I wrote this post for another forum I'm on but figured I might as well post it here, too, as it might be of interest to some people.
Alright, my ACT Labs RS shifter arrived the other day. I've had time to try it out and thought I'd write up a review for it in case anyone ever considers buying one (and Gnomie asked me to
). I had a G25 shifter before this so naturally I'll be comparing it to that.
THE PACKAGE
---------------
The package contained the following:
- 1 shifter
- 1 USB Adaptor; this is a small box that plugs into a USB port on your computer. The shifter plugs into the adaptor. The adaptor also contains two other sockets in which you can plug a ACT-Labs pedal set and/or steering wheel, should you have those.
- extra shifting plates; you mount these on the shifter to limit the number of gears. There are four extra plates; a sequential, 4 gears + reverse, 5 gears + reverse and 6 gears + reverse. The shifter comes with a 7 gears + reverse plate mounted by default, which makes a total of 5 plates. More on these plates later.
Note: I ordered the Ultimate Bundle. You can also choose the Adaptor Bundle at a lower price, that doesn't come with any spare plates; you just get the 7+reverse plate and that's it.
- a sealed plastic baggy with spare screws. Normally you wouldn't need these, but I think it's a nice thought. The baggy contains a number of each type of screw that you find in the shifter unit. Might come in handy for people who love disassembling and modding their gear, and sometimes lose a screw or two in the process
You don't get a manual. Instead there is a piece of paper which says you can download the manual from their site. You really don't need a manual anyway, as it's all plug and play and pretty self explanatory, so they save some trees by not including a printed manual that hardly anyone will read.
The first thing I noticed when unpacking the shifter was its weight. It's pretty heavy. Definitely heavier than the G25 unit. It really gives it a sturdy feel.
INSTALLATION
---------------
Like I just said, there really isn't any installation to speak of. You plug the adaptor in a USB port and Windows detects it as a game controller with 8 buttons. You then assign your gears in the game and that's it.
MOUNTING
-----------
You mount the shifter on your desk (or table, cockpit, whatever) with two clamps that you can tighten by means of two knobs on the bottom of the unit. This is slightly less convenient than the G25 unit with its easy to reach knobs on the upper side of the unit, but I wouldn't say it's inconvenient. The maximum width the clamps can handle is 40mm, which I think is plenty.
The clamps are covered with rubbery anti-slip pads that do their job superbly. You don't need to tighten the knobs much for the shifter to stay in place. If you really tighten the knobs I'm sure you can drag your entire desk around the house by the shifter without it coming loose or even moving an inch. In this regard it's significantly better than the G25 unit that doesn't have any anti-slip material, and which has come loose during races on a few (not many) occasions with me, even though I had tightened it properly.
For people with cockpits who want to mount their shifter unit permanently the clamps have 8 holes in them which you can use to secure the unit to your cockpit with some bolts.
You can also take the clamps off and then mount the unit using screws that go in two holes in the unit itself.
When you mount the shifter unit on a level surface the shifter itself is tilted towards you. This actually works great if you mount the shifter next to your steering wheel like most people will do. If you use a cockpit or a special racing seat, however, and you have the shifter unit mounted next to you where the shifter in a real car would be, then this tilted position is probably not ideal. Especially when shifting into downward gears you would have to move your hand backwards and downwards, and that just doesn't come naturally and feels kind of awkward. So to solve this you will need to mount the shifter on a surface that is slightly tilted in the opposite direction (ie. away from you) so that the shifter sits level.
GATED SHIFTING
-----------------
Coming from the G25 shifter, the ACT-Labs shifter feels really really weird at first. It just feels so different!
First of all there's the travel of the gear stick. The G25 has a pretty short travel, and its stick is fairly short as well. This makes for really short shifting. The ACT-Labs' stick is significantly longer and the gears are also spaced further apart. This especially becomes apparent when you shift from reverse into first gear (both at opposite ends of the shifter), for example.
Then there is the feel of shifting through the gears. Whereas the G25 shifter has almost no resistance at all, the ACT-Labs requires you to actually push/pull the stick into gear. The G25 shifter you can flick around with just one finger, with the ACT-Labs you actually have to grab the shifter and stick into gear.
Again, this all feels very weird and awkward in the beginning if you're used to the G25. I actually got worried that I had made a mistake in buying this thing when I first took it out of the box and moved the stick around; I couldn't imagine it being any fun to drive with.
Anyway, I mounted it and fired up the Supra mod for rFactor - which still gives the most authentic experience of driving a road car, IMO - and I took the car for a cruise around the Nordscheife. Right from the beginning the shifting felt a lot better than I had imagined. It took some getting used to, obviously, but after the first couple of turns it already began to feel natural. And the more I drove, the better it felt. The longer travel and greater resistance when shifting really gives you a more realistic feeling. You actually feel like you're shifting in a car instead of just flicking some stick around. I'm not saying it actually feels like a real car, but it definitely comes a lot closer than the G25 shifter.
