Sim racing cockpit dimensions by driver height

How to read the tables

Hip point

The pivot between your torso and your thighs when seated, the point SAE J1100 measures a seat from. It sits a little above and behind the seat cushion's lowest point.

Heel point

Where your heel rests on the pedal deck with your foot on the throttle.

H30

How high the hip point is above the heel point. It is the number that decides whether you sit like a road car, a truck or a single-seater.

L53

How far the heel point is ahead of the hip point. Longer legs need a longer L53 for the same knee angle.

Seat back

The back of the seat, in degrees from vertical.

Wheel centre

The middle of the rim, given as a height above the hip point and a distance ahead of it.

Eyes to the screen

From your eyes to the middle of the screen, straight ahead.

Every row below is a rig the tool built for that body and checked: knee, hip, ankle and elbow angles, the rim and deck clearing the thighs, the wheel against the shoulder and the screen against the eye. All rows pass. Each one has an Open link that loads it, so you can change the seat, the gear or the units and see the numbers move.

GT and road

An upright seat, the heels low on a nearly flat pedal deck and the wheel close. Porter and Gyi's drivers, adjusting a real driving rig to suit themselves, chose a seat back 5 to 25 degrees from upright and a hip point 283 to 335 mm above the heel; Fanatec's GT guide asks for a slight bend in the knee even at full brake.

From 155 to 195 cm the heel point moves 143 mm further forward, the wheel centre rises 114 mm above the hip point and the screen moves 121 mm further away, and the hip point rises 88 mm. The angles hardly move: the fitting keeps the knee near 117 degrees and the back at 18, and moves the parts instead.

Formula

The seat low and reclined, the feet high and the pedals steep. Fanatec calls the formula position highly reclined and Qubic System puts formula seat backs closer to 45 degrees; the heels come up toward the hips. The tool keeps the hip point less than 127 mm above the heel, below the least SAE J1100 gives for a car seat, and reclines the back to 40 degrees.

From 155 to 195 cm the heel point moves 176 mm further forward, the wheel centre rises 62 mm above the hip point and the screen moves 130 mm further away, while the hip point stays at the same height. The angles hardly move: the fitting keeps the knee near 125 degrees and the back at 40, and moves the parts instead.

Rally and truck

The most upright of the three: a tall seat, a flat pedal deck and a wheel tilted further back, closer to a truck cab than a race car. The hip point sits 374 to 486 mm above the heel, from the top of the range SAE J1100 gives for cars into the range it gives for trucks.

From 155 to 195 cm the heel point moves 125 mm further forward, the wheel centre rises 116 mm above the hip point and the screen moves 117 mm further away, and the hip point rises 112 mm. The angles hardly move: the fitting keeps the knee near 112 degrees and the back at 15, and moves the parts instead.

The screen

At 849 mm from the eyes, the distance in the 175 cm GT row, a 16:9 screen of 27 in fills 39 degrees across, 32 in fills 45 and a 49 in TV 65. Three 27 in screens with their sides turned in 40 degrees fill 118. Asetek's monitor guide puts the screen as close as the wheel allows, with the field of view set in the game to match, so that a corner looks as big on screen as it would through a windscreen.

How the numbers were made

Segment lengths (thigh, shin, torso, upper arm, forearm) come from the ANSUR II survey of 6,068 US Army men and women: the tool scales them with a straight-line fit to your height, and to your inside leg if you give it. Each rig is then sized so the angles land inside the ranges of the style: Porter and Gyi's measured comfort ranges for road driving, Fanatec's and Qubic System's sim-racing guides for GT and formula, and SAE J1100 for where a hip point can sit. The tables use a bucket seat on a wood frame and a 32 in screen; an office chair or an aluminium frame changes the hip point height, and the tool shows by how much.