a more immersive sensation – as I found while idling in Euro Truck Simulator.
Of course, there’s the price. At £849.95, this is not exactly an accessible option for most – and that’s not including the cost of the R300 seat. All in, you’re well over a grand.
Yet, whenever I now play a game without it, it feels like something is missing while I’m playing GT7 over on the PS5. After all these years, something has finally ruined sim racing for me.
The good news is that if Nitro Concepts’ system is beyond your budget, there are more affordable alternatives out there. They won’t offer quite the same fidelity but that added immersion of feeling something through your backside is one I’d urge everyone to try if they have the means. Maybe it’ll ruin sim racing for you too.
