Porsche 911 GT3 Replica Dash Review - GRID DDU10

• 10.3″ LCD Screen
• 1920×720 Resolution
• Up to 60 FPS
• 24 bit Colors
• Rev and Flag strip with 24 RGB LEDs
• Many options for Dash software – Including Sim Hub
• Porsche Licensed

The GRID by Sim-Lab DDU10 Dash boasts a beautifully finished 2mm thick CNC machined aluminium housing with no plastic anywhere on the unit.  The front face is completely covered by a single piece of borosilicate glass.  This glass is quite strong and will resist scratches quite well, although you definitely don’t want to drop it! The perfectly flat finish paired with the aluminium housing gives the DDU10 a very classy and clean appearance.

Opening up the unit we found that the display used is actually a “VSDISPLAY 10.3″ HSD103KPW2-A10 LCD Screen” which can be purchased from AliExpress for around €130.  That is obviously a lot less than what you are paying for the Complete DDU10 dash, so for those who are inclined to take on a DIY project, it is definitely possible to achieve similar functionality with off-the-shelf components and/or 3D printing, depending on your skill and what equipment you have access to.

The DDU10 has an HDMI input, a power connection and an Infrared receiver for the display. There is a USB connection to run the LED Rev and Flag Lights.  The display does have an additional HDMI connection, SD Card reader, and speaker output, but they are no accessible in the DDU10 enclosure.

A stand-out feature we noticed inside is the 3D-printed housing around the LED lights.  This ensures light does not leak between LEDs when illuminated.

GRID has made mounting the DDU10 as flexible as possible. They offer a wide range of support from most popular wheelbases or hardware you wish to mount the dash to.

As the DDU10 Porsche Dash is a standard HDMI display, it is as simple and flexible as any additional HDMI screen you might be plugging into your racing simulator.  You can take whatever dash software you like such as Sim Hub or Z1 Dash, and have it displayed on the DDU10.

Due to its atypical aspect ratio, some of your previous favourite dashes won’t make the most of this screen.  They will display fine with a grey area on either side of the dash.  But to make the most of this screen you can download layouts created by GRID, edit your old favourite layouts, or create your own from scratch.

I am a big fan of Sim Hub, which will give you an endless amount of customizability if you like to get creative, or get you up and running very fast if you are happy with the nice preset layouts provided.

The LED strip is also completely customizable through Sim Hub, with an endless amount of options for Rev lights, flag lights, spotter, and so on.  Setup is very simple, and the instructions provided by GRID will take you through everything you need to know very clearly.

The DDU10 is a very impressive bit of kit.  The display is sharp with a good contrast ratio.  The resolution is good for a screen this size at arms length, with even very small text like you might find on a leaderboard being easy to read.  It is a clear step down in screen quality than you might expect from an expensive smartphone, but is very much adequate for the purposes of a sim racing dash.  The display and LEDs are capable of being bright enough in a well lit room but can also be dimmed if need be.

In our particular setup with Triple 65″ screens, having an external dash does add a sense of depth to the setup.  Although the physical dash and in-game dash appear the same size in our setup, the information displayed does jump out at you more than it does on the primary screens. Add to that the customization, and there is a very good argument for the value of a dash like this when using big screens.

For a small screen, you will likely want the dash placed underneath your computer monitor.  As it is so big, you could end up blocking a lot of important screen space, but having your computer screen above the dash might not be ergonomically great.

The overall value proposition of owning the GRID by Sim-Lab DDU10 Porsche GT3 Replica Dash will vary significantly depending on your particular setup.  However, if you know that you want an external dash, this is a very good option. The appearance and hardware quality is extremely high which makes it a bit of gear that brings significant wow factor to your rig.

While Sim Racing gear is often a compromise between ease of use and customizability, the DDU10 really is both!  With a very simple and well-documented set-up along with the provided presets, it is as close to plug-and-play as possible. But if you do have the time and inclination to get creative, there is so much you can do with this.  From completely creating your own screen layouts from scratch, to programming the LED strips to behave exactly how you want.  Your creativity is likely going to be the limiting factor in what you can do with this.

The GRID by Sim-Lab PORSCHE 911 GT3 CUP DASHBOARD DISPLAY UNIT comes in at €599 and includes the following in the box:

• The DDU10 dash
• Switch Mode DC Power supply with a range of plug types for different locations
• 3m HDMI Cable
• 2m USB Cable
• Infrared Remote for basic screen adjustments
• Mounting bracket of your choice (Selected when ordering)

The dash software we recommend and used for this review is SimHub, which is donationware.  While you can use it for free, a few extra features will be unlocked if you make a donation.  We’d recommend making a donation even if you don’t need the extra features, as it really is a very powerful and valuable bit of software for all sorts of purposes.