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'GTA V' will never feel the same with this crazy driving rig
Grand Theft Auto V is the perfect playground for car junkies that want to perform some virtual Furious 7-inspired stunts. Take this clip of a player landing his favorite ride inside a flying cargo plane. Nuts. But what if you could make the first-person driving experience a little more realistic? Force Dynamics, a small company from upstate New York, has done exactly that with one of its wild gaming rigs. At first glance, it looks like a typical racing arcade cabinet with a large display, a steering wheel and a bucket seat. But the entire contraption can rotate and tilt up and down, mimicking the movement of most in-game vehicles. In the case of Grand Theft Auto V, it's a gut-wrenching rollercoaster every time you launch a car off a ramp or, indeed, check out the fairground attraction in Los Santos. We'd love to have a go, although we'd probably need a paper bag within arm's reach.
Force Dynamics 401cr test drive (video)
If you're old enough to have spent any time in an arcade, surely at some point you splurged an extra couple of quarters to play a game in a seat that moved a bit, shook a bit, made some feeble attempt at making you feel like you're really in the game. Kid's play, that stuff (quite literally), but just like people don't stop gaming as they get older so too such motion simulation tech doesn't have to stay for kiddies. Enter Force Dynamics and enter the 401cr: a full-bore motion simulator that can not only generate over a G of acceleration but can spin you right 'round as many times as you like. We took it for a quite a few spins indeed, plus more than one crash, and we think you'll want to check them out the video below. %Gallery-117507%
Force Dynamics 301 driving simulator takes on Super Mario Kart
While most of the cool kids are off whizzing around courses in Mario Kart Wii, the gurus at Force Dynamics are reminiscing about the one that started it all. Apparently the firm has tweaked its 301 motion platform to actually control the kart in the SNES hit, and the rider's chair even leaps up along with Mario, Peach or any other jumping character you choose. Sure, it's missing those absolutely brain-melting Wii graphics (but not by much, if you catch our drift), but we'd probably take a ride in this over an hour with the Wii Wheel any day. Check out the full video waiting after the break.
Force Dynamics' 401 simulator chair is pure abuse
Sure, your racing games are exciting... we guess. Though when you think about it, they don't really deliver the kind of visceral, knock-about action of an actual race, do they? That's where the Force Dynamics 401 comes in -- a simulator chair which features a "direct transfer of information," i.e., you get bruises if you drive poorly. Judging from the video (which you can see after the break), you'd be hard-pressed to get a more realistic experience... unless you were actually driving a race car at breakneck speeds around tight chicanes whilst passing speeding, desperate competitors.
