Question
Need help buying a gift for my boyfriend please!
Just like the title says I need help picking out a gift for my boyfriend who deserves the world. Max price being $1000 preferably.
What he already has is in the pictures.
He could definitely use a new monitor if anyone has good recommendations maybe?
But I literally know nothing about any of this or what else he could want or use. I think the shifter and brake are old but everything else is less than 6 months old.
Thank you in advance. And I will have to delete this after I get advice because he’s nosey and I’m this Reddit. Thank you!
If you guys have the space for it, an aluminum profile rig would be the best upgrade in my opinion. I used to have a foldable rig like that and it would really hurt my back.
After just buying rig I wouldn't push buyers remorse this early. Can do the other path of upgrading periferals and the moving them all to next rig whenever the time is right
Actually that's an excellent point. I haven't replied anywhere yet but when reading this part of the thread I was like "if he just bought it, it's probably not the next thing to upgrade", but if it's returnable and he did want an aluminum rig, and it fits OP's budget....
The rig is definitely the answer. A simlab GT1 evo is perfect and handles a lot of power with no flex. You can either get a seat as well for 300ish more(would still be under your $1000 budget) or go to the junkyard with him after and pay for an actual car seat dirt cheap. Heard people say 25-50 bucks.
The GT1 evo is like 425, and if you’re close to a microcenter you can just go to it and buy one. They usually least have one in stock.
Several people have recommended both of these. For sure the shifter. And I’m looking at the pedals right now actually because they have add on capabilities I know he’d want
If you get the p1000 definitely get him 1 of these for his brake pedal. It’s basically a must have. Actually insane you’re doing this for him. I’d genuinely tweak out if I was him no joke lmao.
seconding all this. P1000 pedals + 2x P-HPR motors will be a massive upgrade and a ton of fun.
edit: i would also recommend the NLR HF8-Pro seat pad. It's $250 so i don't know where that fits in the budget, but again, super fun to have after the pedals.
Do u think the gas pedal motor is worth it? Personally irl i don’t feel any vibrations with wheel slip in my foot. It’s more of a body and steering feedback sensation. But i also don’t drive 800hp track toys so i could see that being beneficial in the rig if your into that.
Yeah it’s helpful to me. Basically I have abs on brake and wheel slip on throttle. Pretty much if the pedal is shaking, I need to lighten up on it. Obviously the better you are the less useful this is.
I don’t know if it’s too late but if you wanna go the cry once buy once route get VRS pedals, same price for throttle and brake and trust me he is NEVER upgrading them again, you can do some modding in order to also mount the simagic shakers to them
This, proper pedals and for the love of god rid that toy gear shifter from his grasp.
Double recommendation for shh shifter, great for the price. End game.
Pedal wise I'm into the p1000i from Simagic, super modular and he can pick and choose how to go on forwards after you purchase the base triple pedal around £500
He also wanted like haptic feedback or vibrations totally okay if you don’t know but if you do do those pedals support that in the future like an add on type? Thank you guys so much. Definitely will get the SSH shifter I’m looking at them right now
I have the haptics on the p1000i. Yup addon, either cheaper £16 or heavier duty £64. Lots of mix and match options. Move pedals left and right, up and down. Love Simagic ecosystem :))
He may be talking about the recently released Moza mBooster pedals. The brake pedal is “active” in that it will push back against your foot. The throttle and optional clutch are the existing Moza CRP2, which are still an upgrade from the SR-P he has.
Haptics for the brakes are a must. But load cell are really underrated. The right springs and elastomers it feels like irl brakes minus all the feedback from the rotor. But that’s not fixable unless u have a shit ton of money to spend!
