INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

   If you grew up in the 80's like i did movies like Firefox, Airwolf, Top Gun, Iron Eagle and Firebirds (even though this was released in 1990) probably made you want to be a fighter pilot when you grew up (and some of you probably did). Well, i know they had that influence on me and even though i never did follow up on that i always found comfort playing all the latest flight and space simulator games, not only in the Amiga 500/Plus but also PCs. Still back then we had no serious flight sticks and even though Thrustmaster did eventually equip us with some there was always the need for better positioning something which one couldn't really achieve with a chair and a desk (even mods didn't help much). Fast forward to today however and things are vastly different, not only due to the large selection of available flight sticks in the market but also due to the introduction of simulator cockpits both for flight and racing simulator fans. Next Level Racing is pretty much the pioneer in this specific segment of the market and today I’ll be testing their popular F-GT Simulator Cockpit.

   Founded in 2009, Next Level Racing is the world's leading simulation brand revolutionising simulation with its industry leading product range. The clear focus of the award winning brand lies in innovation and quality to meet the demanding need of sim racers and gamers. Next Level Racing® continues to lead the market with innovative designs and technology. As well as a strong presence and partners in the global gaming industry Next Level Racing® also is an official PlayStation® licensee and official Global Sales Partner with Thrustmaster®. As a company Next Level Racing® has pride in challenging the industry with world-class products and has a passionate and innovative global team that continues to push boundaries. The Next Level Racing® range of products are sold in more than 40 countries and stocked by major retailers around the world, check out our BUY page to find your closest reseller. For more information, visit our contact page and follow Next Level Racing on Facebook and Instagram.

   The F-GT is primarily a racing simulator cockpit (made out of carbon steel) which means that aside its seat which can be configured in two different positions (for GT and Formula 1 racing) it also comes ready with a center mount for a racing wheel, side mount for a gear shifter (can be placed either left or right) and of course a front mount for pedals (which can be configured in 3 different positions). After that you can choose to pair the F-GT simulator cockpit with several different types of monitor mounts the most "compact" of which is the F-GT monitor stand (also made out of carbon steel) which i decided to get for this review. This particular model gets attached at the front of the simulator cockpit and can be used to mount either a single 65-inch screen or up to three 27-inch ones (60Kg max weight limit). Obviously since flight simulators are just as important for me as racing simulators i also got the Combat Flight Pack by Next Level Racing which packs two side mounts, one for a flight stick (you may also decide to use the center mount for this) and one for the throttle (basically replacing the gear shifter mount). Needless to say, simulator cockpits still need to be equipped with many things to become functional and luckily as you'll all see later on thanks to EIZO, Thrustmaster and Club3D i have everything i need for that.

 

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

In order to create sufficient room for the GT-Flight cockpit i had to "repurpose" one of the two storage rooms so even though it may not look great the end result worked well (due to the size and weight of the parts most pictures were also taken there).

The F-GT Simulator Cockpit arrived inside a plain cardboard box that just has the product description and company name all over.

 

 

Removing the cardboard reveals the main box which is filled with product pictures and of course the product features.

 

 

Everything inside the box is placed inside bubble wrap and pieces of cardboard.

 

 

The backrest with its lumbar support pillow and the seat were the first things to come out.

 

 

Afterwards you will remove the various cockpit parts (around 20 frame pieces), 5 plastic bags with mounting screws, stands and parts, 2 stickers, lanyard, plastic package with all the necessary bits and pieces required to assemble the cockpit, assembly instructions paper and the user manual.

 

 

Worth pointing out is that Next Level Racing also sells castor wheels for the F-GT simulator cockpit which can be very useful if you plan on moving the cockpit to different areas of your home/office (for more stable results however i used the standard stands).

 

 

 

The F-GT monitor stand also arrived inside a colorful box which has a large product picture at the top.

 

 

This addon consists by a total of 15 pieces, three plastic bags with screws, 2 stickers, parts paper and the user manual.

 

 

On the other hand, the combat flight pack arrived inside a cardboard box without anything else inside.

 

 

Included inside the box are 9 carbon steel pieces, two plastic bags with screws, user manual and a parts list paper.

 

 

EIZO supported this project with 3 of their EV2795 screens (more on this screen in my past review here).

 

 

ASSEMBLY PART 1

 

 

 

 

 

First step in assembling the F-GT simulator cockpit is to attach the base frame parts as seen above (here you see 6 of the included carbon steel pieces).

 

 

The two center mount pieces come after that (these are height adjustable - also notice the stickers on the sides, Next Level Racing has quite a few on the parts).

 

 

Next are the wheel a gear shifter mounts (the wheel mount is angle adjustable - 4 different positions).

 

 

Mounting the seat is not really hard, just attach the base with the slider onto the cockpit and then attach the backrest onto the base.

 

 

The material Next Level Racing has used for the seat seems to be genuine leather at first glance but it's probably faux leather of high quality.

 

 

Before or after attaching the seat, you should attach the stands or wheels (doesn't make much difference, the cockpit is still not heavy at this point).

 

 

As mentioned earlier the mount for the pedals can be positioned in 3 different ways, two are on the same level/height as the seat and one is all the way down as seen above (if you plan on also playing flight simulators and you're a somewhat tall person this may work best for you - did for me).

 

 

After that i started mounting the monitor stand by attaching the front legs.

 

 

The tri-monitor mount looks nice but as expected if you plan on using 3 screens you should also use the bundled support legs.

 

 

Speaking of support, it may be necessary for you to attach the extra wheel mount supports seen above.

