Sim Lab AMG Petronas Cockpit

Our rating : 9.3/10

The Simlab brand has been a partner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team for many years, and this manufacturer of sim-racing peripherals has a solid reputation. Its range mainly covers cockpits, but also includes steering wheels, pedals, handbrakes and shifters, as well as flight simulation equipment.

Simlab is a major player in the sim-racing cockpit industry, with products that are both high-quality, configurable and affordable. The brand uses aluminum profiles for its chassis structures, a guarantee of robustness and upgrability.

Among the cockpits available to us is the AMG Petronas. It’s Simlab’s top-of-the-range cockpit, and is now equipped with our setup for a full test to see what it has to offer.

Chassis main and technical features

• Aluminium profile structure
• Dimensions: 1566 mm x 836 mm x 850 mm
• Available with or without bucket seat
• Low seat for F1 driving position
• Compatible with monitor brackets
• Adjustable base and pedal decks
• Seat slides to adjust driving position
• Official replica chassis

Design

The Simlab AMG Petronas cockpit is a chassis with a very sober design. It’s an aluminum profile cockpit, and dark gray dominates the build with a few logos on the base of the chassis, notably those of Simlab and AMG Petronas.

The cockpit is almost entirely black, enhancing the overall chassis design. In its entirety, the AMG Petronas is a beautiful, minimalist cockpit, and will go perfectly for an F1-oriented setup.

Customized assembly

The chassis comes standard with a Simlab F1-specific bucket seat. You can, of course, order it without a bucket, or even a runner, if you already have one at home.

To be able to run on this chassis, you need to assemble it, as it will be delivered to you in parts. Assembly is easy, as you don’t need many parts to assemble the chassis.

Simlab offers several customization options on the brand’s website, including monitor mounts, tubs and more. As far as base mounting is concerned, there’s only the front option, which limits your choice in terms of Direct Drive bases.

Manufacturing and finishing

This chassis uses aluminum extrusions for the entire structure of the device. It’s minimalist, as usual, and also very well made.

The build quality is simply excellent, with great attention to detail. Every part of this chassis is superbly cut, down to the smallest detail.

As for the finish, you’d expect a premium product, and I assure you, it is. All the profile bars are very well cut, with covers on the edges. You won’t hurt yourself when handling or assembling this chassis.

Chassis adjustment

In terms of adjustment, the AMG Petronas cockpit isn’t exactly a star pupil, for the simple reason that it’s a Formula 1 chassis. You can adjust the height and depth of the base deck, as well as the bottom bracket deck at various angles, and the bucket seat.

Aside from the F1 driving position, endurance or GT racing can be tough. Well, if you’ve got a bucket that can be adjusted for height on its own, then you can use the AMG Petronas cockpit for competitions other than F1. But if you take the seat that comes with it, you’ll be limited to motorsport’s premier discipline.

In itself, this isn’t really a problem, since this chassis clearly states that it’s intended for Formula. And if you decide to buy it, you’re perfectly aware of that.

Sensations during play

Let’s move on to what this Simlab cockpit can do for AMG fans. As far as the structure is concerned, I have nothing to report as it’s very sturdy. The base deck can accommodate a Fanatec DD2, as well as Simagic and Simucube motors delivering over 20 nm of torque.

As far as the bucket seat is concerned, I find that it’s well wrapped, which limits movement if you have a dynamic chassis, or rather mod the AMG Petronas cockpit so that it becomes one. The seat is flush with the floor, with the legs naturally raised. This makes for very good immersion in F1 racing, and is also the main reason why the AMG Petronas cockpit was built.

The pedal assembly is managed by a deck that can be adjusted in several planes. What’s more, this support can accommodate a long list of sim-racing pedalboards, in Load Cell or not. In fact, Simlab offers its own pedalboard, the XP1, as well as an F1 AMG steering wheel, if you want to stick with the same brand theme.

If you’re looking for side mounts, Simlab doesn’t offer any specifically for the AMG Petronas cockpit. First and foremost, this chassis is designed for Formula racing, and the days when drivers shifted gears by hand with a stick are long gone. However, since it’s an aluminum profile chassis, you won’t have much trouble finding brackets to go with it.

The AMG Petronas cockpit is one I’ve really enjoyed using in sim-racing. Simlab knows what it’s doing in this category, and benefits from its many years of experience.

Compatibility

When it comes to Direct Drive bases, the list on Simlab’s website is rather meagre in terms of native compatibility. Only front-mounted DD bases can be installed on the AMG Petronas cockpit. This leaves you with several choices from Fanatec, Simagic, Simucube and VRS. The reason is that the manufacturer doesn’t offer a deck with bottom mounting in the cockpit catalog.

As for pedalboards, the list is far more generous, touching on several models from Fanatec, Simlab, Logitech, Simagic, Moza and the list goes on. Pedalboards are simpler to integrate into a cockpit, as their mounting pattern is “standard” in most cases.

Value for money

The AMG Petronas cockpit is an expensive piece of premium equipment. It’s certainly not the most expensive on the market, at least when compared to offerings from PlaySeat, for example, but the asking price is still high.

Without bucket or slide, the bill comes to almost €1,090, and with full option, the cockpit goes for almost €1,690. This is no exception to the rule at Simlab, where you can find inexpensive bare-bone chassis that cost an arm and a leg in full option.

The value for money of this cockpit is both good if you see PlaySeat’s offerings, and not extra if you’re running on anything other than Formula.

My verdict

So here’s my verdict on Simlab’s AMG Petronas cockpit. The highlights, it’s a very nice chassis, solid and superbly well made. It’s perfect for Formula fans, and will greatly enhance your racing immersion.

If you only do Formula, I highly recommend it, even if the price is a little high for the full option. This is quality equipment that won’t let you down in a few years.

But if you’re a virtual pilot who dabbles in a bit of everything, you’ll find what you’re looking for in other Simlab chassis, especially in “hybrid” versions. The price will be more or less the same, so don’t count on it to save you money, but you’ll have a versatile setup.