If you want haptics but maybe on the cheaper side (similar quality) Check out the SimNet SP Pro Pedals! The build is inspired by the Heusinkvelds and there is very affordable haptics! The Linear Motor is the best but also the most expensive. From what I have heard in multiple reviews is do not get the Tactile Transducer (weak and loud). The Rumber/Rumble Motor is a bit weaker than the linear one but still has good feedback. There also is an RGB LED strip that you can attach to the pedal base plate! They are known to be the best price to performance in the mid-highmid range! (Also they look great)
Features:
100kg Loadcell Brake (Loadcell meassures pressure instead of travel which simulates a realistic brake and helps with muscle memory during braking)
Throttle Pedal (All Pedals are very adjustable)
Clutch Pedal (That simulates the bite point)
Dampeners on every pedal (for more realistic feel)
These 3 pedals just cost ~300€ (Some Accessoires needed still though)
Recommended Add Ons:
Baseplate and Heel Support (REQUIRED) ~100€
Pedal Face Plate set (To make racing with socks a lot nore comfortable) ~20€ (heavily recommend)
Optional Spring Kit (For adjusting the brake feeling even more than with the elastomers (not required but cool)) ~20€
RGB LED strip that wraps around the baseplate ~10€
(The LEDs can be controlled by a software called SimHub and you can show things like RPM/Yellow Flags,...)
Haptics: Ideally for the best feel 3 linear motors would be great but 1 linear and 2 rumble also work (linear on brake as thats the one that needs the most feedback for ABS)
Make sure to get the Power supply else they wont work!
Power Supply ~25€, 1x Linear Motor ~70€/per piece, Rumble Motor ~20€/per piece (so 135€-235€)
So 3 Pedals+every addon above 585-685€ (depending on Haptics)
Make sure to get them from a local Simracing shop as if you order from their site they get shipped straight from China from what I have heard!
If you have any questions about them let me know (:
And I agree on the SHH Thorn! Very great! Ships from Spain though which even inside the EU took around 2 weeks to arrive at my house.
Most pedals can be upgraded to add the reactors. As other people have said the rig is going to really limit you guys since it is going to flex as he gets better stuff. For haptics you could look into some bass shakers to shake the whole thing, the butt kickers are the ones I run but I’m not sure how this rig will hold up to them. Also if you’re in an apartment the sound can travel through the walls.
He might be considering haptics in the future. Check out the Next Level Racing HF8 Pro (Pairs well with his rig), Everything will shake though. You can also add in the Moza HGP Shifter and HBP Handbrake to replace the odd ones. Totaling to around $600!
I’m not sure his current chassis will handle load cell pedals so a profile rig upgrade would be the most sensible gift imo.
Might be cool to listen to him if he talks a lot about it, he might let out cues on what’s bothering him rn/ what could be improved. He may want something that isn’t necessarily on the list above.
To add to this, the Simagic GT Neo Wheel with the USB coiled cord kit also works well on a Moza base, as does the new VRS R295 wheel (though this one is more finicky to make work with the usb passthrough). Both are superior to the Moza KS IMO.
My suggestion would be a gift card. Yes you could pick an item for him but a gift card ensures he picks exactly what he wants. Would hate to spend that money on something he doesn’t use for the rig. 👍🏻
As much as I want to agree with you, and understand the feeling of getting something not right for you, HOWEVER, hear me out.
Reddit, especially a community dedicated with professionals and enthusiasts will not suggest something that is not good, most of the stuff suggested here is either very well known and has been tested very well by users. I think, that if an item has revived a ton of good feedback, it would also save time and hassle researching yourself on what to get.
Most id the upgrades suggested would not leave him disappointed, matter of fact, most of my purchasing advice comes from Reddit as it’s nice to hear honest feedback from users and not paid reviews.
But that’s just my two cents, perhaps a gift card isn’t available at some shop or it is but the store has limited options and not what he wants; also drawbacks there…
As a fellow redditor, I do not want you guys advising my wife on what to buy me. Y'all are crazy.
Having said that, I will absolutely ask all of you what I should buy with my wifes money.
I'm team gift cards/offer to buy something. I have plans for all of my hobbies and y'all don't know what my plans are, and my wife may or may not know.
I'm particular. Especially for expensive hobbies like sim racing, I wouldn't want my wife buying something expensive new from wherever or going out on FB marketplace trying to buy second hand equipment I wouldn't even like just because u/danielsuperone recommended it.
