Sim Gaming Expo 2025 Debrief

Episode Transcript
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Jason (00:35):
This episode is brought to you by Trophyai.
We discuss all things in thesim racing world.
I'm your host, jason Rivera,and I'm joined here by Mr Eric
Kelly, jeff Smart and Mr MichaelPagliaro from the Sim Racing
Den, our honored guest here onceagain.
How's everybody doing this week?
Doing good Doing well.

Michael (00:54):
Still recovering, I think.

Jason (00:56):
Dude my voice.
I apologize in advance.
Feels like I'm going throughpuberty again.

Jeff (01:03):
I learned that I like hanging out with you guys in
person better than virtually.
Not that this is terrible, buthaving a no offense to y'all
virtually.
An old-fashioned or six withyou guys is way better than
doing it in yeah, so much betterIn virtually, oh yeah.

Jason (01:19):
Yeah, man, and it was good to finally see my you know
Eric.
I've known Eric for 15 yearsand we we had that little clip
on at the beginning in front ofthe hotel and it was like I
always knew him, like it waslike I've always hung out with
him.
It just meshed right away.
It was like, oh yeah, what's up?
Kind of like if I haven't seenhim in a long time.

(01:41):
I, you know it was.
It was great to see him andbehind the scenes we had some
interesting conversations, man,about everything, just
everything in life.
And it'd be five o'clock in themorning and we have to get up
to the expo and we're stillchatting away.
That might've been my fault,eric, so my bad, because this

(02:02):
guy was literally falling asleepI'm like wake up, bro, we don't
have time, I don't have time tosee you like like this.
You know what I mean, but, um,I'm just ecstatic, you know, and
today we're, you know, we'rehere that that was crazy yeah,
man, today is our debrief andyou know I figured have the

(02:22):
michael from the sim racing thenwith us.
Once again, he he's.
You know, he hung out with usfor a good 80% of it and that
was another honor to shake hishand and realize how small I am
next to him.
So, um, so, anyways, um, youknow any, any announcements,
michael, even Michael, anyanything you guys want to put

(02:44):
out before we get into thisdebrief.

Michael (02:49):
Yeah, I, just an announcement is for everybody,
like the next, this is the start, like the gaming expo in
Chicago was the start of likejust new products coming out.
It gets crazy right now.
That's why they kind of call itcrazy October or whatever you
want to call it Sim racingindustry, because there's
already going to be a ton ofmore new products announced in
Germany in I don't know whatfive weeks or something like

(03:11):
that Leading up to the end ofthe year and Christmas.
That's kind of how it goes.
So there are more things comingto the industry, which means
more boxes showing up in the simracing den.
So I'm going to have a verybusy time up until the holidays.
Already a bunch of things show.
A bunch of things were showingup while I was at the expo.
So, um yeah, I had to kind ofget uh back to work as soon as I

(03:34):
got back oh yeah, man and guys,make sure you check out.

Jason (03:39):
Uh, you know michael's channel.
We'll leave links to it below.
Um, you've been pushing out alot of content and this is why
trying to prepare for the influxof things, which is great right
, that's a very it's great for aYouTuber creator like yourself,
but then it's also great foryou, the SimRacer, to keep an

(03:59):
eye on things that are releasingnow on the market, which is
awesome.
It's exciting, especiallyseeing the amount of people that
went there.
We'll get into that here in asecond.
But, as you can see, I have aDNR shirt on because I'm a
little brokenhearted that DNRcould not make the expo and I
figured I'd pay him homage bywearing his logos and his

(04:22):
T-shirt, which is a little tighton me.
You know the European size.
You know it's a little tight onme.
You know that, the europeansize.
You know you gotta go size upthat's what it is.

Michael (04:30):
Huh, I'm hoping I can grow into mine, like what you
mean, eric.
Hey, what you mean whathappened now?

Erick (04:39):
what are?

Jason (04:40):
you coming after me.
I hear you, nah man, nah man,I'm joking, all right.
Well, again, it's crazy to seeyou guys in the virtual and when
we just came back from the realworld.
So I'll get right into it.
This year's expo was amazingand I'll go over with the first

(05:02):
question to all of us what wasthe travel experience like?
We had people traveling fromall over the world Michael's
coming from up North Canada,we're coming from Hawaii and you
know Eric's coming from theEast coast, relatively closer
than us.
So you know, I'll start withEric.
What was your experience like?
You know getting to the airportand you know what was your

(05:25):
experience like getting to theairport and the whole travel
experience for you to get to theexpo.

Erick (05:27):
For me it was great.
My flight left at like 8.30 atnight, so the roads were clear.
We got a little small airporthere so I was able to go
straight in catch my flight at atwo-ish hour flight.
And that was Damn.
Two hour flight no when I-.
Two hour flight Damn.
No, I'm thinking about when Ileft Two hour flight.

Jason (05:46):
No by far.
I'm thinking about when we cameback.

Erick (05:49):
My flight going up there left at like 1, 1.30 or
something like that, but it wasstill pretty clear though, and
then, like I said, about a twohour flight Got there.
I mean, it took me almost aslong to get the Uber.

Jason (06:05):
Oh yeah, I was texting him.
I was like dude, are you here?
He's like I don't know wherethis Uber guy is.

Michael (06:12):
Rob Markman.
Oh yeah, I remember that wewere all waiting for you to get
there outside, like thewelcoming committee.

Erick (06:17):
Rob Markman.
Yeah, man, the terminals likethe Uber app.
It was showing one terminal,but then, once I went through
and actually picked the driver,it was like okay, now go to this
other terminal.
And it was like I had to get ona train and go to the other
side of the airport and I waslike this doesn't seem right,
it's always something Turns out.

Jeff (06:37):
O'Hare is a huge airport.

Michael (06:41):
It is man.

Jason (06:43):
What about you, jeff?
How was your?
Oh, go ahead, go ahead, mike,is that?

Michael (06:45):
your first time flying in O'Hare, I'm assuming, or no?

Erick (06:50):
For me it wasn't.
Actually, we flew into O'Harewhen we were going to Montreal
last year oh.
Ok, yeah, yeah.

Michael (07:00):
Cool.

Jason (07:02):
All right.
So yeah, o'hare is one of thebiggest airports in the country,
it's international, it'smassive.
And you know, before Jeff's youknow segment, I had asked Jeff,
hey, do you want to share Uber?
Because we literally got therefive minutes apart.
And he's like no, I'm inTerminal 5.

Jeff (07:23):
That was like I don't know how long of a walk that was
Three miles away.

Jason (07:25):
That's another couple city blocks away.
But go ahead, jeff, sorry tosteal your thunder, no um, yeah,
so me and you left hawaii.

Jeff (07:33):
we went, you know, I think , like I was the air, the
aircraft before you take off, orvice versa, out of hawaii.
You know, I went to vegas, youknow we went our own way, then
landed within four minutes ofeach other back in Chicago and
then it was like, hey, where areyou at, wait for me, we'll get
an Uber.
Well, little did I know.
We were six miles apart still.

(07:53):
So, all in all, not terribletravel.
Once I got to get an Uber andstuff like that, it wasn't
terrible.

Jason (08:02):
Time change wasn't bad.
Did you Uber this and exit, orsomething like that?
And oh I forgot about that.
I got like this guy's first dayon, first day on uber, and he's
like I can't find the spot.

Jeff (08:12):
I'm like how are you doing uber out of o'hare and you
don't know where the pickup is?

Michael (08:18):
that's crazy a lot of crazy adventures in ubers?

Jason (08:21):
that definitely was oh my god, chicago, some people that
won't just won't understand someof the stories.
I can't even Adventures inUbers.
That definitely was the theme.
Oh my God, bro, chicago, somepeople that won't understand
some of the stories.

Michael (08:28):
I can't even begin to explain them.

Jason (08:32):
Yeah, they were fun because it was like so who are
we going to get this time?
What's going to happen now?
And sure enough.
But yeah, jeff it, you know itwasn't that far away.
So it was about a 20 minutedrive, right, 15, 20 minutes,
depending on the traffic.
But what about you, mikey?

(08:52):
How was your trip coming fromCanada?

Michael (08:55):
I'd like to say I have some crazy story, but honestly
it was one of the easiestflights and travel that I've
ever had Like, and honestly,though, it was nice for the
first time to actually haveeverything go smoothly.
No flight delayed, like, so theflight from Toronto is super
easy two hours right, um, and Igo back an hour in time, so no

(09:16):
time zone change like.
I just felt like I was in sameplace.
Um, flight was on time.
Uber driver from the airport tothe hotel was efficient.
Like.
I got there ahead of all youguys and I was just bored
walking around going where's allmy friends?
No one's here yet, so I wasjust waiting for everyone to get
there.
Um, hell yeah, you made itthere before us.

(09:38):
So you actually.
I met up with amir, so amirtexted me from simpit yeah
because I think we were talkingbefore, he kind of knew, when my
flight was around, he's likeare you here?
I'm like yeah, man, I'm outside.
So then he came out, and thenwe were just, you know, shooting
the shit, chatting, and then Isaid yeah, let's just stick out
here, because you know I gotJason coming and Eric and, um,

(10:00):
jeff are coming, let's look.
And then we all just kind ofmet up outside, right, that was
it.

Jason (10:08):
Okay, yeah, I mean I thought it was cool that you
were kind of chilling outsidewaiting for us.
I thought I was really nice.
I don't know if that was theintention, but it was cool
because I got there, followed byJeff, followed by Eric, and we
was just shooting the stuffthere.
Man, I got to meet Amir, whichwas an awesome dude.

(10:30):
Good to hang out with him.
He's a down to earth guy.
Yeah he's a lot of fun.
So many people right.

Jeff (10:37):
It was weird when I pulled up in my Uber and you know,
jason, I see you, you know quitea bit.
But then to see Mike, I waslike it was just weird to see
people that you've watched theirYouTube for hours.
And you know, jason, I see you,you know quite a bit.
But then to see Mike, I waslike it was just weird to see
people that you've watched theirYouTube for hours and you know,
we've been on the podcast, butthen you see these people, like
even Amir, I was like what's hedoing?

(10:57):
Like, seeing these people onYouTube, on your TV at home, as
you're, you know, hanging out orwhatever, and then you see them
in real life, you're like it'sjust weird.
It was just like-.

Michael (11:04):
Yeah it's always a strange thing.

Jason (11:12):
Yeah, it's hard to put words to other than just weird
to see people that you only knowon a screen, and then you see
them in real life.
Yes, right, like we're not AIat all, I promise.

Erick (11:20):
We're bone and flesh here , yeah, I will say that it was
refreshing, because it's like wespend so much time doing a
podcast and you spend timewatching people and then to see
you in person and it's like youkind of take in the rest of your
body because we just see thetop half and it's like, okay,
he's got legs, he's got feetDownloading.
He's the same guy, same guyI've been talking to.

Jeff (11:44):
It's so weird because people are coming up and be like
I didn't know you were so tall.
I'm like I'm not that tall.

