[ExtremePocca]

Didn't know we had so many sim-racers on TeamBHP! My setup is quite lowly compared to your guys' but its good enough for me until I upgrade in the future.

I used up all of my budget on a laptop as I knew that sim-racing won't be the only thing i'll be doing on my computer. Initially I was torn between the ASUS TUFs and Lenovo LOQs and while I knew that these were entry level laptops that compromised on build, that was something I was willing to give up for pure performance. I got really lucky though and snagged an HP Omen 16 off of Amazon for 1.2L For context, laptops like this with these specs retail at around 1.6-1.8L

Loving the Omen so far, great build, gorgeous screen, and fantastic thermals.

For those looking for this deal, I believe it's still available on Amazon.

Specs-

Ryzen 7 6800H
16GB DDR5 4800MHZ
1TB NVME SSD
165hz 1440p display
RTX 3070Ti

Even though the graphics card is a generation old, it still packs the same performance as the current gen RTX 4070, albeit, it doesn't feature DLSS 3 Frame Generation. That's something that team red are working on addressing though. Other than that, this laptop is an absolute steal.

I don't use a cooling pad (budget dried up) but the temps are still pretty strong, as is common on all HP Omens. After 4 months, the factory thermal paste has gone bad and now the temperatures spike up to the very low 90s on the CPU and rarely 87*c on the GPU (Thermal Throttle Limit) I am working on fixing this with a repaste job (Cooler Master Cryofuze Violet).

As for the sims I play, I was really into AC (Assetto Corsa) when I got into the sim-racing space but after trying some other sims (more on them later), it started to feel like AC's car handling was not as sophisticated. It felt like the cars were stiff and bouncy in a manner ill-befitting of a race car. As for framerates. I consistently get around 150fps on an empty track using demanding post processing filters and mods. While sharing the track with AI or other players, this dips to a still very smooth 90FPS.

My new favourite sim nowadays is the one and only, BeamNG drive. It is absolutely ridiculous how incredible this game is in terms of the realism. From the confidence inspiring grip and poise of the hillclimb cars, to the boat-like suspensions and flexible chassis of the 70s American cars, BeamNG simulates it all. And, the icing on the cake is, BeamNG is a completely open sandbox. While the open-ended nature of BeamNG could potentially be a turn off, I find it quite enjoyable. As for framerates, BeamNG holds a rock solid 120FPS without any traffic on all maps, the framerate dips considerably however with traffic to a very playable 40FPS.

Now you might have been wondering, what wheel do I have? Well this is the funny part, I don't have a wheel! I have spent 3 years of sim racing perfecting how to drive with a mouse! It has become so natural to me that I know when the car is getting loose and I can save it without any feedback from an input device. It sounds quite unnatural at first but with time I have learnt how to drive competitively on a mouse.

This shows that not having the budget for a wheel is no excuse for not jumping into sim-racing. It's a wonderful hobby and it's taught me everything I know about cars till date.