RealSimulator F-16SG-HOM Joystick
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Another company will enter in the joystick market. Realsimulator will launch it first complete joysticks this year. They made some mods and joystick bases in the past for Thrustmaster and Suncom HOTAS.
First of all, they will release a F-16 joystick in left and right hand. After that, they will release a F/A-18 grip, also in right and left hand versions.
RealSimulator is well known for his mods for the Suncom F-15 Hotas and HOTAS Cougar (Game port to USB adapter). R1 and R2 mods for the HOTAS Cougar and more recently (2012?) they developed the R3 base for use with Thrustmaster grips. FSSB R3 base is now compatible with T-50 Mongoos grip. They usually release two versions, one for the professional market and another for the consumer market (tagged as HOME).
The price for the R3 Lightning base is not cheap, 450 € + shipping, but the quality is impressive.
In its 30th anniversary, finally they will release a complete joystick using his well known R3 Lightning base**, they designed a F-16 grip**, available in Left or right hand versions.
They will release a Professional version too. Not available for us.
At this moment they are working in the software. Next week they will talk with beta testers in order to get feedback from them and improve the software.
Preorder will open soon (two or three weeks? )
The price is not known at this moment, but probably will be higher than 450€ + shipping (As I wrote earlier, that is the cost of the R3 Lightning base).Also, they are working in a F/A-18 grip, which I suppose that it will be released after F-16SG-HOM.
Product page of the FSSB R3 Lightning base
As usual, more info and updates, in his website.
It looks very interesting.
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That DMS…
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I have seen F-16 sticks with that actual DMS. Most have the more common one, but I have seen some with that type of looking DMS. There must have been one contract at one time where they were manufacturing them with that type.
I just hope it will work with FCC and other hardware synced for the Thrustmaster stuff. I think its a sharp looking stick!
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It’s helpful to note that on the HOM version, the pickle, pinky, and MSL STEP switches will be 5-way hats rather than push buttons, and the base of the trim hat will be a rotation axis.
Personally, I’m hesitant about this. More buttons sounds like a good idea on paper, but in practice I think it would be really hard to press them without hitting a direction on the hat.
That said, I’m waiting until pricing is announced before ordering my FSSB R3.
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It’s helpful to note that on the HOM version, the pickle, pinky, and MSL STEP switches will be 5-way hats rather than push buttons ……
IMHO, that sounds kind of dumb.
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Looks good, but I reckon you’re looking at £1000 for a full HOTAS. And what’s with the wrong DMS?
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We need a F-16 throttle not another F-16 stick. And 5 way hats on every button? I have to ask myself why.
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We need a F-16 throttle not another F-16 stick. And 5 way hats on every button? I have to ask myself why.
+1
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We need a F-16 throttle not another F-16 stick. And 5 way hats on every button? I have to ask myself why.
Simple answer - VR
This stick is obviously aimed at other flight sims and games that are compatible with VR, otherwise why bother making F-18 & lefty F-16 handles?
+1 for a new throttle though, perhaps a realistic lift-up handle on a slide rather than the Cougar’s rotary style.
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Why would they even tease us with the MIL version? lol! What commercial companies would be looking at the same ads for this stick as us consumers? I suppose there’s a market or they wouldn’t have split the quality levels and restricted sales. And why would it be restricted from us consumers? Not like it’s classified, and if they think we don’t have deep enough pockets, they should see what some of us spend on FSSB mods, cockpit parts, and full sim pits!
But the consumer has standard buttons as HATS, that is a big deal breaker right there; could easily sell a consumer version without that feature, not sure why the decision was made. IMO more would prefer a sim stick and I think less would prefer a stick that could double as something for, say, Elite Dangerous. We already got those – Saitek’s/Logitech’s are everywhere and are affordable.
I can see where they’re trying to make a stick that could be used in PC games other than combat flight simulators, but at least give us the choice between the MIL version with normal buttons and the Consumer version with all those additional HATS so we can choose for ourselves. If I was gonna pay that much, I’d rather buy the TM Warthog stick and buy an FSSB mod for it just so the buttons were “sim” and not “PC game-y” HATS.
Looks great, though! Hope they do well
+1 for the throttle idea!! -
That Price for just a Stick is a bit too much for me. I’d rather just get a Warthog at that point. The fact that the “Home” Version has a bunch of unnecessary HATs, Whilst the “Military” Version is the 1:1 we’re looking for, but 100% unavailable to us Average Joes, Makes this a no-sell for me.
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I would expect the inner metal parts on this grip to be much better quality than on the WH grip. This video
shows one workaround to correct for the soft metal in the WH grip.In any case, I am looking forward to trying out this new grip from RealSimulator. Their FSSB R3 Lightning is an excellent product.
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I would expect the inner metal parts on this grip to be much better quality than on the WH grip. This video
shows one workaround to correct for the soft metal in the WH grip.In any case, I am looking forward to trying out this new grip from RealSimulator. Their FSSB R3 Lightning is an excellent product.
That’s actually a very clever and simple fix as I have tried many different things. Time to 3D print something and solve this issue easy. Thanks for that!
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This thread provides a link to a 3D design file meant to address this: https://www.benchmarksims.org/forum/showthread.php?25507-Warthog-Cougar-mechanical-support-for-FSSB
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An exact copy, that is what I would pay for
- engraved lettering on the right places
- better metal inner strength than WH
- the incline angle
- the same ‘playroom’ mechanically
- the same force
- replica tightening nut
- force sensor must fit in stickblock
For that I am willing to pay a lot
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That Price for just a Stick is a bit too much for me. I’d rather just get a Warthog at that point. The fact that the “Home” Version has a bunch of unnecessary HATs, Whilst the “Military” Version is the 1:1 we’re looking for, but 100% unavailable to us Average Joes, Makes this a no-sell for me.
I’m wondering if there photos that indicate “MIL” means they are just comparing a real stick to their replica, rather than they designed and built a “mil” version and a “civ” version?