What are the Best F1 Cockpits for Formula Sim Racing?

An F1-style cockpit tends to indicate one thing: you’re an F1 fan. And when you go looking for one, what you’re really after is the formula single seater arrangement – leaning back, sitting lower, legs slightly more raised than a typical 8020-style cockpit. I’ve always thought the F1 rigs are closer to lying in the sim rather than sitting on it, but that’s the correct style for an F1 sim race. If F1’s your thing, the selection below is the best of what’s on the market today.

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What makes a good F1 cockpit? | Trak Racer TR5 | Playseat Instinct | TRX V2 | TRF and AMR26 | Alpine TRA | Sim-Lab AMG | Playseat Intelligence | Formula seats | Compatibility

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What makes a good F1 cockpit?

Let’s start with the seating position. A formula rig leans you back, drops you lower, and raises your legs – the geometry of the car, not of an office chair with pedals.

Stiffness is really important (very low to no “flex”). Braking in an F1 position should be a bit like using a leg press machine – you may not use the full force of your load cell, but 80 to 100 kg through the brake pedal face is realistic.

A chassis that flexes under that steals both the realism and your consistency. Back in the day I had an RSeat RS1, and there was a lot of flex in the pedal base – I measured it to about four degrees under full load. The manufacturers have got that message: Playseat now builds a flex-free pedal plate into the Intelligence, and the TRA’s pedal plate holds rock-solid under heavy braking. Basically the current generation of cockpits for F1 are far stiffer than the rig I started on.

The advertising power of the F1 brand has made F1 a very common entry point to sim racing over the past couple of years, and that, in my opinion, is why the Playseat-style tubular chassis is the popular option.

The other thing about this style of chassis is how much easier it is to assemble. Provided your wheelbase is compatible with the rig’s wheel deck, you bolt on the base, the pedals, the monitor on its stand, and go racing. The accessories tend to be packaged in or easy to find – a compatible monitor mount is often included or even welded to the chassis now. 8020 is much easier these days but for single seater racing I think tubular has won the day.

Trak Racer TR5 a solid beginner rig

The TR5 is the smallest sensible spend that can handle the torque of a direct drive base. $599 USD gets you a carbon steel tube frame with reclined and upright driving positions, a backrest that adjusts from 85 to 145 degrees, and a wheel deck rated for wheelbases up to 25 Nm.

Naturally it works with PC, PlayStation or Xbox – console racers are a big and growing part of this market. The budget tubular rig market has evolved – the TR5 is fatigue-tested to 150 kg static across 16,000 cycles. This is a candidate for your first rig, and it’s a good one. The trade-off is exactly what you’d expect at the entry point – a big DD base and heavy load-cell braking will find its limits before the more expensive kit does.

Playseat Formula Instinct – the F1-licensed starter

Playseat’s Formula Instinct carries the official F1 licence and an authentic F1 position – and at $749.99 CAD from Advanced Sim Racing it isn’t all that much more expensive than the TR5. The X-Adapt aluminium quick-release handles wheel-support adjustment, the pedal mount adjusts for angle, height and length, for a driver height between 120 to 220 cm. At 23 kg, it’s light and stowable, which makes it the rig for the racer who can’t leave a cockpit out all week – fold it away, get it back out at the weekend.

It takes a direct drive base per Playseat’s spec. Just know that light and stowable is the opposite of mass and stiffness: the (really) heavy-braking crowd should look further up the page.

Trak Racer TRX V2 – the Formula and GT switcher

The TRX V2 is the tubular rig that I consider to be a bit more, “hybrid”. It’s priced at the time of writing at $999 USD, comes with four liveries (Black, Bull Blue, Silver Arrow, Tifosi Red), and a chassis that switches between Formula and GT seating positions, hence the hybrid moniker. You get one rig, designed for both driving styles, with adjustable seat, pedal and wheel placement throughout.

For PC, PlayStation and Xbox gamers alike, it has the same easy tubular assembly as the rest of the range. There’s heritage in this platform too – the earlier TRX shipped in Alpine Racing trim, back when Trak Racer’s F1 partnership first showed up on their chassis. If you want the F1 position but you’re not ready to give up GT racing to get it, this is the rig that lets you keep both.

Trak Racer TRF and the Aston Martin AMR26 – for the dedicated Formula One driver

The TRF is the dedicated formula cockpit – built to replicate the low-slung seating position and cockpit geometry of a real formula car, body fairing included, with no concession towards GT sim racers at all. The AMR26 wears an official Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team licence and livery. Both are $999 USD and both are in stock as I write. The purpose-built integrated single monitor stand adds $109 and takes screens from 32 to 49 inches including ultrawides – and a single 49-inch ultrawide is exactly what I’d run on a rig like this, for pure “let’s go racing” simplicity – “I know which sim I want to run; I just want to go racing without fiddling with hardware and firmware settings all day”. These two are for the F1 fan who wants the position and the full “belt and braces” F1 feel:

BWT Alpine TRA – the hybrid in aluminium profile

As you know, Trak Racer is the Official Simulator Supplier of the Alpine F1 Team, and the TRA is the aluminium-profile item in the lineup. $1,399 USD buys the setup with a pedal plate that features rapid tool-free angle and distance adjustment to switch between Formula and GT setups.

