When building the ultimate sim racing rig, it’s important to prioritise where to allocate your budget.  A high-end Direct Drive wheel base with 20Nm of torque might sound appealing, but if that means skimping on a solid cockpit, you likely won’t get the most out of your new bit of kit.  As with pedals, that hydraulic or load cell setup you’ve been eyeing off might not be as significant an upgrade to your system as a sturdy cockpit that gets your current gear installed with minimal flex in the ideal location.

So today we look at the Trak Racer TR120 Aluminium Racing Cockpit with TR-One wheel base and pedal mounts along with the Trak Racer GT-Style Fixed Fiberglass Bucket Seat, to help you decide if this could be the next big upgrade to your system.

The Trak Racer TR120 is a heavy-duty aluminium extrusion sim racing cockpit capable of supporting your sim racing peripherals with minimal flex.  The use of leaf spring T-Nuts is a simple and strong way to make sure all your gear is mounted to the cockpit as solid as possible.  While the aluminium is smaller in width than other cockpits like the Trak Racer TR160 and Sim-Labs P1X, the profile is well constructed and provides plenty of strength where needed.  The powder-coated finish is classy but scratches quite easily. Make sure you are careful during assembly so that you can maintain its good looks.

TR-One Wheel Base Mount

The TR120 has several options for mounting your wheel base.  We have the TR-One system which is a standard width compatible with any aluminium cockpit with provision for a 580mm wheel deck provided that your uprights are high enough.

Within the TR-One system, there are a few options for wheel mounting plates, all of which are interchangeable using the same TR-One wheel deck bracket system.

First, we have the “TR-One Fully Adjustable DIrect Fit Wheel Mount for Fanatec Podium DD1 DD2 CSL DD”. We were happy with this wheel mount when put through its paces with a Fanatec DD2.  Installation is simple and achievable with 1 person (but easier with 2).  We found there to be plenty of adjustability for our needs and it was very rigid, with very minimal flex (watch our full review video to see our flex tests and driving tests.

We then have the “TR-One Fully Adjustable Direct For Wheel Mount for Simucube, VRS, Accuforce, OSW, Mige etc.”

This provides a front mounting plate for direct drive wheel bases.  It is a simple and sturdy solution that serves its purpose well for compatible wheel bases.  Check the Track racer website for a full list of compatibility.

The “TR-One Universal Fully Adjustable Direct Fit Wheel Deck” is for a large range of wheel bases that are mounted from the bottom such as the Thrustmaster: T300, TC-PS, TS-XW, Logitech: G27, G920, G923, Fanatec Elite, Clubsport and CSL DD. (See Trak Racer website for complete list)

This wheel deck adds significant height to the wheek base over the other mounting options which could leave you with very little room for your knees if you are tall.  It does provide ample angle adjustment and is about as sturdy as any other wheel deck of this style we have seen.

TR-One Adjustable Gen2 Pedal Mounting System

The TR-One series also covers your Pedal Mount needs with the very impressive “TR-One Universal Aluminium Profile Pedal Mount with Heel Plate”

This clever design makes it very easy to mount a huge range of pedals with excellent rigidity and adjustability.  As you are mounting your pedals directly to 2 pieces of aluminium profile, any flex inherent with a large sheet of metal used as a pedal plate is eliminated.  With pedals such as the Heusinkveld Ultimates or Sprints, the ability to mount each pedal individually means you have complete side to side adjustment within the profile channels.  There is then a huge amount of movement available on the heel plate to ensure the perfect position for your feet and pedals.  This pedal mounting system is a huge upgrade from previous Trak Racer pedal mounts and is a stand out feature in this entire cockpit that we have here for review.

So we had high hopes for this GT-Style seat, but unfortunately, it doesn’t come close to the Rally-Style seat.  There is a large amount of flex in the seat even to the point where the back actually pops outwards when braking.  This might not be a problem for some drivers who use a small amount of pressure under braking, but there is still a fair amount of twist in this seat which undoes a lot of the good work of this otherwise very sturdy cockpit.

Be sure to watch our full review which gives a good visual representation of any flex we were able to find in different components of the TR120, TR-One Wheel Mount, TR-One Pedal Mount, and GT-Style seat.

While this cockpit represents good value and an all-around good experience from build to drive, it is important to understand the shipping costs and import taxes you may need to pay to get an item of this size and value to you.  It is great for us in Australia to have this as an option with minimal shipping costs, making it a very good value cockpit compared to other options, but this might not quite be the case where you live.

We have had a close look at a number of cockpits recently, so be sure to check out our review library to arm yourself with all the information you need before making a decision.