Simucube 3 Ultimate is here — and this is what it took to build it

When we started the Simucube 3 project, we knew early on that 99% of our drivers would be completely satisfied with Sport and Pro. Great wheelbases, both of them. But 99 is not 100. That last 1% — that’s who Ultimate is for. These are the drivers who notice the things others don’t. Not because they’re looking for them, but because they can feel them. The moment a front tyre starts to take load entering a corner. Not a slide. Not a clear grip loss. That tiny, fleeting moment just before. The one that tells you everything about how the car will rotate and how aggressive you can be on that entry. For those drivers, force feedback needs to be absolutely perfect. And building something absolutely perfect turns out to be quite a journey. Everything starts from the motor Traditionally our wheelbases use SPM type electric motors. For Ultimate, we didn’t take the easy route. We chose a spoke-type IPM, Interior Permanent Magnet, motor architecture. The kind of motor used in high-performance EV drivetrains, now engineered specifically for sim racing. The magnetic field in a spoke-type IPM is concentrated more densely than in an SPM. The result is higher torque density, faster electrical response, and lower power consumption at the same output. On paper, it’s clearly the right choice. In practice, it is one of the most difficult motors in the world to manufacture to our standards. We are talking thousandths of an inch in tolerance. To actually achieve that, we built a completely temperature-controlled environment for motor assembly — no fluctuations, no variables, no compromises. After assembly, every motor goes through a testing phase measuring all key parameters, including cogging and friction. The passing criteria ensure that every motor that ships is among the best of its type in the world. 35 Nm. The highest in the Simucube line. An algorithm that knows your specific wheelbase Having the right motor is only the beginning. You also need a way to control it. For Simucube 3, we developed a new type of algorithm: digital twin-based motor control. For Ultimate, we took that concept roughly six times further. During manufacturing, we collect thousands of data points from each individual unit. From that data, we build a complete digital representation of that specific wheelbase inside the control algorithm. The physical motor then follows its digital twin. In effect, the algorithm is always controlling an ideal motor with every real-world imperfection of that specific…