Do me a favor and go hop in your car real quick — bonus points if you have a Lambo or something. Take a look at the dashboard and list what you see. That list is pretty long, right? So, your sim racing dashboard should probably have a list of similar length if you want an authentic experience. To give you that, Xshift designed this modular sim racing dashboard that has so many goodies.
In fully kitted-out form, Xshift’s dash looks like what you’d find in a legit rally car from the modern era. It has a big LCD screen to display all kinds of data, from the vehicle’s current gear to the average lap time. Then there are additional modules, including a set of LEDs for the RPM gauge, buttons, dials, switches, and even auxiliary LCD displays.
The cool thing about this design, aside from the style, is that you can pick and choose which modules to include. Maybe, for example, you want to race an EV (no judgement here) and don’t need the RPM gauge to tell you when you’re close to redline. In that case, simply omit that module.
That’s possible because the modules physically connect together with magnets, kind of like Apple’s MagSafe connector. The central brain is an ESP32-S3 development board, with inputs and outputs going through those magnetic connectors to the various modules.
Xshift designed the mechanical parts to be fabricated through a combination of 3D printing and laser cutting. He put a lot of effort into the industrial design and it really shows, because everything looks fantastic. Carbon fiber-look vinyl wrap in some key locations completes the aesthetic.
If you like how all of this sounds, you can get your mitts on Xshift’s dash — but you’ll have to build it yourself. To acquire the design files, head over to Xshift’s Patreon page. The complete set of files is $49, or free to top-tier Patrons.
