CHASE Bucket Seat      

I bought the Chase on release and despite a speedy delivery it had been sat in its quite sizeable box for about nine weeks. The double walled cardboard has stood up to being shuffled and shunted around my workshop while amply protecting its cargo, and when you do open the box you’ll find your seat wrapped in its own bag and surrounded by a layer of foam sheet and bubble wrap. All of the mounting hardware comes fitted to the seat already, the only separate part is the release bar for the seat rails which you’ll find wrapped in foam. The mounting brackets for the Chase are attached at the side of the seat, solidly made from 3mm thick steel and featuring three holes at each end, allowing the seat to be reclined or raised depending on your preference. Attached to the mounting brackets are the sliding seat rails which give approximately 210mm of adjustment. Installing the seat rail release bar was slightly awkward and required bending the two ends together slightly more before fitting, it is designed to be pressed inward slightly to fit to the rails but mine needed a little bit more encouragement. The one thing that isn’t supplied with the Chase is a set of mounting bolts, though in my experience with GT Omega rigs they tend to give you enough spares that you should have these to hand already, otherwise it’s a trip to the DIY for four bolts in a length and size appropriate for your chassis. Fitting the seat to my GT Omega Prime Lite was straightforward; There is a hole at the front of each seat rail with a couple of holes and slots at the rear to accommodate a range of mounting positions, and moving the seat fully to the front or back there leaves plenty of clearance to get a screwdriver or hex key in to tighten up your bolts. It is easier to fit the seat with the bars, or profiles it’s being mounted to loosened off to allow them to move into position as you fit the mounting bolts, there might be situations where this isn’t possible but if you have an aluminium profile rig it makes fitting much quicker and easier. The standout feature of course is the fibreglass body of the seat, offering more rigidity and notionally more consistency than a seat that has flex where the back joins to the base or where the seat is sprung. That isn’t to say that you’ll be sitting directly on a hard fibreglass shell, the front of the seat is wrapped in a soft fabric with accents in a slightly different, grippier material. Regardless of which of the four colour options you choose both the fibreglass shell, and the accent colour will be black. The fabric covering for the seat is mostly velcroed in place, so it looks like it should be easy to remove and replace for cleaning, the exception to this is the fabric on the back and base of the seat which appears to be glued. There are also three removeable cushions, one on the back of the seat, a thigh bolster and a thin cushion to the bottom, which are all secured by Velcro and are to some extent repositionable. Mounted into the frame of the seat and through the fabric are holes for a five-point harness, should you wish to fit one, and let’s be honest you absolutely should. Body shape and size are obviously important when choosing a seat, so before discussing how the Chase performs in use, I think it’s important to talk about the size of its owner; I am male, 5’10, 220lbs, with a 36” waist and a shoulder width of approximately 19.75”, which to my surprise is above the UK average. While I was testing the seat I asked my fiancée for a second opinion, and despite having a smaller waist size, and wearing a clothing size smaller than I do, the Chase was far too tight on her hips, something to bear in mind if you’re a woman looking to buy a seat for your sim. Initially I fitted the Chase in its upright position, and it is a pretty good fit for my waist, though a little tight on my thighs where the measurement across the front of the seat is 370mm rather than the stated 400mm, however this is a heavily cushioned area and will wear in. Disappointingly, much like the seat it is intended to replace (the Auto Style K12W; W for wide), it’s too narrow across my shoulders, the wings at shoulder level project too steeply forward and they have a ridge moulded in which puts pressure on my shoulder blades. The result is that my shoulders are pushed forward, leaving a significant gap between my upper back and the back of the seat. Tilting the seat to its most reclined position, counterintuitively, makes a huge difference in comfort; lifting my head and shoulders slightly away from the seat wings and reducing pressure on my back. Shifting the back cushion up slightly also helps by lending a little more support in the upper back area, though the amount you can move the cushion up is limited by the amount of lumbar support you can stand to lose. The marketing blurb paints the Chase as a hybrid seat allowing for GT and something approximating a formula seating position, though having fitted the seat reclined to its maximum it seems to me to be a proper GT driving position which puts the drivers heels in line with the bottom of the seat. After a couple of hours sitting in the Chase, setting up drivers and doing firmware updates, and finally putting in a lot of laps at Silverstone, I did expect to stand up and feel a bit of backache as I have in the past after a long stint, but I was very surprised to find that despite my issues with the fit at my shoulders this wasn’t the case at all. Having since spent another four hours in the Chase, in two sessions, I have found this to remain true. There is some discomfort in my back while I’m in the seat but it’s nothing that lasts beyond standing up. Under braking the seat feels impressively rigid and even putting excess pressure on the brake pedal doesn’t make much of a difference. While flex can’t be non-existent it isn’t really noticeable either, and where the seat stays put so does its occupant, I’ve felt much less of a need to fidget or readjust my position during a race than I did with my previous, sprung, seat. Overall, the Chase is snug but not tight, supportive without feeling restrictive. Owing to the fit across the shoulders this isn’t likely to be the last seat I buy for my sim rig, but a replacement will be solely on the grounds of improved ergonomics in that area. If GT Omega were to release this seat with a wider shoulder region I would happily buy it, because in every other respect the Chase is a solid choice; it’s well packaged, easy to fit, well made, and forgiving of those of us who have put on a little weight heading into middle age.

I purchased the chase bucket seat to replace my previous one from GT omega. This seat is really good, it's bucket shape holds me in place on challenging rally's where I would slide around a bit on my other seat. I just need a slight bit of lumber support for the long drives.

Love the new Chase seat! It's snug, but comfortable - I'm 6'3" and approx 13st - and it gives a much more racy feel than my old RS6 seat. Love the fact that it's compatible with my old out of production rig too!

Shipping was very fast, and installation was without issue. The bar for the slider was a tight fit. Best to remove from your aim rig when adjusting the tilt on side brackets as this releases the pressure on the side of the seat making it easier to position the holes. As someone with a larger build the fit is a bit tight, hopefully an XL is in the pipeline? Would so be nice to see another set of holes from 3 to 4 for the angle adjustment, but that’s just fine tuning. The seat it’s self is very secure on the apex system very little to no movement. When using this for the first time you can really feel the difference when in heavy breaking and you can really feel the rigidity of the char vs a desk chair on your back. If you have the apex wheels stand and are on the fence this seat with the seat mod for the wheel stand is an amazing upgrade to your sim.

You always know its gonna be quality when it arrives

The seat looks great, driving in a bucket seat is more solid compared to previous RS6 I head from GT Omega. On the negative side, the seat is very narrow, more suited for a child rather than a mid size adult, the sliders are stiff and require extra force to move. Seat fabric is a magnet for fur if you have pets. Seat arrived with minor scratches, lever for seat sliding unevenly bent, so it did not fit into slots, had to use one from the previous seat I had. Package had no manual nor bolts. Overall not as excited as anticipated, if I was to order again it would be RS6 seat.

I purchased this seat and it’s really sturdy, the cushions are attached with Velcro so they are washable. With use of the psvr2 and this seat that hugs you just adds to the immersion. Shame I’m slightly too big for it so it would be great if they made an xl version of this seat. Once again customer service is 100%. Highly recommended please please make one for the larger thighed person Maybe seat cushion being 45cm-50cm wide instead of 40cm.