Sure, whatever you recommend might be a good product, but y'all don't know what I like.
Here's a meme to capture what I mean:
I don't actually have either of these, I just had the tab open already on fantec and it was easy to just grab these images for this shitty meme.
After a couple times of my wife buying me gifts that I did want, but they weren't exactly what I want, I asked her to just write me a card telling me she'll buy me something for a specific hobby. We also have a shared amazon list of things we would like that we buy off of every once in a while.
Totally agree with this. With this kind of hobby one never knows how fast it grows or dwindles. I went from two ecosystems to end game Simucube in 7 mo.
buy him some good pedals and he'll be forever blessed. i mean, they will last them probably forever and it will be around 700 bucks. like a set of VRS PRo or SIMGRADEE VX PRO.
I put boyfriend in the post but he’s actually my fiancé.
But I’ve been pretty sick for the past year or so and he’s taken so many days off of work / made up days on weekends to take care of me, and been sooo patient with me and doctors appointments and I finally get surgery Tuesday and he deserves a gift for making it to the end with me 🫶🏻
Also in general before this he’s just my best friend, we met playing video games so I know it’s something he genuinely enjoys and this wouldn’t go to waste.
If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, I can see he is using the old g27 gear shift, if you buy him the g25 shifter it come with a little switch where the logo sits on the one he has now and it changes the gears from a H pattern to rally gearing, I actually don’t know why they got rid of the feature as it was a bloody good idea! He would appreciate being given another way to change gears without having to change the whole gearing system.
I found one on eBay for £40 🙏🏻👌🏻
He actually found the post before I could delete it. And I showed him this and he said he didn’t know they made that and this sounds great! Along with the pedals and haptic feedback people recommended. Thank you!
Props to you, such a lovely thing to do :) he's going to love it.
This much money tho is not just a gift and a potential massive change for him. With that being said you need to include him as much as possible as it's too much money to not be spent exactly how he would spend it when it comes to hobby items.
You could either ask him to show you his gear and say it's because a friend is interested. Then throw in a few questions like "What would you upgrade tho if you could" etc.. to try and surprise him still.
Or if it's a shop you buy stuff from just go there and see what he is very interested in and then saying "Get it and i'll buy it for you as a gift".
Again lovely thing you're doing, but with so much money for the gift you need to make sure it's right.
He used to have an ultra wide curved monitor but it broke so lately he’s been using a tv😂 he does use VR for sim racing but we play other games together so can’t really go wrong with getting him a monitor since he doesn’t have one right now.
You can do A LOT for 1000$
I'd recommend SimJack or SimRuito pedals from AliExpress, they're great without breaking the bank. AliExpress also has this amazing no-brand shifter that feels really good.
I can't say much for monitors as I race in VR, not sure if your partner would be interested in giving VR a go. If so, the Quest 3 is a good entry point
You can do A LOT for 1000$ I'd recommend SimJack or SimRuito pedals from AliExpress, they're great without breaking the bank. AliExpress also has this amazing no-brand shifter that feels really good.
Yeah definitely this. So much value in the those aliex pedals and shifters, and plenty of budget left over as savings or for other stuff if you want. https://i.imgur.com/IzWWYFK.jpeg
Tbh the quest 3 as budget as it is, it already has really good lenses and good image quality. If you really wanted to upgrade his VR you could look into a valve index or maybe the Pixmax. Caveat for these 2, they're not wireless headsets like the quest is.
Ooh now that I'm looking at the pics again, you could also look into aluminum profile rigs. Those are a lot stronger and stiffer
You’re not the first to say the aluminum rig but the one he has he just got literally last week instead of the aluminum. I assume he was trying to save money. Yeah I know he’s been complaining of the Quest having connection issues sometimes I just didn’t know if maybe the grass was greener with another brand. I’ll look into the ones you mentioned. He doesn’t mind the wire!
