Simagic P1000i Hydraulic Pedal Set
We have recently published our review of the Simagic DS-8X shifter, which we received from Simagic together with the Simagic GTS steering wheel, for which the review will follow shortly. However, Simagic didn’t stop there. They also shipped us the Simagic P1000 pedal set through their European distributor, and also friends of SimRaceBlog, Simwear.eu. We received the pedal set in combination with almost all available options, including the hydraulic brake module and the inverted mount, officially making it the P1000i pedal set.
The P1000 pedals aren’t Simagic’s first venture into pedal design. The P2000 pedals were already part of Simagic’s lineup, with the P1000 being a more affordable option to get started. The P1000 pedal set has a starting price of €499.00 for the throttle and brake pedals. We received the P1000i inverted pedal set with the clutch pedal (€699.00), paired with the P-HYSi inverted hydraulic brake module (€229.00), two P-HPR Haptic Pedal Reactors (€79.00 each), the P-SRH Sim Ray Heel Stop (€79.00), Power Supply for the P-HPR and P-SRH (€19.00), and additional rubber pads and elastomers for the standard brake pedal (€29.00). The pedal set, as reviewed here, comes with a price tag of €1213.00.
Packaging & Contents
As mentioned, we received the Simagic P1000i pedal set from Simwear.eu. This means the package was shipped from Belgium and took two days to be delivered to us by DPD. We received a standard brown shipping box containing the product boxes for the accessories and the P1000i pedal set itself. With dimensions of 46x32x40cm, it’s not a small product box, and this feeling is reinforced by its considerable weight. The matte black product box is adorned with Simagic branding, relevant information, the ‘Keep Racing’ slogan, and an illustration of the P1000i pedal set. This indicates that the inverted set is indeed a standalone product with its own product box, and not a standard P1000 set with accessories to convert it into an inverted pedal set*. Additionally, we received the product boxes containing the hydraulic brake module, extra rubbers/elastomers/travel regulators for the hydraulic module, two haptic feedback motors, the Sim Ray Heel Stop, and the corresponding power adapter. All in all, a substantial package from Simagic that certainly invites us to unwrap and explore!
*The inverted mount is available separately for simracers who already own a P1000 pedal set and wish to convert it to inverted pedals later. The Inversion Kit comes with a price tag of €209.00.
Upon opening the P1000i product box, the first things we notice are a beautiful collection of Simagic stickers and the warranty card neatly packaged in a resealable bag. Below that, carefully cradled by a layer of soft black foam, are two boxes containing extra rubber pads and elastomers for the brake module and an elongated box. Inside this box, we find the Quick Guide and a resealable bag with a substantial array of mounting materials, tools, and two extra springs for the clutch pedal. As we remove the initial layers of foam, we first encounter both sides of the inverted mount, each in its own layer of foam to prevent them from rubbing against each other. Upon removing the final bottom layer from one of the sides, we catch the first glimpse of the P1000i pedal set, pre-assembled on their baseplate inside the box. Simultaneously, we spot a small crossbar for the inverted mount and the heel plate, which is also partially pre-assembled in the box. All in all, the packaging and protection of the pedal set are extremely well taken care of by Simagic.
The remaining components are also neatly packaged with the necessary Simagic branding on their product boxes. The P-HPR haptic feedback motors are securely housed in their individual product boxes, complete with mounting materials and instructions. The P-SRH Sim Ray Heel Stop comes in its own elongated box along with a manual. The P-HYSi hydraulic brake module is also neatly packed in an attractive product box. In this case, the module is securely held in place and protected by cardboard, and the accompanying rubber pads and elastomers are neatly housed in their own boxes. All in all, we have received a beautiful and comprehensive package from Simwear and Simagic, and we’re incredibly excited to dive in and get started!
Engineering & Quality
Despite not having tested the very first Simagic pedal set, the P2000 pedals, we know that they laid the foundation for an impressive platform with them. However, Simagic decided not to simply strip down these pedals but to build and design the P1000(i) from the ground up. Simagic’s philosophy in this endeavor was to make this pedal set more modular and upgradeable, a goal that seems to have been successfully achieved given the multitude of possibilities and options available.
