Invicta™ Sim Racing Pedals Brake & Throttle
Outline
Asetek SimSports® Invicta Pedals are the pinnacle of sim racing gear. The hydraulic sim racing pedals are designed with real racecar feel, durability, and ease of use in mind. They are plug’n’play capable out of the box and by using the Asetek SimSports RaceHub™ software, you will experience a plethora of advanced features for experienced sim racers. However, unlike to most sim racing products on the market, you do not require expert skills to unlock the full potential.
T.H.O.R.P.™ (Twin Hydraulic Opposing Rapid Pistons) is Asetek SimSports’ hydraulic brake cylinder which gives the racer, the ultimate experience of driving a real racecar. The entire set of pedals are, in every sense, “Made in Denmark” – Designed, engineered, and assembled in Denmark. The brake cylinder features an automotive grade pressure sensor, which makes it the closest you will come to a realistic brake experience in sim racing.
Want to “just” shave off some tenths of your best lap times? The Invicta Sim Racing Pedals will help you do exactly that. Under appreciated by many, half of the steering in a racecar is provided by the pedal input. Want to completely immerse yourself in a racing experience using a racing simulator that will provide everything but the smell of burning rubber? Invicta will be a crucial piece of your racing simulator as well.
Compatible with Invicta Throttle Footrest – a quick-to-mount accessory allowing you to rest your foot during long races.
VERIFIED BY RACERS AND SIM RACERS
As well as being inspired by real-life racing, Invicta™ Sim Racing Pedals have been thoroughly tested by racers and sim racers alike. The pedals are engineered and designed with that feedback in mind. The T.H.O.R.P. hydraulic brake cylinder is designed and rigorously tested with 100 bars of pressure in the hydraulic system and up to 200 kilograms of mechanical pedal pressure.
If you have been looking for the ultimate racecar brake pedal feel, look no further! The brake pedal on the Invicta pedals is hard. Rock hard and it will stay that way – unlike many other sim racing pedals on the market, where the hardness and feel will degrade over time. It is not a coincidence a race driver wants a brake pedal as hard as pushing a concrete wall…
When applying brake pressure late you want to be able to use muscle memory to replicate that trail brake feeling going into the corner. By using muscle memory your brain is wired to be able to brake at the same spot over and over on the track. Conversely if you use a soft pedal, you will have to rely on foot or pedal position, disallowing your brain the ability to replicate with the same accuracy and you will – guaranteed – lose important lap time. Did you ever consider on a racetrack with 10 corners, gaining or losing 1/10 of a second on the brake, means a second on your lap time?
The design is engineered with user-experience in-mind, where all adjustable elements are colored to get you started quickly, and to ensure intuitive and mostly tool-less usage. The sim pedals are highly adjustable to help you channel your inner racecar driver, by changing the travel and hardness settings to your exact preference.
Our unique industrial design is protected through the EU IPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) by Registered Community Design No. 009148265-0001/0002/0003.
The T.H.O.R.P. System
HOW DOES THE T.H.O.R.P. SYSTEM FUNCTION?
The T.H.O.R.P. System is the most realistic brake system ever made for sim racing. In any given racecar, the brake pedal is always hard. A hard brake pedal is faster (you can brake later) and it is required to proper trail brake and use your muscle memory to do so, as explained later. You can consider a racecar braking system as 2 stages:
The “soft stage”: When you apply pressure on the pedal, it will move 10-20 mm (measured on the pedal plate), while you build up pressure, while the caliper pistons are traveling to and pushing the brake pads against the brake disc, and to compensate for the small amount of play in all the mechanical parts on the pedal system that is required for them not to seize up.
The “hard stage”: When hydraulic pressure is built up, the brake pads are squeezing the discs hard and all mechanical play is compensated. In this stage, your foot is basically “pressing against a wall”, because now your muscles are pressing directly against the hydraulic forces (the brake fluid). Since the fluid cannot be compressed, you will feel the pedal is hard. When a racecar driver complains about a “long” or a “soft” pedal, it is typically because there is air in the system, and since air CAN be compressed, the pedal will feel soft and long. The mechanics then bleed the brakes for air, meaning there is only fluid left in the system, and the pedal is once again hard after passing the “soft stage”.
In our quest to mimic the perfect racecar feel, we also designed a 2-stage system on our Invicta™ pedals with the T.H.O.R.P. brake cylinder:
The “soft stage”: Since we do not have a brake disc, caliper and brake pads in a simulator, we made the slave cylinder to mimic this. The slave cylinder is compressing an elastomer, and like in a real racecar, it will allow a pedal travel of maximum 20-25 mm measured on the pedal plate. When full pedal travel is obtained, the slave cylinder will hit a mechanical stop, just like in a real race as described above. We supply different elastomers to mimic different feelings of the “soft stage” but the different elastomers will not change the pedal travel, only how much force that is needed to fully depress the pedal and engage the “hard stage”.
The “hard stage”: When the slave system is mechanically locked, you have 100% the same feeling as in a racecar, when the brake pads are fully pressed against the brake disc, and your muscles are pressing directly against the hydraulic forces. This is NOT simulated, this IS the same and identical feeling as in a racecar, and you can keep pressing the pedal up to a hydraulic pressure of 100 bar, which corresponds to 185 kg of pressure on the pedal plate – the same as a real F1 car!
Besides from being able to calibrate and measure the pressure in bar, the 2-stage system is exactly the benefit you will get over a mechanical brake system. Most mechanical brakes are relying on the elastomers and a load cell to give you the racecar feeling. It will never be the same, because it is NOT the same! A load cell system IS a simulation and at best, you can implement a mechanical stop to simulate the “hard stage”, but unlike the T.H.O.R.P. system, your pressure readings in the simulator will also stop at that point, because your load cell will stop to physical deflect. And without deflection it will not meassure. In the T.H.O.R.P. system, pressure readings will continue despite the
slave cylinder has reached its mechanical stop (passed the “soft stage”). THAT is the Asetek Invicta T.H.O.R.P. hydraulic difference!
