Last Updated on September 11, 2022
Racing simulators are a popular choice for anyone looking to make their racing experience more immersive and realistic. However, what is probably the most important element in any racing simulator, the best monitors for the racing simulator, can be a confusing subject.
On the other hand, racing sims are a great way to improve your driving abilities, and they’re also a great way to spend time with friends and enjoy some fun competition. This blog will look at different options when it comes to racing sims, including the best monitors for sim racing you can use to play games.
Best Monitors For Racing Simulator – Our Top Picks
7 Best Monitors For Racing Simulator – Expert Reviews
LG 34GP950G-B Ultragear QHD Nano IPS Curved Gaming Monitor
The LG 34GP950G-B is a stunning, ultrawide gaming monitor with a 34-inch IPS panel. It’s part of LG’s popular UltraGear series of racing sim gaming monitors, delivering an easy-to-use 24:80 split screen that provides fast and fluid gaming action at the max refresh rate, low input lag, and outstanding response time.
The LG UltraGear 34GP950G-B sports a Nano IPS panel, featuring wide 98% DCI-P3 gamut coverage for piercing reds and lush greens that make any show or game pop with color and vibrancy. Also, the has integral 178° wide viewing angles, so the image quality stays consistent regardless of the angle you’re looking at the screen from.
The 3440×1440 UWQHD resolution provides a 108 PPI (pixels per inch) – meaning there are plenty of pixels on the screen for great details and graphics, as well as effective use of your device’s inbuilt hardware. More so, LG says the UltraGear 34GP950G gaming monitor has about 4ms of lag, so there is just a moment between you clicking on your skill shot, and it’s going where you aimed, which would have happened anyway.
In the search for peak performance, I overclocked this monitor to 180hz. The monitor can now run at 120hz, but the refresh rate is limited by the input lag.
I noticed that when I played games and looked at my desktop, I would see a lot of ghosting in the image. This was because the input lag was higher than 50ms on my PC, so I set it to 0 (no input lag).
I then noticed that when playing games with a high framerate, there were still some ghosting issues. It was not as bad as before, but still noticeable.
This monitor is supposed to have low input lag, but since it is only 60hz, you have to have a decent PC to enjoy it properly.
In addition, the stand on this monitor is pretty darn versatile. It has a height adjustment of up to 110mm, tilt by -5 degrees and 15 degrees, along with a 100 x100 VESA mount compatibility option. The LG 34GP950G’s stand just seems very sturdy overall.
Other than that, there are vents around the RGB ring for cooling, but stay far enough away from your wall; otherwise, airflow may be compromised if you decide to use the monitor’s VESA mount instead of its stand.
ViewSonic ELITE XG320U 4K UHD Gaming Monitor
The ViewSonic ELITE XG320U Gaming Monitor delivers seamless 4K UHD viewing and combines outstanding color, clarity, and contrast with a 32″ IPS panel with an ultra-fast 1ms response time for sim racing games.
Also, the WQHD display has a full sRGB gamut for immersive, lifelike pictures, plus Game Mode offers easy transition between modes for an extreme sim racing games experience from the moment you turn it on until the competition is over.
Further, the ViewSonic XG3220U 4K gaming monitor comes ready for your latest games, with support for 4K resolutions and high dynamic range (HDR) imaging for enhanced realism. While the native resolution is 3840 x 2160, the IPS display has a brightness of 400 cd/m² and a 1000:1 contrast ratio.
Following this, the response time reaches 1ms in typical mode, but ViewSonic has already mentioned that the monitor can be overclocked to reach 1ms at minimum, compared to 10ms in typical mode.
What makes this monitor superior is its lightning speeds. When connected to a PC, the XG3220U has a refresh rate of 144Hz by default, but you may overclock it up to 150Hz when using Display Port as your means of connection.
I played at 150Hz games on this monitor. The G-SYNC feature is amazing! It smooths out the refresh rate and removes the tearing. It’s a great feature to have if you’re using an Nvidia graphics card or a high end processor like the Ryzen 7 2700X.
Especially creative professionals and gaming enthusiasts can expect a lot from this monitor for racing simulator. The XG320U features the VESA HDR 600 for excellent color, contrast, brightness, and clarity. The monitor is color certified at 99% sRGB and Adobe RGB, which comes in handy when viewing images or videos on the device since it matches with actual colors due to the accuracy of its shades.
Lastly, the Elite XG320U provides extra connectivity options for those who prefer having a wired headset. They can easily be strung back behind the display using the same cable that connected it to your PC. With the built-in mouse cable organizer, you’ll have more room on your desk while keeping a neat, orderly look by taking care of some accessory clutter!
AORUS FI32U 32″ 4K SS IPS Gaming Monitor
The Gigabyte FI32U is an excellent gaming monitor. It has a fast refresh rate, meaning any action flick across the screen in pretty much any game will be smooth and blur-free.