There is a downside to this, though, which you may have guessed. Although many of us tend to pursue the most immersive and realistic experience, the fact is that shorter travel and no resistance equals faster shifting. I haven't really done any tests timing the shifting, but I think it's only logical that you can shift faster with the G25 (and the SST Lightning) than you can with the ACT-Labs, because they have very short travel and little to no resistance (talking about the G25 here, don't know about the SST Lightning). Granted, the difference will probably be no more than a fraction of a second each time, but when you're side by side coming out of a corner and hard on the gas, it's fractions of a second that make the difference.
I'm still getting used to this shifter and I'm confident that in time I'll be slamming it through the gears faster than I did now during my initial test, but logic and common sense tell me that it will always be slower than the G25 shifter.
SEQUENTIAL SHIFTING
-----------------------
First of all, I cannot compare this to a real life sequential shifter as I've never driven such a car. So I can only compare this aspect of the shifter to the G25 shifter, and in that case I must say that the G25 shifter is better for sequential use.
The longer travel of the ACT-Labs means that you have to pull/push the stick quite far in order to shift the gears. I find the short travel of the G25 feels better and more direct for sequential shifting. But like with the gated shifting the sequential shifting takes some getting used to and will come more naturally with time.
SHIFTER PLATES
------------------
In my research prior to ordering the shifter I came across this video of a guy changing the shifter plates on the shifter. The fact that you could easily change the plates to make the shifter sequential was one of the main reasons I decided to buy it. I was a bit disappointed when I opened the box to find that the plates that come with the shifter are not quite the same as the ones that guy in the video uses. In the video the plates kind of just slide into place, allowing for quick and easy changing. The plates that came with my shifter, however, are fully closed. By that I mean they don't have this slit that you can slide around the stick like the video demonstrates. Instead you have to remove both the stick and the mounted plate, put the new plate in place and put the stick back on. This requires unscrewing 3 little screws (and obviously screwing them back on afterwards). All in all it shouldn't take more than 2 minutes, but it's still a bit of a hassle. Especially if you're used to the G25 shifter where you just turn a knob. Plus you have to have a screwdriver handy and believe it or not but that's not something I have usually lying around on my desk
Back when I only played LFS I raced exclusively on the DMR server which meant that I would drive the same car for a whole week, in which case I didn't have to switch between gated and sequential more than once a week. Now, though, I regularly (almost daily) hop in the Supra to cruise around the 'Ring or fire up the Caterham mod and have some fun sliding around my favourite tracks, and afterwards I may join the LFS server for some online racing. This week with the FBM, for example, that would require changing between sequential and gated shifting. I'm not too keen on the idea of partly disassembling my shifter to change the plates every time. So now I'm considering to just use my paddles for sequential shifting, but seeing as I went for the ACT-Labs instead of the SST Lightning especially because of its sequential ability I feel that would be a shame.
Aside from that the plates are all nicely made (of metal), no complaints there.
NOISE
-------
One more thing to consider about this shifter is the sound it makes. We all know the G25 shifter isn't exactly quiet. Well, neither is this one
When shifting into gears the metal stick collides with the metal plate each time, which causes some noise. This is especially apparent when shifting in the downward gears as you'll generally exert more force when pulling the stick towards you, making it collide harder. However, I'm sure this can be very easily solved by just sliding a small rubber band or something similar around the metal stick where it hits the plate. This should effectively and significantly reduce the noice, I think. I'll probably do that one of these days, I just need to find something that works. It's not bothersome for me in the least, as I use headphones, but obviously my girlfriend won't appreciate it when she's watching TV
FINAL THOUGHTS
-------------------
The ACT-Labs shifter is a great shifter if you're going to use it for gated shifting. It adds to the driving experience, it's easy to mount and feels sturdy enough. It's also fairly customizable; you can limit the gears with the provided shifter plates and you can fit virtually any shifter knob on it (including real life ones).
However, if you're primarily going to be using sequential shifting then I would say you're better off sticking with - or getting - the G25 shifter, if you also want the wheel and pedals as the G25 shifter isn't sold seperately. The reason I bought this shifter, though, was because my G25 one doesn't work properly anymore and it seemed to get more faulty as time passed by, to the point where it would cost me positions and races.
If you're looking for sheer performance and don't care about looks, feel, realism or customizability (sp?) and you can spare the money then the SST Lightning is definitely the better choice; its shorter travel allows for quicker shifting and it's very good quality. Unfortunately it doesn't have a sequential option.
