iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I guess I can still storytell pretty well.

Pimkin pops up from behind the table again, bow drawn and ready to fire. The guard, seeing the flash of movement in his line of sight, turns and opens his mouth to yell, only to suddenly find silence.
The silence punctuated by the tip of the arrow that flies through the air and the open mouth cavity of the guard, hitting its mark with precision.
The force of the shot sends what was the guard tumbling to the ground in a mass of limbs, blood pouring from where words once came.
(He is, as the gods call it, super dead.)

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Whenever anyone asks me where the F1 season finale is

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Great read as a simracer and I agree with a lot of what Roadie wrote here. The Crown Vic feels utterly terrifying to whip around the mountain passes in ATS and ***it should*** Also this paragraph makes me know they get it lol

Paragraph from Roadie's article describing the Mustang as an angry cinder block looking for a crowd of people to hit, which is accurate as fuck

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I completely forgot to post that my @dragonroast.coffee Kickstarter rewards came in! Oathbreaker and Barbarian are among my favorites and I really want to give Ranger a shot soon! Check out dragonroast.coffee for all their newest blends!

Dragon Roast Coffee bags, pins and stickers

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Reshare this to anger a Brennan Lee Mulligan near you.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The thing about the universe is that, ultimately, it keeps going, and the pain dulls over time, but the memories remain. May we all leave it in a place where it will feel smaller once we're gone because of the good we've done. #AEWDynamite

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Good news, everyone It's a belly out day

A black cat laying belly out getting belly scritches

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

We're not sure *why* bathtub. It might have to do with how she used to get water as a stray. But tub water it is and she'll bother us until we give her a bit.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Sometimes Luna goes and jumps in the bathtub and that's when it is tub water time.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I'm going to guess this would fix a lot of people.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The march for #7 begins tomorrow night. 🏆🧼

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

One last thing to talk about: @tylermanningdesign.bsky.social not only did the Sim Gaming Expo graphic designs and work, but he also made all the guests their own trading cards. I have a trading card now. I've never had one before. This is awesome, thank you, Tyler 😎

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Had to get some seat time with the Moza gear, as well, alongside the Focus Sim Racing-branded rig. And yes, I did run pretty quick around Silverstone.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Most folks know that Moza Racing have burst onto the scene in recent years, but this was my first opportunity to go hands-on with their wares. And everything felt pretty good! Beyond the assortment of licensed wheels, they also make equipment for our Farming and Truck Simulator friends!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

If you've got pedals on your sim rig, then Simetra probably have a mod that will work for them, from pivot shifts to give you flexibility on leverage to improved spring stacks. They've got quite a few mods for the Clubsport v3s which could be helpful, so perhaps I ought to look into them...

Clubsport pedals with the Simetra mounts for the Simagic haptic devices, plus the brake mod

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

And I have to say, everything worked smoothly! Shifts were crisp and you could feel all the bumps of Crunchy Daytona through the wheelbase, letting me put down some pretty quick laps in the B Camaro there. Thanks to Bryce and the Sim-Lab team for spending some time to chat!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Most Sim-Lab posts from Sim Gaming Expo are going to talk about the new DD26 and DD39 wheelbases, but this was also a chance for me to sample their wheels, SQ1 shifter and XP1 pedals for the first time, too.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

A different way to get feedback than I was used to but even on the first sim without the multiple degrees of motion, it made a difference. It was also nice to meet the Vero Motion crew, having heard about them as an ARA league sponsor, and a big thanks for taking the time to talk with me as well!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Seat time at the Boundless Racing/Vero Motion booth! First time at the show that I ran a rig with belt tensioners and a five-point harness on it and there was a definite difference to how things felt while cornering, accelerating, braking ... all of it!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Did the gaming one as well. Even fewer surprises if you've known me for a while. Just missing the cut as #10 is Star Fox, TBH.

Mario Kart, F-Zero, ALTTPR, Minecraft, Assetto Corsa, Indycar Racing II, Team Fortress 2, Portal, Blue Prince

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Some of these are gonna not be a surprise and some of them are gonna be a BIG surprise. But as far as influence is versus which ones I like, these are all important ones.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

And yes, I flew a plane. No, I didn't crash it, just couldn't apply the brakes enough and overran the runway on landing, what are you talking about? Also peep those beautiful custom keyboards from The Kap Co.