Fundamentally, the P1000i is constructed entirely with a CNC-milled, black-anodized aluminum alloy. The quality of the pedals and the construction feels superb. The finishing is top-notch; we couldn’t find any imperfections, and the edges are nicely rounded in a polished aluminum color against the matte black pedals, adding a distinctive touch to their appearance. The pedal footplates feature a textured surface designed to provide a bit more grip, giving the pedals a robust look and feel.
Both the throttle and clutch pedals of the P1000i pedal set are equipped with a Hall effect sensor for a contactless registration of the pedal position. The clutch pedal features a unique mechanism to simulate the clutch bite point. The brake pedal is equipped with both a Hall effect sensor and a 100kg load cell sensor, allowing you to choose which one to use. Simagic’s intention is to let the simracer decide for a harder or softer brake pedal, with the load cell functioning more precisely with a hard pedal and short travel, while the Hall effect sensor is more accurate with a softer pedal and longer travel. We appreciate Simagic’s thoughtful approach in offering simracers this choice.
Of course, we also received the Simagic hydraulic brake module. The P-HYSi hydraulic brake module operates as a sort of two-stage system that smoothly transitions between stages. When pressing the brake pedal, pressure is built up with brake fluid. This fluid then pushes a piston in the brake cylinder towards a stack of rubbers and/or elastomers, creating resistance depending on their strength. Finally, the pedals boast a 12-bit resolution, allowing the input from the pedals to be registered in 4096 steps.
Adjustability
The adjustability options of the Simagic P1000i pedal set are quite extensive. To start, the pedals can be laterally adjusted through the openings in the baseplate. The height of the footplates can be adjusted in three steps, which is not unusual, but the angle of the footplates is also adjustable. The pedal travel is adjustable by loosening two bolts on either side of the foot and smoothly pushing the end stop forward or backward. Surprisingly, the resistance of the throttle pedal can be adjusted in only two positions by modifying the angle of the axis. It’s somewhat misleading that there are four indicators on the side of the pedal suggesting that the resistance can be adjusted in four positions, which is not the case.
The standard brake pedal offers significant freedom to customize the pedal feel using the included pads. Instead of using springs or two to three elastomers, Simagic opted for small round pads that can be stacked in any variation of your choice in the brake cylinder, allowing for a maximum of eight pads. The four colored pads are ranging from soft to hard: black, gray, blue, and red. By default, the brake pedal is equipped with three red, three blue, and two gray pads, resulting in a medium-hard setting of the brake pedal.
The force of the clutch pedal can be adjusted in two ways: by replacing the spring, where yellow is the softest, blue is medium, and red is the hardest, and by tightening the adjustment screw at the back of the pedal to add tension to the spring. Somewhat remarkably, the angle of the pedals themselves cannot be adjusted. However, when using the P1000i inverted, the angle at which the pedals themselves hang can be adjusted by changing the angle of the baseplate in the mount. We’ll get back to the adjustment of the P-HYSi hydraulic brake module later.
Mounting
After unpacking and examining all the products received from Simagic, it’s time to assemble the P1000i pedal set. As mentioned during the unpacking, some of the pre-assembly work has already been done; the three pedals are already mounted side by side on their baseplate. Therefore, in principle, we only need to build the inverted mount around them, which is a breeze with the help of the Quick Guide. However, we quickly run into an issue where, in our case, we did not receive the correct bolts to attach the sides of the inverted mount to the baseplate of the pedals. According to the instructions for our set, we should secure them with M5x10mm bolts. However, on the bag of fasteners, M5x10mm is crossed out, and handwritten above it is M5x16mm, which matches what we received. These bolts however, are too long, or the threads in the baseplate of the pedals are too short. We suspect that Simagic has slightly modified the design, as we see in the digital manual that M5x16mm bolts are indeed required. So, we may have received new bolts, but not the baseplate with the new threads. Our solution is to use some washers to make the bolts fit properly.
