$20K Gets You A Full-Fledged FlightSim WITH A Motion Base!
Let's face it, there isn't a pilot out there who hasn't spent time in front of a PC flying one flight sim or another and the grand-daddy of all flight sim products is, of course, Microsoft's amazing Flight Simulator X. It's GREAT software... offering you amazing vistas (no pun intended), lots of airplanes to fly, and some exciting realism... especially when coupled with a good PC, some great sound... and, what's this, a motion base?
D-BOX Technologies Inc., showed ANN a new "D-BOX Motion Gaming Chair" that is now available for sale in the United States and Canada as an accessory to the heavy-duty gaming PCs from Voodoo, a high-performance computer gaming brand of HP. The system is available in versions that cater both to flight-sim enthusiasts or automotive racing-sim drivers.
Using the 120 pound GP-200FS Motion Gaming Chair, developed by D-Box, the well-healed MSFSX enthusiast now finds themselves equipped with 3 electrical actuators, which look like small robot-like legs, that deliver three degrees of freedom in pitch, roll and yaw. The chair also includes a USB motion interface, a force feedback control yoke and throttle, a complete speaker system, the obligatory seat belt (which is NEEDED at times), all mounted on a sturdy steel tube frame. A specialized (and patented) technology, developed by D-Box, utilizes motion codes specifically programmed for each flightsim, resulting in motion that is "perfectly synchronized with on-screen action." The GP-200 Motion Game Chair is compatible is said to be compatible with most "high-profile" flight simulation games, but we can tell you personally that it ROCKS ON Microsoft Flight Simulator X.
FMI: www.d-box.com, www.voodoopc.com