SimRig

USB shifters and handbrakes on Linux

An unbranded USB shifter or handbrake, or one Linux does not see right, set up by moving it. Tested on an H-pattern shifter and a handbrake.

Shifter
USB shifters and handbrakes
Driver
SimRig's generic USB service
Tested on hardware
H-pattern shifter, handbrake

Many shifters and handbrakes sold for sim racing are generic USB devices: no brand, no software for Linux, sometimes a USB descriptor so broken that the kernel rejects them. SimRig’s generic USB plugin sets them up by watching them move, then presents them to games as a clean joystick.

How it is set up

  1. Plug it in and open Add device in SimRig. If it is not listed, turn on Show every USB device, then choose it.
  2. Say what it is: H-pattern shifter (4 to 8 forward gears, reverse left-up or right-down), sequential shifter or handbrake.
  3. Leave it at rest, so SimRig learns what to ignore.
  4. Move it when asked: each gear and reverse in turn, up and down for a sequential shifter, or pull the handbrake fully.
  5. Check the mapping, then save.

Driver

A small service of SimRig’s, started when a set-up device is plugged in, turns it into a joystick that every game sees: “SimRig shifter”, “SimRig sequential shifter” or “SimRig handbrake”. It works with SimRig closed. No kernel driver is built, so no Secure Boot step either.

What you can set

  • Shifters: the reverse position; the rest is changed by setting it up again.
  • Handbrakes with an analog lever: calibration, dead zone, response curve, and the mode, analog or button with its threshold, for games that want a handbrake as a button. A handbrake with a switch works as a button.

Limits

Pedals and wheels are not supported by this plugin yet.

Set it up

  1. Install SimRig from the package for your distribution (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, Arch and others).
  2. Open SimRig, plug the device in and choose Add device. A known model is recognized by itself; a USB shifter or handbrake that no plugin knows is set up by moving it.
  3. If the device needs a driver, SimRig installs it: it asks for your password once and says why. With Secure Boot on, it may ask for one restart to enroll the drivers' signing key.
  4. The device appears on the rig and moves live. Its settings apply at once; Save as default keeps them for every time it is plugged in.

From then on the device works in every game, with SimRig closed. If it works in SimRig but not in a game, SimRig checks why (access, kernel driver, Steam Input) and says how to fix it: see the FAQ.