Customer Reviews

Playseats Classic Gaming Seat (Black Alcantara)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Welp, have gotten the Gaming Seat home and assembled and it looks GREAT and it definitely does what it's supposed to. To be honest, it's a nice addition to my racing setup. The reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because it just doesn't live up to it's steep price tag. For the money, it should just have a more rigid, higher density frame. Every time I get up from the chair, the metal arm that mounts the foot pedals to the seat flexes and knocks stuff over. Luckily I got it on sale for a mere $199, I seriously wouldn't recommend buying it for any more than that.

I'd been looking for a solution for playing Gran Tourismo 5 Prologue because sitting on the couch with the wheel clamped to my coffee table wasn't that comfortable.

When I found that there were gaming cockpits available, I couldn't resist, and ordered this one. However, I was worried because I had read that the Logitech G25 Racing Wheel wasn't compatible because the pedals were too long to fit on the platform on this seat.

Once I got the seat, it looked like all that was needed was a spacer between the pedal platform and the pedals to make it work.

A piece of 1x12 lumber cut to the length of the Playseat foot pedal mount provides the separation needed for the G25 pedals to fit.

How the spacer is mounted is up to you. I chose to drill holes in the board to line up with the screw holes in the pedal set (which take M6 machine bolts). Some lag bolts through the board and the steel pedal plate take care of holding the board to the playseat plate. A single set of screws through everything would also work. A paper trace of the pedal set base works great as a drilling template for the pedal mounting screws.

After the spacer is added, the pedals fit perfectly. And--you don't have the annoying steering bar between your legs like you do in the Playseat evolution.

If you're at all handy, and can fashion a ~1" spacer for the pedal set--this seat will work for you.

There is one more thing--like the Evolution, the seat of the Classic folds for easier storage.

In summary, this item was a great addition to my car racing experience. I recommend it highly.

22 year old, just out of college
I am using the seat with the GT Force Feedback Wheel by Logitech for the PS3. I am a GT addict and have used the setup for F1 Championship as well. Must haves if you are really into the racing sim genre.

The actual seat is great, stable and comfortable. The frame on the other hand needs work. Out of the box the foot pedal and steering wheel mount wobble quite a bit, even when tightened down with the supplied adjustment knobs. The materials used seem to be quality, but the petite size of the frame's support columns give the chair a "dainty" novelty feel. If you are investing a hundred plus dollars into a product, I expect a little bit more. Overall, I would make this purchase again, just be prepared to perform a little surgery on yours.

~shakas~

I own a PS3 and the new Logitech GT wheel and the classic does a fine job. If you're hard-core and use the Logitech G25, you may want to spend extra for the Evolution but for console gamers, this should work just fine. It's not rock steady but that has not impacted my driving enjoyment.

When I recieved the gamechair I found out a few flaws that I wish I would have known in advance. I can take care of them but its going to take modification that I feel shouldnt be needed in the first place.

1. This chair doesnt fit the G25 racing wheel's foot pedals from logitech. The base is to short and I will have to add another suppport board underneath to stabilize it.
2.The wheel height adjustment doesnt go "down" very far and feels like its to high. But this might be just me and my preferences. Still I am 6' and feel it should be able to lower more for shorter people.
3. The steering column feels unstable. I think there should be more support for a steering wheel that is going to be putting up with alot of side forces.
Overall its not a bad gaming chair but I certainly would of returned it if I had to pay the full price($300). But since it was 33% off I will just modify it to my preferences.

There are a few pitfalls with the classic version of this model that have been fixed on the evolution version, but I don think the price is worth it.

This is probably the cheapest seat out there price wise. I am quite tall 6ft3inches and had some trouble with long hours as the back was not supported in the right places.
I used the in built seat cushion to convert it into a lumbar support.
No more back aches after that.

There is also a slight documentation issue with the setup of the seat. connecting the Pedals to the actual set is done through a bar.
I often found this to be slipping hwile driving until I found that the manufacturer has given screws for fitting the rest of the Seat but a different system that requires a screwdriver to turn a socket which fits the pedals base to the seat tightly.
Did not have any issue with that. This is not documented in the manual and got me frustrated very quickly.

The front forks are also not too long hence the steering column can move/tilt a little during intense play
I fixed that by attaching a plywood sheet to the bottom.

All in all a satisfactory product for the price you are paying.

I already had the steering wheel and have used it for a few years. The seat really adds to the fun and comfort of playing. My nephew and Girl Friend both could not use the steering wheel before as they could not hold it but now it is no problem. It was easy to assemble and I feel it was a great buy.