Next, we install the haptic feedback motors. This is easily done following the provided instructions by removing the footplate of the pedals, mounting the bracket for the vibration motors, placing the footplate back, and then mounting the vibration motors on the brackets just installed. We then install the Sim Ray Heel Stop and neatly secure the cable with the included clips. After that, we connect everything into the baseplate of the pedals, and we’re ready to mount the pedals on our sim rig.
When mounting the P1000i pedals on our TREQ One sim rig, we encounter a small obstacle. The heel plate of the pedal set has four holes for the supplied M8 bolts. However, the M8 bolts come with regular nuts, meaning you can secure the pedals to a plate and tighten them from below. Unfortunately, M8 T-nuts for an aluminum profile are not included. What is included are M6 bolts and T-nuts, but the M6 bolts are slightly too small for the M8 holes. The M6 nuts are intended for brackets that you can mount on the side of the baseplate of the pedals, which is not possible with the P1000i as the baseplate is suspended in the air, and the brackets are not included. In the end, we use M8 T-nuts we have on hand to mount the pedals on aluminum profile. The holes in the heel plate of the pedal set are quite far apart at 24.75cm. We have placed the profiles of our TREQ One pedal deck at their utmost extremes and are fortunate (and a bit lucky, perhaps) that the pedals fit perfectly. With the pedals mounted, we only need to connect the cables and plug in the power. We choose to connect the pedals directly to the Simagic Alpha Ultimate Wheelbase instead of using a USB port on our USB hub.
Software
After mounting the pedals, it’s time to configure and calibrate them. We’ve already installed the Simagic software package, named SimPro Manager, on our PC. So, all we need to do is launch the software, and we can now navigate to the dedicated ‘Pedals’ tab. Here, we immediately see the information we expect. The clutch pedal, brake pedal, and throttle pedal are neatly displayed side by side, and we have direct access to all the necessary settings.
Firstly, at the top of the screen, there’s a bar with a ‘Settings’ button to begin with. However, there is only one setting listed, and that is to choose the displayed value of the brake pressure when using the load cell brake pedal; in percentages or kilograms. Additionally, we find the calibration button and a switch to indicate whether it’s standard or inverted pedals, along with three tabs that are Basic, which opens first, Feedback, and Lights.
Below the bar, on the Basic tab, we find the settings for the individual pedals. Firstly, for each pedal, we can adjust the pedal curve, manually or using a preset, and set the dead zones. While pressing any of the pedals, we can see the percentage (or kilograms for the brake pedal) of load applied. One thing to note is that the visual indicator of this has a very slight delay compared to pressing the pedal. The brake pedal has some additional options. We can choose whether to use the load cell sensor or angle sensor, where the latter refers to the Hall effect sensor. As mentioned earlier, according to Simagic, the angle sensor is more accurate when using a (very) light brake pedal, such as when driving street cars. The load cell sensor is most accurate with a somewhat harder pedal. You can also see directly how many kilograms of force you are applying to the brake pedal and even lower the brake force without recalibrating the pedal.
In the Feedback section, we can adjust the haptic feedback motors. Here, we can decide which data triggers the motor to vibrate (Clutch, ABS, Traction Control, or off). Additionally, we can customize the strength of the effect and the frequency at which the motor vibrates. A lower frequency results in slower vibrations that may feel more intense. A higher frequency provides smoother-feeling vibrations. Finally, on the third tab, ‘Lights,’ we can determine the behavior of the Sim Ray Heel Stop. We can choose from various effects or a fixed color of our choice. The Sim Ray Heel-Stop can also be linked to telemetry data from ABS or traction control. However, the light bar fills from right to left instead of left to right, and unfortunately, we cannot reverse this.
Using the Simagic P1000i pedals
With the Simagic P1000i pedal set mounted and calibrated, it’s time to hit the virtual road! We’ll be testing it in games like Assetto Corsa and Dirt Rally 2.0, as we’ve also reviewed the Simagic DS-8X Shifter while already using the pedal set.
