Trak Racer TR80 Mk5 | Brutally Honest Review

[@perclevfors876]

It’s stated on their homepage that it takes 7h to assemble. If you did it in 6h, I do not really see what the problem is. Your expectations was wrong. Im interested in one myself and are not looking foreward to the assembly either.

[@TheBadRacer]

Someone else pointed out to me that it states that. I missed that bit! What’s worse is if they know it takes 7 hrs, why haven’t they thought about reducing the build time by making a few tweaks.

[@crazyace2116]

It’s probably the fact that most of the reviewers are like oh it takes an hour or 2 only.

[@ImThe5thKing]

@@TheBadRacer Because making tweaks to make the build easier most likely means it won't be as solid. People buy these types of cockpits because they're rigid and easily customizable. The downside is the assembly. Any aluminum profile rig takes this long to assemble

So basically you don't have the slightest idea how to assemble a basic structure and somehow it's their fault?

[@TheBadRacer]

😂 have you built one?

@@TheBadRacer dude it's easy it's just bolts... Just read the manual and do some preparation before, you have all the parts, bolts, tools etc.. scattered on the floor what did you expect ? Yes it's time consuming but it's not they're fault.

[@TheBadRacer]

That’s what I said… I don’t think you’re aware of how shit their spring loaded t-nuts are. Yeah I had to scatter everything out around me because I’m a bit limited on space with it being in a bedroom. And there’s no way I’m getting through a door.

[@RonMayland]

Rtfm I guess you have 2 left hands. Seriously it's like lego. I build my own in 3 hours

[@TheBadRacer]

Well done 👍 Thanks for watching and commenting

[@dniedbyalstategaming4737]

I got a simlab. Took me about 2-3 hours to assemble for the cockpit and another 1-2 hour for the standalone triple monitor mount.

[@TylerSL92]

clearly a skill issue

[@TheBadRacer]

I wouldn’t be so sure

[@chrisbarker5336]

Definitely skill and patience issue 😁

[@mikelvn5410]

Best aturdy cockpit for the money. I went with tr8 pro cause didnt wanna assemle it. Next time invite your handy friend to help thats always my plan lol. It also says recommended 2 people for assembly

[@TheBadRacer]

You were wise not wanting to assemble it! 😂

[@lestercombs1871]

Quit crying. I’m a disabled vet and have the same rig. Took me two weeks. Could only work an hour at a time.

[@rionrawskins9255]

14 days x 1 hour?

[@MarkNOTW]

Should have watched Boosted Media's video on tips for building an 8020 rig.

[@wngnpom]

'After a few months and much research'? If you'd researched that build you should have known the build time. I have the TR120 with seperate x3 monitor stand and it took me a lot longer than that. Is what it is. Outside of the scratches whenever you need to make adjustments the product is bloody great!

[@TheBadRacer]

That’s what I had to tell the wife to make it sound like a sensible buy! 😂 I don’t ever want to undo another bolt on it again lol

[@Photosbykev1]

6 hours is not unreasonable, considering you wasted time fitting the wrong transverse sections for the seat mount. Unless you thought you were building a side by side cockpit it's very clear on the video it was too wide. I'm starting a PSR1 rig build this weekend and expect it to take me the weekend to get it tweaked to my satisfaction

[@TheBadRacer]

The width didn’t really cross my mind until I needed two uprights at 780mm, then it was obvious.. I still believe there’s a serious assembly issue if it takes customers an average of 6/7 hours to bolt together 17 components. That doesn’t include any extras like monitor stands etc

[@ElDuderinoAus]

@@TheBadRacer That time-frame is perfectly reasonable for a novice to build something like this. Your time could have been reduced significantly with pre-planning, preparing all your fixings in advance, and laying everything out in sequence. ;)

[@TigerDave]

I feel your pain. I built my TR-80 lite 2 years ago. Even though I am in my 50s and have been an IT network engineer for 30 years, and even though I do all the repairs around my own house, and even though I always work on my cars, it still took me over 6 hours to assemble my rig. Six freaking hours. Yes I took my time but dang these rigs still take way too long to assemble. 😮 I've spent another 20+ hours fine-tuning and adjusting it since then. The 8020 bars were still covered in burrs on the ends and was missing some bolts and other bits. Had to contact support and wait for that. Lastly, consider installing casters so you can roll it around.

