Sim Racing Driving Position: The Complete Setup Guide (Seat, Pedals, Wheel, Screen)

Source video: James Baldwin — How a Pro Sim Racer Sets Up His Rig (published 9 October 2026, 26 min)

Why driving position matters

Baldwin makes the point straight away: you can easily spend hundreds, even thousands of hours in a rig. A poor position affects your health (back, neck, wrists) and your performance, because it becomes harder to control the inputs consistently. His rig is set for his own body, by feel with “a little bit of science”, not copied from a real car: in real racing he often has to accept the car’s seat and settings, especially when sharing a car where everyone compromises. In sim racing, on the other hand, you can tune everything to the millimetre.

The right adjustment order

1. Level the rig: Baldwin started by adjusting the feet with his phone’s level, in both directions.
2. The seat: the first part he installed, it sets the position of your pelvis and shoulders.
3. The pedals: alignment, height, distance, then angle.
4. The wheel: distance, height, tilt.
5. The screen: height, distance, then in-game FOV.
6. Accessories (shifter, handbrake, cup, phone) within reach.

Daniel Morad follows the same seat, pedals, wheel, screen order: changing the seat afterwards moves your hips, knees, shoulders and eye line, and invalidates everything else.

Seat: recline, lumbar support, rigidity

Bucket seat or reclining seat?

Baldwin uses a Sim-Lab bucket seat, not a reclining seat. In his view, a bucket supports your body so you are “braced to drive”, while staying open at the top so your shoulders can move freely. He stresses one point: a seat that pushes your shoulders forward is uncomfortable and ruins your posture. He says he pulled a ligament in his neck and had back pain from driving hunched over.

Backrest recline

His backrest is “in the middle”: not too upright, not so reclined that he looks like he is lying down. He gives no angle, it is set by feel. Morad, for his part, quotes about 32–34° for the seat base and about 50° at lumbar level in his GT3 position (see below).

The lumbar pillow, the trick that changes everything

Without a pillow, Baldwin had a gap between his lower back and the seat: under every braking zone nothing supported his lower back, and pain set in after 5 to 6 minutes. He placed a lumbar pillow taken from a desk chair at the bottom of the backrest: the pain stopped immediately, and he recently drove a 4-hour solo endurance event with no lower back pain. In real racing, Garage 59’s McLaren even had an inflatable lumbar pad adjustable with a hand pump during a stint.

Sliders: convenience versus rigidity

Baldwin runs neither seat sliders nor pedal sliders. He tried them: they add a little flex under heavy braking, an unwanted movement that hurts consistency. It is a deliberate “marginal gains” choice, and inconvenient if several people use the rig. If your simulator is shared, sliders remain the right compromise.

For a well-supported fixed bucket, look at our The French Simracer - Simracing Seat - TFS-B1-L (€399.90) or the Sabelt SRS-1 Racing Black – Premium Sim Racing Seat (€609.90), with side-mount brackets such as the GT2i PRO Side Mount Seat Brackets (Pair) (€59.90) or the Sim-Lab Bucket Seat Bracket Set (€39.90), which let you set the bucket angle. Full range: sim racing seats.

Pedals: alignment, height, distance, angle

Baldwin learned this the hard way: in the McLaren at the Nürburgring he had set the pedals too far away, which could not be fixed on track, and ended up with calf cramp. He also explains that a brake slightly forward of centre gives more control when pressing and especially when releasing, notably when trail braking.

On the details, his throttle has an end plate that stops the foot rolling off the pedal (as in many race cars), and his brake pedal has a larger, grippy face. He drives in rubber-soled sim racing boots rather than socks: with high brake forces, his feet would start to hurt. Finally, he notes that active pedals (he mentions Simucube ActivePedals) make everything easier: rest position, travel and angle are set in software.