The Throttle Pedal
The initial impression of the entire pedal set is that it feels very sturdy and solid! However, an additional first impression of the throttle pedal is that it feels quite light underfoot—lighter than we would prefer. Consequently, we quickly adjust the throttle pedal to the harder setting of the two. Even with this adjustment, we still find the throttle pedal to be a bit much on the light side, but as mentioned earlier, there are no further adjustment options for the throttle pedal. Fortunately, the pedal feel is otherwise pleasant; the throttle pedal is nice and smooth to modulate, and the end stop feels solid and comfortable. While the resistance on the pedal may be light, it otherwise feels like a very robust pedal that can and should be used assertively. The throttle pedal excels in terms of immersion when driving, for example, a street or drift car, but we have no issues using it for faster racing classes or an open-wheeler, although the experience is less authentic in those cases.
The Clutch Pedal
Out of the box, we actually find the clutch pedal to feel good right away. With the default setting, it’s still a relatively light clutch pedal, but already heavier than the throttle pedal at its maximum setting. The clutch requires a comfortable amount of force to engage, and the bite point mechanism is noticeable and feels consistent with each shift and take-off. When using the clutch pedal assertively, we do feel like we’re pressing hard and fast against the end stop, producing some noise, but the overall feel the pedal provides is robust. The nice thing about the clutch pedal is that, as mentioned earlier, it has more adjustment options than the throttle pedal. Thus, we first adjust the clutch pedal to be stiffer by increasing the preload at the rear of the pedal. The difference is not extreme but noticeable, making it suitable for fine-tuning the clutch pedal when desired.
Of course, we also drive with the different springs of the clutch pedal. To replace them, we loosen the adjustment screw at the rear of the pedal, allowing the entire spring to be freed and removed from the shaft. We then replace it with the yellow, lighter spring and tighten the adjustment screw again. The clutch pedal has become slightly lighter, but it still closely resembles the default feel with the blue spring. We also try the red, heaviest spring, which is noticeably stiffer. For us, this provides a very comfortable feel, fine-tuned with the adjustment screw, and we decide to continue driving with this setup!
The Standard Brake Pedal
Although we received the P1000i pedal set with the hydraulic upgrade for the brake pedal, the pedal set out of the box comes equipped with the standard brake pedal featuring rubber pads and elastomers. We will certainly test this before making the upgrade to the hydraulic module. The initial impression of the standard brake pedal is excellent! With the default medium-hard setting, the brake pedal has some noticeable travel that builds pressure very pleasantly. The brake pedal quickly provides a familiar feeling and, in our experience, feels very natural.
However, we immediately notice that the brake pedal feels a bit ‘clunky’ when released, with some play in the pedal towards the user, and it also squeaks significantly when compressing the rubber pads/elastomers in the brake cylinder. First and foremost, we detach the brake cylinder with the intention to lubricate the brake with the tube of grease provided by Simagic, although we find no further instructions in the manual. Knowing what the manufacturer recommends for lubrication would have been helpful. Detaching the brake cylinder is easy by loosening the locking nut and turning the shaft clockwise, oddly. Then, we can push the brake cylinder off the ballpoint in the pedal’s base. During this process, we notice that the beautiful Simagic red finish is quite sensitive. When detached for the first time, it lightly scrapes against the ballpoint, causing some color to wear off. With the brake cylinder in hand, we can easily unscrew the cap of the brake cylinder and remove the internal shaft with brake rubbers and elastomers. We lubricate the internal shaft and the rubbers/elastomers individually with a very thin layer of the provided grease and reassemble the brake pedal by sliding the brake cylinder over the brake pedal shaft and placing it back on the ballpoint correctly. We tighten the shaft and the locking nut again, and there you have it! The squeaking of the brake is resolved, and the play that gave a clunky feeling when releasing the brake is fixed by tightening everything properly. With these adjustments, the brake pedal feels much more solid and comfortable, and we are honestly surprised and positive about the overall feel when braking at the default setting.