The wheel mount flips between flat and upright orientations, and the seat slides and reclines on quick-adjust levers. Think of this hybrid cockpit as the bridge between the tubular quick-start rigs and the 8020 world: profile stiffness but without the convenience of tubular. This would be a good long term rig, or ideal for when you want to run at Le Mans in a GT3 car instead.

Sim-Lab Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS cockpit – the 8020 formula

Sim-Lab’s Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS cockpit is the premium 8020 route to the formula position. It’s priced at EUR 1,010 for the officially licensed frame in Sim-Lab’s usual super-rigid aluminium profile construction, with front, side and wheel-deck mounts included.

This is the rig for serious load-cell braking – full 8020 stiffness, formula geometry, and the Mercedes garage look. One thing to know before checkout: this is the frame. The matching AMG seat and its mounting kit are separate purchases, so price the whole build on the website before you commit rather than at the basket.

Playseat Formula Intelligence – is money no object?

The Formula Intelligence is the other end of Playseat’s F1 licence, and it’s the manufacturers-got-the-message rig in one product. It’s $2,684.99 CAD at Advanced Sim Racing as I write. The frame is reinforced for professional-grade braking, the pedal plate is flex-free and rated for heavy load-cell and hydraulic brakes, and the monitor mount is integrated, taking VESA patterns from 50 up to 200×100. There’s a nice touch here too – the seat section slides open so you can climb in standing rather than folding yourself over the fairing (which makes me look like an idiot every time).

At this money you’re into full 8020 custom-build territory – so this is for the serious buyer who wants stiffness and the F1 look without giving up the quick start.

The formula seat on its own

Maybe your rig is already fine and it’s only the driving position you’re missing. In that case you don’t need a whole cockpit, just the seat. On a simulator there’s no crash to walk away from, so a seat isn’t buying you safety; it’s buying comfort, and a supported position you can hold for a long stint. Mine is a Sim Dynamics race seat, built by Motordrive here in the UK – a bit of a special one, embroidered and customised. What gives out first on a long session is lower-back support, so that’s what I care about most. I run a separate cushion in the same mesh as the seat: sometimes under me for a little height, sometimes lower with it at the base of my spine. It depends how I feel that day.

Race seats share their base and mounting dimensions. It’s a four-point side mount, roughly 290 mm between the points, so almost any race seat fits almost any rig. On an 8020 aluminium-profile frame all you need is a pair of decent seat brackets. You’re not tied to the sim-racing brands, either – a proper motorsport seat, a Sparco or the Tillett I run in my Elan, bolts on the same way. The number worth checking is about you, not the rig: the width between the bolsters. Match the seat’s quoted waist and hip range to your own and you’ll stay comfortable.

Trak Racer’s HSX Hybrid Formula bucket – a fibreglass shell developed with Alpine F1 engineers, hybrid Formula/GT position – is $399 in black or $449 in the official BWT Alpine livery (that’ll be the licencing cost).

The HCF is the same idea executed in genuine motorsport-grade carbon fibre with integrated harness slots, at $899. Both side-mount to Trak Racer’s tube and extrusion frames and to other branded rigs (it’s a standard mount and width pattern). Seat sliders are sold separately, which is worth remembering when you total the order.

The Advanced Formula Seat is the one I’d point most people at first. At $599.99 CAD it fills the gap for a proper formula-position seat under four figures – a fibreglass shell with the angled formula recline you’re after. It ships with the seat sliders and an Advanced Side Bracket in the box, so it goes onto an aluminium-profile rig straight away. That makes it the sensible first formula seat when you’d rather not fuss over the mounting.

Spend more and the Sparco GP Formula Seat is the real thing: a genuine Sparco motorsport fibreglass seat, the kind you’d bolt into an actual race car. At $1,069.99 CAD it comes with the Advanced Formula Side Brackets, so it drops onto a sim rig too. It’s real race-car kit that fits the frame the way a sim seat does. If you’re in it for the long haul, it’s the authentic choice.

Compatibility and the rest of the rig

Before any of this, it’s good to make one check: your wheelbase bolts to the rig’s wheel deck. The universal decks on these rigs carry Fanatec from the CSL DD through to the DD+, Moza R3 to R21, Simagic, Simucube, Thrustmaster and Logitech – but check your specific base against the rig’s compatibility list before ordering, and budget for a motor-mount adapter if one is named. Our direct drive wheels guide covers the bases themselves.

Pedals deserve the same care. Heavy load-cell braking is the whole point of F1, so mind each rig’s pedal-plate rating – our sim racing pedals guide is the place to choose the set. Platform-wise, the tubular rigs here (the TR5, the TRX, both Playseats) are console-friendly, and our PS5 sim racing buyers guide covers the Sony side of the garage.

For screens, a single ultrawide on the integrated mounts keeps things simple – our gaming monitors guide has the current picks – or step up to a freestanding triple stand once the rig outgrows it. Our best sim rigs guide covers the wider 8020 market, and the F1 wheels guide finishes the formula build. If F1’s your thing, definitely have a look at the selection above – enjoy!

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Topic: Sim Racing Cockpits