Simagic DS-8X 6+2+R=Awesome Shifter Review 

I've had mine about 6 months now and can say it's not something I regret buying. And even though I'm about to criticize it pretty harshly I would still call it my favorite piece of gear I own. The H-pattern is great. Without nitpicking it to death, I would say it is quite satisfactory in its action and functionality. No issues in functionality and the build quality is top notch. The changes are quite smooth (not much 'clunk' to them) and I've had very few issues with missed shifts (it can happen but it's usually all me). The weight, the spacing, and other ergonomics are somewhere between totally acceptable and very good. No issues with noise (it's very quiet) or rattling. The sleeve lockout for R & 7/8 works intuitively. I've never had any reason to go for 7th gear while driving and the act of getting into and out of R can be learned quickly. No complaints about that aspect. The one thing about this unit that really sucks is that the sequential mode just doesn't feel all that great. It's not horrible but I don't get much satisfaction from using it and usually just go to the paddle shifters instead. There is an adjustable tensioner on it but it doesn't address the real issue, which is that the throw is too long and "springy". It's quite easy to short-stroke it and miss a shift and the only way I can make it feel halfway decent is to purposefully use it in an aggressive manner (which kind of hides the spongy-ness). This is a real drag because, for me at least, I now have to figure out how to mount an H-pattern, a handbrake, AND a sequential shifter in some sort of usable manner. This kind of kills the whole concept of an H/SQ combo unit. I've heard the same complaints about Fanatec and VNM. When you look at all of the H-pattern options on the market I still think the Simagic is one of the top picks for the money as long as you don't expect a sequential function that rivals the dedicated units on the market.

I was going to complain about this being an 8-way shifter. But this one seems to be well-designed: 1-2 to the left, 3-4 at the centre, 5-6 to the right, as it should be! The fact it is not easy to shift to 7-8 is not a bug, is a feature! Sincerely: someone who drives a manual car in real life.

Great video Shaun, great to see Simagic "shifting gears" and getting products out in time for reviews on release day. 😉

Aesthetically speaking It looks fantastic. I’m fortunate enough to have a ProSim so I’m not in the market but this looks way better then pretty much everything else. It’s great to see more H patterns on the market. I feel like it’ll drive people’s interest in manual gear box cars.

Awesome review Shaun, thanks! The detents and resistance in shifting is exactly what I'm looking for that the Thrustmaster shifter lacks. Definitely getting one of these 👍

Awesome Video Shawn!!

Nice review. I understand your last part but people like me also play a lot of assetto corsa driving street cars casually and H pattern shifting is super fun in that sense.

Thanks you for your content :)

Super interested in this shifter.

Great review Thanks for your Time

Would of been nice to know how the feel of the sequential mode compared to the sequential Q1 shifter.

Maybe some of the truck sims could make use of the extra gears (Roadranger box)... Use the lift mech for splitting gears. Really interested in Simagic gear. Great review as always. Cheers 👍

dang just ordered a vnm box. this looks great.

Thank you sir. Great review as always! Been looing for someone to review this thing. How does it compare to Fanatecs regarding feel?

What ! Did we switch to metric ? Great review .🤘🏼🏁

Love a H shift nothing more exhilarating than a Historic or open wheeler;;; or embarrassing than dropping the box and stalling on the grid,, 🙈😩🤫 But so satisfying,, block changing and doubling the clutch,, toe heeling ,, even if you don’t win,, the drive is so much more when you’re dialled in Great info Shaun ,, keep em coming,informative as always 👍🏼

Nice shaft.. on that shifter! Love the knob too. Nice to see Fanatec alternatives that aren't so chonky.

Love the review and very informative. Do you feel the feel is worth upgrading from a TH8A or is the improvement in feel minimal?