After several sessions and enjoying the default setting, we decide to experiment with the supplied rubber pads and elastomers for the brake pedal. As mentioned, we received multiple colors of small pads that provide different levels of hardness. With these colored pads, we can create custom configurations with a maximum of 8 pads in the brake cylinder. To start, we choose the hardest and then the lightest setting to experience the pedal feel range. The hardest setting, with only the red elastomers, results in a firm brake pedal with still some noticeable travel. This travel might be more than what we see in the average other load cell pedal sets at their hardest settings. Initially, the brake pedal feels somewhat soft, but the pressure builds quickly, making the brake pedal feel firm. One drawback we notice when using the elastomers is a phenomenon commonly referred to as ‘elastomer relaxation.’ This means that the elastomers relax slightly under pressure, causing the brake pressure to decrease by a few percentage points while keeping the same pressure on the pedal. This should be compensated by pressing the brake pedal harder. In practice, we only see this in the Simagic software, although we can imagine that at a high level and with heavier brake pedals, this could make a more significant difference.
The lightest setting, using only the black pads, naturally results in the opposite effect. The brake pedal immediately feels much softer, and the travel is even more noticeable. While some pedal sets may lose feeling when used at their lightest setting, this is not the case with the Simagic P1000i pedals. Even at the softest setting, the pedal feels comfortable, and the entire range is more than satisfactory. On the softest setting, the pedal feels very natural compared to a regular street car, making it ideal for those who enjoy driving in that class. The softer brake pedal also makes it easier to learn and apply the ‘heel-toe’ technique, as it is easier to maintain pressure while moving your heel to the throttle pedal.
Simagic provides the option to choose between the load cell sensor and the Hall effect position sensor for this brake pedal, which we find quite impressive. Especially since the brake pedal can be set so light, it may be worthwhile to switch to the Hall effect sensor instead of the load cell sensor. Personally, we find the load cell sensor still accurate enough at the lightest setting, although we did slightly lower the final brake force in this setting.
P-HYSi Hydraulic brake module
After driving with the standard brake module for a while, it’s time to transition to the P-HYSi hydraulic vrake module. The P-HYSi module comes with a handy manual guiding us through the removal of the standard brake module and the installation of the hydraulic module, along with a toolkit to assist. The initial steps are quite clear, although it becomes a bit unclear later when the hydraulic module needs to be temporarily removed after fitting and then reinstalled after placing the cover of the sensor. We found it helpful to watch Simagic’s installation video during the process. Notably, during installation, there’s no need to reconnect any cables, sensors, or electronics. The hydraulic brake module utilizes the same load cell or Hall effect sensor as the standard brake pedal. Therefore, the hydraulic module is primarily designed to enhance the realism of the pedal feel rather than measure the actual fluid pressure and use it as input.
We’ll start driving with the standard setting of the P-HYSi hydraulic brake module. Unfortunately, the very first impression is not entirely representative. What’s not explained in the manual or instruction video is that after installing the module, we also need to give the pedal some preload and tighten the locking nut on the side of the pedal arm, which wasn’t addressed during the installation. Once completed, the pedal feels solid and free of play. Fortunately, the actual first experience of driving with the hydraulic brake module is positive! The brake pedal feels more lively and even more realistic underfoot. When operating the brake pedal, we sense the brake pressure building up, and the braking feels a bit more intuitive. However, we don’t precisely feel the sensation of increasing pressure in a brake fluid system as experienced in a real car. The brake fluid is used to build pressure against the rubber pads and elastomers, meaning they still play a significant role in the resistance felt on the pedal. That being said, it does add an extra dimension to the brake pedal, enhancing the overall brake feel.
As mentioned earlier, the hydraulic brake module also features a cylinder containing rubber pads and elastomers. Instead of sliding these over a shaft, as in the standard brake pedal, these pads have a protrusion that you can press into the bottom of the next pad, similar to the principle of a Lego block. The idea is that in this way, all pads form a solid, interlocked stack, which is then placed in the knob of the cylinder cap and slid into the cylinder. After driving with the standard brake setup we will, of course, also experiment with the other rubber pads, elastomers, and the included travel regulators. Soon, we notice that this process is not entirely easy going. The elastomers seem to not fit together well, or the air trapped between the two pads can’t escape, causing them to pop back out of each other. The aluminum travel regulators are naturally rigid, making it challenging to press rubber or elastomer into them. This means that when we create a stack with elastomers and travel regulators, the stack collapses even before we can attempt to place it in the horizontally sloping brake cylinder.
