The Whole Rig
Towards the end of 2019, the Covid Pandemic was just starting to gain traction. With the need to stay home as much as possible, I looked to PC gaming to occupy my time. I purchased American Truck Simulator on Feb. 16th, 2020 on a Steam sale for $4.99 and thought I’d give it a try. Like many of us, I was hooked from the start.
I’ve been asked to write about my truck sim setup and settings by several people over the years. This series of posts (3 pages total) serve to showcase my truck simulator rig in its current state as of March 2025. I feel like I could write a large book on all of the upgrades, additions, fixes, modifications, testing and fine tuning that I have done over the years to get to this but, that will have to be another post, another time. There’s just so much to remember and write about that I encountered and learned along the way that, I’m afraid would make this series too long. With that, I hope that these pictures, my settings, and any shared insight here will help you with your sim setup and ultimately, your enjoyment of the game.
The Computer Systems
To power a rig like this, you need powerful computer systems. I say systems because I use two computers to power the full rig, one for running the actual game, and a second machine to offload secondary programs like streaming with OBS and Twitch, communications through Discord, moving maps, etc. I know one *could* run all this on one machine, and many do, but I didn’t want to sacrifice game performance for streaming and comms use. I also didn’t want to run in windowed mode, breaking the full-screen view of the sim. So, a second computer and monitor were added specifically for this purpose.
The main game machine is based on an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D, 8-core, 16 thread CPU, arguably one of the best AMD CPU’s out there for gaming. The system has 49GB of 2666 MT/s RAM and runs Windows 11. The video card is an AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX @ 24GB. All storage is via Samsung NVMe drives. All powered by an 850W Seasonic power supply.
The second, streaming computer is a Beelink AMD Ryzen 5 mini-computer using a 6-core, 12 thread Ryzen 5 5650U CPU with 16GB RAM and onboard graphics. There are 2 Microsoft web cams plugged into it for streaming purposes and a lapel microphone and powered soundbar for Discord communications. Both of these machines are wired to my local gigabit network.
Both of these machines sit on a simple cube stand located out of sight behind the 3 main monitors. Everything in the system is protected by a battery backup system as well. The small box you see sitting on the second shelf is the amplifier for the Buttkicker under the seat. More on that later.
The opposite side of the computer systems is exactly what you would expect – a rats nest of wires going everywhere. For sure nothing is tangled or stressed and everything has its place and reason, but the picture sure doesn’t look like it – lol! Frankly, unless you crawl back behind the monitors and look, you don’t really notice the mess.
Note that all of the monitors for the rig are mounted on free-standing tripods which allows for proper positioning to maintain a consistent and level view. I couldn’t find a better way to support 3 x 34″ curved monitors so, this is what I went with.
The Monitors
I have used several different configurations of monitors over the years. I started on a 15″ laptop screen! I’ve had single monitors, single curved monitors, triple flat screens, and a single 49″ ultra-wide. My current setup, and I might say my best setup, includes 3 x 34″ Acer Nitro Curved XZ2 monitors for the main game machine. The second machine’s monitor is at the center top and is a 32″ Acer Nitro Curved as well. The main view is over 7′ wide and curved to help surround the driver visually in the sim.
One more thing I should mention before moving on to the seat of the sim, the sound. Sound is provided by a Logitech Z906 5-way Surround Sound System. You can see the right, left, center and subwoofer speakers in various pictures throughout this series. I forgot to take pictures of the rear surround speakers. They are mounted on the ceiling behind the driver’s seat, about 4 feet away from the driver’s head. Sound positioning is an important part of sim design. In a surround sound environment I wanted the subwoofer, the main source for big diesel engine sounds located exactly where a real truck engine would be so, it’s placed just to the right of the center monitor. This helps with the immersion greatly!
