DSD Professional Grade Sim Racing Pedals in production

DSD Professional Grade Sim Racing Pedals

Since we are on the subject of professional grade Sim Racing pedals today, another interesting product in development is the Derek Speare DSD Wilwood Load Cell Pedal set. As the name might ring a bell for some of us, the Wilwood Engineering brand is known for its high performance disc brake systems. (http://www.wilwood.com/Pedals/PedalList.aspx)

Wilwood also design sports and racing pedal sets to go with their braking systems. This is where the fusion of real and sim racing pedals become a reality.  DSD uses off the shelf Wilwood racing pedals and engineered the parts and interface to make them suitable for your racing simulation. Simulation pedals have to use either pressure or travel of the pedal to measure the drivers pedal input. For travel measurement, we usually see the potentiometer system used, while pressure is usually measured by a load cell element. The DSD pedal set makes use of the latter because it will reproduce a much more accurate data set to be sent to the PC. specially on the brake pedal this means that with solid rugged high pressure mechanisms the feel of the brake will become more realistic. The so-called muscle memory will enable you to brake more consistently then with a system that measures travel. For this reason the brake pedal of the DSD Wilwood combination, uses the Load cell approach. For the throttle and clutch Derek Speare uses quality potentiometers.

The DSD pedal interface is a 12bit controller with integrated load cell amp using variable sensitivity. This feature will enable you to set your personal maximum amount of pressure . This way you make sure you will use the entire bandwidth available, making use of the full 4096 steps of resolution.

When shipped, the pedals are pre-mounted on a 3/4″ (19mm) thick UHMV composite base plate. Keep in mind that professional grade pedals will always have to be secured to the floor or to your rig, to withstand the pressure applied. Connection to your PC is done with a single standard USB port. No drivers are needed.

For 45 USD extra you can order an optional 6.5” heel rest extension that bolts onto the base unit.

At this time The DSD Sim Racing Pedals are still unreleased and with the first batch of pre-orders in production. Because these pedals are built in a limited amount, DSD announced that a second round of pre-orders for the pedals will be held by March 21st or 22nd.  You can subscribe on the DSD website to be emailed and receive a pre-order link 24 hours in advance.

The price including shipping in the US is 795 USD ( 573 Euros – 478 GBP ). where International shipping will bring the price to 895 USD ( 643 Euros – 538 GBP).  For more info, check out the official DSD website.

(Keep in mind the the pictures attached show the test unit of the pedal set!)

Official Webpage – http://www.derekspearedesigns.com/

Specifications:

• Wilwood Racing Pedals – real world pedals for real world racing cars
• 100kg Load Cell
• 21 day delivery time
• Million Life Cycle Pots on throttle and cltuch
• Heavy duty throttle return spring added
• “Smooth Action”, ultra reliable clutch pedal
• 3/4″ Antistatic UHMW baseplate – ultra stiff, ZERO flex
• DSD 12 Bit Controller with variable sensitivity brake pedal control
• DSD Customer Commitment – Lifetime enjoyment built into each set
• Original, proprietary design
• “Race Feel” brake pedal – firm and gives perfect control for threshold braking
• Releasing by Spring, 2014 (March 21st)
• Heel plate extension will be offered as an extra option. bolts on in seconds

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