Another written master piece by Oscar G. Garcia.
In the culture of always wanting more and, above all, the belief that “I am what I have” (or in simracing, “I am as fast as the amount of money I’ve spent on equipment”), it seems like we will never be able to satisfy our desires. That’s why anything that can be instantly improved leaves us with that nagging feeling in our heads, preventing us from enjoying the present. What if the next model makes me faster? For simracing enthusiasts, there has never been a time of greater anxiety and excitement than in recent years. Dozens of bases, dozens of pedals, dozens of cockpits, and hundreds of wheels crowd the store windows and internet reviews, telling you that if you don’t have a bit of mental zen and know how to relax your budget while boosting your self-esteem, you’ll enter a black hole of spending that only leads to frustration.
Every piece of simracing hardware has its potential upgrades, and the bases are the most obvious: 9 Newton meters already seem like a disgrace for anyone aspiring to have more torque at home than in an industrial hydraulic press. It doesn’t matter if race cars have less (they say Formula 1 is around 12Nm), or if for your driving level a G25 plastic on an ironing board was already more than enough. When the idea takes hold in our heads that to improve the present we must start—not by training—but by spending more money, even the spirit of Ayrton Senna could appear to tell you otherwise, and you would still take out your credit card without hesitation.
For the curious, for those with equipment failures, for those with obsolete equipment, or for the insecure, simracing offers the possibility to test our skills with increasingly better technologies. And in this process of upgrading the junk that ends up at a recycling center after months of not being able to sell it to anyone on Wallapop, there are brands betting on a different way of consuming simracing equipment.
In a very striking plot twist for the simracing industry, which, like other industries, tends not to plan for the future and live only for the present, Asetek allows you to progress through each level of their pedal range without having to dispose of all your previous equipment. An upgrade that only discards a few previous cables and springs, allowing the bulk of the investment (the circuitry, pedal base, and many, many screws) to maintain their useful life longer than their competitors. If you have even a modicum of respect for leaving your descendants a planet at least somewhat similar to the one you found when you were born, this is already very good news. But is it worth the upgrade in terms of driving?
The Asetek pedals start with La Prima, a “basic” system of accelerator and brake with load cell and great features in the mid-range, then evolve to Forte (accelerator with rod and a strip of LEDs), and finally—for now—to Invicta (a hydraulic brake). Three different ways to approach simulation technology with investment and cost also aligned with the levels and demands of each driver. The clutch, as with other brands, can be added to any of the previous options and upgraded from Prima to Invicta.
We already talked a few weeks ago about the experience with La Prima and the leap from some V3 by Fanatec. Today it’s time to start modifying -again- the present and study whether these upgrades really mean a change for the better or if they are simply the justification for spending that we tell ourselves in an attempt to be faster.
LA FORTE
Having used La Prima with the most basic accelerator for a few weeks, the switch to Forte is evident: we move from a spring at the base of the pedal, limited in its maximum value by a screw that serves as a stop, to an inclined rod system with two resistance springs to choose from. Moving the resistance from the pedal joint where it connects to the base to a more complex system has given me the feeling of adding more control and sensitivity to the setup.
As in the previous article, Suzuka was the test track. Its concatenated S-curves and the need to play with the accelerator pedal aboard a Formula Light gave me the opportunity to measure times and draw conclusions about the overall experience. While La Prima’s accelerator performed its function with the Hall sensor, Forte elevates the same experience to a higher level.
The pedal development and angle of action are more comfortable, and I have the impression of being able to maintain the position more precisely than before. It’s true that in any case, whether Prima or Forte, the 12-bit Hall sensor would provide the same dynamic positions. However, the total travel is different, so this detail might add more subjective feel.
Is the change enough to invest in the upgrade? For many, the accelerator pedal is the least of their problems and the least justified investment. In the case of Forte, the payment of €162.49 (as of today, July 2024) seems like a small luxury for an accelerator pedal that La Prima already made with a very viable minimum. It’s true that Asetek also adds a very high-quality horizontal LED strip identical to the one that Forte or Invicta would have if you bought the factory model, so if you like sparks and lights, you can indulge yourself.
Perhaps installing the LED is more complex than one might initially think. Removing the protection of the entire base to reach the guts of the pedals and then exchanging the wiring and a small integrated component for the LED might seem tedious, especially when it’s just an aesthetic element that I, for example, won’t even enjoy while wearing my VR headset.
The LED works. Its manufacturing is modern and thanks to the proprietary software it can sync with any other Asetek equipment you have, ensuring the level of gaudiness you want in your cockpit is achieved.
Revisiting the original question “Is the €165 upgrade to the Forte accelerator and LED justified?”, in my opinion, the practical return on investment does not seem enough compared to, for example, investing in that pedal that truly makes or breaks races: the brake pedal. So here we go.
INVICTA BRAKE
The jewel in Asetek’s crown and the great technical promise of every manufacturer. The term Invicta already suggests that this pedal will be unbeatable. However, at this point in our lives, we all know that there is a huge gap between marketing and reality and often the improvement could be just a subjective bias confirming that the expense is really better than it is.