Jason (11:51):
Bro, you're pretty damn tall bro.

Jeff (11:53):
It's just weird.
Which is good man.

Jason (11:54):
I wish I was that tall.
You know, you got that athleticbuild man.
I'm just the average dude, Iguess I'm just an average dude,
I guess.
But it was still cool to seepeople in person and exchange
conversations more naturally, ifthat makes sense.
You know what I mean, becauseon a camera I'm only looking at

(12:16):
one angle and just being next tosomebody.
I guess it's a human thing tohang out with other humans, you
know, instead of being like that, face-to-face interaction.

Michael (12:28):
Man, it doesn't go away with all this technology.
Yes, it's.
It's different.
Like I think we get to knoweach other better because we can
physically see each other.
If we were just talking on thephone all the time would be
really strange.
But yeah, it's something aboutthat human interaction and I
think too, like when we're atlike even, jay, when you and I
talk on the phone, we're kind ofin the middle of our day,
there's other stuff going on,but we're all there for the same

(12:49):
reason, got to use the washroom, even though we did use the
washroom.

Jeff (13:09):
I forgot about that.

Jason (13:18):
And Jeff and Eric.
They're super busy.
It's hard for me to.
I would love to hang out withJeff.
We're like yo, we're going todo the expo and then we go out
at night and there's no otherthan the occasional check in on
the wives, of course.
You know got to mark that oneoff, you know, just to keep it
safe when you go back home.
You know you still need to goback home.

Jeff (13:38):
Limited distractions.

Jason (13:40):
I think that sums up the experience right of the travel
and getting there, so we'll moveon to the next one.
I think that sums up theexperience of the travel and
getting there, so we'll move onto the next one.
I think Eric's going to takethis one.

Erick (13:50):
Eric Markman.
Yeah, so I think we kind of hadstuff that we expected to see,
some that was a surprise.
But what was everybody's kindof favorite part of the expo?
And I guess, uh, I don't know.
I guess, mike, you'd guesswe'll let you go first because

(14:13):
and also, this was your firstexpo, expo, right, so you had
some basis to compare as well,right?

Jason (14:20):
in the us right in the us .

Michael (14:21):
Well, yeah, first, yeah , second time going to an exppo,
obviously the first in NorthAmerica, because this was the
first in North America.
So, yeah, I mean, the firstthing that I think surprised me
is that you know, I had suchexpect, I had great expectations
.
I knew, you know, we kind ofknew, getting to the to the last
month or so beforehand, likewho was going to be there?

(14:44):
So you know, there was a pointin time where it was like, okay,
there's not a lot ofmanufacturers locked into this,
how is this going to go?
And then you started seeing thenames come in SimiQ, simlab,
you know all these big namesjumping on the roster.
So I said, okay, this, this isshaping up to be something
really incredible.
So it definitely exceeded myexpectations.
When I was there, I think myfavorite thing was the variety

(15:08):
of stuff that you had there andthe variety of different setups.
Right, just different simracing setups.
You know you, if you try singlemonitors, ultra wides, fanatec
rigs, the a hundred thousanddollar motion rigs, custom rigs
that look like f1, you know,kind of f1 cars like.
So it was definitely a bigvariety, uh, of stuff there and

(15:29):
I think for the first year likewhat a great start.

Jason (15:33):
Um yeah, yeah, okay, well said, well said.
Who wants to go next?

Jeff (15:41):
I'll jump in.
There you go.
My favorite part was justhanging out with everybody else
that had a shared passion, don'tget me wrong.
Like getting to experience.
Like $150,000 motion rig wasbonkers, right, I mean.
I think we all agree that it'shard to put words to.

(16:01):
You just have to experiencesomething like that to be able
to understand how it feels.
But to just talk with people,you know, especially you know we
were wearing our swag, thechicane podcast shirts, and
people would just come up and belike, hey, you know, I listen
to you guys as I'm, you know,doing my job, you know doing my
deliveries or whatever, and justyou know coming up and talking

(16:22):
to people.
And just coming up and talkingto people.
I think we had Roy Wheeler atOG, we had Drew and a bunch of
other people that made comments,a bunch in our and email, just
meeting them in person and thenlike what a bunch of sickos.
We are right.
We go to the expo, we go todinner and then we go somewhere
else and we're all talking aboutsim racing.
We go to places.

(16:42):
That's more sim racing.
It was just awesome to interactwith people, like-minded people
with hobbies of sim racing, andjust interacting all weekend
with them.
So that was my favorite partwas the people, okay.

Michael (16:57):
Yeah, well said, definitely For sure.

Jeff (17:01):
Jason, what?

Jason (17:02):
was yours, okay.

Erick (17:03):
Rob.

Jason (17:03):
Markman Jr.
Jason, what was yours?
Jason Reynolds Okay, so that's.
A big part of it was meetingthe fans.
It was a surprise to me that somany of them stopped us.
You know what I mean, and itwas a pleasure.
It was.
Every time, jeff and I must havestarted the recording of the

(17:24):
walkthrough, maybe like threetimes, and I would get down to
maybe halfway and I'd have tostop.
But it wasn't like I was madthat I had to stop.
It was like, oh, I'm stoppingthis, I can do this later, I can
do this later.
Let me say hi to the fans, letme take pictures with them and

(17:44):
seeing how, hearing theirthoughts in person Because when
people comment on our videos andthey leave a positive comment,
it's just maybe a one sentenceor maybe a few sentences, but
when you see the passion intheir eyes that they genuinely
love what we do and they don'twant us to stop what we're doing

(18:05):
, they depend on us, they trustus.
That's one part.
The second part of it is, Ithink, that this expo
legitimizes the Chicane podcast,because now we have a lot more
input on hardware that wetechnically don't own right, all
the simulation hardware that weput our hands on, we can

(18:26):
actually speak on things alittle that much more.
And yeah, the people hangingout with them, meeting
personalities I met Dan Suzuki,I met Michael, I met Tony Kanaan
and they were all smiles andjust great people, very humble,

(18:46):
very nice.
You know what I mean, and Ithink it's kind of like a family
, almost, I guess I'd say.
I felt like I was part ofsomething, I felt like we
belonged there, because peoplerecognized us.
And even if they did, they wereinterested.
And I just wanted to say that itwas emotional for me going in

(19:08):
there and every day I'm like Ihave this like how do you say
this?
Like a little nervous thing,nervous, excited, and I'm like,
well, who's going to be nexttoday?
And I'm like, man, this isincredible and I just I just
want to say that Thank you,because I did my best to make
sure I addressed everyone andgave everyone fair time, so that

(19:32):
that that was my favorite partof the show.

Michael (19:34):
I just want to add one thing to that.
The one thing that I thoughtwas so cool was like I was never
alone at any given point, likeeven like I'd wake up in the
morning and it would be some.
Somebody would be texting me,going someone.
When are we meeting forbreakfast?
I'm down here yo, we got coffeeyeah, like whether it be
lawrence or amir or ian from rss, like we all just kind of found

(19:57):
each other and even like ifsomebody was not up yet you're
never sitting at a table alonelike we were just, and then
eventually we'd all end up inthe same bar 20 of us we had a
group right.

Jason (20:08):
It was like everybody was on the same.
We were like we were like anentourage, like there was like
20 of us, like yeah, we neededlike three ubers like the big
size ones it was kind of coolman.

Michael (20:19):
No, we had viewers sitting with us.
Hey, come drink with us, comeeat with us.
Yeah, come on, it was just likethere was such a so community,
like hang out with people.
So, like jeff said, I think,like the hobby brings us
together.
But I think you know when thehobby brings you together and
everyone are just good peoplethat want to have a good time
and get to know each other.
Like it just was a recipe forjust something amazing, right?

(20:42):
So, yeah, so.

Jason (20:43):
Yeah, a hundred percent.

Michael (20:45):
Yeah, yeah, all right, let's hear it, eric, what?

Erick (20:48):
you got, I was going to say I was back and forth.
Um, I kind of share, you know,the same feelings, especially
about the fans, and kind ofunderstanding, or seeing you
know, the impact that we have,cause, like you say, we get
emails and comments and thingslike that.
But to see, you know and Iguess I have something to

(21:08):
compare it to, because nobody is, you know, nobody feels that
way about a phone review, right,nobody feels like you know, I
really appreciate what you doJust the deep connection that
people had with what we weredoing and what it meant to them.
That was definitely kind ofoverwhelming.
But, like another piece, thatwas kind of like neck and neck

(21:31):
was just being happy for howwell it turned out.
You know, for George, oh yeah,just kind of knowing what he put
into it and, you know, seeingthe support you know, just happy
that somebody who's passionateabout this and was willing to
take this risk and see it payoff for the most part, that was
awesome, rob.

Jason (21:54):
Markman, and we met his mom too.

Erick (21:56):
Remember guys, rob Markman, yeah, mom his wife, his
son Rob Markman, His mom, hiswife.

Michael (22:00):
They were all working.
Rob Markman he had his wholefamily supporting him.
He had family friends therevolunteering their time for free
to make sure.

Jeff (22:06):
Super nice to his mom, I think there's I mean that's what
I was going to add to is isit's something to see like when
we were getting checking in andand his mom was there and we you
know we were just talking withGeorge and you can see his mom,
you know almost get almost get alittle emotional there of like
his mom you know almost getalmost get a little emotional

(22:26):
there of like to see what herson had done and you know, and
bring a community together waspretty cool too.

Jason (22:30):
Yeah, that was beautiful man yeah, and and the fact that
they you know, they support him,they believe in him.
You know his mom.
I don't know.
I gotta ask her if she's, uh,if she drives a gt3 porsche on
our racing.
But I don't know what she'sinto maybe, maybe NASCAR or
something.
But you know, at that point itdidn't matter His mom and shout

(22:52):
out to George.
George's mom was just proud ofher son and that's it.
She was like I'm proud of whatmy son built.
I don't care what's in this,you know behind the doors he
built something and it's yousomething, and it's succeeding
for its first time.
That did something to me alittle, and that was on the

(23:12):
first day I was like damn bro,that's his mom there, crazy, and
she didn't tell us that thatwas his mom.
She was very humble, she didn'tmention anything like that.
It was George, like hey, youknow, did you meet my mom?
I was like oh, he's like yeah,he did.
I was like what the heck?

Michael (23:33):
Yeah, just really good people behind this.
You know such a great guy,george, deserves all the success
with this working hard.
I mean, I was just honored tobe invited as a a as a special
guest and I just try, you know,to do our our end of trying to
promote it to the community.
And, um, yeah, there was.
You didn't know what to expectin the beginning, but I I think

(23:55):
you could probably say the samething, like once you got to know
george, like I'm, like I haveno doubt this guy is gonna put
us off.
We said it here many times likethe, the amount of energy,
enthusiasm, work, like ethicthat he was putting into this
and just the sheer passion forsimulation and this the right
guy.

