Despite the name, it's the exact opposite of a sex thing: The Playseat Challenge racing chair is down to $179 this Cyber Monday

A Playseat Challenge sim racing chair on a blue and red Cyber Monday background — (Image credit: Playseat)

I have a sim racing chair very similar to this one. It's the Logitech Playseat Challenge X, which is a lot like this chair with some Logitech branding on it, and it's an excellent device for a bit of fold-out sim racing fun.

We're curating all the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals over here

You can buy a proper sim racing throne, of course, but they're usually expensive, unwieldy, spare-room dominating affairs. So, for those of you who fancy a sim racing chair on a budget that can be folded away afterwards, the Playseat Challenge makes a lot of sense. It's down to $179 at Amazon this Cyber Monday, and that's a pretty great price for anything even mildly associated with sim racing.

Let's use the "I" word. Immersion. Sitting at a desk with an excellent racing wheel is all well and good, but unless you're playing something like Euro Truck Simulator 2, the "sit up and beg" angle you'll end up driving at doesn't exactly feel like you're in a real car.

And with sim racing, that's the whole point. The Challenge puts you in the perfect driving position, with adjustable straps on the sides to make sure you find the right angle. That should fix my biggest problem with the Logitech version, actually, with its plastic clamp locking mechanisms—which occasionally slip if you haven't tightened them to their maximum.

The straps here look much more robust, which should prevent any "help, I'm falling through the track" moments. Plus, it's got a fold-out pedal bar that holds the foot controls exactly where you want them.

Anyone who's raced at a desk will have a story of the moment they went full Max Verstappen in an overtake, only for their brake pedal to go shooting away from them at a crucial point. It's embarrassing. Way more embarrassing than buying something called a Playseat, or indeed, being caught using it.

Because ultimately, us sim racers are here to have fun. And the proper driving angle will improve that fun immensely. I now display my equivalent model with pride, and if you pick one up, you should too. It might look like a glorified camping chair, but in terms of the giggle factor? You'll be the one grinning away, carving up the corners with the best of them.

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Secretlab Titan Evo gaming chair in Royal colouring, on a white background

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Andy built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 12, when IDE cables were a thing and high resolution wasn't—and he hasn't stopped since. Now working as a hardware writer for PC Gamer, Andy spends his time jumping around the world attending product launches and trade shows, all the while reviewing every bit of PC gaming hardware he can get his hands on. You name it, if it's interesting hardware he'll write words about it, with opinions and everything.

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