16-April-2009

 Firstly let me do yet another quick welcome to everyone. We really, really hope everyone enjoys the new site, and is able to get far more from it, and in turn far more from their products.
Let me also now do a quick welcome to this blog. Yep, there’s no escaping it, Elitepros has a blog!
Over the coming months I’ll be putting up our thoughts and ideas here and you’re going to see a whole bunch of useful stuff and possibly the occasional useless one too.
I invite you all to send us your thoughts and comments too and I’ll include these where possible.
So lets get a start!
The new website is up, you probably noticed cause you’re on it! Or maybe not cause you’ve never been here before! Smart people aren’t we!
Most of the content is the same, but we’ve cleaned up the format a lot. The most significant inclusion is the store, where you can now buy direct anytime! We’ll be using this to also post monthly specials on particular items or packages, and to also offer discounts to repeat customers or as prizes for upcoming competitions.
We’ve also added a Rear Speaker Mount Kit for the EDS1 and finally got our prototype EBC1’s up for sale!
So before I blab on for too long I’ll just say a quick hi to everyone who has given us feedback, a big thanks to all for their input, and a even bigger welcome to everyone's comments on the new site or any of our products!

Cheers
Elitepros

17-April-2009

Hi again!
I thought I’d take a moment to write some comments to those out there that are not quite sure whether  a driving rig is for them.
Lets all agree straight up that we love driving games, if you don’t then the choice of owning a driving rig is easily solved! It’s not for you!
So we love driving games, but what are your playing options. If your a console player then the obvious is your controller, if your a PC player then your mouse & keyboard are your default options. But by using these you have instantly removed a vital part of a driving game, the feel. All you are then left with is the sight & sounds, and those these are getting better & better, the most engaging part of the game is lost. Sure you can probably get really good at the game, maybe even better than a lot of players with wheel setups but the key point here is that the fundamental component that truly makes you feel like you are in the game is missing.
So here we take the first step towards a greater driving experience, and buy ourselves a wheel setup. It doesn’t matter too much which one, sure some are far better than others but even the basic ones give a feel that a controller or keyboard never can. Instantly your part of the game, your controlling the vehicle exactly like you would in real life, and your touch senses are now being stimulated along with your sight and sound. The game has just got involving & interesting.
And it is at this point that most make the decision to look at a driving rig. Why? Because you’ve probably spent $800 on your console/PC, $100 on each of your driving games, $300 on your wheel setup and god knows what else on your TV, amplifier, speakers, etc and now your using all of this with your wheel mounted to a $10 coffee table or desk. And because every time you take that sharp corner or snap that gear change your wheel fly's all over the place, your shifter gets flung across the room and your pedals slide out form underneath you.
Whether you buy or build your own rig is up to you but to own one is something that will change your driving experience. To have everything permanently mounted in their correct position, to have the relationship of the wheel to the pedals to the shifter to the seat all correct, and to have it ready to go all the time just makes you want to play all that much more.
From the first time you use your driving rig, you just know that you can never go back to anything less and you just wonder exactly how you ever managed to enjoy a driving game before this.
Hope this little insight helps some of you out there! And please don’t hesitate to email us any questions you have on anything driving game related!

