Is Your PC Ready for Next-Gen VR? The 2026 Sim Racing Hardware Check
The latest VR headsets offer significantly higher resolution, which means they require correspondingly powerful hardware. Pimax addressed this challenge by conducting a survey among its own users. Real-world data was evaluated and hardware in various price ranges was compared.
The survey
For this article, Pimax provided Simracing-PC with a data set containing responses from over 600 users. In the data set, users were asked about their hardware and performance with the Pimax Crystal Super. Here you will find a summary of the survey results, allowing you to quickly identify general trends.
*All data is based on average results from a survey of Crystal Super owners. For hardware with fewer responses, individual settings may significantly affect performance. Results are for reference only.
Pimax*
Pimax Crystal Super Performance (2026 Edition)
When looking at the results, it is important to bear in mind that the respective hardware must be compatible with its counterpart (CPU/GPU) and may be limited in some cases. For more details, it is therefore worth taking a look at the results of the Pimax survey directly.
Conclusions and recommendations
One thing can be said right away. If you want to get the best possible performance from a current high-end headset without having to reduce the resolution, you’ll have to dig deep into your pockets and buy the appropriate high-end PC hardware. Even though around 80 percent of users now use an Nvidia GeForce 5090 or 4080, a few additional recommendations have emerged.
- Graphics cards: Here, you have to make a clear distinction between the absolute demand for smoothness and a good price-performance ratio. AMD currently plays hardly any role and should only be used in exceptional cases in connection with VR.
- Goal: Stable 90 FPS (High-end): If you need a constant 90 FPS, especially in competitive online racing (e.g., iRacing), there’s no getting around an RTX 5090 or RTX 4090. These cards are currently the safest choice. They enable higher resolution scaling (supersampling) with significantly fewer visual compromises. This is ideal for drivers who place absolute priority on image sharpness and smooth movements.
- Balanced & value for money: For most sim racers, the RTX 4080, 4070, or 3080 are still solid cards. They offer acceptable performance, especially in titles such as Assetto Corsa, Automobilista 2, and iRacing. If you’re willing to slightly reduce the resolution scaling, you’ll often get the best value for money here.
- CPUs:
- Bottleneck: In VR, the graphics card (GPU) is almost always the primary bottleneck at high resolutions. CPU performance is often less critical in this context.
- When the CPU becomes important: You still need a powerful processor when running large AI grids, for example. The same applies to complex tracks with very dense environments.
- Combination: The hardware must be matched. For example, an RTX 5090 is of little use if it is slowed down by an outdated CPU (bottleneck). For the high-end scenario mentioned above, the CPU should be modern enough (e.g., the latest Intel i7/i9 or AMD Ryzen X3D series) to keep frame times stable, especially at the start of a race. The AMD processors of the X3D series in particular have excelled thanks to their strong benchmark results.
- Workaround: Reduce resolution (significantly): If the hardware is reaching its limits, resolution scaling is the most effective approach. Often, even a slight reduction is enough to regain stable FPS. The disadvantage is that the image becomes blurrier, which can quickly become annoying. The key here is to find the “sweet spot.”
Pimax Crystal Super – review and discount
If you would like more information about the Crystal Super, please take a look at our review. Thanks to a partnership with Pimax, you can also save money with our affiliate coupon code ‘simracingpc’.
2% Pimax Gutscheincode / Coupon code: simracingpc
