It's relatively obvious that the quicker your CPU and your 3D accelerator, and the higher the quality of the rest of your PC components, the better you will be able to run the latest and greatest sims. Sims with support for proprietary 3D APIs (as for 3dfx or Rendition video cards), once the law of the land, are now a thing of the past; these days we find only Microsoft Direct 3D support, making a quick D3D card the best bet to run them well. Today's sims also support the latest in four-channel directional sound, making a four-speaker setup with subwoofer a worthwhile investment.

The serious sim racer needs a good wheel/pedal combo to truly appreciate the experience - a standard joystick or gamepad just doesn't cut it, and don't even think about using the keyboard for car control!  My control device of choice is ACT LABS' reasonably-priced RS wheel coupled with their spectacular RS Shifter and Clutch Performance Pedal System. As I don't feel Force Feedback (FF) is yet refined enough to warrant using, I opted against the FF version of the wheel (the Force RS), though its reputation is excellent. The RS Shifter, an H-pattern shifter which can also be used as a standard sequential shifter when desired, is one of the most spectacular realism-enhancing pieces of sim-racing hardware available, and is enjoying ever-wider sim support. Moreover, ACT LABS' Clutch Performance Pedal System provides the all-around best accelerator, brake, and clutch pedals I've ever used. See the RS Shifter/Clutch section for more details on these items.

However, just as critical as your choice of wheel and pedal hardware is the degree to which you maintain it. Like a real racing driver, the sim racer needs to know how to keep his machine well-sorted and how to adjust it to suit his needs.

One of the sim racer's number one enemies is the dirty potentiometer (or "pot"), manifested by erratic, jittery wheel movement or "spiking" which prevents the kind of precise control the serious sim racer requires. Fortunately, the use of a contact cleaner on the offending pot will return the hardware to good working order. Simply open your wheel, find the pot (a small circular object with a notch in it), and shoot a quick spray of contact cleaner into the notch. (I use CAIG Laboratories' DeoxIT D5.) Work the wheel back and forth to help the cleaner remove any oxidation, reassemble the unit, and you should be good to go.

There are some adjustments you should make on the software side of things, too. Proper calibration is, of course, essential. If your wheel has a large range of movement (as does the ACT LABS RS) you may wish to calibrate so as to restrict your X-axis, depending upon your driving preferences. Also crucial is the capability to adjust each of your controller's axes' deadzones - that is, the amount of free play in the wheel or pedal before any cursor movement is seen. I suggest a visit to The StickWorks for some excellent Windows-based utilities to adjust controller deadzones and sensitivities. Work with these values until you've got something you like, and note that you may prefer different settings for different sims.

If you're using the joystick port on your sound card, I'd recommend instead a dedicated game card - or better yet, a device which utilizes USB (Universal Serial Bus). You may well experience a significant in-game performance increase.