Jason (24:14):
That's the right guy there was it.

Michael (24:16):
It was, this was the guy.
This was the guy that was goingto make it happen.

Jason (24:19):
Yeah, 100, yeah, I mean since day he was, and he was a
little, you know, he at the endwe interviewed him twice.
At the end he was very hisenergy levels were kind of high
and I love that because I waslike, yes, you got, you got
everything's kind of laid out.

(24:39):
Now it's working.
You know what I mean.
In the beginning he was verypassionate about trying to get
more to fill the seats and thatplace was packed, bro, I don't
want you to look at.
So I made a video about thethree days that we all spent
there.
For those of you listening tothe audio version, please

(25:02):
subscribe to the channel.
Into the audio version, pleasesubscribe to the channel.
And I just want to tell youthat a lot of that footage was
the first day we had an hourexclusive, with the floors open
to us, so there wasn't manypeople there.
And again, I tried filmingduring Saturday.
That was impossible, impossible.
So I had to focus thewalkthrough at the very end.

(25:26):
So don't let that confuse youwhen you see the amount of
people there, this place waspacked.
So, yeah, yeah, all right.
So, jeff, I think you got thethird one yeah, going.

Jeff (25:38):
So now that we're, you know, expo complete.
What surprised you guys?
What surprises did you havewith new products?
Did you think there was gonnabe more products?
Did you think there was gonnabe less people, more people,
anything?
What surprises came along.
Jason, this is hard.
Put you on the spot, oh me,okay, so you lead it off here do

(25:59):
you want to know?

Jason (26:00):
um, it might not be as exciting for you guys.
No, send it.
But what surprised me was thefacility, because when we
interviewed the CEO of Simicubewhich is another video that's
going to drop, probably be outalready and I looked at the
podcast and I was like, wow,that is a very nice studio booth

(26:23):
to make videos in.
Wow, that is a very nice studiobooth to make videos in,
because I was thinking a glassdoor with no labels on it.
I don't know, I just could notenvision the amount of attention
to detail that George had.
Then he had signs that had ourChicane podcast on it, like that
was.
You know what I'm saying, eric?

(26:44):
He was like what?

Erick (26:46):
Look at that.
Like we walk up and we're thefirst slide on the first day.
Our name up there the top ofthe marquee is like this is dope
.

Jason (26:55):
Yeah.
So I was like, wow, okay, so wecan work with this, we can make
this look.
You know it's going to lookgreat.
So then that's what really Imean the motion rigs, of course,
surprised me.
But you know, as a, you know asas the host of the show here,

(27:18):
that gave me the confidence Iguess to to give out, to put out
a little more quality.
You know, I was happy.
I guess that surprised me themost.
You know, that's honest truth,I don't want to lie and say it
was a motion rig.

Erick (27:30):
That's the one thing that I can think of.
Yeah, that makes sense.
It was very well done.
I mean, even some of the otherpeople that had booze were
talking about how well thingswere laid out logistically and
how it was better than some ofthe other expo they've been to.
I mean, yeah, you was, youwould never guess.
Oh yeah, this is this guy'sfirst try.

Jason (27:49):
Yeah, no, bro, in the middle of the year.
There was like this guy's beendoing this for 10 years or
something.
Yeah, yeah, that was insane.

Jeff (27:59):
Like the level of it.
It was so polished.
Yeah, it had polished dude.

Jason (28:04):
It had the colors, it had some fancy seats, that behind
the scenes we had to engineersomething and it worked out
great.
But who's going next?
What surprised you?
Let's go with Eric, eric.
What surprised you, brother?

Erick (28:21):
So the thing that surprised me was how what I
ended up being impressed withthe most Rob Markman, right, rob
Markman.
So obviously a lot of firststhere First time using motion,
first time active pedal, firsttime triples and kind of after
everything processed, what I wasimpressed with the most wasn't

(28:45):
actually the big theatricalstuff, it was the more
reasonable rigs I thought Iwould leave.
We're in a $175,000 rig withtriple 77 inch OLEDs, rob
Markman, oh, way up high.
Rob Markman and I'm like thewhole time I'm thinking like, oh
my God, I'm going to go backhome to my rig after this.
This is going to be crazy.

(29:05):
But then, trying out some other, more human, attainable rigs,
it was kind of like no, thisfeels a little bit better, this
feels a little bit moremanageable, less like a theme
park ride and more likesomething that I could use every
day.
So that actually surprised me,that I wasn't, as I guess,

(29:27):
impacted by the big, huge, crazyrigs.

Jeff (29:31):
Okay, that's an interesting one.
I think we'll maybe dig moreinto that here later.
Mikey, what you got, anysurprises?

Michael (29:39):
Yeah, I mean, I agree with all of you guys actually on
the same things, and I findthat that's often the case with
me too is that, um, you, you getyou kind of get gravitated to
these crazy setups, but then yougo, okay, I'm never going to be
able to afford that.
What's, what am I reallylooking at here?
And then you, you start findingsome hidden gems, um, in the
show.
But I think what surprised me,honestly, was some of the level

(30:03):
of the booths, like, for examplelike to put things in
perspective, because I was inGermany last year, so I have
that a bit to compare to thisexpo Like Simicube's booth at
this show, thinking about it nowafter the fact, was much more
over the top than what theybrought to Germany last year.
To be honest, they brought morewith them to this show, like

(30:25):
they had a couple of rigs set upand things like that, but they
didn't have full motion rigs,they didn't have the variety of
different setups they had.
So they really upped the gamefor this show, which shows what
I think that shows is that thehardware companies are taking
this North American idea of anexpo like super seriously.
Right, there was some heavyinvestment in terms of personnel

(30:48):
, they had, you know, the teamthat was there, all the people
that I know for marketing andsome people I don't and then you
had their, their president andfounder, like everybody, was
there and at the booth almostevery day, right.
So there was a lot ofinvestment there from not just
Simicube, but a lot of thecompanies really came with their
, with their A game for thisRight.

(31:09):
You know, like if we're goingto do this, let's do this Right.
So that surprised me a littlebit because I thought that it
might be toned down from, kindof the way they set themselves
up in Germany.
So I think that's reallyimpressive and I think, if you
know, going into the next yearof this, you're going to see
even more to that.

Jason (31:28):
Yeah, A hundred percent dude.
And GSI's booth was incredible.
It had the on the glow lightthat was shining through on the
wheels.
Yeah, made it very easy to getnice pictures.
Yeah, it was awesome.

Michael (31:42):
Yeah, they know how to set up a booth.

Jason (31:46):
Yeah, I think so, yeah, I think so, I think so, yeah, and
again, they had a they had abigger setup, I think, here than
they did in germany.

Michael (31:51):
To be honest, if I'm remembering it correctly, yeah
which that's?

Jason (31:55):
really cool and this is data that we don't have, which
is kind of good to hear for thelisteners out there.
Um, yeah, that they're takingit serious is basically what I
got out of that.
You know everyone's taking itserious like, hey, we need to
come over there and we need tocome correct and we didn't get
the toned down version.

Michael (32:13):
We just we got a little bit less because obviously, um,
there's a, there's a bunch ofcompanies that we're missing
from that, but we had I'm surethey regret it right about now.
Yeah, I'm sure a lot of peoplewill want to maybe see how this
went before they dip into it,right?
But some people just said, ok,let's just, let's just take the
chance and let's see how thisgoes.

(32:34):
And I'm I heard a lot ofpositive things from the
manufacturers that I spoke toand you know we'd come back
again like positive things tohear.

Jason (32:44):
So, yeah, yeah, All right , what about you?

Jeff (32:47):
you know, we'd come back again like positive things to
hear.
So, yeah, all right, what aboutyou, jeff?
So the biggest thing that kindof I took away as a you know it
was surprised me was we talkedto you know the guy, the, the
gentleman behind grid and gridengineering.
You know, we talked to Simicube.
We talked to GSI, we talked toall you know all these people,
and it's not corporate, theseare all people.

(33:09):
We talked to them.
How they got to, wherever theirproduct is, how they got there.
And I don't want to say they allhave the similar story, but
it's all very much like hey, Iwas into sim racing, I had this
product that I liked it, but Iwish it just did this.
And they had a very specialskillset or they were just were

(33:33):
driven to learn how to do it andthey tweaked it, they built it
3d printed a new piece and builtsomething that what they
exactly wanted.
And then somebody sees apicture of it.
Can you make me one?
And then you know the I thinkthe gsi goes like yeah, I made
20, 20 of them and they wentwithin three weeks and then that
was it.
That was off.
We were off and run, you know,and the grid engineering.

(33:55):
It's a very similar story, youknow, and I my biggest surprise
was how lack of corporate feelthese people have, because it's
driven by passion, not by thebottom dollar.
They're just people withpassion, that's all.
Of these people started as simraces.
They didn't just graduate,graduate and like, I want to go

(34:16):
chase the dollar and I'm goingto join this.
You know they're all just wantto move sim racing forward.
You know, better, betterproducts, more realistic, and
that was it was just.
It caught me off.
It caught me by surprise thatthey all were like no, this I
bought this wheel didn't doexactly what I wanted.
So I learned some stuff, Ilearned how to solder and et

(34:36):
cetera, and built a better thing.
And they sold.
And next thing, you know, I dothis full time and I think it
was awesome that the level, theamount of people that we talked
to that quit their nine to fiveto chase the company that they
were building, you know whetherit be GSI, simgrid, you know all
of these started from that,yeah absolutely, and that's just
.
I love that story of people thatjust like no, I'm going for it.

(34:59):
That's, that was what.
My biggest surprise of it isjust the lack of corporate feel
to these companies yeah, that'swhich is awesome that's so true.

Michael (35:08):
That's I'm so glad you brought that up because, like
I've talked, I've hadconversations with people and
they're like, if I wanted tojust go straight to to what
business to get into to make themost money, it wouldn't be sim
racing.
But as a result, you go and dosomething with your passion and
then you can make money from it.
That's almost more rewarding.

Jason (35:27):
Same thing a creator could say right, Mike, and we
spoke about this.
You could be a console gamer.
You could play Fortnite and getmillions of subs and make money
I don't know who would watch meplay Fortnite.
But you know what I'm saying.

Michael (35:42):
Don't tell yourself too short You'll makenite look
cinematic and great and expectoh yeah you'll get it some
different angles yeah close-upshots of some of the weapons
well, that's such a goodobservation, though, jeff, it
really is actually that's that Iforget how true that is.

Jason (36:00):
Um, this is why I love these, because everyone's
different and having inputs likethis, gathering together and
putting it out, it's reallyawesome.
It's really awesome because noteverybody will take things for
the same view, right?
Yeah, I'm just ecstatic.

(36:20):
I'm ecstatic and we'll go on tothe next question, which is
probably what a lot of ourlisteners want to know.

Jeff (36:29):
Let them have it.

