Sim-Lab Porsche 911 GT3 Cup DDU Review

So you’ve decided you need to add an external dash to your sim racing setup. Then, you’ve looked at and ruled out smaller displays, and feel like you need the biggest bad boy dashboard display unit you can find. Well, enter the Sim-Lab Porsche 911 GT3 Cup DDU.

This is a huge 10.3 inch, 1920 x 720px dash unit, designed to replicate the dash of a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. Engineered by GRID Engineering, a sub brand of Sim-Lab, this DDU mounts directly to your wheel base, or just in front of your monitor, and can provide a tonne of live telemetry data.

Sim-Lab have sent this unit over for me to check out, so I want to jump into this review to see if a dashboard this large is needed.

What is the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup DDU at a glance

At a glance, this Porsche 911 DDU is a huge 10.3inch LCD display, connected to your PC via HDMI cable, and is essentially a second screen. There are also a series of LED lights that serve as both rev and flag lights.

All of this is controlled directly by Sim-Lab’s own RaceDirector software, allowing you customisation over how the whole unit looks and behaves. And if this software isn’t in-depth enough, you can of course hook this dash into SimHub and use third-party designs from Lovely Dashboard or anywhere else.

---

Price of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Dashboard Display Unit

With a dashboard this size, it isn’t really a surprise that it comes in at almost €600. Most other dashboard display units top out at around 5 inches, with the Ascher Racing 8″ dash really being one of the only super widescreen dashboards.

These smaller 5″ DDUs typically range in the £200 mark for a MOZA or SIMAGIC dash, up to about £400 for more high end units. So at €599.00, this Porsche dash is pretty pricey.

Of course, I’m sure there are a bunch of other lesser known DDUs, or there’s even the DIY approach of simply buying a 10″ LCD screen. And there is the fairly new 14.5″ CORSAIR Xeneon Edge which can technically serve as a SimHub powered dash.

Region	Price	Buy
UK	£519	Buy GRID Porsche DDU UK
EU	€599	Buy GRID Porsche DDU EU

---

The design of the Sim-Lab Porsche 911 GT3 Cup DDU

With a 10.3″ display, and coming in at a total width of 285mm, this is a sizeable piece of kit. It wasn’t until I started unboxing it that I quite realised just how large it would be. The 911 DDU is just as wide as most of my steering wheels and takes up a pretty large amount of space when mounted.

Materials and build quality

When out of the box, I truly started to see just how high quality this dash was. Previous dashboards I’ve used utilised plastic or even 3D printed shells. Not this one. This DDU has a single piece of glass across the front, with a 2mm thick CNC machined aluminium shell wrapping around the sides and rear.

All connection ports are positioned on the bottom, so you’ll never see a cable which I like, and it also keeps the depth pretty shallow when mounting as you can butt it right up to your monitor if needed.

There are three connections required. A HDMI port for the display, A USB port for the rev lights and the power connection. For me, the HDMI caused the most issue as my sim rig is the other side of my office to my PC. But that is more of a me issue, and for most sim racers, the included 3m HDMI cable should be more than long enough.

Installation

Around the back of the DDU are the two mounting points, and you only get these two points to mount from. It would have been nice for a little more flexibility or options in how to mount the unit. But that is where Sim-Lab’s own DDU mount comes in.

This is an extra purchase at around €100. But it does open up a lot of adjustability over how you mount the DDU. If you don’t fancy the extra expenditure after forking out €600 for the dashboard itself, that’s understandable. You can mount the dash using the either of the two included brackets. One is designed for Fanatec wheel bases and the other for Simucube, and they position the DDU right in front of your wheel base.

---

Software setup

With the dash mounted and connected, you can start playing around with the software. This DDU is run primarily through Sim-Lab’s own RaceDirector software. And albeit pretty rudimentary, it offers a bit of customisation if you want a plug and play experience.

In RaceDirector, you’ll find a few dashboard designs, including official Porsche GT layouts. There are also some behavioural options for the LED rev and flag lights which can be customised.

If you do want some more control and customisation, you can load up SimHub. With SimHub, you can customise the dash to your hearts content. You can download custom made designs from the community, or use software such as Lovely Dashboard for some more pro level dashboard customisation.

Software such as Lovely Dashboard do feature widescreen layouts, meaning the 1920x720px display isn’t ever a problem, despite being an unconventional aspect ratio. If you want to use SimHub, but keep the official Porsche designs, that can be achieved also by importing Sim-Lab’s own designs and LED profiles directly into SimHub.

Ultimately, the setup process is about as simple as it comes. RaceDirector for plug and play, with unparalleled customisation within SimHub if required.

---

Performance while sim racing

And then, mounted and set up, we finally hit the track. This is where everything comes together nicely. The display itself is super crisp thanks to the high 1920x720px resolution. This is an LCD panel, not OLED. But that doesn’t hamper the colour or contrast.

Using the default Porsche designs, there is a tonne of information on display. You can tone this down significantly by using simpler designs and layouts. But whether you prefer information overload or a simpler way of accessing data, this dash performs superbly.

The screen runs at 60Hz, meaning there is no lag or hint of performance dips, providing real-time data. Quickly glancing at my lap time or delta quickly became second nature for me. Helped by the fact that I normally run a steering wheel with a screen. But this time, the display is positioned in a much more natural position to glance at, rather than looking down at a wheel that is constantly moving.

While the display certainly doesn’t disappoint, neither do the rev lights. They really have a single job, and that is to be bright enough for me to spot in my peripheral vision. And they certainly achieve that easily.

---

Final thoughts

Quite frankly, this Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Dashboard is one of the flashiest parts of my sim racing setup now. Previously friends would walk in and swoon over whatever steering wheel I had mounted. Now they walk in and are instantly intrigued by the fact I have a huge 10.3″ display positioned directly in front of my monitor.

As mentioned, I primarily race with a steering wheel with an integrated dash. And while these are useful and look great. The smaller screens and fact they’re constantly moving don’t necessarily make them the easiest way to quickly view data.

The sheer size of this DDU, and positioning much closer to my line of sight mean viewing my delta, tyre temps or gap to other cars is all quickly legible. All without the need to scroll through various screens, quite frankly to the huge 10.3″ screen size.

Given the size of the display, you really would want an ultrawide monitor or triple screen setup to avoid it looking too big. But when mounted to the right sim racing setup, this DDU is truly stunning, and adds a tonne of immersion while sim racing.

---

Frequently Asked Questions

Pros & Cons of the Sim-Lab Porsche 911 GT3 Cup DDU

Pros

• A huge display shows a lot of information.
• The 60Hz 1920x720px display looks sharp and crisp.
• All metal build.
• Fairly plug and play when using RaceDirector.
• Complete SimHub compatibility.
• Enhances immersion and visible data.

Cons

• One of the most expensive DDUs available.
• RaceDirector isn’t the most customisable software.
• Just a single set of mounting points on the rear.

---

Grab Your Sim Racing Gear Here

You can use the links below to shop for your favourite sim racing products, or for any products that we may have recommended. These links are affiliate links, and will earn us a small commission, with no additional cost for you.