After much trial and error, we managed to select a softer setting. The brake pedal here, like the standard brake pedal, is easy to make quite light. Perhaps too light, as we also feel the end stop of the brake pedal. We try a less light setting and a heavier one, without using travel regulators. It’s clear that the resistance of the hydraulic brake pedal is highly adjustable and primarily well-tunable. In contrast to the standard brake module’s set of eight pads, the hydraulic brake module is equipped with nine rubber pads or elastomers. Plenty of combination possibilities! However, we couldn’t create a setting with the travel regulators. We contacted Simagic about this, and they suggest trying to place the brake cylinder vertically. However, to do this, we need to loosen the bolt holding the brake cylinder, risking introducing air into the brake system or even causing a brake fluid leak. As we want to avoid this, we did not attempt it. When we asked another product reviewer, Race Beyond Matter, he mentioned positioning the pedal set on a desk in such a way that a stack of pads and elastomers could be inserted vertically. However, this is obviously not a practical solution for those who want to experiment extensively and don’t want to keep removing the pedals from their sim rig. Therefore, we conclude that there is a substantial design flaw in the placement of the brake cylinder, or in the inability to properly and reliably interlock the pads, elastomers, and travel regulators.
P-HPR haptic feedback motors
Finally, we’ve also received two P-HPR haptic feedback motors from Simagic. What we appreciate about them is that, as mentioned earlier in the Software section, we can precisely determine the strength and frequency of the motors as we want to experience them. Unfortunately, we only received two units for our three pedals, so we’ve only installed them on our brake and throttle pedals, along with ABS and Traction Control as telemetry data that drives the P-HPR motors.
The initial impression of the haptic motors is quite pleasing! Especially when used on the brake pedal, it quickly feels familiar to sense the pedal vibrating when engaging the ABS system of our virtual vehicle. In fact, it feels remarkably natural, and we notice that we can brake with maximum pressure more comfortably, and correct our applied pressure when the ABS kicks in to brake as efficient as possible and to learn the actual maximum brake pressure we can apply. In that regard, the haptic motor is an absolute advantage on the brake pedal. The available range of feedback in terms of frequency and strength is, in practice, more than sufficient to create a pedal feel that suits our preferences. On the highest setting and the lower frequencies, the pedal even pushes quite firmly under our foot, while there’s also the option to configure a lighter vibration. The haptic feedback motor on our throttle pedal does the same, although we opt for a higher frequency and milder strength to experience a pleasant vibration when engaging the car’s traction control. The overall sensation is very pleasant, making the correction of the throttle pedal feel much more natural. However, with prolonged use, we sometimes encounter inconsistency with the P-HPR haptic feedback motors. They seem to activate late at times or stutter and hesitate when starting up until they vibrate at the full settings we configured. Despite checking all our cables and also trying connecting the pedals directly to our USB hub instead of the Simagic wheelbase, this symptom unfortunately persists for us.
A very minor drawback is that the P-HPR haptic feedback motors have limited functionality through SimPro Manager. While you can finely adjust the strength and frequency of the motors, you can only assign them to ABS, TC, or clutch. If you use SimHub, the haptic feedback motors are fully recognized, and the possibilities to bind them to telemetry data become almost endless. This allows you to determine in detail how the motors should behave. The downside is that this only works when the pedals are directly connected via a USB port or USB hub. If you use the CAN-bus input on the wheelbase, you don’t have access to this extensive functionality.
Video: Driving with the Simagic P1000i Pedal Set
The video below is a brief driving impression of the Simagic P1000i pedal set. In this video, we drive in our TREQ One sim rig equipped with the Simagic Alpha Ultimate Wheelbase, Simagic GTS steering wheel (review coming soon), Simagic DS-8X Shifter, Sim-Lab XB1 handbrake, and, of course, the Simagic P1000i pedal set with hydraulic brake module and haptic feedback motors. As our simulator of choice, we use Assetto Corsa, where we drive the Lotus 98T at Watkins Glen and the McLaren P1 on the Nordschleife.