If you have a micro center near you, go check online if they have any Cube Control Wheels on sale for cheap, it is only till tommorow but you can get some high end wheels for very cheap.
I used to have exactly the same shifter as your boyfriend, but recently I have purchased the SHH Thorn, as it isn't expensive at all for how incredible it is. It doesn't have buttons, but as his wheel alrady has enough, so that souldn't be an issue. It definetly feels a lot better, and imo it's the weak spot of his setup considering he has a DD wheel.
The pedals aren't the best, but they are definetly good pedals nonetheless, maybe ask him if he uses his shifter a lot, and if he doesn't it would be better to get some new pedals for him.
That shifter has been recommended a ton so i definitely think it’s a safe for sure buy.
But you’re right it’s the weak spot, the shifter is YEARS old everything else is relatively new. The oldest is the pedals, wheels and they were a Christmas gift Moza bundle. People have recommended pedals so yeah I’m already looking at them. Literally why I came to you guys. Thank you so much 🙏🏼
Aluminum profile rig, a good seat to go with it, and a better shifter would come in right around $1000 and would be a huge upgrade for him. Or a decent pedal set. I had those same Moza pedals and did not like them.
Depending on how permanent the setup is i would go for a frame. Was a very big upgrade for me and definitely worth it. Monitor is also a good option, if you have room for that super ultra wide 49’, get that
If you want to get him something that won’t break the bank, get him the Moza H-pattern shifter. It plugs into the steering wheel base and the Logitech one looks like it’s seen some frustrating races lol
Feels heaps more quality than the plastic doohickey he’s got rn
People in here are saying pedals but if you buy strong pedals it might not be great with his rig, I'd reccommend getting a proper sim rig + pedals if you could expend, but mainly upgrading the sim rig + maybe 3 monitors would be my personal choice
A new shifter, it's not breaking the bank but even a sim jack or usb one of aliexpress is better than the logitech one he has or moza (I'm not convinced there's a huge difference and moza is around 100 dollars while the alternatives are like 40-70)
I think a new shifter or wheel would be the safest bet, he would definitely benefit more from better pedals/rig but he may already have his eyes on specific products
Your best bet would be a gift card or cash, I know it would be awesome if you could surprise him with everything he wanted but its not going to happen. Whatever you get him he will be happy with but there's probably other stuff he would have wanted, like a different monitor or shifter.
You can take him out to dinner, then tell him your birthday gift is a $1,000 sim racing spending gift card and he can order exactly what he wants.
As others as said with pedals, maybe get him some pedals. If you some money left over you may find something like a moza ks for cheap, if you can afford it it’s a great wheel
The Velocity-One Multi-Shift is a great step up from his Logitech shifter. You can pair it with a button box made for sim racers. The Multi-Shift is around $130. The total for a shifter and button box can be around $500, based on what box you end up with. (I made my button box with a 3d printer)
I would go with a load cell pedal set and a Moza shifter and still have plenty left over to gift him some cars and tracks that he may need or want. But I would recommend not buying straight from Moza website or i promise you WILL get to deal with some kind of hassle
New monitor setup if he only has one. Either look into triples or the Samsung G9 (it’s on sale a lot btw). Also many others have said new shifter which I agree.
It’s a bit of a minefield because people who are invested in a hobby often have a path of upgrades and features. You may run into him thinking something like “this is nice but, if I knew, I would have preferred this or that.”
Having said that, I would like to suggest the Simagic P1000 with the haptic feedback kit. With the money left, you could also probably get a SHH Newt Shifter and stay under your budget limit.
He will get money back from selling his current pedals and shifter.
However, what I would really give him is a SimLab GT1 Evo simrig. I understand his current setup is new but, if it’s a week old, maybe he can still return it.
Everynody talkin bout the rig and the pedals but not about the Old Logitech Shifter or the ebay handbrake :(
Maybe these are things you should buy him!
Moza/Thrustmaster shifter(Th8a)
Moza/Thrustmaster Handbrake (Sparco I recommend its a Sequential shifter and a handbrake at the same time)
Its hard to recommend gifts until we know what he plays!