[@TheBadRacer]

They’re certainly not designed with the end user in mind! I’ve had so many comments saying how it’s clearly me who’s the problem and it took them 2 hours from start to finish including adjusting it. I don’t believe them for 1 second. It took me 1 hour to get all packaging off! It’s been absolutely solid since but my god it takes a lot of patience to build it.

[@foo_watches_you8196]

It’s a bit tricky because every streamer that is building a rig makes a video that’s about 10 to 30minutes long. They make it look to easy and create the wrong expectations. Here’s a few tips: Plan ahead and take a whole weekend if you have to, if this is going to be your first build. Build from side to side, not from back to front, easier to adjust whithout scratching the paint.

[@TheBadRacer]

Most of them have probably been given it for free so they can’t speak bad about it but you’re absolutely right. The t-nuts are spring loaded so even when you loosen the bolts off to make an adjustment it’s still under tension and if you’ve got 4 of them that all need to move at the same time it’s still quite difficult

[@Dr34mzM3rch4nt_TV]

when you started of I wanted to ask ya if yous buildin a 2seater?

[@alengolja]

Lesson: don't buy stuff that needs assembly if you don't know how to do it. This shouldn't take longer than 2-3hrs to fully assemble and adjust positions..and without scratches.

[@TheBadRacer]

You’ve done it?

[@alengolja]

@@TheBadRacer i did, 2 weeks ago.

[@TheBadRacer]

Did you only fit half the parts? Not a chance you done it in 2 hours

[@alengolja]

Ok :) i guess time goes slower here then :)

[@Toutvids]

@@alengolja I thought the same thing until I actually built my TR160. The first hour or so I was like, nah this won't take long... 8 hours later... damn. A big part of the problem is all the nuts, bolts, etc came in about 8 different bags. Some of it was for specific parts but most of it could have gone into one or two bags. Just unwrapping everything took quite a bit of time as well. 8020 pieces were wrapped in a sort of paper and then a plastic. This is not a negative, it was very well packaged but just getting all the pieces unwrapped and sorted took close to an hour. Most of us do this alone.

[@Patrik.Pereira]

A cheap seat for over 350 bux is criminal!!!! i bought a 2002 corvette seat from the junkyard fcor 10 bux...

[@TheBadRacer]

That’s not a bad idea! Are you selling yours? 😂

[@upsetuloss]

Thumbnail was a bit excessive, but as an owner of the TR80, your Pro and Cons were spot on.🤔

[@TheBadRacer]

Click bait 😂

Your video could suggest that this is a Trak Racer specific issue. Myself I built Simlabs GT1 Evo and watched videos of other aluminum extrusion builds and it looks like despite the simple look, these things take time. It probably could be done within 2 hours but under certain conditions. If you built one already, learnt on your previous mistakes and you know what you do. Secondly, what is your room space. Similar to you, I have built mine in a small room and navigating it around wasn't easy and added up unnecessarily for the time loss. I wouldn't like to build it again but on the other hand I love how the rig ended up being super sturdy

[@TheBadRacer]

Couldn’t agree with you more!

[@Eskoxo]

Took me about the same amount of time to put together next level racing f-gt elite not really sure what you expect most of them take a long time and if it came pre assembled it would cost a lot more.

[@TheBadRacer]

They should put the customers first before the profits 😂bet it wouldn’t take 6 hours to build then

[@Eskoxo]

@@TheBadRacer yea just create your own company and put customers 1st assembling things for them and make no money lol

[@perfectgaming788]

Omg! I did the same thing on the simlab gt1 evo. 😂. What a time waster

[@ZoeyR86]

Your complaints are valid but apply to every single profile based rig

[@MILITENTREBEL]

Bro jus for you showing the mistake you get a like and a sub good vid I got the tr80 lite it took me the same amount of time 6hrs or so. Good vid review

[@TheBadRacer]

