Simucube SC2 Sport Review By Laurence Dusoswa

10/08/2021 Hardware Leave a comment

Laurence Dusoswa reviews the Simucube SC2 Sport Direct Drive Wheelbase by Granite Devices. Besides discussing the good and the bad of the product, Laurence also compares the SC2 Sport to the SC2 Pro which he reviewed back in 2020.

The Simucube 2 wheelbases are sold via Global distributors. Check out the official website for more details regarding pricing, purchase and shipping.

About Granite Devices

Granite Devices Inc is an original Finnish robotics industry and racing simulator hardware designer and manufacturer located in the heart of Tampere city. Granite Devices specializes on cost and time-efficient OEM motion control solutions and provides direct engineer-grade support for its products.

Official Webpage – www.simucu.be

The Simucube 2 Sport Direct Drive Wheelbase has been built from precision machined solid metal parts. It’s pretty hard to find a plastic part in it, pretty much the only non-metallic one is the “radiofrequency window” for Wireless Wheel Receiver.

The Simucube 2 Sport is equipped with precision industrial robotics grade angle sensors with a resolution of 4 Million steps per revolution. The quality of the angle sensor information has paramount importance when calculating natural physics effects and filters. Any imperfection of the sensor signal would feel like a distortion in reality. All Simucube 2’s signal processing units have been optimized to take full advantage of the unmatched sensor precision.

The Simucube developer team compared over 40 motors, hand-tested over ten of them, then picked the best three motors, and finally customized them to suit absolutely flawlessly in direct drive racing simulation. SC2’s latest generation motor technology delivers unforeseen torque response rate and clarity. FEM optimized motor magnetic design yields practically zero torque ripple and magnetic cogging. Simucube 2 ‘s are also individually tested and verified to exceed inhumanly tight tolerances in production.

No Simucube driver shall ever become the victim of interference prone USB connection. Thanks to a galvanic isolation layer between the USB and power electronics. This also protects the PC from current spikes. In addition, all connectors found on the back of SC2 are ESD protected exceeding the industrial requirements.

To unleash the full potential of the motor and to process signals at maximum precision, Simucube 2 has been given a dedicated 216 MHz real-time processor in addition to a dedicated 144 MHz PC USB interface CPU. Unique dual CPU architecture ensures zero impact on ultra-low latency performance even when all processing and simulator actions are running simultaneously. The new 216 MHz processor features superscalar ARM architecture, making it effectively four times faster than the 72 MHz processors of IONI drive in Simucube 1.

Thanks to high-efficiency direct-drive operation optimized motors and clever electronics heat guiding, there is no dust collecting nor noisy fans in Simucube 2. High-efficiency motor puts out less heat and consumes less power.

All Simucube 2’s electronics have been designed in Finland by Granite Devices, also known from their reliable industrial motor drives. Simucube has been proudly built with the same uncompromising industrial quality principles. This means prioritizing ruggedness and longevity over the cost of the components. Simucube 2 power MOSFETs are rated over 2X their actual need to make them virtually immortal.

Because high torque may pose a hazard if the simulator software goes nuts, or if the driver becomes careless with the high torque wheel, every SC2 comes with an externally mountable Torque off button. Optionally the button box may be upgraded to a stylish all-metal version with an additional external power-switch.