To set the angle and keep your heel supported: Sim-Lab Sim pedal heel rest (€39.90), or a Sim-Lab Inverted Pedal Rack V2 (€199.90) for inverted pedals. To level the rig: Sim-Lab Adjustable Sim Feet (€89.90). See also our sim racing pedals.

Wheel: distance, height, tilt

Distance: the wrist test

A trick Baldwin learned from a stunt driver at the Race of Champions in Sweden: with your back against the seat, stretch your arm out and rest your wrist on top of the wheel. The wrist should land on the back of the rim. Too far, your arms are locked out and you have no room to steer. Too close, wheel on your chest, you can barely do more than 90° of rotation: some F1 esports drivers drive like that because they don’t need more, but it is not a versatile position.

Height: hands level with the shoulders

With your hands on the wheel, the tops of your hands should be level with your shoulders. Too low, the wheel hits your legs; too high, it blocks your view. With the right distance, your elbows keep a bend he estimates at about 105°: enough room for a hairpin without overextending, and free wrists.

Tilt: rim facing your face

His wheel is not vertical like the screen: it is tilted upwards by about 10 to 20°, by feel. A rim pointing down forces the wrists to bend; a rim lying too flat becomes hard to hold, let alone turn.

On an aluminium-profile rig, height and tilt are set on the wheel base mount: for example the Sim-Lab P1X Pro Wheeldeck (€99.90). Shifter and handbrake mounts such as the Sim-Lab Shifter & Handbrake Bracket (€29.90) let you place them as in a real car; Baldwin angles his handbrake to leave space from the sequential shifter.

Screen, field of view (FOV) and VR

• Vertical screen, perpendicular to the floor.
• Screen centre at eye level: you see as much above as below.
• As close as possible: the dash is what stops him; while filming he realised he could still move it about 4 cm closer.
• Centred on the rig.
• Separate monitor stand: he does not like rig-integrated stands, which pass vibrations through (screen shaking under heavy braking).

Triple screens or ultrawide?

Baldwin ran triples until about three and a half years ago. Triples are more immersive and ideal wheel-to-wheel, because you see the car alongside without relying on the radar. He switched to an ultrawide for three reasons: more frames per second (fewer pixels), easier streaming and video making, and less space taken. If you just want to enjoy racing side by side, he recommends triples.

Field of view (FOV)

Start with an FOV calculator (eye-to-screen distance, screen size and type), then fine-tune. Games do not all calculate FOV the same way: his values in Le Mans Ultimate and iRacing are very different even though the result looks almost identical. His fine-tuning: line up the in-game wheel with the real wheel, raising the virtual seat if needed (hence his “high” position on stream). iRacing lets you enter a curved screen; according to him, Le Mans Ultimate does not handle this yet, which distorts the edges of a curved monitor. He keeps the in-game wheel visible: it is a visual cue of what the car is doing.

What about VR?

Baldwin sometimes uses VR to prepare for real races: his ergonomics do not change, only the screen is replaced by the headset.

For a stand decoupled from the rig like Baldwin’s: Sim-Lab Freestanding Vario™ monitor mount (€139.90). If space is tight, an integrated mount also exists: Sim-Lab - Integrated Vario™ monitor mount (€139.90). All our monitor stands.

GT or formula: what changes

Both videos describe a GT position: Baldwin sets it up “as if I were to drive a real race car”, Morad recreates a GT3 position. In a single-seater, the driver lies much further back, with the feet higher relative to the pelvis: seat recline, pedal height, wheel position and screen geometry all change. The principles stay the same (pedals in line, knees bent, neutral wrists, screen centre on the eye line), but not the values.

For a single-seater position, you need a suitable seat, such as the Sabelt SRP-1 Racing Red – Formula-Inspired Sim Racing Seat (P Series) (€609.90), and a rig that lets you mount the pedals very high.