Thank you mate. It will teach me for rushing! If I didn’t laugh I’d cry so I had to include it in the video lol. I’ve built flat pack furniture with no instructions at all quicker than the tr80 😂 absolute solid rig though

[@MCOGroupNews]

To be fair in the rig comparison chart on their website it says 7 hour assembly... You best it buy an hour, sounds like a win to me man 😂

[@TheBadRacer]

@MCOGroupNews I didn’t even see that 😂

[@guan_yu2375]

I think i was one of the customers who make them change the manual a couple of times, because a lot of the instructions make no sense at all in fact they need to send me extra parts, I have better luck with the Alpine TRX but even that they have some errors too in the manual.

[@TheBadRacer]

I hope you get the extra parts you need! These companies seem to want to make it as easy and cheap as possible to manufacture and let the customer struggle at the end.

[@brendanscott8989]

Bought mine second hand........and pre built hahaha

[@TheBadRacer]

A wise decision! 😂

[@tierneykenyon1628]

Does anybody know if the Logitech G pro is compatible with the TR one wheel deck?

[@TheBadRacer]

looks like the same mounting plate as the one the supplied with the MK5. if that is the case you'll find the rear two bolts line up but the front bolt is slightly out. I've used the clamp supplied by logitech to secure the front of the wheel base until I get around to re drilling the hole

[@tierneykenyon1628]

@@TheBadRacer thank you very much.

[@jarnom85]

It didnt take me that long to build. I received mine week ago and was done in just over 3 hours and 1 hour extra for triple monitor mount. I had quickly checked manual beforehand day before as it's available in web, so i had some understanding where everything went. Plus i have photographic memory, i pretty much still remember the manual from memory, so i think the key was photographic memory helps alot.

[@ElDuderinoAus]

Looks like you just went head-first into this, hence your frustrations. As someone who builds flat-pack and equipment for a living, laying everything out in sequence, pre-planning, being careful, and following the instructions exactly is the best method. Much faster, better quality finish, and no screw-ups. ;)

[@ChrisSauer-oe5ve]

The beeps got me 😂👍

[@TheBadRacer]

I was calling myself all sorts of names 😂

[@mikeread8001]

I built a TR 160 Mk 4 - 10-12 hrs! It’s brutal probably 8 hrs next time.

[@RetroSnakey]

Your video came as recommended for me.. probably due to me doing a TR80 review MK1 roughly 4 years ago when they first came out.. 6 hours for you seems like a quick job compared to me! Took me well over a day of work because back then there were no instructions whatsoever and I had to rely on pictures I got sent by their tech support team.. If you have a chance you can check out the 3 part review I did, also talking about their customer service.. Thanks for sharing your experience!

[@TheBadRacer]

No instructions?!?! You must have the patience of a saint lol. I definitely will check your videos out. Curious to know what their customer service is like!

[@conejo88]

my experience was the same : a real pain...and i continue to find a good seating position

[@TheBadRacer]

Glad I’m not the only one! 😂

[@SBALL3RiO]

You have Not a Code for 5% discount?

[@regibson23]

Trak Racer is trash. They just pay a lot for SEO so they're always the top result when searching for sim rigs.

[@TheBadRacer]

Their website is a lot better than there end user product 😂

[@qbatman1083]

I’m excited to get my rig honestly, building it is gonna be as great and mounting a 2k monitor to it and hoping it holds is gonna be better (sarcasm)

[@TheBadRacer]

Very nice! Haha well nothing on mine has rattled itself loose yet…

[@Bradjcooper]

I have the tr120 with quad screen, took me 6hrs from start to driving, its just common sense to build these

[@TheBadRacer]

How are you getting on with the quad screens.. what size did you go for?

[@laimisss3]

good lad, good review. Loved the dog part

[@killerpayne1997]

i will pay extra if someone can build for me lol

[@TheBadRacer]

Best money you’ll ever spend 😂

[@johnzome788]

They are all hard to build, and almost the same basic design with a few little tweaks.