 

 

A single 27-inch screen may look small (and compared to a single 65-inch one it is) but a total of 3 add to almost 80-inches of 16:9 bliss.

 

 

Of course, you will need to use the extra support legs as seen above.

 

 

ASSEMBLY PART 2

 

 

 

 

 

Aligning the three screens is probably the hardest part, especially since not all games have the same multi-screen compatibility (so basically you have to compromise a bit here).

 

 

For this project i wanted the best display cables i could get my hands on and what's better than to use what Club3D is now making?

 

 

Their DisplayPort cables support up to 8k resolution at 60Hz so plenty for my setup.

 

 

Attaching the Thrustmaster T248 Racing wheel with the T3PM pedals was next (cable management should be left for the end).

 

 

Since this racing wheel doesn't come with a gear shifter i removed that mount and replaced it with one of the combat flight pack.

 

 

Here i used the Warthog HOTAS again by Thrustmaster which requires its stock base removed first (unfortunately that exposes its internal components which are not 100% covered by the mount).

 

 

On the other hand, the throttle needed no extra steps so mounting it was very easy.

 

 

Aside using one of the soundbars by Creative that i have here i also used the GSP 670 wireless gaming headset by Sennheiser.

 

 

FINISHED LOOKS

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see the finished setup (unfortunately since i didn't get the keyboard mount i had to place mine on the APC UPS).

 

 

For now, I’ll be using the above test rig with the F-GT cockpit (7680x1440p is not an easy resolution).

 

 

The T248 racing wheel by Thrustmaster proved to be very compatible with the F-GT so after the initial placement on the center mount I didn’t have to change anything.

 

 

Both the Warthog HOTAS throttle and stick also look great (I am a bit concerned however about the interior components of the stick and them not being 100% covered by the mounting plate).

 

 

The Forza Horizon 5 is probably the most compatible game right out of the box of the ones I used, not only in terms of tri-monitor support but also the T248.

 

 

Using 3 screens might seem as a bit overkill to some people but checking the scenery from the left and right ones is plenty for me (even more so in flight simulators - check my YouTube / TikTok video for that).

 

 

Needless to say, this setup is not just ideal for racing, flight and space simulators, you can easily play first person games like for example Cyberpunk 2077 (you will however need the keyboard mount for that).

 

 

Again i don't expect pictures to "do it" for you so head on over to YouTube to watch a short clip of mine playing several games with the F-GT.

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

   Before I share my thoughts on the F-GT Simulator Cockpit by Next Level Racing I feel I need to apologise to them for the very long time it took for me to publish this review. Unfortunately, between getting the three screens from EIZO, all the cables I needed from Club3D and the Warthog HOTAS and T248 Racing Wheel by Thrustmaster to the lab a few months went by. On top of that in order to make enough space available for the F-GT I had to empty the smaller of the two storage rooms almost entirely and have it painted so I could actually take pictures and videos. Building a powerful enough system to handle the 7680x1440p resolution was also a challenge that took some time to complete (and even the Sapphire Toxic Radeon RX 6950 XT can’t handle it with some games at full graphics). So basically, it took a lot longer than I could ever imagine and so I sincerely hope Next Level Racing doesn’t hold that against me. Anyways with that out of the way what is there to say about the F-GT Simulator Cockpit? Build quality is very good, yes, a couple of the parts arrived slightly bend (probably from the factory) but that didn’t affect installation in any way. Positioning is pretty much excellent, not only can you height adjust most parts but the sliding seat gives you the desired distance. I did find the backrest tilting mechanism to be slightly annoying (you basically have like 3 different positions to choose from and the backrest does go forward and backwards a bit) and the center mount is not quite ideal for flight simulator sticks (too high at default) but I guess we can’t have it all. The tri-monitor stand also works like a charm, yes, it would be great if you could use larger screens (Next Level Racing does have a different monitor mount for larger screens) but it’s not like three 27-inch ones is not a good result. The fact that you need plenty of space to properly (almost) align them is certainly an issue and one that did take a bit of time for me to resolve but the end result is much better compared to for example using your desk (this way the screens are much closer to you thus improving the overall experience – this stand also makes it very easy to mount a soundbar just under the center screen like I did so do also keep that in mind).

  So just how much are you required to spend to get your very own F-GT Simulator Cockpit? Well at the time of this review the F-GT retails for USD499 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 450Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) so it doesn’t really come cheap. Add the cost for the tri-monitor stand (USD149.99/149.99Euros) and the combat flight pack (USD128.99/129Euros) and for this setup you’d have to spend no less than USD777/728Euros for just the cockpit (keep in mind that Next Level Racing also sells these as bundles in Amazon so you can save a bit if you do decide on this setup). This of course may be far from what regular consumers would call affordable but for the target audience Next Level Racing makes their products it’s actually quite the opposite. Price aside the F-GT Simulator Cockpit is a great product aimed at demanding gamers (primarily simulator fans) and even though it may not be quite perfect it’s still more than enough for our Golden Award.

PROS

- Design
- Build Quality (Carbon Steel / Faux Leather)
- Positioning (Height Adjustable / Sliding Seat)
- Comfortable (Padding / Lumbar Pillow)
- Up To Three 27” Screens Or A Single 65”
- Available Mounts (Racing Wheel & Flight Stick)
- 2 Different Seat Positions (GT / Formula)
- 3 Different Pedals Positions
- Stands & Castor Wheels

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Space Requirements (For Some)
- Slight Quality Issues (Isolated?)