Our Verdict
Pros
- Incredibly easy to install and adjust
- Clean design
- Compatible with almost all products
- Well-priced, cheaper than the direct competition
- Upgradable with a lot of accessories
Cons
- Some flex present during heavy FFB moments
- Casters and F1 upgrade adds to flex
- Design is fairly generic
- CHASE seat is too small
When it comes to the world of sim racing cockpits, there are a lot of directions you can go in to fit your requirements and budget. However, there is no doubt that an 8020 aluminium profile sim rig is generally the best you can buy.
Aluminium profile sim rigs offer a blend of rigidity and huge customisation options. The GT Omega PRIME cockpit is the hero product for Scottish sim racing brand GT Omega. I’ve been using this cockpit for a couple of months. During this time, I’ve put the rig through its paces with a range of hardware, which has allowed us to create this comprehensive review of the GT Omega PRIME cockpit.
Straight away, you may notice that the PRIME cockpit in this video isn’t the standard PRIME. I have installed a range of official GT Omega accessories to turn it into a more hybrid F1-style cockpit. These accessories, along with the PRIME cockpit were all sent to us by GT Omega for review, so a big thanks to them for making this review possible.
What is the GT Omega PRIME?
The PRIME cockpit is GT Omega’s largest and most premium 8020 sim rig. It utilises a range of 160x40mm profile pieces, which allows it to be extremely performance-focused and rigid.
I have upgraded to include the F1-style wheel mount, which contains slanted 80x40mm extrusion pieces. These allow the wheel to be mounted closer to the seat, which, alongside the F1 seat mount, allows for a very reclined seating position.
These slanted 80x40mm uprights are smaller than the standard PRIME uprights, which are 120x40mm. This configuration potentially sacrifices some outright stability, as the larger 120x40mm PRIME uprights will eliminate slightly more flex during gameplay.
I also have the F1 pedal upgrade, which, like the seat mount, allows for greater adjustability with the pedals’ positioning. In this case, I can mount the pedals higher and the seat at a more angle to achieve a seating position closer to an F1 setup.
You won’t be able to achieve a fully reclined F1 driving position, but you can get much closer than you could without the accessories.
Watch our video review
Price
Now, let’s get into the price before I start sharing my thoughts on this cockpit. In its standard configuration, without the upgrades, you’re looking at a price of £580 or $665 for the cockpit alone without a seat.
This puts it in a similar price category to the Sim-Lab GT1 Pro, which I also reviewed. It is cheaper than the P1X Pro which is currently my go-to sim rig of choice.
| Region | Price |
|---|---|
| United States | $665 |
| Europe | €699 |
| United Kingdom | £580 |
If you choose to add a GT Omega bucket seat like the one I have been using, the total price will be £820 or $975. This is a lot of money, but it is actually slightly cheaper than options from Sim-Lab or Trak Racer.
Adding to the price, I also have the integrated monitor mount, plus the seat, pedal and frame upgrades, leading to a grand total of around £1400.
- Buy the GT Omega PRIME (United States) – From $665
- Buy the GT Omega PRIME (Europe) – From €699
- Buy the GT Omega PRIME (United Kingdom) – From £580
Design & build quality
With the GT Omega PRIME being a pretty large investment, you’ll want it to perform incredibly well, and that starts with the design and build quality of this sim rig.
When you first look at the GT Omega PRIME, it looks relatively standard. It doesn’t have many design flairs that you may find with other brands. GT Omega is keeping things clean and simple.
The base utilises 160x40mm extrusion strips that form the cockpit’s outline. With these being 160mm wide, they start strong, providing a solid platform to build from.
All extrusion pieces are anodized black with a satin finish. This gives the overall cockpit a clean appearance, although finger prints can show up easily, and the extrusion can be scratched pretty easily when making adjustments. You’ll see that my cockpit already has a fair few battle scars.
The cockpit is held together with a series of T-nuts, although GT Omega decided it’d be fun to include two different T-nut styles. One is thinner than the other, and the thicker T-nut does not fit certain parts.
This isn’t a major problem but it adds another layer of complexity to the build as you need to ensure you’re using the right-sized T-nut.
As standard, GT Omega does include a shifter mounting platform which is a nice touch, but fairly standard with more premium cockpits.
Assembling the entire sim rig is a long, albeit relatively painless, experience, with all pre-drilled holes aligning perfectly.
Seat and pedal mounting
Due to the upgrades, I had to follow a slightly different process for the seat and pedals, but like the rest of the sim rig, they came together easily. The bucket seat that I have includes the seat brackets, so you won’t need any further accessories other than the seat itself.
The accessories I used for the seat and pedal mounting included some machined aluminium pieces, which felt extremely solid with zero flex. As a whole, all elements are incredibly well machined, with nothing standing out as an issue during construction.
Issues with the GT Omega PRIME
That isn’t to say that I don’t have a few issues with this sim racing cockpit. My first issue is something that most sim racing cockpit brands are guilty of, and that is regarding the integrated monitor mount.
Monitor mount issue
The design of the mount itself is excellent with a lot of adjustability. You can adjust the angle that it is mounted to the uprights, as well as the horizontal position of your screen.