[@TheBadRacer]

These companies need to invest in some decent manufacturing engineers 😂

[@nicholassalapoutis2829]

the rig is anodized meaning it is dyed so no paint anodized finishes scratch really badly and all aluminum rigs take about 3 and a half hours to build at minimum when i built my Sim-lab gt-1 evo it took me 4 hours without a manual this is known it is stated by every good reviewer states this its not meant to be easy its meant to be ridged and sturdy and give you the ability to set it up in your driving position. clearly you didn't do that much research

[@TheBadRacer]

it is solid no complaints about the rigidity.. I'm not sure what fittings are provided with the sim-lab rig but the track racer spring t-nuts were an absolute nightmare. That's what made the build slow. m6 T-bolts and nuts and you can reduce the build time by probably 2 hours. also time being wasted because the of the threads in the t-nuts were not machined correctly. probably why you have 50 spare left over at the end.

[@nicholassalapoutis2829]

@@TheBadRacer mate regardless of the aluminum profile rig it takes hours had you paid more attention to details, and did more research you would have saved yourself 2 hours. very obvious you did not watch any of barry roland's aluminum profile rig builds because had you you would have see a better way to build the bottom box you clearly need to do more research when buying things but hey you do you bought from a notorious cheaper built aluminum profile rig with very little care for CS

[@TheBadRacer]

Sorry my review has made you so upset.

[@Tedseract]

6 hours 😂 that’s insane should only take 2.5-3 max

[@Z06Boss23]

Even though i grabbed a ASR6 from advanced sim racing, I think your vid will help me on assembly day once it arrives.

[@TheBadRacer]

Hopefully you do better than me! I haven’t seen that particular rig but hopefully they designed it with the assembler in mind. Let me know how you get on, will be interesting to compare. All the comments from people telling me they built it in 2 hrs is complete bullsh*t. Takes over an hour to get it all unboxed/unpackaged and laid out

[@Z06Boss23]

@@TheBadRacer I am a mechanic with 22 years experience and I still told my buddy / colleague to book a day for me to help. got tripple screens going up, and the simagic Alpha U is no lightweight. So 2 guys would be best. thanks for the heads up again. and great video.

[@chrisreynolds6152]

Great review. How tall are you? It looks a little short. Does the seat go back far enough for someone about 6'5"?

[@TheBadRacer]

Hi Chris, I’m 6ft and you’ve got easily 12inches of travel on the seat slide and you can move the foot plate further forward so I wouldn’t imagine you’d have any issues

[@chrisreynolds6152]

@TheBadRacer thank you! Exactly what I wanted to know. Hopefully they have a Black Friday sale next month. Subscribed!

[@Toutvids]

Try building a TR160 with a full braced arm for the shifter and an adjustable keyboard tray. I thought people were crazy saying it would take 10 hours to build an 8020 rig... I was wrong, it took me about 8 hours. All painted 8020 rigs scratch up badly, it is why many people just buy the unpainted versions. I didn't scuff up mine very much, I made sure to measure where the bars needed to be before attaching them since other people mentioned it happens all the time.

[@TheBadRacer]

I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy!😂 Luckily where I scratched mine in under the seat so it can’t be seen and I took more care to get it roughly where I needed things after that. It’s a shame because with a couple of design changes they could reduce the build time by hours

[@Toutvids]

@@TheBadRacer that's where I scratched mine, getting the seat base situated. No one sees it so I didn't really care.

[@HolfyTeebee_85]

What do you think about the seat itself? I want to buy a fiberglass seat like this, but attach it to a customised rig. I have spine problems, so it must be comfortable for longer period

[@TheBadRacer]

The seats pretty good but would defiantly benefit from a bit more padding and lumbar support. It’s quite a thin material so after a 3/4hrs session you can defiantly feel it

[@HolfyTeebee_85]

@@TheBadRacer thank you 😉

[@naeemg4248]

I feel like the trak racer fibreglass seat is abit overpriced for what it is, I would say getting a used sparco or bride bucket seat would be the cheaper and more comfortable choice

[@jRoundHouseNinja]

Lol this is a 40 min job lol

[@TheBadRacer]

Took longer to get the packaging off mate.

[@jRoundHouseNinja]

@@TheBadRacer very true