Jason (36:30):
Yeah, what is the team here?
Everyone in this studio?
Well, michael, we already got afew reviews with Michael, so if
you want to see any motionreviews, check out Michael's
channel, simracingdenton.
But what do you guys thinkabout motion?
What was the takeaway here?
Wants to go first?

Jeff (36:51):
I'll go I'll go first here .
Um, yeah, I'm processing, soI'll start with the.
What was the?
What was the company that hadthe?
You know the, the oel llds, the, the big money rig right at the
front there.

Jason (37:06):
Driven.

Jeff (37:06):
Dynamics, driven Dynamics.
Unbelievable rig, hard to putin words I think we all were
lost for words getting out ofthe rig.
How to explain it?

Jason (37:14):
I had this evil laugh to me.
Michael was dying laughing.
He was like every time I waslaughing on that thing.
I didn't mean to man.

Jeff (37:23):
That was just emotion.
So it's hard to wrap your headaround how circus ride it feels
almost right To drive these.
Get in one of those and then wegot in, you know, the more like
capable ones that you couldactually own as a normal dude
and I was surprised of how goodthey were compared to the

(37:46):
extreme other end of thespectrum.
If that makes sense, you haveyour normal four-wheel actuators
.
Sometimes I think less is morewith motion we talk about that a
lot with a lot of haptics andstuff.
But I think less sometimes canbe more.
That could be.
It's just still at the there'ssuch a barrier to get into it to

(38:12):
to the motion.

Jason (38:14):
Um you know, maybe in a couple years, that will.

Jeff (38:17):
You know, as technology progresses that price point will
come down.
You know we had talked aboutthe um.
There's you, like you can makeyour own with open source
software and solder, and youknow it's still 2,500 bucks and
you're on your own with anyproblems that have to happen.
And then it's probably like2,000 more on top of that if

(38:40):
you're going to buy probably thecheapest you know four actuator
system.
It just for me, I'm going tohave to, I would love to have it
, it just still I don't seeenough of the return on the
investment for the price point.
So I but I do think.
In summary, I guess less ismore.
I am a huge proponent of thebell tensioner.

Jason (39:04):
Which we would definitely get into, jeff.
Okay, my man, that is, staytuned, guys, because we might
have made a purchase or two, umnot necessarily at the show.
But when we went back to thehotel, uh, there was some inputs
being placed on the phone, but100.
So I'll go real quick.

(39:25):
I'll be real quick on this.
You know, as a sim racer thatis always chasing lap time, I'm
here to tell you guys, and Iwant to tell you straight to the
face motion does not slow youdown, it does not.
It is a different input thatyou have to get used to.
And it took me three laps tofigure out what is happening to

(39:50):
me and what is the car doing tomy body.
Because now I have thatconnection which doesn't exist
right now.
You know, the only connection Ihave is vibrations and the
steering wheel and the pedal,but that doesn't tell me what
the rear side of the car, or thesides or the front, is really

(40:11):
doing and how far is it doing it.
So we jumped in motion rigs andwe jumped in very expensive
ones and we jumped in.
It was funny, right, because wejumped in a hundred seventy
five thousand dollars setup andthen we go down to the eighteen
thousand things like, oh, thatdoesn't sound too bad, but it's
still eighteen thousand dollars.
You know what I mean I took.

Jeff (40:30):
I was like but when you're sitting next, to a hundred
grand setup.

Michael (40:34):
I mean it's, it's a deal, right?
Yeah, that's a hell of abargain man.

Jason (40:38):
18 grand, but let's, let's, let's, let's bring come
down from the clouds a littlebit.
Um, that is a very costly uhyou know upgrade and I'm here to
tell you that it doesn't slowyou down and, in my personal
opinion, with the time that I'vehad, it's more of an 80-20, 80%

(41:00):
immersion and 20% information,and that is my opinion on motion
Is it worth it?
Great point, I absolutelybelieve so, if it doesn't break
the bank.
I don't want you guys to skipon all the fundamentals that we
talk about on the Chicanepodcast, on what a rig should
have.
This is very endgame.

(41:21):
This is the very last thing youshould be doing, in my personal
opinion, and that's my thoughts.

Jeff (41:30):
I think that 80-20 analogy is perfect.

Jason (41:33):
Thank you, I agree, that's what I got out of it, and
I'll end with this.
I came back home and I had jetlag and I text the guys and Mike
, I was like screw jet lag.
I'm going on the rig and Ididn't really miss like it
didn't destroy me like I thoughtit was.
I was like man.
When I come back to a staticrig, it's going to mess me up.

(41:55):
I'm going to want the motion.
Actually, contrary, my rig isactually highly optimized and
I'm sure Jeff's is optimized andEric's and Michael's to their
personal cater.
The setups that were set up atthe expo.
They're not personalized to you.

(42:16):
So when you come back to yoursetup, you feel good.
You're like, oh man, that thewheel feels exactly how I want
to feel.
So I'm not rushing into motion,that's what I'm going to say.
We did add something that willmaybe push a little, which we
will cover on the next episodeand Jeff's excited, but I think

(42:38):
it gives us time to play withthis new piece of tech first
before we speak about it.
But yeah, I'll give it up towhoever's next or whoever wants
to go next.

Erick (42:49):
Yeah, I mean I'll go next and I kind of share some of the
same thoughts as far as I'll gonext and I kind of share some
of the same thoughts as far asyou know, motion not slowing you
down, how quickly you can getused to it, and and also just
what aspect of motion make themost kind of have the biggest

(43:10):
impact, Right.
So same point like the big crazyrig at the corner of the
semi-cube booth with the triple77s, Like we got in that and it
was like, oh man, like this iswhat motion feels, like this is
crazy.
But then it kind of came downvery quickly to the finer

(43:36):
details, right, Not necessarilyso much the show, and I think
after the first day when we wentto the bar, I think we kind of
were agreeing like the rigs inthis random bar actually feel
like something that we can kindof get used to and I can see
myself using on a daily basis.

(43:56):
And actually thinking aboutmotion is something that
actually shouldn't be the startof the show, right, it shouldn't
be like the main piece of yourexperience.
It should just kind of fade tothe background and just kind of
be some, like you said, Jason,some more immersion and some
more data.
But it can quickly go past thatand kind of be like a

(44:20):
distraction.

Jason (44:21):
Correct.
It'd be too much, which wasJeff's point.
It all ties into the same.
Yes, 100%.

Erick (44:30):
So I think that kind of being consistent with us is
interesting.

Jason (44:35):
And I love the fact that we can have a conversation about
this, because that's one of thegoals of the show is to give
you the real talk about thingsfor those that couldn't make it.
But let's hear Mike, becauseMike has Motion and he's tested
quite a few other platforms aswell, so let's hear from you,
mike.

Michael (44:55):
Yeah, I want to add a few other platforms as well.
So let's hear from you, mike.
Yeah, I want to add a fewthings.
Yeah, I mean, I've had my fairshare of time on motion
platforms over the years since Istarted the channel.
It's given me the opportunity,invites to events and places to
try different things, and theneventually led to Dbox sending
me over the unit that I have inmy rig right now.

(45:15):
That's been on my rig for Idon't know eight, ten months now
, I think, um, and become verymuch melded into my sim racing
experience.
Now, um, I think first thing Iwant to mention, I think, like
depends on what you're after,right, so there's I kind of
break it into three categories.
There's the ultra competitivee-racing sim racer who is

(45:39):
competing at the highest levelsor really chasing the fastest
lap times.
They will often want to removeany potential for slower lap
times or anything that mightthrow their steering off or
throw them off.
You know, um, anytime thisdebate comes up, someone will
throw out.
Max verstappen said he's muchfaster without motion, would

(45:59):
never use motion for sim racingbecause he's trying to be the
best and fastest sim racer inthe world, which I don't know if
he is right now.
He might be um, and that's fairum.
For me personally, I don't thinkit's made me necessarily slower
.
I do agree with Jason.
The things that I've noticedover the last 10 months or so is

(46:20):
that I can now drive fromdifferent physical feedback and
cues.
That, I think, makes me abetter driver.
But the key is the other sideis the immersion, the person
chasing ultimate immersion,which is like for me, is the
biggest priority in sim racing.
It was the biggest priorityfrom the beginning, which is why
I made a roof for my rig backin the day, which is why I

(46:43):
immediately wanted to go totriples, because I wanted to
feel like I was sitting in a car.
Um, you know the reason why Ilove things like the belt
tensioner and all these thingsthat add immersion first, um is
what'm after, and the samereason people with endless bank
accounts will spend the hundredgrand to have you know well,
they will spend.
They'll say, I want the mostbest, most immersive simulator I

(47:05):
can buy.
They will get in that.
What's the name?
Again, racing.
I always screw this up Drivendynamics.
I keep wanting to say racingdynamics, I don't know why.
And they will say, yeah, I wantthis no-transcript.

(47:41):
So they need to have all thoselayers because drivers drive
from you know, from the seat oftheir pants, right, how they
feel and they need that.
I've talked to a lot of prodrivers that they, like I, can't
drive a static rig.
It just like, does not feellike my car.
So, yeah, and there's at alldifferent budgets and levels,

(48:01):
when you go to these x, when youknow we're at this expo, there
was a motion system there foreverybody in those potentially
in those categories or indifferent budgets.
Um, for me, I absolutely lovehaving it.
If it wasn't here tomorrow Iwould miss it, right.
But that being said, I also hada great time when my rig was

(48:25):
static too and was having fun,but for me it's taken the
immersion to another level.
So, yeah, that's my bit onmotion.

Jason (48:35):
I guess it's something that for you, the sim racer
that's building your rig, andyou know, when I look at my
setup, I still can't believethat this is in the house.
You know what I mean, and it'skind of like, how did the hell
did we get here?
And it's a lot of stuff.
But I guess you know, when Iwas growing, was growing up, my

(48:56):
parents always told me don't goafter the first thing.
You see, there's always goingto be something better.
You know, if you just hold on,you wait good pathway to success
with all the different you knowexhibitors.

(49:21):
We had so many differentexhibitors showing off their
motion platforms and giving youoptions to upgrade or giving you
an entry to say, hey, if youcan't afford this, start here
and then you can add this piece,you can add that piece.
So that's true, it's a goodpoint.
I, you know I asked them ifthey would take a post-dated
check and they didn't answerback.
But once I have a live coachavailable on demand with trophy

(49:44):
AI, you'll be able to practicewith Mansell AI at your
convenience a real-time coach inyour headphones to navigate and
guide you through the track,helping you achieve race pace.
This tool is awesome as itprovides full brake, throttle
and steering telemetry on screenwith a live review getting you
ready for your next big race.
Check links to Trophy AI in thedescription and also use

(50:07):
CHICAIN12 in all caps for a 12%discount.

Michael (50:11):
More of these companies need to offer financing.

Jason (50:14):
Yeah, we need a payment plan, bro, bro, like a 30 fix.
Like you finance a car.