It may surprise you, but as described above, having a hard brake pedal will help you get around the track faster. It all has to do with muscle memory and efficient trail braking. Having a hard brake pedal will allow your muscle memory to be trained to perfection. Muscle memory is the subconscious telling your muscles just the right amount of pressure, leaving your conscious mind to take care of more important things at that moment – like watching traffic or hitting apex. Your muscle memory system is not wired to remember a position. Try to lift your hand with your eyes closed and reach the same spot within 0,5 mm 10 times in a row, and you will get the point. On the flip side, your muscle memory can memorize a pressure extremely accurately, meaning going around a track, your muscle memory can make you brake the same way again and again. This cannot be achieved with a soft pedal – especially when trail braking.
Furthermore, a hard brake pedal will allow you to brake later. Imagine having a brake pedal with 50 mm (common for many sim racers) of travel versus a brake pedal with almost zero travel. You are going 300 km/h down a straight. With the long travel brake, it will physically take you perhaps 1/10 of a second more to reach full braking power. On the stiff brake pedal, you will reach maximum braking power instantly. If you have three hard braking zones on a track, you will lose 3/10 of a second each lap.
The Top 10 in F1 or GT3 is frequently determined in way less than 3/10 of a second. The conclusion is that we at Asetek SimSports have developed the Invicta pedals to replicate a real racecar. Why? Because it is the fastest but may not be what feels the most comfortable. It is your choice whether to be the quickest or have a brake pedal that feels soft and comfortable.
Using the two thumbnuts behind the elastomer, you can adjust the preload of the system closely mimicking the gap you will experience in a real car (between disc and brake pad). We have made this adjustable, so you can have the feeling just the way you like it – and just like your favorite car. Using RaceHub, you can also adjust your dead zone on the brake pedal. This allows you to rest your foot on the pedal without getting inputs to the game.
See exactly how the 2-stage system works, presented by our CEO, André:
▶ Benefits of a Hard and Short Brake Pedal – The 2-stage System of the Hydraulic Invicta Pedals
NOTICE
Should you wish to change the pedal stops, and thereby the angle of the pedals, it can be done entirely toolless. It will require you to recalibrate the pedals and remove the brake cylinder at the pedal arm and adjust the rod length to prevent any preload on the T.H.O.R.P. hydraulic brake cylinder.
General Tech
- Exquisite, radical, and minimalistic industrial Danish design (Registered Community Design No. 009148265-0001/0002/0003)
- Adjustable pedal stops
- Adjustable travel settings
- All black anodized aluminum pedal base, pedal arms, and pedal plates, with CNC machined contrast cut surfaces.
- Pedal base with integrated heel rest and RGB LED that can be adjusted, dimmed, or turned completely off in the RaceHubsoftware
- Adjustable pedal plates that can be moved along the x- and y-axis
- Calibrations made in RaceHubwill automatically be saved in our EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory). This results in calibration (pressures, deadzones and more) will be remain saved for every simulator/game (You do need to set 0 and 100% value in the game).
- Only one USB connection to the PC from the pedal base regardless of 2 or 3 pedal utilization
- Each pedal can be calibrated through the intuitive and easy to use RaceHubsoftware
- Pedal upper and lower dead zones can be set through the RaceHubsoftware
- All adjustable mechanical features are by default colored orange
- Inhouse developed electronics with 16-bit resolution and automotive-grade pressure sensor
- Optional to purchase smooth sock-friendly pedal plates
- Easy to add clutchpedal to the Throttle & Brake combo
- Made in Denmark
- Designed and tested to 1,000,000 activations, which far exceeds any racecar specification
Brake System
- The H.O.R.P. (Twin Hydraulic Opposing Rapid Pistons)patent-pending hydraulic brake cylinder gives the you the ultimate experience of driving a real racecar
- Die-cast aluminum zero play pedal arm with integrated long durability ball bearings and bronze bushing at the clevis rotation point.
- Automotive-grade pressure sensor
- The inhouse designed brake cylinder features sleek CNC machined details, adding to the exquisite overall look.
- Three interchangeable elastomers for adjustment of hardness combined with an integrated physical stop and an expansion chamber to mimic perfect racecar feel as well as not overloading the elastomer
- Manually adjustable initial touch hardness to mimic perfect brake pad to brake disc distance
- Pressure sensor measures 0-100 bar – tested to withstand a repetitive pressure of 100 bar (seal burst pressure 130 bar)
- 100 bar of pressure equals 180 kg of force on the face of the pedal plate
- Hydraulic Brake Cylinder made from forged aluminum
- Pedal arm designed for 200 kg of force and a burst pressure of up to 700 kg!
Throttle System
- Die-cast aluminum zero play pedal arm with integrated long durability ball bearings and bronze bushing at the clevis rotation point. Sustainable manufacturing with 100% on-site re-use of waste material
- 16-bit magnetic wireless hall TPS (throttle position sensor) with no mechanical wear and zero maintenance
- Custom throttle curves can be adjusted and 100% customized in the RaceHubSoftware to mimic real racecar butterfly opening. For example a linear curve in dry conditions and a progressive in wet conditions
- Adjustable pedal hardness, travel and stop
- Interchangeable spring for bigger step in pedal hardness
- Pedal arm is designed for 200 kg of force and a burst pressure of up to 700 kg!
Dimensions
- Depth, width, and height: 457 mm x 212 mm x 256 mm
- Weight: 3 kg