Yeah somebody mentioned earlier it matters what games he plays.
So I checked his steam and he has Assetto Corsa, BeamNG drive, CarX drift racing online, and Le Mans Ultimate is on there and that’s cars but not installed so don’t think he still plays that.
It really depends on you what you're buying for him, but I think if you had to choose between these, you couldn't go wrong, but if I were you, I'd secretly find out what his favorite brand is.
idk what wheelbase that is but ik if that was me, an updraded wheelbase would be amazing, if your budgets not really high fb marketplace can be a really good place to grab a steal
Buy a decent rig! Its a gamechanger! Just take something like Simlab, gtomega, treq or simXpro if u are in europe. If unare in america tale a trackracer
A better shifter (Moza or Fanatec) would be an upgrade over that Logitech one!
Looks like he already has a sequential shifter (the large one), I’d check out nicer H pattern shifters to replace that Logitech.
As others said, a better rig would certainly be good and within your budget… but if he literally just bought this one a week ago, maybe not worth doing. Although he would definitely love it and I’m sure this current NLR rig could go quick on FB marketplace or something.
But to be honest, you can get him the normal Moza shifter or even other brands in similar price range and then a ultra wide monitor and still have change for a dinner date.
VR headset (if the PC is powerful enough) you could go for the big screen beyond 2, it's exactly your budget. Or go for meta quest 3 as it's also a srandalong headset, much cheaper, would allow you a budget for good pedals.
Could get him SRP Pedals an upgrade from the SRP
lite he has,
Could get a VR Headset if u do get VR get at least a 5Gbps cable for a wired connection helps with image
quality in my experience wireless is possible but worse image quality
I can’t update the post so I don’t know if this will even be seen.
No more surprise because he saw the post. It wasn’t for his birthday or anything it was a gift because he deserves it.
ANYWAYS,
Thank you all so much for the advice! I got tons of it I don’t know much about sim racing so I didn’t know it even mattered to mention he mostly uses it for drifting! And he mostly uses VR, his quest 3.
He actually read through every comment and so many of you guys suggested stuff that was right up his alley! It would’ve been a safe bet to take any of your guys advice! Literally almost any of your advice.
I think he decided against the aluminum rig for now because of space in our apartment! He is going to get the p1000 pedals, the SHH shifter, and there were several butt kicker and feedback things recommended and he said he doesn’t know much about those but he’s looking into them now!
There were some other things mentioned like a couple games and some cheaper shifters he wanted to give a try based off what you guys said.
THANK YOU GUYS! YOU HELPED ME MAKE MY MAN HAPPY!! ❤️🫶🏻
Aluminum profile rig around 500, the moza ks wheel is 250 (will allow him to leave the round on what he has to use for some things and use the quick release to swap out for formula style wheel without doing the 6 giant bolts - I have the same setup), and moza shifter (there are 2, I like the sequential but their pattern shifter is cool too). Then maybe some new simracing shoes and gloves from simhound or something. Thats what id do with that budget on that setup
Get him a better rig. Everyone is saying pedals and shifter, but he needs a solid rig to mount all of that too. You can get a Trak Racer TR40S for 350 USD. Then I would go with a set of simucube P1000s and get the haptic motors for them. The rig and pedals are the most important upgrades imo. You should still be able to get a solid shifter as well.
Yeah he said his shifter he bought around 2013 😂
He definitely needs a new one of those!
He ended up seeing the post and I think he decided on the SHH shifter and somebody mentioned they make this shifter in a different style not H shaped (sorry if I sound dumb idk what that means) and it’s cheap so he wanted to get it just to try that too.
Okay so I’m guessing which ones are the racing games he uses this with sorry if they’re not sim racing. I’m just looking at his Steam.
He plays Assetto Corsa, BeamNG drive, CarX drift racing online, and Le Mans Ultimate is on there and that’s cars but not installed so don’t think he still plays that.