Michael (50:18):
Some of these cost more than my car.
Actually, a lot of them costmore than you know, like a fee
simple.

Jason (50:23):
You know, fee simple 30 fix apr you know.

Erick (50:26):
So that way it doesn't.

Jeff (50:27):
Yeah, they'll be missing out for one last thing, I guess,
is the smiles per mile on amotion rig is off the charts.

Jason (50:36):
Oh, perfect Smiles per.
I love this.

Jeff (50:37):
Yeah, I mean you didn't see a single person on a rig.
That was motion, that wasn'thaving the time of their life.

Michael (50:43):
No, you didn't see anybody that said, oh, that was.
I loved watching you guysexperience it.
Yeah, that was whack.
It was the first time.

Jason (50:58):
I didn't meet a because they'd be lying to you, bro.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, mike was.
Was over there just cracking upwatching me and it was cool man
, it's like that that rightthere, you know, I had a.
You know, mike's a buddy now.
He's a buddy of mine, that's agood buddy of mine, and and I
heard him from the corner of myyou know my ear and I was like
man, I better not crash this carbro everybody crashes when they

(51:18):
get in a motion rig for thefirst time everybody and a
different setup.
Right, because the you know,like I said, that was my claim.

Jeff (51:24):
Different setup yeah, different setup.

Jason (51:26):
The force feedback wasn't really, you know, it wasn't to
my liking and I wasn't that guythat was going to freaking sit
there and spend 20 minutes in arig doing laps and I'm like,
yeah, there's 75 people waiting.
Yeah, there's people waiting.
And you know, we, the Chicanepodcast, we were very humble.
We took one lap, maybe two, andwe got out because it's three

(51:50):
of us.
Yeah, exactly you know.
But then again we we triedmaybe seven, eight motion rigs,
so we got a pretty good amountof time in them we definitely
got spoiled, though jasonstarting off yeah, you started
up here.

Jeff (52:07):
We started that um I was like we did this wrong.

Jason (52:10):
Yeah it was the first thing that when you walk in, it
was like, oh, there they are,let's get in, yeah, first.

Michael (52:17):
That's actually not a bad way to do it, because then
you kind of start with thehighest and then you realize as
you go down that, okay, theseare still, these systems are
still amazing and you're gettingyou know I agree with this.

Jason (52:28):
You know that's a great point you know, that's really
what happened like what am Ireally missing here?
How crazy do I need this tohappen?
And I do have an observation,and this came from the SRC squad
.
They watched the walkthroughvideo that's on the channel and

(52:57):
they were all making anobservation on motion before we
move on, and they said that whenthe motion rig, the 6DOF, was
swaying side to side, thepicture wasn't, the picture was
staying static.
It kind of throws the realismoff a little with this with, you
know, with the, your physicalside swaying and you're looking

(53:21):
this way when in real life ifyou was to sway, the entire, you
know, front dashboard will sway.
So that was an interestingpoint that the guys and I shot
them out here, you know, put out.
So yeah, I think 4-inch regularmight be in the ballpark here.

(53:44):
But moving on to the nextquestion here, I think it's me
right.
No, it'll be Eric.
Eric, what we got for the nextquestion.

Erick (53:54):
Yeah.
So, speaking of this crazystuff we saw at the show,
something that was deceptivelyimpressive was the wheel from
VPG.
Right, we got a chance to lookat it next to the actual real
life version in the car and justwant to get y'all's thoughts on
that wheel, because it's it'sanother one of those things

(54:16):
where you can't describe topeople what is really impressive
about it.
So, uh, jeff, what were yourimpressions?
Oh, straight to me one spotdude, get him.

Jeff (54:31):
So I'll be transparent.
I am not a when it's, you know,jason, and I kind of go back
and forth with some banter that,oh, if it's fia approved or you
know it's, actually comes arace car.
That doesn't usually.
That's.
That doesn't sell me, it sellsfor other people.
It's just not my jam right.
But when we got to talk to bpg,which will come out here

(54:53):
shortly, and he's talking abouthow this wheel is made, and you
are looking at one and thenlooking in the other and if he
didn't say anything you wouldn'tknow which one was which.
Yeah, unless you, like you,know what you were looking for.
You looked on the connectors,yeah, but if you they were

(55:13):
straight up, you could not tellthere was the seams for the
carbon fiber, like if you knowanything about carbon fiber.
it is not an easy thing to to,to produce and the sim racing
wheel seems exactly like the onein the real, real half million
dollar p?

(55:34):
Um.
And I wasn't.
I didn't think.
I was like once I'd grab it.
I'd be like, eh, it's sure it'slike a, it's another wheel,
great, but you grab it.
And it's the only word that Ican say and I I use this from a
lot when we talk about wheels isit sings to you, it speaks to
you?
Yeah, like it's, it's.

(55:54):
Oh, I can rip some laps withthis thing there's other wheels
you get like, oh, this is kindof cool.
But you're like, bro, this is ina race car, this is a race car,
hell yeah man um that's I meanyou guys will pile on, but I
don't want to go too far into it, but was it was just like you
opened both of them and if youweren't listening to him talk

(56:16):
about which one was which, you'dbe like, oh shit, I forget
which one's which you know likeI don't want to point in this
one, say, hey, that's the racecar one and he's not.
Bro, that's the same racing oneyou know.
Like it was.
Just it was cool to.
And again, that's another oneof guy gentleman.
I forget his name, but justtalk about the passion oozing
out of his product.
Yeah, yeah.

Jason (56:36):
Yeah, I mean so all right , so here I go.
Um, as you know, the Porschecup car specifically has made me
a Porsche fanatic.
I've always liked them, but Iwas never, I don't know.
I didn't have that connection.
You know, Michael's a hugePorsche guy.

(56:56):
We know this, Mikey.
You know I pointed you out here, but now that I have some sort
of connection to it, I'mactually watching the races on
the F1 subscription of thePorsche Cup.

Michael (57:09):
Great races.

Jason (57:11):
Awesome races.
They don't go to every track,but when they do, I always make
the time for it.
And when Jeff went over toSingapore he was telling me that
those Porsches were loud ashell.
So I'm kind of jealous now evenmore.

Jeff (57:25):
I don't know how they produce that much noise out of a
car.

Jason (57:28):
They're loud as hell.

Jeff (57:30):
But go ahead, buddy, I'm sorry.

Jason (57:31):
So, no, you're good, bro, you're good.
This is awesome, man, it's it'semotional.
So Manny comes up and he's likeI have both of them.
And I was like what do you mean?
You have both of them?
Yeah, I got the real wheel, Idon't.
I don't know if it's like$13,000 wheel, you know,
compared to up there, yeah, it'svery up there.
And he's had to physically showus the back of the wheel where

(57:54):
the pin goes for us to know thatthat is the actual wheel that
gets plugged into the car, thereal life car.
And another thing is that thiswheel not even the real Porsche
Cup drivers have seen this wheelyet, because the car is not out
yet.
So we had sim racers that hadhands on it before they had

(58:15):
couldn't even drive that blew mymind.

Michael (58:17):
This is crazy and you know um the weight, the seams.

Jason (58:22):
As jeff pointed out, if you look closely, the only thing
different here in the front isthe funky switch, the, the funky
thumbsticks.
That's it everything else.
They added yeah, yeah, I know,thank God, I know, yeah, so one
thing that I guess closing withthe wheel obviously love it to
death is.

(58:43):
Manny flips over the wheel andshows me a three bolt pattern
and I asked him why did you puta three bolt pattern on this
when everybody uses 70millimeter?
As we went over on the last fewepisodes I believe we covered,
um, actually, last episode wecovered, you know, 70
millimeters being the sizestandard for most, uh,

(59:04):
automotive right, you know quickreleases, you know, and he's
like well, this is how wedistribute the inertia force,
feedback evenly.
So it's triangle.
So you have these two on thecorner which will force the
feedback into your grips, andthen you have the one in the
center which will get that.
So it creates like a sphere.
I I tried to get into a rigthat had it.

(59:30):
We had spotted it.
It was like hunting, you know,I think.

Erick (59:34):
Mike and I went on a hunt for it.

Jason (59:35):
It was like, dude, we need to find the Porsche, we
need to race it.
I know it's here somewhere.
And then we saw it randomly atthe podium, one booth, and we
was like there it is, but therewas a line, so I miserably
failed to give it a go.
But overall, manny tells all ofus take the wheel and try to
break it.

(59:55):
Remember, jeff and I literallytwisted this thing with the
intent of breaking it, with thefear of having to pay for it.
So, and I tell you, I havenothing but great things to say
about it.
And even their Mustang wheel,which I wasn't a fan of,

(01:00:17):
immediately became a fan of itbecause that was the wheel that
was being used.
On that driven dynamics, uh,sim, and yeah, I got a lot of
respect for vpg sim, and I can'twait to get their products in
here, um, when they, when they,when the wheel finally drops.
But those are my thoughts on ityeah.

Michael (01:00:34):
Yeah, awesome, mikey, what'd?

Jeff (01:00:35):
you think?

Michael (01:00:37):
Yeah, I'll go next.
Yeah, I mean I'll be.
I'll have an early review unithere, so I'm looking forward to
like spending some extended timewith it.
But yeah, 100% my firstimpressions when I got to you
know kind of interview and do anunboxing with Manny and Mike,
similar to what you guys did,and then take a few laps with it

(01:01:02):
on the streaming room spoofthere, right, I think it had a
Simucube 2 Pro.
Everything that I knew aboutthis wheel leading up to this
and everything that I understoodthat was going into it.
I mean this is a first in thesim racing market.
You know, launch coincidingwith the launch of the real car.
So you've got the sim racingwheel launching at the same time
as the new car is beingannounced.
This is extremely rare.

(01:01:23):
This has never happened before.
Um, you know what vpg is doingnow, ever since they've got sort
of acquired and looped in withbf1 systems.
Who makes these GT3 wheels forreal cars has been for many
years at the highest level.
This is a new category of simracing wheels.

(01:01:44):
In my opinion, it's acompletely new category.
It's hard to call it a replicawhen it's not trying to
replicate something.
I have Thrustmaster Ferrari F1wheels here that I would call a
replica, when it's not trying toreplicate something.
I have thrustmaster ferrari f1wheels here that I would call a
replica because it's trying toreplicate it, but it's nowhere
close to, um, the manufacturingof the real ferrari f1 wheel.

(01:02:05):
Um, this is a one-to-one.
Yeah, right, so, um right, youcan't call it a replica.

Jason (01:02:12):
That's a great point.
He was very direct on that.
This is not a replica.
This is made using the samematerials in the same factories.
It's one giant piece of carbonfiber.

Michael (01:02:28):
It's fitted with a QR, but the QRs are similar to some
sim racing QRs.
But yeah, I mean all this tosay my first impressions were
extremely positive.
You know, I've tested so manysim racing wheels now that as
soon as I put my hands onsomething, I know immediately
what I'm looking for and whatred flags I'm looking for.