Not impressed with this review. You seem to be more concerned about using H pattern vs SQ overall rather than reviewing the product itself. You've told me nothing about what's actually tangible to me as a potential buyer and customer of this Simagic shifter. What I would have liked to see is a breakdown of how it works internally showing what mechanisms its using i.e. Is the H pattern and SQ mechanisms the same or are they different? If they're different how do they work? What materials are they using internally? Are they using microswitches or hall effect sensors? Secondly you mentioned the tension is adjustable but you never showed it at its lowest and highest tension settings and how switching between H pattern and SQ affects the tension either. I would have also liked to have seen how much force in kg is required to actuate the shift both in H pattern and SQ. I also need to know if the shift knob is replaceable and if so, what shaft and thread size does it use? And lastly a direct comparison for both feel and sound with its competition which is the Fanatec SQ1.5 and the VNM H pattern shifters. As someone who owns a Fanatec shifter and looking to upgrade, this shifter is on my radar but you haven't given any reference point or any kind of indication as to whether the shift feel is better or worse than my Fanatec one. Also how does it compare to higher end shifters like the Simvertex H pattern and BDH?

Oooooo i like this a potential upgrade from my Moza hgp 7+R just maybe simmagic makes awesome stuff

Well, time to add to cart

Great for American Truck Sim :=)

Would love a comparison of how much tension it has vs the moza HGP and VNM shifter as it looks really light to change gears

Looks good

What are you using as the bracket/plate to attach the shifter to the chassis with? It looks like a solid platform. Thank you!

I've watched you test several shifters, it's kinda disappointing that you don't compare them to each other to help people get the right one the first time. I will upgrade my shifter at some point, but I find that most reviewers just say something along the lines of "yeah it feels good, and there's a nice clunk", but rarely actually compare by feel, despite having experience with most/many other shifters.

Great review! I wondering though, how does this compare with teh Fanatec Shifter? Seems like this might b a strong competitor.

well shit ... guess I finally have a new shifter to save for XD I love that pull feature for the last two gears and reverse Great review as always Shaun!

would you choose this shifter or frex h-shifter ?

The question that needs to get asked in all shifter reviews is "Is it $280 better than an SHH NEWT2?"

Can you use a VNM shifter and compare for the price?

5th gear is the limit for me too. How does it compare to others?

I have this shifter , and its great........ except , weirdly , windows doesn't recognize/see it on boot up. I have to unplug/re-plug it for it to be seen. Anyone have any ideas?

The main question I have is: How does it compare to the Fanatec Clubsport shifter? Is it worth the extra money?

How does this feel to shift compared to the Moza hgp so far i haven't felt one that shifts better than Moza's hgp

*Well.. I am not too happy with it. I just got it and broke after 5 minutes of use. lever locked in the middle in H pattern mode. I went on simagic discord and saw multiple people having the same issue. Some sent it back twice :(((( Too bad. It felt superb for 5 minutes.*

this vs Fanatec sq?

12:40 ETS would be one usage.

what im liking about simagic, is non propietary. cause im gonna mix and match parts.

Your missing clutch for the H-pat.😢

Is there one racecar you need 7th gear or even a street-car with h-pattern gearbox? If there is a 7th, it's the economy-mode. I would not buy a shifter without knowing how it works, so a look inside is missing and I still don't know how it sounds...

I'd drop an old school hurst hand shifter on that lol

Shouldn't you engage the clutch when shifting in H-pattern??

can the shift knob be changed?

One point not brought up in good first impression. How noisy is it , the well enclosed design looks like it might suppress some noise , but just how noisy is it ? , most on the market are a little too noisy for my ( or other house members ) liking .

I feel like it would've been nicer to have a switch on the shifter body for switching between 6 and 8 speed H-shifting. That way it's just the one flip of the switch that engages or disengages the 7/8 gate when you're doing vehicle setup instead of lifting up on that gear lock collar each time you want to go from 6th to 7th

I have been looking for a H shifter for a long time. But the throws looks way to long 😒

I just wish Fanatec would already make new model as connecting to the wheel and console compatible are nice to haves I bought Clubsport v2.5 and 6 months later they released the direct drive models for cheaper so was kinda disappointed so don't want the same thing to happen again..

Need a discount code.

Automatic clutching 😂

The shifter is noisy and bounces around like a crazy pig in SQ mode

I was ready to buy until I heard reverse is top left, no thank you. That is a deal breaker and very unfortunate to hear.