Looking for a way to set your office apart from the average Joe? We spend 8 hours a day in an office chair that is for the most part boring. It doesn’t say anything about our personality. It doesn’t remind us who we really are and that underneath the mandated business attire we’re really wearing fireproof underwear, like Clarke Kent wears his superman outfit. It would look strange, and be somewhat impractical to wear race gloves at the desk but now that doesn’t matter. Pagnian Imports and Next Level Racing have released a new product so now we can not only have great sim rigs at home, we can be reminded of our passion at work, seated in the Next Level Racing Ultimate Office Chair.



The Next Level Racing Office Chair comes in four variations: Black (Fabric), Red with Black highlights (Fabric), Black (Leather), Black with Read Highlights (Leather). All variations come with adjustable arm rests, lumbar and head support, hydraulic height adjustment, and where these chairs differ in functionality from your standard office chair is the reclining back rest, modeled after that found on a typical manually operated car seat. You can recline the seat backward to almost flat using the small lever on the left side of the seat (seems to aimed our left hand drive counterparts).

I’ve been using the Next Level Racing Ultimate Office Chair for the last month and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the chair. I expected a gimmick rather than a serious office chair and my initial seat time in it left me wanting my old chair back. The chair is a bucket seat, contoured to fit the body and provide support in those high speed turns. Within a few hours I was used to the more snug fit of the chair, just like a real racing seat, and I found it to be more comfortable than a traditional chair. I found it particular useful for turning about at my desk, the contours and padding of the seat holding my entire torso while I spun around. The seat also comes with extra lumbar cushioning so you can get the most comfortable position. I personally found it too bulky and the seat was more comfortable with out.

Moving away from the desk the chair also has height and angle adjustable arm rests, which I found particularly useful when I was spun around talking to coworkers; I could rest my arms naturally, comfortable in those long technical discussions.
Of course, the chair isn’t restricted to just the office. It absolutely shines when gaming. I found it comfortable for long gaming stints than a typical office chair in the same price bracket and the higher back allowed me to relax into the chair more. The tilt feature of this chair comes into its’ own when used at home. On more than one occasions I may have reclined the chair to watch movies on my PC and at the same time get a bit of shut-eye.



Verdict

The Next Level Racing Ultimate Office Chair is a comfortable office chair replacement for the motoring enthusiasts and especially good for gamers who like their sim-racing. The reclining feature is particularly handy for home use and the price matching of the leather or cloth option is very fair.

Cons:

The Leather chair isn’t ventilated and because it’s a snug fit it can get hotter than other chairs
Chair has a little bit of wobble in the locked position

Pros:

Looks like an authentic race car set
Leather version is easily cleanable
Competitively priced

My only negative with the chair is that’s a little hot when the office air-conditioning isn’t on, a problem the higher end chairs with mesh chairs don’t have. So if you’re using this for home and you live in a warmer climate, without air-conditioning, you’ll need to take this into consideration.

On the positive, if you’re going to use this chair at your desk at home and you like to play racing games, it will definitely add to the realism. That aside, it’s a very good chair for the price, for either home or office and the leather option for the same price is worthwhile.