Also, it has a fantastic 1ms response time, with very little motion blur, allowing me for rapid eye movement without any hiccups when it comes to getting from point A to point B in your favorite games. AND it also supports HDMI 2.1, meaning you’ll be able to go full-screen and beyond without even noticing that the TV’s there at all, which is pretty great!
In addition, the FI32U boasts an eye-catching gamer design, with a fancy stand with lots of sharp angles and an RGB backlight for bias lighting. The bezels are thin on three sides, and even the bottom bezel with the AORUS logo isn’t very distracting. More so, the Gigabyte AORUS FI32U features a completely flicker-free backlight that is great because it can reduce eye strain.
The FI32U has a peak brightness SDR of 320 nits. Well, I faced some dim highlights by the local dimming feature to match other screen portions that reach high luminance levels. Another thing, we love how the high refresh rate of the Gigabyte FI32U is great for gaming. It’s certified to work with AMD and NVIDIA’s variable refresh rates, which means it should work flawlessly with PC games and works excellently with console games!
Surprisingly, with a flick of its switch, the FI32U will change to ‘Smart OD’ – which is advertised to be similar to a variable overdrive mode. It selects the best mode based on your refresh rate automatically so that you don’t have to adjust the Overdrive setting accordingly. Even though it has both 144Hz and 60Hz, it appears to be in ‘Balance’ mode measurably speaking, which makes us wonder if there’s any difference between overclocking settings either way.
Acer Predator Gaming X34 Curved UltraWide Monitor
Acer Predator X34 Gaming Monitor is an ultra-wide monitor that offers a broader view of your racing games and Netflix movies. The ultra-wide aspect ratio provides deeper looks into games or movies you experience. Thanks to NVIDIA’s G-SYNC technology, players can enjoy smooth, stutter-free imagery along with reduced input lag time and realize their full gaming potential.
Moreover, the Acer Predator X34P monitor will prove to be an ultra-vibrant addition to your computer alongside its 10-bit color depth (8-bit + FRC) and 100 percent sRGB color gamut.
The 3440×1440 resolution is the reason I tested this monitor with is a good compromise between pixel density and screen size. It has the highest pixel density of any display I’ve ever seen, but it’s still large enough to fit in my office without taking up too much space or making me feel like I need to move my chair around. The most important thing to remember about the 3440×1440 resolution is that it’s not a standard aspect ratio. It’s about 2×3, which means that you won’t be able to find any monitors using this resolution on the market today.
Another thing, IPS displays like the X34 have a lot of pros. They offer wide viewing angles that make the colors will look great no matter which angle you’re looking at it. The display also sports 300 nits of brightness and a static contrast ratio of 1000:1, which is standard for an IPS ultrawide screen at this price point.
In addition, when combined with AMD’s FreeSync technology, the display can be set to high refresh rates ranging from 30Hz up to 120Hz for a tearing and stuttering free viewing experience. There is minimal input lag penalty (~1ms) that may be encountered when reaching the monitor’s frame rate limit of 120fps.
Designed with extreme gamers in mind, the Acer Predator X34P boasts a high-quality design with a sturdy metal stand and versatile ergonomics. The monitor can be adjusted to sit upright on its stand at the height of 130mm and also tilted between -5° and 35°, pivoted from side to side at a maximum of +/- 30°, or mounted on the wall using an optional VESA mount.
The result is a very high-resolution image with lots of pixels packed into every inch of screen real estate. This is great for making big prints or displaying images in large sizes. But it’s not great for gaming, since you’ll have to sit further away from your monitor because the game has to render in more detail than what your eyes can handle. And that means you’ll need to turn up the brightness on your monitor to compensate for how dim it looks in person.
ASUS VG28UQL1A TUF Gaming 28” 4K Gaming Monitor
The VG28U is a quality gaming monitor that can do almost anything you’d want, including 4k @ 144Hz, FreeSync, NVIDIA G-Sync, and a lot more. Whether it’s FPS or RTS games or even just casual web surfing, you’ll never have to worry about this display letting down your experience (which is exactly what stands between you and actually having fun) for only AED 3,669.
Like most Asus gaming monitors, the VG28U is seriously styled. The chassis edges have hard angles that give off a sci-fi vibe that looks great to our eyes. It’s a little garish, but we appreciate the large cutout in the back of this monitor, which gives it an almost floating appearance. This best monitor for racing simulator has full HD capabilities and comes with a couple of neat features like FreeSync for stutters and flashbacks, though not everyone will be able to take advantage of it.
Also, it has HDR support – but it’s arguably a gimmick. It bears a certification of DisplayHDR 400, which means that the brightness level is above 400 nits. However, we’re not sure what the proper undertones are for this spec, whether IP is dark or light, and whether this also relies on P3 standards to calculate.
The Asus VG28U has a fairly average IPS panel, but it doesn’t quite deliver on its promises just yet. The display can manage to produce up to 90% of the DCI-P3 color range, but there are certainly some disadvantages that come with it. Firstly, the panel simply doesn’t produce accurate colors at all, and we’ve even seen colors that are off by as much as 10%.