However, the piece of extrusion that forms the main mounting element protrudes considerably from the sides of my monitor. As I said, other brands are guilty of this as well, with my Sim-Lab P1X Pro cockpit having the same issue.
I understand why this is done, as it allows for triple screens to be mounted. However, for those who sim race with a single screen, we don’t need this element to be so long. It would be great if cockpit brands eat the small expense of including a secondary piece of extrusion designed specifically for single monitors.
This would have saved my head on multiple occasions when I hit it after making adjustments to the sim rig. It can also negatively affect where you position your sim rig, as it protrudes a good 200mm from the main frame of the cockpit on both sides.
Racing seat issue
My second issue was slightly bigger and is due to the racing seat I’m using. I chose the CHASE bucket seat as this is the style of seat I prefer to use. On GT Omega’s website, they say the seat has a body hugging design, and this is no lie.
I’m just over 6 foot in height, and this seat is without a doubt too small for me. The height of the rear of the seat is too short and the side bolsters sit too low down and are too narrow.
I could not get into a comfy position using this seat, and in the end had to slouch to have enough freedom of movement around my shoulders and upper arms. This is strange, as I have used the GT Omega XL seat in the past, which felt more than large enough, and well designed.
If you are slightly stocky or over about 5’9″, you’re probably going to struggle to fit in this seat. As a direct comparison, I have my Sim-Lab Speed 3 seat setup right next to this one, and I fit like a glove. My recommendation is to either look at purchasing a different GT Omega seat, or using a different branded seat with this PRIME cockpit.
Compatibility with other products
Getting back to the good bits of this cockpit, one area where it excels is its compatibility with various racing wheels and pedals. I chose the wheel deck because I’m constantly swapping racing wheels in and out.
Other wheel mounts are available, including front and side mounts designed specifically for wheel bases from Fanatec and Simucube. These also use an aluminium profile that lets you mount additional accessories, such as button boxes, to this horizontal area.
The wheel deck that I have installed is pre-drilled to fit just about everything I could throw at it.
The same is true of the pedal mount which uses strips of aluminium profile to mount to. This approach means you can mount virtually any pedal to this cockpit by adjusting the position of the pieces of profile.
If you are taking my advice and using a different seat, the good news is that the seat slider and mount can accommodate most bucket seats or reclining racing seats.
How easy are adjustments?
Throughout this sim rig, there are a wide range of adjustments available. Using the upgraded pedal mount and seat mount, there are tooless adjustments available, making positioning these elements incredibly easy. This system is the easiest I have come across to date and I hope to see more tooless adjustments like these on more sim rigs moving forward.
Other adjustments will require you to break out your collection of Allen keys, with all adjustments only requiring you loosen a few bolts. As I mentioned earlier, the frame is easily scratched, so try to loosen the bolts as much as possible before moving or sliding anything.
Using a combination of adjustments in where the vertical uprights are mounted and the adjustments available in the wheel deck allowed me to find a comfortable position very quickly, minus the seat discomfort. The CHASE bucket seat does come with an integrated seat slider though which does help with getting in and out of the cockpit.
How well does the GT Omega PRIME perform?
Finally, I must share my thoughts on the performance. This is one of the key reasons that a sim racer would shell out a lot of money for an 8020 sim rig.
It is important to note a few things here. I have swapped the vertical uprights for the smaller 80x40mm extrusion, and this cockpit is sitting on the optional casters. Both of these elements lead to some flex creeping into the cockpit.
You can see that when I push the cockpit laterally, there is some wobble present. Looking at where it originates from, the majority is from the casters, and the rest appears to come from the vertical uprights.
Comparing the flex to that of the Sim-Lab P1X Pro, the Sim-Lab cockpit wins hands down as it is rock solid. Although the P1X Pro is considerably more expensive than the PRIME cockpit. Using a fairer comparison, the Sim-Lab GT1 Pro, you can see that the levels of flex are very comparable.
During gameplay, this flex is much less present compared to the lateral flex test. I didn’t notice any real flex that distracted me from my gameplay. I tested this cockpit with three wheel bases, the MOZA R12 that you see here, along with the more powerful Fanatec ClubSport DD+ and Asetek Forte wheels.
At maximum power, around 18Nm of peak torque, vibrations were noticeable when driving over gravel or during snap oversteer moments. However, when I tuned this down to around 10-12Nm with all three wheelbases, these vibrations became much less apparent.
Final thoughts: Should you buy the GT Omega PRIME cockpit?
As a whole, the GT Omega PRIME performs well, especially considering its lower price compared to its direct competition. Despite a few notable flaws, this is an excellent 8020 aluminium profile cockpit.
My choice of the CHASE racing seat was a poor one, and I’d recommend others choose a different seat, although this doesn’t compromise my final thoughts on this excellent cockpit.
The design won’t blow anyone away, but is clean and inoffensive, and the ease of adjustments makes this an incredibly accessible sim racing cockpit, with excellent compatibility with other products.
GT Omega offers a great range of hardware from its cheaper wheel stands, right through to this top-of-the-range 8020 sim rig. If you’re a fan of the brand, you’re going to like this cockpit just as much, leading me to recommend the PRIME to anyone looking for excellent performance at a reasonable price tag.
Technical Specifications
Review written by Felix König