There was a time when talking about hydraulics in simracing was almost pornographic. The esotericism offered by so many cables, fluid pumps, and the promise that nothing would ever be more similar to the reality of a race car led many users to invest almost a mortgage in equipment more complicated than that of a real car. Since then, and until a year and a half ago when SimuCube came out with its active pedal, it was ingrained in every sim racer’s mind that the pedal that would make you a true believer in this sport would be the hydraulic one.
And among pressures and fluids, force is reintroduced into the equation. How much pressure should my leg exert on a real brake pedal to stop the car? How do I control the lock and avoid going straight? Will this Invicta be able to simulate the feeling of the wheels on the road? How do we understand the travel of the brake pads? Right now, only SimuCube, with its active pedals, can create the perfect feedback. Below that, the struggle is to try to provide an experience as close as possible to a real system.
Invicta, based on T.H.O.R.P. (Twin Hydraulic Opposing Rapid Pistons) technology, works through two closed chambers where the fluid is stored under pressure. If we apply force to the pedal, it presses the elastomer (interchangeable), which in turn pushes a chamber where the fluid transmits it to the upper chamber, and the guide pushes the piston, which finally pushes the pressure sensor, generating up to 180kg (100 bars of pressure) with the promise of lasting around a million activations.
These values of superhuman force and pressures should be taken as what they are. Except for rare occasions like Asetek, what manufacturers usually provide are data relative to the load cell’s capacity itself, not of that cell in the real context of angles and distances of compression. It’s not the same to measure the pressure force directly on the cell as on the system formed by the pedal, where your foot is placed about twenty centimeters above. Because you don’t press the cell with your own foot; in reality, it is done by the system of angles and distances of the mechanism. For example, your foot can be positioned much higher than the cell, and the math says that at twice the distance, twice the pressure is exerted. A cell that says it can handle 100kg of force would allow a pressure on the pedal of 50kg before reaching saturation (100kg). In other words, the pressure exerted by your foot at the pedal point would transmit twice the pressure to the cell. This is without considering more angles and nuts and bolts.
To give real contexts, an F1 driver needs to apply around 150kg of force during the moment of maximum pressure and usually have a total pedal travel of 3cm. Of course, in a race car, inertia pushes your body helping the foot to press with such intensity.
All in all, that million activations could be summed up as: with 4 hard brakes per lap, in a 20-lap session, that’s 80 activations per session. If we divide that million by 80, we get the respectable amount of 12,500 sessions. Unless you are one of those who never leaves the cockpit even to shower, at one session per day, every day of the year, the cell should start showing signs of wear at around 34 years of age.
The response of the Invicta pedal from Asetek, in any case, continues to simulate that double movement of “first I bite the disc, then I apply the brake“. Some prefer to use that space as a dead zone to hit the wall immediately, and some prefer to feel that gentle gap before the first braking hit. Whatever your preference, Invicta from Asetek performs perfectly: it transmits braking force without surprises and with that so hydraulic feeling (elastic? spongy?) that only a hydraulic can give you.
As with any change, I had to spend a week feeling uncomfortable: the angle of my foot had changed, the feel of the brake too, the travel and the force. But nothing that can’t be fixed with time. Once accustomed, the sensations return and you stop thinking constantly about what’s under your foot and focus on overtaking the guy in front of you.
Updating the pedal hardware, although very easy, may not be for everyone and if you have the money, you might prefer to go directly to the Invicta pedal from the factory. As we explained above, from Prima to Forte, interestingly, it requires much more skill than upgrading from Forte to Invicta.
In both cases -upgrades from Forte and Invicta-, the control software will remain the same as in La Prima and we will only have to choose a configuration option to tell it what upgrade we have added.
SUMMARY
Am I a better driver with the upgrades? No way. Do I have more fun? Yes. Much more. In the life of simracing, it’s all about sensations. Simulating a race car more and more realistically is one of those things that the future allows us to do, and these upgrades raise the bar of what is possible at a reasonable price that still doesn’t seem like you’re betraying your family.
The hydraulic technology also offers an aura that already draws attention and the Forte and Invicta set gives much more “granularity” (as the Americans call it) because you feel more intermediate steps.
Reusing parts of the cockpit that are usually discarded when upgrades arrive is one of those modular policies that is surprisingly not more common and from here, I congratulate Asetek for daring with the idea.
Is there anything beyond Invicta? Knowing that active pedals from Simucube are already possible, let’s not rule out an upgrade from Invicta to Mega Epic or Massive (or something like that) that once again elevates the Asetek experience to the best that can be achieved in this simulation world.
We want to thank Asetek for providing the material and we are glad that more and more brands are offering equipment at reasonable prices and with such careful quality.
Asetek’s La Prima Pedals can be purchased from the reseller Simufy for 399 euros or in the Asetek official website (5% OFF using this coupon: SIMRACER.ES)
- Simufy (2% OFF using our code: SFYOPTF7ZMR98)
- Asetek (5% OFF using our code: SIMRACER.ES)
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