Simagic Sequential Shifter Q1
Simagic is no longer an unfamiliar name in the sim racing world. With various high-end products such as Alpha Direct Drive wheelbases, accompanying steering wheels and a pedal set, they have now become a true ecosystem. Recently, the Simagic Sequential Shifter Q1 was added to this ecosystem. Because Simagic is located in the Far East, they work with distributors all over the world. Thanks to simwear.eu we are again provided with Simagic gear to be able to give our opinion, including the Simagic Sequential Shifter Q1.
Simagic Sequential Shifter Q1
The shifter is completely built of aluminum, has a length of 180mm, is 269mm high, 63mm wide and has a weight of 3.3kg. The shifter is driven by a planetary gear mechanism. On both sides you will find a USB port so the USB cable does not get in the way on your sim rig. To complete it all you have a built-in LCD indicator and four buttons with icons for neutral, wiper, headlights and function key. The Simagic Sequential Shifter Q1 has a suggested retail price of €399.00.
Packaging & Content
In our case, the package was sent via DPD and delivered within a few working days from Belgium to the Netherlands. The first step of the experience for us is always the packaging, if this is satisfactory then that is usually a good omen of a good product. In a large brown box we find a neatly kept Simagic box with an image of the Sequential Shifter Q1. Opening this box we find the securely packed Sequential Shifter Q1, a USB cable, mounting hardware for your sim rig and some tools for adjusting the shifter.
Assembly & Use
We mounted the Sequential Shifter Q1 on our Sim-Lab P1-X sim rig using the supplied mounting material. We did this with two t-slot nuts and two M6 bolts. Then it’s a matter of plugging in the USB cable, Windows 10 will automatically recognize the shifter and you’re almost ready to go.
Out-of-the-box the shifter works immediately and you do not necessarily need a manual. Simagic has also put a handy YouTube video online for the installation and explanation of all extra functionalities. The shifter is calibrated by default at the factory, if recalibration is necessary, you can download the calibration software from the website.
A nice feature of the shifter is that you can adjust the lighting of 3 of the 4 buttons in 7 different colors, or turn it off completely. You can do this by holding down the function key and then pressing the button you want to change. This button changes color with each click.
We like to drive Rally, DTM or GT3 in Assetto Corsa, for us the perfect software to test the shifter. After correctly setting the ingame settings (pull the lever towards you for shift-up, push the lever away from you, shift-down) the shifter was completely ready for use and we can start racing.
After some test runs, we found the shifter to feel a bit heavy and somewhat noisy in use. Fortunately, you can quite easily adjust the feel in the feedback by loosening or tightening the ball on the sprocket. By loosening the ball, the noise will also be slightly less. However, the looser you set the ball, the more the feeling in feedback disappears. So the trick is to find the right balance here, after some adjustment and testing we have found the right setting for us and the shifter feels good in terms of feedback, although it still remains a bit noisy.
Time to do some serious laps on the virtual circuits. What immediately stands out is the throw, it is nice and short, but we do miss some feeling in the shifter, which means that the real punch during shifting is omitted. Something that, for example, an Aiologs SQ shifter does very well. Where we really blast the Aiologs through our sim rig, which makes for a wonderful experience, the Simagic Sequential Shifter Q1 is actually too good. Of course we have loosened things up a bit, but even if you tighten the ball, we don’t get that real punch. In our experience, this is due to the plastic ball that slides over the metal gear. This is also the only part that will wear out over time. However, we have not noticed any wear and tear after about a month of intensive use. If that does happen in the future, there is a spare plastic ball in the box.
The extra buttons on the shifter are very handy and well within reach, but we think it’s a shame that you can’t customize the labels to your own liking. The display, so you can see which gear you’re in, works well as long as your gears stay in sync. For example, if you cross the finish line in 5th gear and then start a new race, the display will still show a 5. You first have to click on the ‘neutral-button’ so that everything is in sync again. In practice you hardly look at the display while racing, we prefer to keep our eyes focused on the screen.
Conclusion
We had a great time with the Simagic Sequential Shifter Q1 and writing this review. It’s a nice sequential shifter with a nice short throw but pretty good in the real punch. It also produces quite a bit of sound and you will have to find the right balance between sound and good feedback when adjusting. In terms of looks, the Simagic Q1 is certainly one of the nicer ones we’ve seen. A big plus is the double USB port, so you can easily mount it on the left or right without the USB cable bothering you. The extra buttons can be useful, the display on which you can read the gears works well, but we don’t use it much in practice. The shifter is not cheap, but it is offset by integration in the ecosystem, extra buttons and a display for your gears. The experience is simply great, shifting with a sequential shifter remains exciting and the Simagic Sequential Shifter Q1 delivers that very well.
Do you want to stay informed about SimRaceBlog content, news, announcements and (future) give-aways? Follow us on Instagram @simraceblognl and/or our Discord channel.