(01:02:49):
And they weren't there for me,like, buttons really felt good.
Paddles felt good, um, like, ifI wasn't getting a review unit,
I would have, you know, orderedthat wheel right there, sight
unseen, right, um, and I'mprobably still going to have to.
So, um, but yeah but I will, um,you know I'll have more to say

(01:03:11):
when I have it here, but I mean,with wheels, like's pretty
simple, um, driving with it feltreally I I have some experience
with vpg wheels because I didreview the vpgt, which was, you
know, it's a non-licensed wheelbut pretty clearly porsche
inspired, obviously I love theblur thing you did in your video
check it out manny said uh, youcan do anything you want in the

(01:03:34):
review, just don't show it itwith a Porsche logo, because I
prefer not to get sued byPorsche.
I said well, I don't thinkyou'll get sued.
I might get sued if I do that.
But then I got the Ford Mustangwheel next and I go what are
you guys doing?
And he's like, yeah, we'remaking this at BF1 Systems and

(01:03:54):
I'm seeing.
What's cool is that I'm seeingthis evolution of their products
.
Now, right, and they took uh, Iasked them some questions about
, you know, things that aboutthe.
There was things about the vpgtwhich I didn't like and they've
, you know, taken a lot offeedback and trying to make sure
that those are fixed.
But also, I can't reallycriticize a real race team and
their wheel design.

(01:04:14):
I never will More.
For me it's like are you makinga wheel that is still?
great for sim racing but stillhas the realism.
The fact that they added thefunky switches I know it kind of
, for some people that wrecks itbeing exactly the same, but
honestly I'd much rather havethat because I may use it less
if it's not as functional for me.

Jason (01:04:36):
They're very subtle, though they're all black.
Yeah, no, they are very subtle,you can't really see them.

Michael (01:04:40):
And it's really the only difference from the real
one, from what I could see.
Paddles are slightly different,but to be honest, I actually
like the paddles on the simwheel than the real wheel.

Jason (01:04:52):
The real one is loud.

Michael (01:04:57):
There was one difference yeah, um, yeah it.
Like I said, positive firstimpressions.
I can't wait to have it here inreview and the price dude shoot
some video with it oh yeah, wedidn't even talk about the price
.

Jason (01:05:06):
The price is unbelievable for what you're getting.

Michael (01:05:10):
For what you're getting and I know unbelievable there's
always going to be someonethat's going to have an issue
with the price.
I've learned this from doingreviews for a long time, but in
my opinion, like when you thinkabout what's gone into that
wheel, we no one understandswhat their true cost is.
But that price seems extremelyfair to me.
On what?
On what I'm being told?
Licensed?

Jason (01:05:30):
wheel too.
Yeah, that's my opinion.
That has to be the mostaffordable porsche licensed
wheel, if I'm not speaking toosoon, um, currently available,
you know, at least in the modernin the modern times well, yeah,
I mean, some of these porschewheels from fanatec are like
licensed, but they're not.
They're not, they're just kindof not being made at those

(01:05:51):
factories, so they don't have tosay no, no, but they're not
even replicating an actualporsche wheel.

Michael (01:05:55):
They just have a porsche logo.
Oh, they just have the brand onit.
Yeah, moses, coming out with ayou know, a gt3 rs inspired
wheel which is officially like,it's licensed, they have the
rights to the have the brand,but what manny and mike are
doing at vpg are are buildinglike the actual wheel, so that
that is a.
That's why I said this is a newcategory of sim racing wheels,

(01:06:19):
not replicas.
These are like one-to-oneexamples and I would love to see
more of this.

Jason (01:06:24):
I think it's cool, yeah I have a weakness for this, but,
eric, let's hear your thoughts,brother uh, yeah, I'll keep it
short and sweet.

Erick (01:06:33):
Um ditto, everything you guys said, um, I did.
You know, just kind of as we'retalking and just since I've
touched it and just processingwhat I experienced with it,
because it it was different,right, like like you're saying,
mike, like not even having a lotof experience with a lot of

(01:06:53):
different wheels, just from theones at the expo and the ones I
have, it felt different.
And I think the weight had alot to do with it, because I
think Manny spoke about it Likemost people are kind of
conditioned weight equalsquality, weight equals strength,
weight equals durability.
Like there's a certain amountof weight that we're kind of

(01:07:15):
conditioned to associate withthings that are quality and you
kind of have to rethink thatwith with this wheel.
Um, and just I I had a scale,um, that I use around the house
and I was curious because I knowyou said, I think you said said
the wheel weighed less than akilogram or something like that.

(01:07:36):
It was kind of crazy, yeah.
And I took my GT Neo and Iweighed it and, granted, it has
a QR on there and everything,but it was like 1,500 kilograms,
wow, so like yes, and then also, who was it?

(01:07:57):
Cube Controls was there andthey had their new wheel and
just kind of out of my, you knowwe were looking at their
presentation.
They were very proud that theirwheel weighed 1100 kilograms.

Jeff (01:08:08):
The Astra.

Erick (01:08:09):
Yeah, the Astra, yeah, and so just you know, like I
said, not having a lot ofexperience like and just looking
like, the more I look aroundI'm like that's they really?
Like you said, mike, it'sdifferent, like I don't, I don't
.
It's one of those things Idon't think other companies can
even really copy if they wantedto.

Michael (01:08:27):
for the most part, yeah , it really changes the driving
experience, um, having used afew of them now.
Um, and it doesn't surprise methat you notice that right away,
because that is, it's not agimmick like the weight thing,
and yeah, the thing is to to golower in weight but keep quality
and strength.

Jason (01:08:47):
Yeah, carbon fiber, but carbon fiber done right and
actual actual carbon fiber, youknow what I mean, and a solid
mold of carbon, not stitchedtogether or whatever they is.
They do, but I have.
You guys already know I'm gonnaput this wheel through absolute
hell.
It's gonna happen, yeah, and itcan take it, I'm sure.

(01:09:10):
I'm pretty sure, if I findanything, you'll hear about'll
hear about it on the very nextepisode, whenever that happens,
immediately.
So I'm excited.
I think it was great to meetManny and have a one-on-one with
him unboxing video, which wascoming out soon.

(01:09:32):
Michael has his out already, Ibelieve, so so check that out,
check out his channel, and we'removing on to the next question.
We have just two more.
We'll be wrapping this upbecause, if you let us, we will
be here for hours talking aboutthis.
You know you guys got to go.
You just got to.

(01:09:52):
Next time there's a sim racingexpo out there.
You know, if you know whengeorge does this again, you need
to need to go honestly anythingthat was on the fence.

Michael (01:10:02):
Like you know, I I really hope this is happening
next year um, like if you wereon the fence this year, like
just as soon as the tickets areavailable, as soon as you can
book your flight, hotel,whatever, just I would do it
honestly not a single negative.

Jason (01:10:16):
I've I've never seen a single negative comment out
there about the show not beinggood enough or it's not worth it
no, or just for the socialaspect.

Michael (01:10:25):
You know, yeah, if you see us there, if you see us
there, just find us in the bar.
After come, hang out, we'lltalk sim yeah, we'll be at the
gathering that was the meetup.

Jeff (01:10:33):
That was the rendezvous, remember so, speaking of that,
so what a bunch of sickos we are.
So we go to the expo, right?
So wait eight hours of talkingsim racing, getting into rigs
racing.
Then we go to dinnereverybody's talking about sim
racing, and then what do we do?
Somebody finds a sim racing bar.
Right, which is awesome.

(01:10:54):
Right, it's drinking anddriving Fantastic, it's a bar.

Michael (01:10:59):
Don't do that in real life.
We're not going to do any ofthis Well, because we want
drinks, but we don't want thesim racing to stop.
So it was perfect it wasawesome.

Jeff (01:11:06):
So this bar, it was Sim Racing South.

Michael (01:11:10):
South Barrington.

Jeff (01:11:11):
South Barrington is the name.

Michael (01:11:13):
Hey, shout out to SimRacing South Barrington Dude
the owner was legit dude thisplace was legit.
I mean, when they said we'regoing to a SimRacing bar, my
expectations were really low onwhat they were going to have as
far as SimRacing setups.

Jeff (01:11:26):
Logitech Don't get excited about.

Michael (01:11:28):
Yeah, not that, yeah, just that.

Jeff (01:11:30):
Nothing wrong nothing wrong with it?

Michael (01:11:32):
the setups are maybe not.
We just got off of like reallyhigh-end setups and I'm so sorry
for anybody using a live.

Jeff (01:11:39):
Stick out there if you let me finish, it was gonna I know
what he means.

Michael (01:11:44):
Let him finish, because the context thank, you.

Jason (01:11:47):
Thank you, as I'm getting right on the bus here.
I really do so yeah.

Jeff (01:11:51):
So, mike, a hundred percent with you.
I was like, oh, we just got in,like you said, out of like
world-class rigs, we're going tosure we go there.
And boy did it.
Totally different story 180degrees from what I think.
I'm not speaking for all of you, I'm speaking for me, but I
think this probably is accurate180 degrees from what we

(01:12:12):
anticipated you have a supernice bar, some, like you know,
uh, places to sit eat order foodinside.
Yeah, but it had, was it like 15?
Was that a probably accuratenumber for a number of rigs?
10, it was 10, was it 10?

Jason (01:12:25):
okay, 10, okay, full motion all of them every single
one of them had motion semi-cubeyes, oh, semi-cube on all use
some belt, yeah oled so oled,they had two premium setups um
yeah, 55, big 55.

Michael (01:12:42):
Like like, if you're gonna do a sim racing bar, like
do it right.
They did it right.
And then we, we figured out Iwon't spend too much time on
this, but you know, jay and Igot talking, which we do, and we
met the owner and made him anoffer you can't refuse.
Basically the owner turned outto be a really nice guy in the
construction industry and it washis partner who was really into

(01:13:05):
sim racing and they got thisidea like let's do this.
And they both relied on eachother's skills and it's clear
like the place looks amazing andthen you've got really well
tailored thought about sims.
Right, that could only comefrom someone who knows something
about sim racing beforehand.
So shout out to those guys ifyou're in the area and if you're

(01:13:26):
going to the expo next year,like that's, that's the after
party right there.

Jason (01:13:30):
Honestly, and, mind you, I want to add to this that we
were getting into motion rigsand having a few drinks after a
heavy meal of pasta and pizza,and we're just shaking all of
that up in a simulator, which isit's.
Yeah, it was interesting.

Jeff (01:13:48):
And they're all running, iracing, so you are racing with
everybody else and you're all onheadphones talking.
You know, smack to everybodyelse.

Jason (01:13:58):
Yeah, open mic Shout out to Lawrence DeSalsa and the
Potato Nation.

Erick (01:14:04):
This is a direct call out .

Jason (01:14:06):
They whooped our butts and they had it on the screens
on the top with Mazda's MX-5s.
It was a great time and overall, you know, hang around with uh,
you know, with the potatonation.

