Space requirments for a motion sim

So I'm making a racing sim and I'm looking to judge the space needed for motion. It will be dimensioned to copy a Formula Ford car and I've purchased a Tillett W3 seat with an external dimension of 400mm and the top of the head will only be about 760mm.

Because the seat is so narrow and low my plans are to fit this into a piece of furniture that I'll also make. Ultimately I'd like to build it all to accommodate a motion system so I am wondering if anyone could help me judge the kind of clearances I should be making?

The height and length are easily extended, it's more the width that is the worry. Also screen is a touch screen and will be fixed to the cabinet, no keyboard/mouse and plan to use VR goggles.

I'm after high fidelity movements and not so much big stuff. Lets say the target cabinet width is 700mm, the widest part would be shoulders so roughly 500mm. If I had 100mm traction loss for each side I'm then out of room for roll of the seat. Would 50mm of traction loss and 50mm of roll at shoulder height ~450mm or ~6 degrees be enough to make it worth my while?

800mm is probably the limit for the cabinet width before it becomes ridiculous. 75mm for traction loss and roll? More of one than the other? Or just cut out one of them?

Any perspectives or advice is welcome!

Thanks, I'll check that out and I've drawn up what I'm thinking in autocad only being a new member I wasn't allowed to post images. On my phone at the moment but tomorrow I'll try posting it without what triggers the spam filter.

pencil and paper just fine as well.

I've studied drafting before, hated the pen and paper stuff we had to do and love using autocad. Anyway, I've got images working and here is a side section view and a back view with dimensions. I initially thought the 400mm seat would be the widest but with 500mm wide shoulders I would limit myself to 150mm of movement. Would having 75mm of rotation (11 degrees) and 75mm of traction loss be a good split? Given I'm after high fidelity small movements this would be enough??

Great to hear. Thanks for your perspectives!

Question, is it seat mover or full frame?
If its seat mover, id suggest a desk racer setup for the motors

and then you have room for drift at the back
Or if its a full frame, foot motor mount for compactness

Dave.

Yeah it'll be full frame. I'll be welding it up myself so can be flexable with mounting locations. I've heard the foot option is a good way to go for compactness. Is there any good resources you can specifically think of for such an option or would just searching around here give me plenty of good advice for build requirements?

@Disco42 , I dotn have drawings for my builds but general measurments. Look at the links above for info is best

@Disco42 - If you are looking for compact, give my build a miss I went for a foot mount sim and used all the space I had in my room really.

I'm actually (when time permits) going to break it apart and build a shoulder mount / thigh mount sim with the bits. Not because I don't love my foot mount / full frame, but the room it is in is also my office/workspace and it's getting in the way at the moment.

I will still have a foot rest though. I've always like the whole frame moving (it's excellent for flight sims) but will have attachments (like @noorbeast has done)

Thanks for all the info guys, every now and then I come across friendly communities on the Internet but I never expected such a helpful one for simulators, its awesome. Apart from your build @Archie foot mount generally is the easiest approach for compactness?

Because I'm going for a rigid seat with no padding would the software allow greater accuracy and speed of movement with a more expensive motor and more importantly would that be noticeable.

This is more something I'll think about after I've got the fixed frame up and working. Just wondering if this a thing of consideration for builds in general? I've seen the playseat system criticised for being slow and if I had $50,000 for some moving magnet linear motors with a peak of 2,000 plus Newtons at sub micron resolution that would be better than something like a wiper motor yeah?

Dont use wipers. Use the 200 watt 12v 25:1 boxes at least and use JRKS . ( i can hear ard guys screaming now.....) . Use somethinf like a 45mm ctc lever and it will be very responsive.

gaffa tape yourself to the seat for extra immersion

@Disco42 , I used to have 2 hire sims I ran for a while before time and health gave out, but I can tell you, I had over 100 players and at least 10 professional drivers on them. For a basic seat mover, even the race car drivers found it immersive enough, not realistic, but certainly gave them the impression of realism in game.
They use 25:1 motors, JRKS, and performed flawlessly. Before that I had a foot motor all in one sim also "hired" out, meaning, it went to mates parties and school fundraisers, again, the realism was there.

Foot motor with Dirt Showdown, even though the video is not that clear, you can see the level of immersion of the sim in line with the game

And heres the desk racer showing finer vibration

both use 25:1 boxes, but even a 50:1 or 60:1 would perform very well, maybe add bass shakers to it if need be

@Disco42 - I have had to dial my sim down. @SilentChill used to have rear mount Sim (he's doing an awesome 6DOF setup at the moment) and I wanted my Sim to throw me around like his old rear mount.

I soon changed my mind once I got my sim going.

On DIRT Rally I get flung around like a rag doll on my Foot mount, so much so that I've dialed it down a bit for that game to make it bearable.

Get a good harness (4-point is enough) and bolt it to your seat and run the back attachments to some Trampoline springs on the base (not the seat).
When you brake, the sim will tilt forward and the springs will pull on the belt making your chest feel tight.
On DIRT Rally I actually emit involuntary sounds it I slam into a fence / gate.

Lile @bsft 's rig, I also use 25:1 motors and they are super quick and very responsive.
I'm a big bloke at 6'3" and 95kg and it copes just fine.
I've made sure my rig is very balanced to get the max out of it, so the motors don't have to work too hard.
I've also gone with 45mm CTC arms.

Also @Disco42 - I'm changing my rig to a 3DOF soon. I've just ordered a JRK from these guys: http://core-electronics.com.au/pololu-jrk-12v12-usb-motor-controller-with-feedback.html

Cheapest I can find at $120 shipped.

Given a JRK from Pololu in the US is US$99 and that equates to AUD $140, Core-Electronics are selling cheap!!