Sim Racing on Samsung Odyssey G9

Since the intro was pretty self-explanatory, I’ll just cut straight to it, the only thing I want to stress out is that I won’t go too deep with it in terms of your usual testing results, especially since there are plenty of detailed reviews of the Odyssey G9, one of which is from HardwareUnboxed. So, In this instance, I’m going to put my focus on a particular niche – sim racing.

As I’ve shown in my deep dive with the RX 6800 XT GPU’s performance in terms of sim racing, where I actually used this display and its resolutions among others, it is shown to be pixel thirsty, there’s a lot of them that need to be covered, 7,37 million to precise with its 5120 x 1440 resolution feeding the curved 49” 32:9 fast VA panel, which is just shy of 4K resolution. This means that you need a really powerful graphics card, and a PC overall, in order for it to receive an appropriate amount of framerates, even more so since this is a 240 Hz refresh rate monitor, so you’ll need to deliver to it at least around 120-140 FPS if you want to experience that buttery smooth gameplay that this refresh rate offers, and of course 240 FPS if you’re aiming to get the most out of it. Thankfully, most of the sim racing games are not that demanding, especially those more competitive ones like iRacing, as you can see here, I’ll put up some results, no matter what game was in question, the RX 6800 XT, which I’ve used cope with this task pretty bravely. Feel free to check out my review of this particular model later on, as well as the overview of sim racing performance with it which was also done in a separate video.

Sim Racing on Curved Monitors Like Samsung G9

Putting that aside, what is actually special about this display when it comes to having it on a sim racing rig? It is not about using monitors the whole real-estate when it comes to sim racing, I mean, yes of course you can turn your head to check what is in the corners of the screen, but you’re not going to do that during your race, it’s more about creating that environment of having that peripheral sight, which it does pretty well in pair with the 1000R curve rating. In width, it’s equal to about two 27” monitors put side by side, which is somewhere in the middle of giving you enough of that extra side vision in combination with its resolution, which actually exactly corresponds to two 1440p monitors. Although that is a lot of real-estate from one monitor, it’s not on par what three 1440p monitors can offer in a way that you could actually see outside the car, both on the left and right side, it’s somewhere in the middle in terms of that, unless you use a really wide-angle view setting in-game, which gives that unrealistic feel of speed.

With that said, as this is a unicorn product, I took some time to set up the driver’s point of view in relation to the monitor itself to reflect real life as much as possible. Since this is a pretty fresh aspect ratio, combined with this sheer size and wi, it was a bit challenging to set it up in relation to the rig itself and seat, but I think I got it more or less right. BTW. If you are interested in this particular sim racing rig, it’s GT Omega’s new Prime sim racing rig made using extruded aluminum profiles, I’ve reviewed it just recently, feel free to check it out, while the monitor stands itself is from Sim-Lab, I’m actually in the process of assembling it up so be sure to subscribe for that one.

So, when it is all set and down, how was it? As I already mentioned, this kind of size monitor in combination with the curve will deliver a completely different type of immersiveness, although it does not have that wideness of a classic 27” three monitors sim racing setup, it does convey the same, just in a different manner. Other than that, there is no doubt that 240 Hz refresh rate in combination with a constant flow of the same number of frames, helps to improve the gameplay too. You can clearly see into the apex, almost like you are standing still, without any blur as you are being delivered and displayed with more frames, enabling you to put the car more precisely into corners, as well as because of the faster screen response.

Short Listing the Odyssey G9

Another feature that helps a lot is the fact that this model support both G-Sync and Freesync Premium Pro, completely removing any potential frame dropping and stuttering out of the equation.

The only thing I would like to have is a little bit more height because the 32:9 ratio comes in short when it comes to that, although the pixels are there, I just feel like it would make it even more immersive in that case as the top part of the screen would show more of that top peripheral view with the moving content from the game, and not your wall or whatever is behind the monitor.

As for the price, 1.200$ is a lot of money, no doubt about it, but on the other hand, this is a unique product on the market, so it’s in a way understandable. For that amount, you could roughly buy three 27“ 1440p 144 or 165 Hz monitors, so you would get more pixel and physical real-estate out of such setup, but on the other hand one could argue that in that case, you won’t get a 240 Hz displays, plus that level of flexibility where with Odyssey’s G9 you only need to take care of one power cable, one display cable, one monitor mount, instead of three of everything, so that’s also something to consider in terms of a value proposition, it’s not only that you’re paying for a premium that this monitor inherently and when you put it like this seemingly has.