Conclusion
Despite our experience being quite limited with Simagic’s very first pedal set—the P2000 pedals—we know they set a high standard with them. The Simagic P1000(i) pedals, introduced as a more affordable option in their lineup, might lead one to assume they are merely budget pedals. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth!
The P1000(i) pedal set by Simagic is fundamentally robust. It consists of top-quality materials, exudes a stylish appearance, and feels incredibly sturdy and solid. The pedals, particularly the clutch and brake, offer an extensive range of adjustment options. Furthermore, the pedals are highly expandable with accessories like the inverted mount, hydraulic brake module, P-HPR haptic feedback motors, and the P-SRH Sim Ray Heelstop. This makes the P1000(i) pedal set very appealing for enthusiastic sim racers seeking a more affordable entry set than the pricier P2000 pedals. It also caters to enthusiasts looking to enhance and customize their pedal set further.
The driving experience with the P1000(i) pedal set is superb; the pedals are incredibly robust, feel remarkably smooth, and quickly provide a familiar sensation. The clutch pedal is delightful; Simagic’s mechanism for generating a bite point feels great, ensuring a consistent clutch feel every lap. Additionally, the pedal is effortlessly adjustable, and the spring can be swapped for a lighter or heavier one in no time. The standard brake pedal of the P1000(i) pedals is already exceptional. It’s a brake pedal that retains noticeable travel even in the hardest setting, but that’s not an issue for us. With ample adjustment options, we anticipate that a suitable setting can be found for the vast majority with this brake pedal. The brake feel is more than satisfactory, and even with just rubber pads and elastomers, the pedal feels good and natural, which are also straightforward to swap. The hydraulic brake module has its own distinct character, offering an even more realistic and pleasant pedal feel. It’s essential to note that the hydraulic brake module only contributes to the pedal feel; it still utilizes the same load cell sensor, not a pressure sensor. The P-HPR haptic feedback motors are highly adjustable, providing a very pleasant and even strong sensation. Especially when used with ABS, this undoubtedly provides an advantage over pedals without haptic feedback.
Despite the numerous positive aspects, the P1000(i) pedal set is not entirely free criticism. We received bolts for the pedals that didn’t fit properly, a minor issue that gives the pedals a somewhat less favorable start. The adjustment options for the throttle pedal are significantly lacking; there are only two choices for hardness, and even the hardest setting is simply too soft to be praised, although the pedal drives and modulates superbly. The hydraulic brake module is equipped with a cylinder containing 9 rubber pads and/or elastomers that determine the pedal’s hardness. Simagic offers a wide variety of pads, elastomers, and even travel regulators for this purpose. However, we couldn’t test everything because the stack of pads collapses even before we get to the point of inserting it horizontally. Changing the angle of the brake cylinder, to make the insertion of the brake stack easier, does not go without a risk of introducing air into the brake system, or even causing a fluid leak. A design flaw in our opinion. Finally, in our case, the P-HPR haptic feedback motors sometimes seem to stutter or struggle to generate force, or they simply respond a bit late.
Do these drawbacks make the Simagic P1000(i) pedals a lesser pedal set? Absolutely not! It’s an absolutely impressive pedal set with many positive aspects, an excellent driving experience, and great versatility and quality. Perhaps the die-hard Formula sim racer seeking a stiff throttle and brake pedal with minimal travel might need to explore other options, but overall, the P1000(i) pedal set is suitable for a broad audience. We can confidently say that, for now, we’ll be keeping the P1000i pedal set mounted on our sim rig.
The P1000 pedal set is available with a starting price of €499.00 for just the gas and brake pedals. The P1000i inverted pedal set, including the clutch, hydraulic brake module, and two P-HPR haptic feedback motors as discussed in this review, comes with a price tag of €1213.00 for you.
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