Alright, my ACT Labs RS shifter arrived the other day. I've had time to try it out and thought I'd write up a review for it in case anyone ever considers buying one (and Gnomie asked me to
). I had a G25 shifter before this so naturally I'll be comparing it to that.THE PACKAGE
---------------
The package contained the following:
- 1 shifter
- 1 USB Adaptor; this is a small box that plugs into a USB port on your computer. The shifter plugs into the adaptor. The adaptor also contains two other sockets in which you can plug a ACT-Labs pedal set and/or steering wheel, should you have those.
- extra shifting plates; you mount these on the shifter to limit the number of gears. There are four extra plates; a sequential, 4 gears + reverse, 5 gears + reverse and 6 gears + reverse. The shifter comes with a 7 gears + reverse plate mounted by default, which makes a total of 5 plates. More on these plates later.
Note: I ordered the Ultimate Bundle. You can also choose the Adaptor Bundle at a lower price, that doesn't come with any spare plates; you just get the 7+reverse plate and that's it.
- a sealed plastic baggy with spare screws. Normally you wouldn't need these, but I think it's a nice thought. The baggy contains a number of each type of screw that you find in the shifter unit. Might come in handy for people who love disassembling and modding their gear, and sometimes lose a screw or two in the process
You don't get a manual. Instead there is a piece of paper which says you can download the manual from their site. You really don't need a manual anyway, as it's all plug and play and pretty self explanatory, so they save some trees by not including a printed manual that hardly anyone will read.
The first thing I noticed when unpacking the shifter was its weight. It's pretty heavy. Definitely heavier than the G25 unit. It really gives it a sturdy feel.
INSTALLATION
---------------
Like I just said, there really isn't any installation to speak of. You plug the adaptor in a USB port and Windows detects it as a game controller with 8 buttons. You then assign your gears in the game and that's it.
MOUNTING
-----------
You mount the shifter on your desk (or table, cockpit, whatever) with two clamps that you can tighten by means of two knobs on the bottom of the unit. This is slightly less convenient than the G25 unit with its easy to reach knobs on the upper side of the unit, but I wouldn't say it's inconvenient. The maximum width the clamps can handle is 40mm, which I think is plenty.
The clamps are covered with rubbery anti-slip pads that do their job superbly. You don't need to tighten the knobs much for the shifter to stay in place. If you really tighten the knobs I'm sure you can drag your entire desk around the house by the shifter without it coming loose or even moving an inch. In this regard it's significantly better than the G25 unit that doesn't have any anti-slip material, and which has come loose during races on a few (not many) occasions with me, even though I had tightened it properly.
For people with cockpits who want to mount their shifter unit permanently the clamps have 8 holes in them which you can use to secure the unit to your cockpit with some bolts.
You can also take the clamps off and then mount the unit using screws that go in two holes in the unit itself.
When you mount the shifter unit on a level surface the shifter itself is tilted towards you. This actually works great if you mount the shifter next to your steering wheel like most people will do. If you use a cockpit or a special racing seat, however, and you have the shifter unit mounted next to you where the shifter in a real car would be, then this tilted position is probably not ideal. Especially when shifting into downward gears you would have to move your hand backwards and downwards, and that just doesn't come naturally and feels kind of awkward. So to solve this you will need to mount the shifter on a surface that is slightly tilted in the opposite direction (ie. away from you) so that the shifter sits level.
GATED SHIFTING
-----------------
Coming from the G25 shifter, the ACT-Labs shifter feels really really weird at first. It just feels so different!
First of all there's the travel of the gear stick. The G25 has a pretty short travel, and its stick is fairly short as well. This makes for really short shifting. The ACT-Labs' stick is significantly longer and the gears are also spaced further apart. This especially becomes apparent when you shift from reverse into first gear (both at opposite ends of the shifter), for example.
Then there is the feel of shifting through the gears. Whereas the G25 shifter has almost no resistance at all, the ACT-Labs requires you to actually push/pull the stick into gear. The G25 shifter you can flick around with just one finger, with the ACT-Labs you actually have to grab the shifter and stick into gear.
Again, this all feels very weird and awkward in the beginning if you're used to the G25. I actually got worried that I had made a mistake in buying this thing when I first took it out of the box and moved the stick around; I couldn't imagine it being any fun to drive with.
Anyway, I mounted it and fired up the Supra mod for rFactor - which still gives the most authentic experience of driving a road car, IMO - and I took the car for a cruise around the Nordscheife. Right from the beginning the shifting felt a lot better than I had imagined. It took some getting used to, obviously, but after the first couple of turns it already began to feel natural. And the more I drove, the better it felt. The longer travel and greater resistance when shifting really gives you a more realistic feeling. You actually feel like you're shifting in a car instead of just flicking some stick around. I'm not saying it actually feels like a real car, but it definitely comes a lot closer than the G25 shifter.