Following this, using the sRGB color preset, the panel would be able to produce 6,500K and 340 cd/m2. Both figures are within the sRGB color standard range. The contrast ratio is richer than the factory 1077:1 ratio and, therefore, better for overall brightness and color accuracy.
Personally, we liked this a tad bit better, as it had less yellowness. However, there is no way to adjust for the change in contrast ratios within that preset, since there is no movable slider for Contrast or any other available adjustment selection on that setting.
Whether you’re playing a high-speed racing game or an FPS, the smoother the gaming experience, the better. The 1ms GTG response time and 144Hz refresh rate work very well in combination to deliver smooth gameplay. Be it AMD FreeSync or NVIDIA GSync compatibility, all can be readily enabled thanks to this feature-packed monitor.
Asus ROG Strix XG49VQ Curved Gaming FreeSync Monitor
The Asus ROG Strix XG49VQ is a gaming monitor that supports a lightning-fast 1ms response time. This is supported by a VA panel with increased viewing angles, making it perfect for viewing, especially during the night hours.
Further, the display on this offering from Asus looks crisper and more vivid thanks to WQHD resolution of 3840 x 1080, complete with support for 100% sRGB color gamut and 10-bit color depth for greater saturation in games or watching movies.
Featuring a 49” VA panel with a 1800R curvature, the XG49VQ helped me to play Fortnite on the go! Surprisingly, the Asus XG49VQ looks like two 27-inch monitors stacked on top of each other. With its 49-inch diagonal, it offers a field of view equivalent to two 27-inch monitors sitting side by side – but with a depth that really brings objects ‘into focus.’ The monitor gives you the feeling of being hugged by your old CRT monitor.
The Asus includes VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification, a relatively entry-level HDR protocol, making one of the best monitor for sim. In view of the certification’s minimal brightness and gamma curve requirements, this monitor will only show a fractional improvement over panels that do not have this certification.
In HDR modes, the XG49VQ has quite a different performance. Its brightness hovers around 300 nits in Cinema and Gaming modes.
- With a contrast ratio of 2350:1, you will get some clear dark blacks while still maintaining enough brightness to see things clearly on screen.
- However, once you switch to FreeSync mode, the brightness comes down to 232 nits with a contrast ratio of 1845:1. This might seem like a different experience for gamers, but not for simulator lovers.
Finally, its 4,418:1 makes it one of Best monitor for sim racing. By default, it’s set to 100% brightness and neutral settings. To adjust these settings, follow the instructions in the user manual.
GIGABYTE M32U FreeSync Compatible Gaming Monitor
The Gigabyte M32U are one of the best monitors for racing simulator to get if you’re looking to upgrade from 1080p to 1440p. With low input lag and a 160Hz refresh rate, this panel will be especially attractive for users of Xbox Series S and X or PlayStation 5 who are used to dealing with higher latency devices.
While viewing a wide variety of content, this best monitor for sim display has an impressive color gamut, reaching the DCI-P3 color space. It helps show about 125 percent of the standard sRGB reference, which is 25 percent greater than that contained in typical displays. This allows for rich, vivid colors with more tones and gradations compared to what most displays are capable of.
On the other hand, if you’re playing games at sRGB settings, you may notice something rather eye-searing, even if the gamma is completely fine: 125% coverage allows for 16 added steps of vibrancy that might seem impossible on a typical web page or document.
The display outputs a maximum brightness of 348 nits (this is the barometer of how bright a computer screen uses to be). The difference between 345 and 490 nits isn’t very noticeable, so it might as well be set at 348 nits.
It’s bright enough for indoor use, but if you want or need to change the brightness level, we have a trick up our sleeves that will allow you to do this with ease and without much challenge. And not only does this monitor come with adjustable contrast, which is great for those who like to play around with color profiles. However, you will receive an advertised contrast ratio of 1,020:1 from these settings out of the box.
In addition, we suggest you utilize the Gigabyte M32U display at a 144Hz refresh rate. In Picture Quality mode, you can speed up pixel response time performance to 1ms, but it also has some minor overshoot.
Lastly, the Gigabyte M32U provides a remarkable viewing experience for other people looking at the screen from aside you. Additionally, it keeps your eyes from straining because of a built-in IPS panel with the device.
Conclusion:
The criteria we used to evaluate and rank these best monitors for racing simulator was based on the following factors:
- resolution,
- refresh rate,
- screen size,
- display type,
- price,
- customer reviews.
We then gave each monitor a score out of 10 for each of the above criteria, and in the end, the monitor with the highest score won the race to the top spot.
Final advice, the best monitors for racing simulator are the ones that offer the highest possible resolution. Of course, you’ll want to get the best value for your money, so it’s important to pick a monitor that has a good balance between price and performance. Luckily, we’ve sifted through all the best monitors for racing simulator and these are the ones we recommend:
If you have a good budget. Then we suggest going with the LG 34GP950G-B will be your best monitor for sim racing. However, if you’re looking for a cheap monitor for the racing simulator, then look no further than ASUS VG28UQL1A.