The Cab
The cab (seat/cockpit) is based on an older version of the DOF Reality H3 Motion Platform. A little side-story: I purchased mine direct from DOF Reality – in the Ukraine! – in January 2022, right before Russia invaded! There were several months where I really didn’t know if I was going to get the motion platform or not! I did receive it about 2 1/2 months after I ordered it and it has been a game changer! DOF Reality has continued to update their products and has grown into more countries including the US. I wouldn’t hesitate to order something from them, as I feel they are a more solid company today.
The DOF Reality H3 Motion Platform is made specifically for people who want to use it for racing and/or flying and therefore, comes preset for a racing seat position, sitting low to the ground with the steering wheel more in-line like a racing car would be. I purchased mine for trucking and truck drivers don’t sit like that. The ugly wood blocks you see (I really should paint those) raise the seat position to be much more in line with the seating position a truck driver would have. It’s comfortable too! I’ve had to cut and modify other parts of the motion platform to get it to sit and work like a truck rather than a race car. Too many to list. If you decide to build your own sim based on any of these motion sim products, be ready to hack, saw and customize to suit!
So, what does it do? Well, it moves the seat and associated gear attached to it forward, backward, side-to-side and can sway (pitch, roll and yaw) based on the geometry the game you’re playing provides to the software driver! This means in American Truck Simulator (and ETS2) you feel the turns, the bumps over the train tracks, the pitch going up or down a hill or ramp and the push from the weight of the trailer behind you. With the right settings, it’s all there. Side note: Neither ATS or ETS2 have sway geometry. Frankly, you’re not going to be able to break the rear-end of a semi-truck loose in order to have rear sway so the game doesn’t provide it.
Around the back I have the Buttkicker Gamer Plus I mentioned earlier, mounted on a wood post bolted to the frame of the seat. The Buttkicker is very much a powered subwoofer without the cone. That black box sitting on the shelf with the computer systems is a 90 watt mono audio amplifier, tapping an audio feed from the surround sound system, and feeding that audio power to the Buttkicker under the seat. This provides the “feel” of the truck engine vibrating through the seat, like a real truck would and greatly increases the immersion and drivability of the sim because you can feel what the engine is doing!
Moving up the right side, you can see the Moza 7-position shifter mounted on the motion platform with an 18-speed shift knob mounted to it that includes transmission range, split and Jake Brake switches. I purchased this 18-speed shift knob from a small manufacturer off of Amazon. There are several manufacturers that make these shifter knobs out there. Most of them about the same quality too. Just above the shifter is the Simpanel Button Box.
From the left side of the sim rig you can see the Moza Steering Wheel Stalks, a great addition to the rig. The stalks are pretty much plug-and-play, easy to setup and work great!
It’s pretty obvious but if you can’t tell, I went with a full Moza Racing setup including the Moza R9 Direct Drive Wheel Base, the Moza TSW Truck Wheel, the Moza Multi-function Stalks, the Moza HGP Shifter and the Moza SR-P Lite Pedals with add-on Moza SR-P Clutch Pedal.
On the left side of the rig, opposite the Button Box and mounted in the same fashion, is the Corsair Mechanical Keyboard for the main game system.
A comfortable seat is a must for extended game play. For this I went with a GT Omega XL RS Sim Racing Seat. It’s a very comfortable, oversized seat that is adjustable and works very well for me.
Putting it all together, it’s hard to get a camera shot of the main view without setting the camera to a wide angle lens, which then distorts the game view considerably. It makes the scene look like the game view is very “fish eyed” and distorted on the edges. This is not the case when you are sitting in the driver’s seat.
It’s a very natural looking, continuous view sitting in the seat. Now, before everyone comments about how my view isn’t right and that I need to hack the multimon_config.sii file in the game and set for multi-monitor use, I’ve tried it. I don’t like it. I want a sensible, continuous view, not 3 different view angles like I’ve seen many others do. It’s weird and visually confusing to me. I do just fine with what I’ve got, thank you.
Cool, nice rig! What about the settings?