There is a downside to this, though, which you may have guessed. Although many of us tend to pursue the most immersive and realistic experience, the fact is that shorter travel and no resistance equals faster shifting. I haven't really done any tests timing the shifting, but I think it's only logical that you can shift faster with the G25 (and the SST Lightning) than you can with the ACT-Labs, because they have very short travel and little to no resistance (talking about the G25 here, don't know about the SST Lightning). Granted, the difference will probably be no more than a fraction of a second each time, but when you're side by side coming out of a corner and hard on the gas, it's fractions of a second that make the difference.
I'm still getting used to this shifter and I'm confident that in time I'll be slamming it through the gears faster than I did now during my initial test, but logic and common sense tell me that it will always be slower than the G25 shifter.
SEQUENTIAL SHIFTING
-----------------------
First of all, I cannot compare this to a real life sequential shifter as I've never driven such a car. So I can only compare this aspect of the shifter to the G25 shifter, and in that case I must say that the G25 shifter is better for sequential use.
The longer travel of the ACT-Labs means that you have to pull/push the stick quite far in order to shift the gears. I find the short travel of the G25 feels better and more direct for sequential shifting. But like with the gated shifting the sequential shifting takes some getting used to and will come more naturally with time.
SHIFTER PLATES
------------------
In my research prior to ordering the shifter I came across this video of a guy changing the shifter plates on the shifter. The fact that you could easily change the plates to make the shifter sequential was one of the main reasons I decided to buy it. I was a bit disappointed when I opened the box to find that the plates that come with the shifter are not quite the same as the ones that guy in the video uses. In the video the plates kind of just slide into place, allowing for quick and easy changing. The plates that came with my shifter, however, are fully closed. By that I mean they don't have this slit that you can slide around the stick like the video demonstrates. Instead you have to remove both the stick and the mounted plate, put the new plate in place and put the stick back on. This requires unscrewing 3 little screws (and obviously screwing them back on afterwards). All in all it shouldn't take more than 2 minutes, but it's still a bit of a hassle. Especially if you're used to the G25 shifter where you just turn a knob. Plus you have to have a screwdriver handy and believe it or not but that's not something I have usually lying around on my desk
Back when I only played LFS I raced exclusively on the DMR server which meant that I would drive the same car for a whole week, in which case I didn't have to switch between gated and sequential more than once a week. Now, though, I regularly (almost daily) hop in the Supra to cruise around the 'Ring or fire up the Caterham mod and have some fun sliding around my favourite tracks, and afterwards I may join the LFS server for some online racing. This week with the FBM, for example, that would require changing between sequential and gated shifting. I'm not too keen on the idea of partly disassembling my shifter to change the plates every time. So now I'm considering to just use my paddles for sequential shifting, but seeing as I went for the ACT-Labs instead of the SST Lightning especially because of its sequential ability I feel that would be a shame.
Aside from that the plates are all nicely made (of metal), no complaints there.
NOISE
-------
One more thing to consider about this shifter is the sound it makes. We all know the G25 shifter isn't exactly quiet. Well, neither is this one
When shifting into gears the metal stick collides with the metal plate each time, which causes some noise. This is especially apparent when shifting in the downward gears as you'll generally exert more force when pulling the stick towards you, making it collide harder. However, I'm sure this can be very easily solved by just sliding a small rubber band or something similar around the metal stick where it hits the plate. This should effectively and significantly reduce the noice, I think. I'll probably do that one of these days, I just need to find something that works. It's not bothersome for me in the least, as I use headphones, but obviously my girlfriend won't appreciate it when she's watching TV FINAL THOUGHTS
-------------------
The ACT-Labs shifter is a great shifter if you're going to use it for gated shifting. It adds to the driving experience, it's easy to mount and feels sturdy enough. It's also fairly customizable; you can limit the gears with the provided shifter plates and you can fit virtually any shifter knob on it (including real life ones).
However, if you're primarily going to be using sequential shifting then I would say you're better off sticking with - or getting - the G25 shifter, if you also want the wheel and pedals as the G25 shifter isn't sold seperately. The reason I bought this shifter, though, was because my G25 one doesn't work properly anymore and it seemed to get more faulty as time passed by, to the point where it would cost me positions and races.
If you're looking for sheer performance and don't care about looks, feel, realism or customizability (sp?) and you can spare the money then the SST Lightning is definitely the better choice; its shorter travel allows for quicker shifting and it's very good quality. Unfortunately it doesn't have a sequential option.
..(3 months, ..ok it was 9 years ago