Having a racing wheel, pedals, and a shifter is pretty good for immersion into your favourite racing sim. However, using your desk as a racing wheel mount and dealing with a sliding pedal plate could easily break you out of the immersion.
Thankfully, there’s an easy way of improving your immersion – and that’s a sim racing cockpit.
For years, such racing cockpits have been something you’d generally only find in an arcade or a sim racing enthusiast’s house. There are still many major brands out there that build and ship custom racing cockpits, but those are expensive and limited to just a few countries – such as the UK, Australia, and the US.
Enter Trak Racer TR160 – a budget-friendly racing cockpit.
This high-quality cockpit comes with a racing chair that will keep you in the perfect driving position at all times. Read the rest of this TrakRacer TR160 review to learn more!
Who Are Trak Racer?
Trak Racer is one of the youngest companies in the racing sim world. They were founded in 2008 – but ever since then, they’ve been developing and producing some of the best sim racing accessories in the world.
Trak Racer is a brainchild of one Mattew Sten. Frustrated by the sub-par quality and the high asking price of premium sim racing cockpits, he decided to do something about it. So, he sat down and began sketching what an ideal sim racing cockpit would look like.
After two years and many consultations with fabrication and industrial design engineers, Matthew managed to develop the RS8 – Trak Racer’s first cockpit.
Over the years, Trak Racer managed to refine the manufacturing process to ensure its customers got the best bang for their buck.
Trak Racer TR160 is one of their latest cockpits. The TR160 provides you with great value for the price:
Not only do you get a sturdy chassis, but a whole slew of cool expansions such as rolling wheels instead of rubber feet, different fully adjustable wheel mount systems – and much more.
Trak Racer is slowly but surely becoming a global company.
They’ve recently partnered with companies in the UK and the United States and are seeking new global partners each day. Here’s what that means for you:
You won’t have to give an arm and a leg to get a Trak Racer TR160 shipped to your house.
The Beauty Of Aluminum Profiles
Trak Racer TR160 is what some people cal extruded aluminium sim cockpit.
Extruded aluminium has become a go-to material for building these products in the last couple of years. That is because these components provide many benefits – such as superb strength and expandability, and are cheaper than other materials.
So, what is extruded aluminium?
Well, it’s essential an aluminium tube with a fixed cross-sectional length that has extrusions along its length. These extrusions allow for connecting multiple tubes into a complex structure. The best thing about it is that it’s all held together with nuts and screws.
There are a couple of disadvantages to cockpits built out of aluminium profiles – primarily the long assembly time and the industrial aesthetic of the finished product.
What’s In The Box?
Now that you know what you’ll be dealing with when assembling the Trak Racer Tr160, let’s see what you get out of the box.
Fully Adjustable Direct Fit Wheel Mount
One of the more critical components of any sim cockpit is the wheel mounting system.
In many cases, there is very little customizability when it comes to this component. Once you iron out what mount you need with the manufacturer, that was it – you couldn’t switch to another mount later down the line.
That’s where the versatility of aluminium profiles comes into play.
Thanks to how easy they are to assemble, Trak Racer offers wheel mounts for most racing wheels on the market.
Out of the box, the Trak Racer Tr160 comes with a mount for direct drive wheels from Fanetec, but you can easily change it for a mount that’s compatible with your wheel.
The mount is incredibly high quality and is built out of thick carbon steel that can withstand vibrations from the wheel and high levels of longitudinal and transverse forces.
Premium Trak Racer Fiberglass Race Seat
Trak Racer Tr160 comes with a high-quality fibreglass race seat. It’s pretty light – weighing around 7 kilograms – and is padded with high-quality foam and a soft cloth.
This seat also allows you to further your immersion by including mounts for a harness system. What’s more, it features hard-back angle adjustment so you can stay comfortable throughout your session.
Steel Side Seat Brackets With Seat Slider Rails
Trak Racer TR160 is designed for sim enthusiasts and motorsport professionals alike. That is why this chassis comes with a pair of seat brackets built out of high-quality aluminium.
Each bracket comes with a dual-lock slide system with an adjustment bar that allows you to adjust your seating position in mere seconds. The locking mechanisms can withstand greater forces than other brackets on the market to ensure the seat doesn’t move under heavy braking.
You’ll find a whole slew of pre-drilled holes on each bracket that are compatible with most gt-style seats.
To ensure you’re in the perfect position for driving tests and races, the Trak Racer TR160 sim chassis also comes with seat sliders. Having a sliding function means you’ll be able to adjust the TR160 sim rig to just about anyone that wants to give it a try.
Just tape the activation lever, adjust the seat, and release it – as easy as pie.
Adjustable Two-Way Pedal Mount
The pedal baseplate is attached to a sliding mechanism that allows you to fine-tune the position of the pedals to your liking.
Thanks to this sliding mechanism, the pedal baseplate can’t just be moved forwards and backwards. You can also lift it – and it can be angle-adjusted, too. Once you’re done adjusting the pedals, release the locking lever, and it will stay firmly in place – no matter how much force you exert on it.
The pedal baseplate didn’t budge during our driving tests, no matter how intense the driving got.
Adjustable Shifter Mount
The versatility of the Trak Racer Tr160 doesn’t stop at pedal adjustment. This sim chassis also comes with a fully adjustable shifter mount.
This system utilizes two slots to allow you to adjust the angle and the position of the shifter base plate. The baseplate itself also comes with a slider so that you can fine-tune the position of the shifter to your exact requirements.
Does It Come With Required Tools For The Assembly?
We’re happy to report that each Trak Racer Tr160 sim racing cockpit is delivered with all the necessary tools for assembly. So, don’t stress about having to run to the hardware store to buy missing tools.
Some Assembly Required
Trak Racer TR160 is pretty similar to what you could build at home by yourself. However, not everyone has the time – or the tools – to do this. You will still get that DIY experience with the TR160 because it comes completely disassembled in five different boxes.
That is our only point of contention with this product.
The instruction manual is not the greatest, and you’ll likely make some mistakes while assembling this cockpit – if you get all the parts, that is.
It’s not uncommon for customers to not receive all the necessary parts. In most cases, customers have complained they didn’t receive all the required nuts that slide into the aluminium profile to complete the build. You can also grab the Tr160 instruction manual here if you require it.
What’s more, some users reported that the aluminium profiles they got were full of shavings. These shavings could easily ruin the thread inside the profile if you don’t clean them up.
The unit we received didn’t suffer from any of the problems above but contact the seller immediately if yours does. Trak Racer TR160 comes with a five-year warranty, so you shouldn’t have much trouble getting the parts you need.
Is Trak Racer Tr160 Worth The Money?
So, is the Tr160 worth your hard-earned money?
The answer is yes!
Sure, there are a couple of snags when it comes to assembling the whole thing – but the sheer amount of customizability and durability you get out of the rig is staggering.
Plus, let’s not forget the compatibility with just about every pedal, wheel, and shifter peripheral on the market.