Michael (01:14:19):
they yeah great community great guys, man just
yeah down to earth, nice youknow, a strong community too.

Jason (01:14:26):
They were always texting like yo, we're going here to
dinner.
You guys want to come with you.
Do I need a reserve?
Like the uber?
Yeah, I was like hell, yeah,we're going over there.

Michael (01:14:34):
We were like guest banana nation members for like
the weekend they.
Yeah, I was like hell, yeah,we're going over there.
We were like guest banananation members for like the
weekend they yeah, we were.

Jason (01:14:39):
We were prospects, bro.
Yeah, we were prospects.

Michael (01:14:42):
That's what I love about the people, the people
there, like, like I said,everybody was just including
everybody, and if you weren'tthere they were texting, you
were going here like nobody feltleft out that I know of.

Jason (01:14:52):
I certainly didn't, so that was cool even the fans that
showed up to this.
I extended invites.
You know I didn't.
We met, we met um gentlemen'sat the bar.
We met them all over the placeand I was like, hey, you guys
want to hang?
This is where we're going to beat.
So if you guys want to hang outbecause, honestly, I'm not a

(01:15:12):
celebrity, we're all sim racers.
At the end of the day, that'sthe truth.
I breathe the same air youbreathe.
I just don't have a motionplatform and I'm upset.

Michael (01:15:24):
That's the only thing.
You can correct that soon.
Not only did they.

Jeff (01:15:27):
They had two of their rigs that had the.
Was it the Yaw?

Erick (01:15:31):
Yeah, yeah, the 60U, the 60U.

Jeff (01:15:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the 60.
Yeah, yeah.
Whoa.
That was the only time I everfelt like I had any level of
control in the porsche gt3.

Michael (01:15:41):
That was the only time every other time I get in there
it's.
It's a dumpster fire well, anyany extra feedback you can get
on the back end sliding out on acar like that, that is helpful,
like that.
I mean I know we could talkabout motion all day, but I find
that those extra feedback canmake you a better driver in some
cases.

Erick (01:16:00):
It went a long way.
I was going to say that just.
I think the most impressivething for me about the bar was
that you had 10 rigs that youwere letting random people
drinking alcohol use and theyworked.
I don't, to my knowledge,nobody really had any like major
issues, or you know, if theydid, they weren't like just

(01:16:22):
consistent.
I got one rig and I feel likeit's, you know not a rest rule.
They were really prepared.
I drink in this rig all thetime.

Michael (01:16:32):
Especially on the Chicane podcast.
They had like two guys onstandby in charge of everything.

Jason (01:16:39):
Yeah, and they would come and check on you if anything.

Michael (01:16:42):
It was really well done yeah yeah I think people that
go in there when they see thesetups they kind of there's a
certain level of respect, butI'm I'm sure they've had
something dropped on them atsome point.
Yeah, that comes with theterritory of owning a sim racing
bar, I guess.

Jeff (01:16:57):
I will say the one downfall of that, bar the one.

Jason (01:17:00):
Oh, let's hear this.

Jeff (01:17:03):
The old fashions didn't hold a candle to the one in the
hotel oh.

Erick (01:17:08):
It's hard to do right there man.

Jeff (01:17:11):
So if the owner's watching this episode, we need to
something we can remedy veryeasily his name is uh, you know
he works at the renaissance nota knock on the bar on the bar,
the sim racing that was funny ashell, bro jeff.

Jason (01:17:28):
So this bartender shows up the first night we're there.
He's like I make the best oldfashions in the world and the
guys all look at each other andwas like what is up with this
guy?

Erick (01:17:39):
challenge accepted yeah, you ordered one of those I've
heard that line before, but thatsometimes it's.

Michael (01:17:45):
You know it was good, it was good.

Jason (01:17:48):
I just want to give a shout out to the owner.
Um, I'll probably end upforwarding him this episode.
Thank you so much for you knowallowing us to go in there and
you know the humbling experienceand so welcoming in a nice,
quiet area.
It's a very nice location, hugeparking lot.
We were impressed with what yougot going on there.

(01:18:11):
It's kind of like a dream cometrue, because I would like to do
something like that one day.

Jeff (01:18:16):
You know, mike and I were talking about all kinds of stuff
Like we could do this we coulddo that and we can, it's yeah it
was great, so just needs torename it to drinking and
driving.
That's my only my hope is.

Jason (01:18:39):
My hope is that this will be the official meetup spot for
the after-hour party inSchaumburg 100%, totally doable.
It has to be.

Erick (01:18:42):
It's like 15 minutes from the place.

Michael (01:18:44):
They got the Andretti Center opening next year too.
There you go, man.

Erick (01:18:48):
And guess what?
The craziest Uber drivers.

Jason (01:18:51):
I've ever met have been out of that park, Out of Chicago
in the suburbs.
There's something aboutSchaumburg.

Jeff (01:18:55):
I've ever met.
I've been out of that park,chicago suburbs.
There's something aboutSchaumburg.

Jason (01:18:58):
We met the king of Schaumburg, but that's a story
for another day.
Maybe, if you want to, hear thestories.

Michael (01:19:04):
You can email these guys offline if you want to talk
to us we'll tell you somestories.

Jason (01:19:10):
That is accurate.
You can email us atthechicagopodcastgmailcom.
And for the final question,overall thoughts, fellas, I mean
we've pretty much summed upeverything our entire time there
, but what are your overallthoughts on this expo?
And, just very briefly, what doyou expect from the next one,

(01:19:32):
the next iteration of iterationof it?
I'll go first.

Erick (01:19:39):
There you go, come on if everybody's still thinking here
um, I think, first things first.

Jeff (01:19:48):
George absolutely friggin crushed it.
Okay, I think, first thingsfirst.
Sim racing expo in the UnitedStates.
He convinces the top dogs ofsim racing to, to, to commit, to
come across the pond.
Um, I didn't meet a singleperson that was having, you know
that wasn't happy.
They went, uh, happy that theytraveled the.

(01:20:11):
You know if they drove three,four, six hours.
We talked to people taking timeoff from their work.
That you know we talked to.
One of our listeners has twojobs and you know a number of
kids took time for out of thereto make it up there and was
having the time of his life.
The community, like it just wasawesome to talk to the people.

(01:20:33):
The technology and the rigs arecool, but talking with people
that have the same passion, likewhat a bunch of sickos.
Right, we went to the rig, theexpo, to the bar, to the after
hours.
Wake up at six to go tobreakfast to talk sim racing.

Jason (01:20:47):
It's going to be our group name the Sickos.
The Sickos right, it was justawesome.
They got Potato Nation, but wegot the Sickos.
Right, it was just awesome.
They got the potato nation, butwe got the sickos from the
chicane podcast.

Jeff (01:20:55):
I like that.
Just awesome to hang out withpeople that have a shared
passion of something that was my.
The expo was just like thegathering the mecca for sim
racing for the United States.
Can't wait to do it again.
George, get a couple night'ssleeps, Start planning the next
one.
We're coming.

Jason (01:21:14):
Yeah, I haven't bothered the man because I'm pretty sure.

Michael (01:21:16):
I know he's trying to catch up.

Jason (01:21:17):
He's busy dismantling rigs now.
I can't, I don't want to, yeah,I don't want to even think
about the cleanup.
We had to get on an airplane,george.
So my bad, sorry about that,but who's next?
It sounds like Eric wants to gonext.

Erick (01:21:34):
Eric.

Jason (01:21:34):
Miller Sr.

Erick (01:21:36):
Yeah, I kind of second definitely shout out to George.
What he pulled off was amazing.
It just kind of shows hisdedication, the thoroughness,
the research he was doing.
He didn't just sit at acomputer and look up some stuff
and make phone calls.
He flew around the world toother expos and took notes and

(01:21:59):
asked questions and he reallywanted to make sure that this
was the best representation forthe US and also for the people
that were coming to it.
So, once again, great, greatjob and thank you for your
dedication to the community,george.

(01:22:20):
As far as like next year, really, the only thing that I would
add, because you know we talkabout all the sim racing stuff,
but I mean they had, like youknow, flight cockpits and all
kind of other.
You know VR and you know flightstuff there as well, I guess
it's more accessorymanufacturers.
I think we kind of mentionedpeople that made button boxes or

(01:22:43):
dashes or anything like that.
That really was the only thingthat I would have liked to see.
That wasn't there.
Rob Markman Ah, that's a goodpoint, Eric.

Jason (01:22:53):
That's a great point.
That's a good observationactually.
Yeah, man, yeah.

Erick (01:22:59):
Because some stuff you know you want to, they can make
some sales for sure.
Like I can't afford to drop 18grand on a motion rig, but I
might have had a button box thatI've been looking to replace,
or something I saw online or inone of Mike's videos and I'm
like, hey, you know what, nowthat I put my hands on it, go
ahead and give me one and Icould save $20 on shipping.

Jason (01:23:21):
That's a good.
I think that's a great datapoint for George.
So I'll wait and see if hewatches the episode if he has
time, because that poor man.
But we're super proud of you,george, and I'll get this data
input from Eric straight to you,or Eric if you want to message
him as well, you know all good,I can hit him up.

Erick (01:23:43):
I don't know if he's going to do like a after-action
type.

Jason (01:23:47):
There's got to be.
I would hope he would right.
I think he is.

Michael (01:23:51):
Knowing him definitely, I think would right.
I think he is knowing himdefinitely.
Yeah, there's some surveys.
I think I heard there's somesurveys coming out.
Yeah, uh, if I heard that right.
So, okay, that's the right,right.

Jason (01:24:00):
So, guys, if we get the links, to these surveys, we will
post it down below and if weneed those george needs those
and we need to keep this alive.
We need to.
We need to finish off what westarted here, um, what he
started and we're supporting.
But we need to give him thatjust a little bit of support
right at the tail end before weclose it down.

(01:24:21):
But Mike, you're strong.
That's right man.
Mike, you're up next, brother,and then I'll close out with my
thoughts.
Yes, sir.

Michael (01:24:29):
So yeah, echo a lot of the thoughts here you know
completely exceeded myexpectations, like huge kudos to
pulling off something like this.
I mean, first time I met Georgein person was in Germany last
year at the ADEC, as he wasdoing research on an expo.
That's been doing somethinglike this successfully for years
to learn, and that just showshow invested he was in wanting

(01:24:53):
to make put the best footforward, um, for this first expo
, and I think he's achievedachievement, unlocked, you know.
Um, yeah, I definitely wouldhave liked to have seen you know
this being uh, the idea wasthat this was going to be a
simulation expo for allsimulation.
You know there were some flightstuff there.
There were some you knowdifferent kind of rigs, but I

(01:25:19):
would love to see more of thatbecause I was actually really
excited to kind of see someother stuff and understand some
of the other simulators, and Ithink that will come in time.
I think that you know sim racingis obviously kind of the bigger
sort of one and more well known, I guess, to more people, and
you had that covered off by alot of manufacturers.
But totally agree with Eric,like more, more accessories,
more smaller companies to kindof fill up the expo would be

(01:25:43):
great, and I think that will.
That will come.
In Germany they had a placelike a shop you could literally
go and buy like a bunch ofdifferent things, so there's all
kinds of things that could comein the future.
But, um, yeah, I think it wasjust everything fantastic and
then the community aspect of ityou know, outside of the
hardware is was just incredible.