What Daniel Morad adds

Video: Daniel Morad — Pro GT Driver Sim Seating Position: Make Your Sim Feel Like A GT3 Car! (March 2025, 22 min)

A professional GT driver, Daniel Morad published a very similar video focused on the GT3 position. It confirms most of Baldwin’s references (wrist test, hands level with the shoulders, heels roughly level with the bottom of the pelvis, screen centre on the eye line) and adds measured values:

• Fixed bucket seat on side mounts: different holes at the front and rear let you support the thighs while reclining the back. His references: seat base raised about 32–34°, about 50° at lumbar level.
• Angle behind the knee of about 130° (127° measured in the video).
• Pedal deck raised from about 6° to 12° so the heel stays supported: the same logic as Baldwin’s 8°, with a different geometry.
• Wheel tilted about 14° to keep the wrists straight, with elbows close to 90°.
• A key reminder: don’t copy his numbers, check that your lower back stays pressed in under maximum braking.

The full breakdown is in our dedicated article: GT3 Sim Racing Seating Position: Daniel Morad’s Setup Guide.

Common mistakes

• Rig not level: everything else is off.
• Hunched shoulders from a seat that is too closed or a wheel that is too far.
• Gap under the lower back: pain within minutes. A simple pillow can be enough.
• Pedals offset from the body: the hip twists under every braking zone.
• Pedals too far: braking with the calf, cramp. Too close: compressed lower back and knees hitting the wheel.
• Pedal plate too flat: the heel lifts and modulation becomes imprecise.
• Locked-out arms or a wheel against the chest.
• Wheel tilted downwards: bent wrists.
• Screen too high, too far or on a mount that vibrates.
• Default FOV instead of one calculated for your screen.
• Copying a pro’s numbers instead of checking how it feels on your own body.

Setup checklist

Gear that makes adjustment easier

All these adjustments assume a rigid, adjustable rig. Baldwin uses a Sim-Lab P1X Ultimate supplied by Sim-Lab; he stresses that it is “rock solid” and highly adjustable, two key criteria to fit every body shape.

See all sim racing rigs and the Sim-Lab range. To build a complete setup, also read our guide How to Build Your Sim Racing Setup in 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What is the correct sim racing driving position?

There are no universal dimensions. References shared by James Baldwin and Daniel Morad: a bucket seat that supports the lower back, pedals in line with the body with bent knees, the wheel at the distance where the wrist lands on the rim with the arm straight, hands at shoulder height, and the screen centre at eye level.

How high should the pedals be?

James Baldwin puts the bottom of his heel level with the bottom of his backside. Daniel Morad targets an angle of about 130° behind the knee. Either way, the knee should stay bent and braking force should come from the thigh.

How far should the steering wheel be?

With your back against the seat, stretch your arm out: your wrist should land on the top or back of the rim. Your elbows then stay bent (about 90 to 105° depending on the driver).

Should the wheel be tilted?

Yes, slightly towards your face: 10 to 20° for Baldwin, about 14° for Morad. The goal is to keep your wrists straight.

Why angle the pedal plate?

So your heel stays supported through the full pedal travel. A floating foot is harder to control, especially on the throttle and when trail braking. Baldwin uses about 8°, Morad about 12°.

How should I set screen height and distance?

Screen vertical, centre at eye level, as close as possible without touching the wheel or base. Then calculate the FOV with a calculator and fine-tune it.

Is a lumbar pillow useful for sim racing?

If there is a gap between your lower back and the seat, yes. James Baldwin had back pain after 5 to 6 minutes; with a lumbar pillow he drove 4 hours without pain.

Does this position work for formula cars?

The principles do, the values don’t. A single-seater position is much more reclined, with the feet higher than the pelvis and the wheel closer.

Sources: James Baldwin’s video “How a Pro Sim Racer Sets Up His Rig” (9 October 2026) and Daniel Morad’s video “Pro GT Driver Sim Seating Position” (March 2025), reviewed from their English transcripts. The values quoted are the drivers’ own, not ergonomic prescriptions.