Flight sim on a PC with a custom keyboard

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The @neweggofficial.bsky.social Gamer Zone was the place to go if you really wanted to check out some flight sim equipment, including that amazing P-51 rig. It was a neat place to try out some configurations of flight control devices in a desktop setting with top of the line PCs, to boot.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The team behind Sim Science have put together an interesting little platform for working with telemetry here, with the goal to be breaking things down in easy to understand ways. Some of the integrations with the iRacing API here that allow for customized learning plans are also pretty neat.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

And that doesn't even include that they had these games up on period-accurate hardware. Tim is doing incredible work on preservation and bringing these classics to modern PCs. Make sure to follow him for all the latest updates on his work, and just sim racing history in general!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

There was one booth that I might have been more excited to visit than any other: Race Sim Central. As someone who grew up with Indycar Racing II and is desperate to get it running for his streaming time in the future, seeing it in person, running as I remembered it, brought back memories.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

BST brought their range of wheels, including the new Deltas, as well as other accessories they produce. These are premium wheels and they definitely feel top of the line based on the asking price, plus they're pretty darn comfortable when you're actually using them on the sim.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Next up in, Sensit Haptics and BavarianSimTec. Sensit brought their adjustable haptics devices, both a seat insert and an integrated seat itself, and I have to say it does a great job simulating the feels you'd expect if you were driving the actual car (aka the feeling with your butt part).

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Since I've been doing so many Sim Gaming Expo posts, here's something different. The Mrs. and I went to the Field Museum today and checked out the Pokemon Fossil Museum exhibit! I got to reminisce about losing my Pokemon Blue cart and teach her about Pokemon in general. Also fossils!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I love stuff that makes things easier for me in the sim and boy, I might have found my star of the show with The Stint Link Put together by Fernando and his family, this app is basically everything I was doing for endurance races but now automated instead of a spreadsheet.

Screen for The Stint Link, showing how it tracks teammates stints automatically

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

And here are those pedals, up close for you.

More Simagic pedals and shifters and handbrakes

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Had a chance to get hands on with everything Simagic, thanks to the folks at SimHQ, and while I'm not so quick in the Mustang GT3, the Simagic gear was pretty darn solid with really good haptic feedback on the pedals. Super glad to get the chance to check it all out!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Got a chance to do some hotlapping with the VRS DirectForce Gear, including the R295 wheel and Pro pedals. Pardon me being rusty in the Mercedes GT3, but the gear was more than up for the task in attacking those curbs with precision! Thanks to VRS and Dad's Racing Services for hosting at SGE!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Along with the Astra wheels, the Cube Controls Phoenix rims are pretty impressive pieces of kit, with more knobs and buttons than you might ever need. I really like that Mercedes AMG GT wheel, though ... 👀

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Ever seen a $75,000 motion rig? Sims By Racers brought their turnkey SBR 165 and the aforementioned SBR F5D rigs to the show, along with an assortment of Cube Controls steering wheels. Whatever your needs, there's a pretty wide choice of builds to meet them.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The configuration options with the ActivePedal and Co-Pedal, where you can easily swap the Co-Pedal from throttle to clutch, was also pretty cool to see, as well! Love to see a strong ecosystem of sim gear that can grow with you and it definitely seems like the Simucube team is one considering that!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Had a chance to stop by the Simucube booth and check out their line of pedals, base and wheels. The stuff they're work on is cool but also how they're working with a bunch of other companies to make sure their wheels are compatible with the 3 series bases.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The only downside is not being able to wear my glasses with it like you can with the Crystal, but all in all, I came away impressed. 😎 Oh, and that Conspit wheel/base combo is pretty good, too!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Got a chance to stop by the @pimaxvr.bsky.social booth to try out their headsets (and also the Conspit wheel and base). I don't normally run in VR, so it was a new experience for me, but the Dream Air is compact and lightweight with good depth of field and it doesn't get too warm while wearing it.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The action might have seemed like it was another Bristol but these cars definitely had some good speed, not to mention that since they're licensed, the detail on the Next Gen NASCAR bodies was pretty good. Am I going to end up invested in another hobby? 😂

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Of the things I expected to run across at SGE this year, the NASCAR Losi RC cars from Horizon Hobby weren't on my radar, but they were definitely an unexpected highlight of the event.

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Welp, that's it for Sim Gaming Expo this year. Still have a lot of content to get out there this week, but thank you to Jorge and the team for having us, and thanks to all the great vendors. We'll be back!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Day 3 of Sim Gaming Expo and we're repping the @ftf.gg brand

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Hey gurrrrrrrl We're live at Sim Gaming Expo for the next hour or so www.twitch.tv/nihontiger

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Good morning from a damp Chicagoland for Day 2 of Sim Gaming Expo

Rainy weather and there's also an IKEA in the background

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Bonus video of me in the Heusinkveld rig with the One, doing laps at Imola, all filmed by the Mrs

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Fanatec is hanging out in the Apevie booth and they brought the good stuff with them this year. First time getting to drive with the licensed Porsche GT wheel, as well as their seats and rigs. Felt mega comfy even for my tiny frame!

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NihonTiger @nihontiger.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The full line of Heusinkveld products, including the new One wheel and very fancy DisplayDash, which was way bigger than I thought! Build quality is as solid as always and the One doesn't feel too small in my hands, either.

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