Thanks again!
Elitepros

22-April-2009

Well the new web has been up for nearly a week now, and a huge thanks to all the positive comments and the constructive remarks. I might make a quick mention that we’re Design Engineers here at Elitepros and as a prerequisite for being an engineer our spelling and grammar suck! So we’ll take all the help we can get!
We have just completed filming assembly & setup videos for the EDS1 and we’re editing them right now and hope for them to be available here & on youtube very shortly so keep an eye out for those! Hopefully these will give everyone that little extra help required to get you all racing quicker!
For those that haven’t already taken the time to jump across to see our friends at Pole Position Driver I highly recommend it. You may have noticed the new Sim Racing News on our home page, and that is proudly brought to you by PPD. There is a wealth of great sim-racing information on their site, a great bunch of people to converse with and even better, there are competitions and events!
Which leads me to my next point, Race Days!
Yes, we have an upcoming race event co-organised with PPD very similar to the Challenge Day shown on our home page. The format will most likely be a team based race where you and your team mates (assigned on the day) take control on a complete EDS1 setup running rFactor. You will then compete in a race against other teams on other EDS1’s, for ultimate glory! Teams will rotate drivers at each designated pit-stop so everyone gets exactly the same amount of track time.
This event will be open to anyone willing to travel to the South Eastern Suburbs of Victoria, we only ask that all participants register as PPD forum users first (don’t worry it’s free!).
More information will be made available as we get closer, but places will fill quickly so please register for the forum now if you haven’t already to save time, and please let us know if you’re interested so we can cater for everyone!
With enough interest we will consider starting a race league and making these days a regular occurrence.

Thanks again!
Elitepros

15-Augustl-2009

Sorry for the delay in updating this blog, but it’s been a crazy last few months. I’ll save the story around that for another time. But for now. What's seat is right for me?
I’ve had a lot of discussions of recent about what seat is best for a sim racer. Seems people aren’t quite sure what’s going to best suit their needs. To be honest, anything that your comfortable sitting in will work fine but lets have a look at the benefits of each anyway, and my apologies now for writing so much!
So what are your choices? In terms of basic design there is what’s known as a fixed back seat or a reclinable seat. Fixed back being non-reclinable. In the surface material department you have a choice of cloth, vinyl or leather (or there's always a moulded plastic seat like a go-kart would use). And in the internal department most seats use a steel frame design, some use a tube frame design, and the more expensive seats use carbon fibre or fibreglass to help save weight. And that’s pretty much the basics.
But as per most things in this world what truly separates one from another is design & build quality.
Before I start getting into the real differences, let me just point out that there are several design regulations that govern automotive seats. If a seat is to be used in a street car then there are laws requiring that seat to comply with certain standards. If that seat is for use in a race car then again other standards will apply depending on the race class. For a seat to conform to a standard it may require a certain design and will most likely require a certain strength and durability. For this reason any seat sold with a stitched on tag or certificate of compliance to a certain regulation will most likely be superior to one without, but it will also most likely come at an additional cost as getting approval for that standard and maintaining a seat that meets it is not cheap. It is for this reason that there are so many cheap Chinese seats around, because very few of them have had the required testing and even less again provide evidence of standard conformity.
So what does this mean? Well all I’m really trying to say is there are a lot of very expensive seats out there but that doesn’t mean they are any better for what you want than a cheap one, it just means they may be lighter or comply to more safety standards than another.
So what should you really be looking for in a seat? This is the real question. And the simple answer is comfort. In a driving rig your not experiencing any g-forces, so lateral bolstering design isn’t of great importance and you’re never going to smack you head in an accident so helmet support isn’t required. But what you are possibly going to do is sit in it for a long time playing, and this is where your comfort is number 1 priority.
While some may prefer the open feel of a reclinable seat others may prefer the snug fit of a fixed back seat. Neither is a bad choice, just as long as what you choose suits your body shape and makes you feel more engaged in the game. One main thing to note though is most fixed back seat offer no angle adjustment, so you will be stuck with the one seating position for all. And this reminds me to a very recent discovery for me. A lot of sim drivers out there somehow manage to play racing in a very “laid back” position. But I might leave that discussion for the next blog edition.
Another thing to take note of is the side bolstering in the seat particularly around the shoulder area. If you are a large frame person or even just have wide shoulders then excessive padding in this area can make your driving experience extremely uncomfortable.
So to sum up, comfort should be your number 1 driving factor. Without it, you won’t be able to play for very  long, you won’t enjoy the experience and you will either give up on your driving rig or be forced to spend more money on a replacement seat.

Thanks again!
Elitepros