Review Dofreality P3 - ordered 5th April 2019

Hello there fellow motion rig enthusiasts,

I've just placed an order for the Dofreality P3. I play in VR, mostly racing sims, with a little Elite Dangerous or ETS2 to chill out.
After much research, I had shortlisted the Dofreality P3 and the Prosimu T1000 3dof. The noise of the actuators was the deciding factor for me. I did look at the H6 but decided 6dof would be extra money spent for very little gain in the racing games that I prefer.

I will keep this thread updated on the overall experience from the perspective of someone who chose to buy simply because I don't have the skills, tools, or time to build myself. I have a lot of respect for those who can, but it's just not for me.

Anyway, as a long time lurker and occasional poster, I felt obliged to share to help others to make their decisions the way I have by reading and absorbing information here. Thanks to all who have posted useful information and helped me get to this point.

I ordered the P6 last week and it’s been shipped. I’d be curious to know your thoughts as well.

Update 1: Order shipped and delivery scheduled for 18th April 2019

Update 2 delivered 15th April 2019 - luckily I'd checked the tracker and also had nowhere else to be

Too late in the day to start building it, I'll be all over it tomorrow

I box of mine delivered today. The shipping company isn’t sure where the other box is...

Got the P6 assembled and plugged in. Can't get any movement in iRacing, but the Output Test works fine. I'm sure I haven't installed the plugin correctly. The instructions are not clear at all.

Thanks for the quick reply!
Turns out I was getting some movement, just janky movement. Specifically, no pitch, and almost all movement is some form of sway. Interestingly, the default profile worked very well for output testing, but I seemed to have overwritten the default. Sorry for the terrible noob questions you've seen a hundred times before, but i can't seem to find anything about re-downloading the default by searching.

I’ve been outmanoeuvred by my wife, with the classic....”while you’re moving your rig anyway we should decorate in there...!
I did manage to get the base and frame of the P3 put together last night. Pretty straightforward but I think the written instructions could be a bit more informative, they do however provide links to YouTube videos of the build process.
So far so good notwithstanding the inevitable trip to Ikea....

OK, got the upper frame built tonight, just need to attach shifter and other mounts.
First real criticism is that although the nuts and bolts come in labelled bags for each stage, the instructions (written or video) do not refer to which bag contains the ones you should be using at each stage. While it is obvious to begin with, at some stages it's a bit of a faff to figure out which bolts you should be using, and which bag they're in. Minor gripe, but worth noting.
Hoping to get it up and running on Friday, I have a league race tomorrow night.

DOFReality Teamviewered in to my computer and correctly set everything in about 3 minutes. Everything works spectacularly.

Only issue I've run into is motion compensation for my Pimax 5K+. That's to say there isn't any, and driving without it can be disorienting. I was able to get my lap times in iRacing to within a second of my non-motion rig, but it took quite a bit more concentration. I think I'll have to go back to my Vive Pro for now until there is motion compensation for the Pimax or another HMD comes out (like the Valve Index).

Finally got the P3 up and running last night, after a delay caused by decorating, blimey it’s going to take some getting used to. I’m going to use the links noorbeast provided to create my own profile.

First game I want to get right is PC2, but I have some apps that use PC1 udp, anybody using this? No motion produced using PC1 udp last night.

Update:
Bad news: one motor stopped moving
Good news: customer support responded very quickly, I sent screen shots and videos, took the control box apart and checked led’s as requested. The whole process took a few hours because it was done via email.

Overall, I’m happy they are sending a replacement board, and have explained how I can use it as a 2dof platform while I wait.

So far all I’ve needed is a screwdriver.

W

With "Board" you mean the whole controller box, right? Just installed mine a few days ago. After having the Arduino Uno replaced (P3 was not recognized by the PC), all works fine.

Regarding motion compensating: I got it working together with HTC Vive Pro, but it needs some adjustment and additional donwloads (not described in manual for getting motion compensation to work). For further info, check this:https://github.com/matzman666/OpenVR-InputEmulator/issues/143

Not sure, just the power board I think. They didn’t actually say what they’re sending. They had me strip the whole thing down to see what had failed. I’m starting to wish I’d gone for the Prosimu T1000 3dof if I’m honest. Maybe when it’s properly up and running I’ll be more impressed.

I seem to have reverse movement in PC2, managed to sort pitch out (forward/back) as I just reversed them in engine manager, but can’t figure out how to switch roll/yaw/sway whichever one is causing the issue. Rig leans right when turning right, and vice versa which seems wrong.

Well, the construction inside the controller box is fairly simple, so you should manage to switch that by yourself.
At the moment I am not so sure if the P3 is a good choice. It works +/- ok with iRacing and AC, but completely disfunctions with R3e (just weird rattle all around, even if car is not moved).
P3 just feels very choppy overall... especially if coming out of corners the rig just throws you to the other side abruptly. That's not what I experienced with other motion sims (it more feels like a sailing boat in a storm than a race car!). Maybe tweakable, still have to figure out the best settings. It is definitely not an out-of-the-box-working system. Also motion cancellation with VR needs ridiculous tweaks/tooling to get it work, and you have to reset it EVER time you start a session.