(01:26:05):
Um, to be a part of that andI'm so glad to be a part of this
this first year, I think youknow it will be a memory and go
down in history for a long time,so definitely.

Jason (01:26:16):
I think, I think we'll never forget this one, um, being
the first one in the U S.
In the first time I met Eric inthe first time, I met Michael
in the first time.
For many things you know, coveran event like this, um, it's a
lot.
It's it's a lot that I want toput out, but I want to start off
with um.
It's a lot.
It's it's a lot that I want toput out, but I want to start off
with um, thanking the guys here, um, and and also Michael, you,

(01:26:39):
you walked with us, you helpedus, um, and whatever it is, you
know, we were all same to you,you helped.

Michael (01:26:46):
you were my cameraman a couple of times, so I
appreciate that.

Jason (01:26:49):
No, no problem man.

Michael (01:26:50):
This wouldn't have been the same for me if you three
weren't at the expo.
I don't think I would have hadthe same experience.
So I was just going to say thatbro, that I got to meet you
guys in person.

Jason (01:27:00):
You took it away, you took that right away, which is
no but that's good, that's goodthat we're mutual man because
honestly and this, this is kindof a different approach.
Well, I'm going to about to saynow but you know, sometimes
we're in a stage in our livesthat this is what we love to do,
and to be able to experiencesomething together and smiles,

(01:27:22):
and look at each other and knowexactly what we're all thinking
is you know what I mean.
It's a very surreal thing, youknow, because 20 years from now,
you know who knows.
You know, because we all livein the moment, right, you know
there was years from now.
You know who knows.
You know, because we all livein the moment, right?
You know, there was a pointwhere all I wanted to do was
golf, and now I don't reallyplay golf no more.
You know, I don't have time forit.

(01:27:43):
So I think it's very importantto appreciate those moments that
you have with each other whilewe still can do this.
You know, have with each otherwhile we still can do this and
meeting the fans, hanging outwith the creators.
No creator came across my way asbeing too high or having too
much of a following to hang outwith us.

(01:28:04):
They were all humble, they wereall down to earth.
The people at the expo, theCEOs that we've met we've met
three of them, and they were allsuper nice and very welcoming.
Ceos that we've met we've metthree of them, and they were all
super nice and very welcoming,treated everyone with respect.
The facility was clean.
George was awesome.
It was very hard to find him,so we had to hunt him down

(01:28:24):
because the man was being pulledin 10 different directions and
at one point I felt bad.
I was like man.
You know, I really want him tohave a little bit.
We had that one event.
It was a private Simucube eventthat we had where they revealed

(01:28:45):
the new product, which I'mpretty sure everybody has heard
the news by now.
I actually saw him get into amotion rig.

Michael (01:28:49):
I have it on video.
I was watching it, you know.

Jason (01:28:51):
It took a lot of peer pressure.

Michael (01:28:52):
It made me smile.

Jason (01:28:53):
Yeah, we had to force him in.
I was like dude, it's like youget out, george get in yeah, do
some laughs, george right it wasyeah, that was his first time
in a motion.

Michael (01:29:02):
I thought he was lying about that.
I thought he was joking.
Yeah, I tell you what that boycan drive.

Jeff (01:29:08):
Oh yeah, he can.

Jason (01:29:08):
Oh yeah, he could drive he drove the hell out of this
now, yeah, oh yeahman Jr.

Jeff (01:29:12):
He ain't new to this now, Rob Markman Jr.

Michael (01:29:13):
Oh yeah, he wasn't playing around, Rob Markman.
Jr he's been running leaguesfor a long time.
He knows what he's doing.

Jason (01:29:18):
Rob Markman Jr.
Even his face changed, bro.
He went into full lock mode.
He was like I'm going to drivethe hell out of this thing.
And it was a very revealingmoment for me when I went in

(01:29:41):
there and I saw all the fansright, because we get emails, we
get comments, but being stoppedon the show floor and someone
asking for Jeff and someoneasking for Eric and they're like
I want a picture all three ofy'all together and I'm having to
take my phone and I was likewhere are you Get over here
right now?
So I think that Humbling, yeah,very humbling, and it makes me

(01:30:09):
that much more confident in theChicane podcast and its future.
I think we legitimize ourselvesjust a little more by going to
this event and having thecoverage on it.
So again, from the bottom of myheart, I want to thank all
three of you.
Michael has always supported ussince day one, since the very

(01:30:33):
beginnings of the show.
He comes on to our show with no, we don't pay him, you know, to
be on the show.
He's here at his own free willand it's kind of late in Canada.
So before I need to, I kind ofI need to.

Michael (01:30:48):
I need to wrap this up.

Erick (01:30:49):
It's almost night night, night, night night night night.

Jason (01:30:56):
So I will say this shout out to the King of Schaumburg.

Erick (01:30:57):
You know who you are.

Michael (01:30:59):
You made our night and day.

Jason (01:31:05):
Shout out to Eric Tech Gen Gaming, upcoming channel,
tech gentlemen, very establishedtech channel and Jeff Smart's
Smart Living.
So shout out to all of youThank you so much, and that's
really my overall.
My overall was you need to come.
It's not something that wecould talk about this all day.

(01:31:27):
You can see videos on it fromthe different creators out there
, the plethora of options outthere for you to go and follow,
but nothing beats hands-onexperience.
Like we've always said here,nothing Putting your hands on
something is very different thanseeing it in a picture and a
video.
There's a lot of things thatare very perspective-wise.

(01:31:50):
They're very.
It's not, you know it's.
I'm'm lost the words.
You need to go there.

Michael (01:31:57):
I feel like one grip is is great for me, and you may
put your hands on it and go.
It's not so.
There's just certain thingsthat are subjective with
hardware.
It's just the way it is yeah,what one alibi?

Erick (01:32:10):
right quick, the houston field wheel.
Don't believe anybody whohadn't touched it.
Oh yeah, if they hadn't touchedthat steering wheel.
Don't believe what they say.

Jason (01:32:19):
Stay tuned, for you know, eric and I did an interview
with the CEO and his story storywas absolutely incredible and
it's nothing shy of what Jeffmentioned.
And it's nothing shy of whatJeff mentioned, just a regular
guy wanting to do things for hislove of the hobby.

(01:32:39):
That's how it all starts.
But I think this is going to beit for the close of the expo.
Once again, thank you everybody.
If there's no roundtables, aquick moment of silence for that
one.

Jeff (01:32:56):
I got one quick one, if I can Jason, yes sir.
Ten seconds Just the level ofpeople that are there when it
comes to sim racing and sims ingeneral.
So did you guys see the fullcockpit of the 737?
that was there, oh yeah.
So I'm walking past and I'mlike this is pretty cool, and
there's a kid in their left seatand he's struggling.
This guy leans in right andhe's like, hey, buddy, can I

(01:33:18):
jump in and try to help you out?
And the kid's like, yeah, sure,this guy jumps in and he's like
, oh, he's a pilot.
And I'm like, bro, somethingtells me you got a little
experience doing this.
And he's like, oh yeah, youknow, I'm a, I'm a pilot.
And I'm like I got a couplehours.
What are you certified?

(01:33:40):
He's like, oh, I, I, I got acouple thousand hours in the 737
.

Erick (01:33:45):
This dude flies the 737.

Jeff (01:33:47):
Yeah, comes to a simi episode about, and he's looking
at all the sim stuff for the 737right he's probably wanting to
get more flight hours in it.

Michael (01:33:58):
You know um wild it's like I somehow missed that booth
.

Jason (01:34:02):
I feel like it was way off to the corner it was like um
, yeah, you know, you know thevr section.
It was like, just across fromit it was a full and it looks
small, small when you look at itfrom a distance, you're like,
eh, and then you roll up andthere's like a whole, there's
like a roof over it.

Jeff (01:34:20):
Thousands of buttons, no matter what, with these expos,
you always miss something.

Michael (01:34:25):
That's why you got to go back again, I'm pretty sure
we missed a few things.
Honestly, we were trying tomake time for everybody and
everything you know it's tough,and I mean, we're there for
three days, right, and you still, you still miss things because
you're, you know, every day Iwas completely exhausted, you
know from from, but it wasn'texhausted in a bad way, it was,

(01:34:46):
it was a good exhausted yeah andthen excitement, energy, and
then we get the text, bro, weget the call of duty on the like
.

Jason (01:34:54):
Okay, I guess we're going to the gathering and that was
the meetup, and from there allthe great ideas happen, all the
great discussions.
We found out everything fromthere.

Michael (01:35:03):
So, um, yeah, I guess.
I just want to say one lastthing.
Yes, again guys for for havingme on and and let me roll with
you guys at the uh at the expo,like I said, it wouldn't have
been the same without.
Let me roll with you guys atthe uh at the expo.
Like I said, it wouldn't havebeen the same without uh hanging
out with you guys.
So, um, thanks for having meback on the show and letting me
share the stories and insights,appreciate it, kind of feel like

(01:35:25):
I'm reliving the uh drinks andhanging out.

Jason (01:35:28):
I don't have a Manhattan uh not a Manhattan an old fat a
Manhattan would have been goodtoo, man yeah whatever, I'll
take that too.
Yeah, that'll do too, and I willreplicate what you said earlier
, if any of the guys here, ericor Jeff it was the unison of
everybody that made this way.
Better than what it.

(01:35:48):
You know what I'm saying theafter hours, the after hours.
Better than what it you know.
You know what I'm saying theafter hours, the after hours.
Yeah, we were never at thishotel, we were at the bar and
then we were getting a taxi toget out of there to go to
another sim racing place, to goand drive together and it's just
I kind of I just want to.

(01:36:09):
I wish I can reset and justrelive it again, because I I
can't believe the amount of funthat I've had at this event and,
and you know, being meetingeric for the first time 15 years
, that's just wild, dude, likeit's wild, you know, um.
So anyways, guys, it's hard,it's hard to even close on this

(01:36:29):
episode, you know, because nowthat we're done, we can move on
from the expo.
Um, stay tuned on the channel,on the youtube channel, for you
audio listeners out there,please.
We're gonna have, um, I thinkit's four or five videos come
out on the channel.
So if you, if you're interestedin those interviews um please

(01:36:49):
support the channel, give it alike, give it a subscribe.
Check out tech.
Check gaming.
Check out michael from the SimRacing Den.
Check out Jeff Smart's channel.

Jeff (01:36:58):
Smart Living 808.

Jason (01:37:00):
Smart Living 808.
And with that, guys, thank youso much and have a great start
of your week.

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