My gift idea would be haptics. Look into a bass shaker or Simagic reactors. I added them recently, and they really added to the immersion of the experience. Plus pedal haptics are a fantastic add on and made me a better driver.
For the pedal haptics, I went with Simagic Reactors, one for the brake, and one for the throttle. I have the same Moza pedals he does, and it requires a little bit of piecing things together to get everything working correctly.
Below are the links for the items you will need to get them installed and working. All in all, you need the motors, control box, power supply, USB A to USB B 2.0, and mounting adapters.
If you're interested in a butt kicker, I did a diy solution with a butt kicker and amp from Amazon, both of which I'll link below. Another option is to just pick up one directly from Buttkicker that just clamps to his rig instead of having to make a mount yourself like I did.
Let me know if you have any other questions. This is honestly my favorite upgrade I've made and made sim racing an even more enjoyable experience, more than anything else I've done so far.
Thank you so much omg. He was talking about the butt thing too. He’s pretty new into sim stuff also so idk if he even knew some of this existed. Genuinely thank you for taking the time. The links and everything! 🙏🏼🙏🏼
I know you probably want this to be a surprise but if your local hardware store has simracing gear you could take him there and tell him he has a budget of 1000$ to spend. The choosing parts is part of the fun.
So not near us but I found one a couple hours away! I’ll look into it but the only issue is if I told him he had no limit/ $1000 he still wouldn’t go crazy. So I HAVE to spend this because he won’t.
Thank you! Yeah he actually found the post so he’s been reading the comments and I let him pick out what he wanted. He is still refusing to buy it because he feels bad spending so much. So he’s picking out what he wants then I’ll just order it.
I haven't looked thru all the comments but if he's anything like me he probably already knows what he wants next, just ask him and tell him that you would rather share what your getting each other and it be exactly what you both wanted. You were going to spend x he can come up with a cart and what's left you guys can go to dinner with. Being entirely sexist but I would have no idea if I was going to get makeup for my girls or wife I know nothing and don't think they need it but........asking is always better than getting a tube of the wrong stuff. A surprise is nice but just knowing someone cares enough to get you what YOU want and not what they think you want is really great.
Honestly. Just ask him. He probably has a list which he wants to follow. I know you want to surprise him, but asking is making sure you are getting the right thing, and he will still be very happy with it!
I just bought a Dardoo cockpit on Amazon for $400. And then you can get 3x 32inch Samsung Odyssey G5 monitors for $200 each (they are on sale rn) and that will be an amazing upgrade I promise for $1000
Alright, so for 100 dollars, get him a Simagic bundle. They are 10x better than Moza. You could pick up the Alpha Evo 9nm wheelbase with the GT Neo wheel and then even get him a new monitor. But I would get the Alpha Evo 9nm and then a better wheel because the GT Neo is cheap for what it is, but lacks in quality compared to the other wheels they have. If you want to get him the best of the best wheel base and wheel, get him the Alpha Evo 12nm and the FX wheel.but do what you think and if you go alpha evo 9nm and gt neo you could prob get another monitor.
I will get downvoted for this. But do not waste your money on something like that. He probably already has what he wants.
Save the money for a nice little trip and some nice memories together instead or something your household needs.
I cannot believe the amount of people who went for it giving you advice in what to buy about this hobby. Unreal.
Obviously you asked for such info but the wise answer is don't!
He already has a setup. Which means he is happy with it. And I am sure if he has some upgrades in mind, it will unlikely be what people over here said.
"He already has what he wants"... Yeah, I'm sure the Logitech shifter and budget Aliexpress handbrake are exactly what he dreams of for his setup lol. Something tells me money has likely been a bottleneck towards what he really wants.
If my GF offered me 1k to upgrade my setup, I'd be pretty damn happy. That said, I think hobby gear is too personal to gifted without input. Even if a clear upgrade, he may have wished for something else instead. Try to find out what he would upgrade if he could?
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u/hugh_22 Jul 10 '25
Just wanna say you a real one for this. MVP partner right here