Good quality racing seat for the cost. Seat is large enough to easily fit a 6", 200 lbs person. It does, however, lack full lower back support for those extended play sessions. Nothing an extra piece of foam or pillow can not fix.

The frame is flexible but still well constructed with plenty of adjustments for player size and reach preference. While it is easy to break it down into two smaller pieces for storage, the seat/frame combination will take up a pretty good chunk of real estate in your room.

I had purchased many "real" racing seats before for costs far higher than this complete seat/frame combination. I definitely recommend this setup for any player.

This is the basic seat from Playseats and I am very happy with it. I paid $199.00 and shipping was free. Best deal I found. Installation was easy, I was missing one felt pad to protect the floor but I had some similar felt protectors that worked the same. The chair is comfortable, a bit large but I guess it's made to fit a wide range of shapes. The overall construction is good. Packaging was good as well. I would recommend this to anyone who wants the full experience of video game racing.

BRIEFLY

This is probably the least expensive seat to be used with a Logitech PlayStation 3 Driving Force GT Racing Wheel. I found it to be relatively easy to set up. While the seat is comfortable and both the wheel and the pedal base are well supported, there are issues having to do with the ergonomics, portability and the overall solidity of the assembly.

For someone like me, unwilling to pay a lot of their first gaming seat, this should be the preferred entry-level pick. More sophisticated users may find this seat somewhat lacking.

PACKAGING AND ASSEMBLY

This made in China seat came reasonably well packed. Removing the components for assembly was easy and nothing in the box was scratched, bent or damaged. Even though there is no 'parts list' per se, everything I needed for assembly was in the box with a few parts to spare.

Incredibly (but true) all assembly instructions fit on 2 8x4" pages, with half of the space occupied by 16 mini illustrations. I felt a little intimidated at first but, it turns out, the instructions were clear enough to allow us to finish the setup in 30-40 minutes. Assembly consists of a one-time unfolding the sit by sliding a pair of locking pins and fastening a few screws and nuts. The entire assembly is held together with exactly 3 adjusting screws.

In the case of the Driving Force GT wheel, it can be attached with its own mounting clasps - just tighten the screws and you're done. Other wheels may need the provided Velcro strips. The pedals will need the supplied Velcro and I am please to report that they stay firmly in place this way. The supplied plastic ties could help with cable management.

The seat comes with a one-year, vaguely expressed limited warranty. I doubt that the warranty is worth much so, if purchased from Amazon, I would return this immediately if anything looked broken or about to give.

OPERATION AND ERGONOMICS

The 3 adjusting screws will allow you to set the pedals and a comfortable distance and the wheel height. It is easy to lengthen the frame and then lock it into a position and the same is true for the wheel height. However, since there aren't preset holes for length/height adjustment and the assembly is held in place by the tip of the screw pressing against the frame's metal, I don't know how many readjustments before the frame begins sliding back and forth. Time will tell.

When it comes to storage, it is possible to easily separate the assembly into 2 halves - the seat and the frame holding the wheel and pedals. You must be very careful when moving the frame because the adjusting screws are not strong enough to hold everything together on their own so... you will have to carry your seat's frame very much you would do a baby.

One word about the pedals. I am used to have the gas and the break pedals slightly on the right because we use the right foot to press them. This seat has them exactly in the middle. It's not a huge deal but allowing the gas and break pedals on the right would have added to the realism of whatever simulation we are playing.

As far as using the seat, once I got seated I find it to be quite comfortable even for a 6'2" person (that would be me) and the kids found it comfortable too after they adjusted the distance of the pedals. The rather fragile assembly - thin aluminum tubes - while creating issues when it comes to 'looks' and transportation, surprisingly, are a good thing when the seat is used with a wheel and a game that support rumble. The vibrations travel all the way to the seat, making the driving experience a lot more enjoyable than driving with the wheel attached to a table or some other platform lacking seat connections.

MY EVALUATION

On this unit I liked the price - I understand that prices change so my statement may appear ridiculous in a week or in a month. I also liked the relative ease of assembly and, more importantly, the driving experience. Driving on this seat is FUN. My issues with the seat, as I stated already, are related to ergonomics (pedals placement) and durability. After a few weeks of use everything is okay so far. I will come back and update my review if something goes wrong or breaks.

I hesitate between 3 and 4 stars but, after some debate with myself and after talking with the kids who used the seat more than I did, I am leaning toward the 4-star rating meaning "I like it". Because we do. If, knowing what I know, I had to decide now between buying this seat or spending more for a higher end offer, I'm not sure what I'd do other than carefully read the reviews for the higher end product first.