Motion Systems vs Qubic System: Which Line for Which Project

Motion Systems and Qubic System are two product lines from the same manufacturer, built for two different worlds. The short answer for anyone weighing one against the other: the Professional Series carries heavy cabins for flight, vehicle, and defense training, and Qubic System drives compact cockpits for sim racing, VR, and entertainment. Choosing between them is not a contest of better against worse. It is a question of matching the line to the task, the payload, and the hours the system runs each day.

The audiences differ as much as the machines do. Simulator integrators, defense buyers, and automotive R&D teams usually arrive from the professional side. From the compact side come universities, racing academies, and commercial sim-racing venues. A good number of buyers sit between the two, and that is exactly where the wrong choice gets expensive.

This article maps that choice. It covers what separates the two ranges, where they share the same engineering, the thresholds that move a project from one to the other, and a use-case table that turns the decision into a short checklist. The framing is deliberately even-handed, because the wrong line is not the cheaper one or the more expensive one. The wrong line is the one that does not fit the job, and that mistake costs the same whether it overshoots or undershoots.

Key takeaways

Qubic System and the Professional Series are both built by Motion Systems and share the same core technology: electric actuators, the same motion software, and the same SDK.

The split is about scale and duty cycle, not quality. Qubic fits compact cockpits and prosumer-to-commercial sim racing; the Professional Series fits heavy cabins, certification-grade training, and continuous operation.

Payload, degrees of freedom, certification needs, and hours per day are the four signals that decide which line a project belongs to.

Are Motion Systems and Qubic System the same company?

Yes. Qubic System is the Motion Systems brand for sim racing and compact simulators, and both lines come from one team in Poland. The same engineers design the actuators, the same factory builds them, and the same software runs across the whole portfolio. A buyer is not choosing between two competing vendors with different support, different spare-parts chains, or different roadmaps. The choice is between two ranges inside a single company that has built motion platforms since 2009, more than seventeen years.

That matters at procurement time for a reason most comparison searches miss. When two brands belong to one maker, the decision carries no hidden vendor risk. The control electronics, the engineering support, and the supply chain are shared, so a Qubic build and a Professional Series build draw on the same depth of experience. Both come out of one certified quality management system: Motion Systems holds DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 certification issued by TUV SUD Management Service GmbH, with a certified scope covering design and manufacturing of motion platforms in hardware and software. The brand on the platform changes the scale of the machine, not the people standing behind it. Without that shared backbone, a buyer comparing a compact line against a heavy-duty line would be weighing two separate bets on reliability and longevity. Here, it is one.

What is the difference between Motion Systems and Qubic System?

The core difference is scale and intended use. The Professional Series is engineered for heavy payloads, full cabins, certification-grade fidelity, and around-the-clock duty cycles. Qubic System is engineered for compact cockpits, fast and quiet response, plug-and-play operation, and the price-to-performance balance that sim racing and commercial entertainment need.

Think of it as the same instrument built at two sizes. A 2DOF seat mover under a sim racing cockpit and a 6DOF hexapod under a flight cabin solve the same problem, reproducing the forces of real operation, but at very different masses and price points. The axis vocabulary is shared as well. Every motion simulator works from the same six degrees of freedom - pitch, roll, and yaw for rotation, surge, sway, and heave for straight-line movement - and what changes between the lines is how many of those axes a platform carries and how much mass it carries them with. Flight simulators lean on heave for turbulence and pitch for approach work; a driving rig puts most of the load on surge and pitch for braking feel. The engineering that makes one quiet and responsive is the engineering that makes the other precise under load.

How the two ranges are tuned differently

Here is where the lines diverge in practice:

Qubic System targets sim racing enthusiasts, VR builds, racing academies, and commercial venues. The cockpit is compact, the operator resets it between sessions, and the response is tuned for the instant feedback a driver needs to catch a slide. End-to-end response runs below 8 milliseconds (the QS-H13 seat mover, which communicates directly over USB instead of through a separate power cabinet, runs below 10), fast enough that the rear stepping out is felt the moment the screen shows it.

The Professional Series targets flight and vehicle training, defense, automotive R&D, and research laboratories. The platform carries a full cabin, the fidelity meets training-device expectations, and the build is rated for continuous shift operation. End-to-end latency runs below 30 milliseconds, measured, which keeps a heavy training cabin comfortably inside the comfort threshold.

Notice that both numbers sit far below the point where motion and vision drift apart enough to cause sickness. The lines are tuned for different masses, not for different standards of acceptability.

How duty cycle changes the answer

Definition - duty cycle: the share of time a platform runs under load across a working day. A home rig used a few evenings a week and a training center running two shifts five days a week ask completely different things of the same machine. Duty cycle, more than headline specs, is what often pushes a project from the compact line to the professional one.

Do both brands share the same motion software and SDK?

They do, and this is one of the strongest reasons the two lines belong to one company. Every platform across both ranges runs the same software stack, so the integration work, the developer skills, and the tooling carry over from a compact Qubic build to a heavy Professional Series cabin without starting over. The practical measure of that is the title library: the same application auto-detects 154 racing, flight and professional titles regardless of which range it is driving, and new ones arrive through the normal release cycle rather than as a paid upgrade.

Reading a compact-range datasheet without falling into the mode trap

One habit is worth carrying into any compact-platform comparison, including ours. These platforms run in selectable modes, and the headline numbers do not all come from the same one. A QS-220 set moves at 300 mm/s in Heavy Duty, 400 mm/s in Performance and 800 mm/s in Q-Mode, and its maximum acceleration follows the same split at 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 G. Q-Mode also caps the payload and requires a 230 V supply. Quoting the maximum velocity next to the top payload describes a machine that does not exist. The figures that do not shift with the mode are the reliable anchors: 100 mm of actuator stroke, so plus or minus 50 mm of heave, and 30 kg for the set. Tilt angles are not a product constant at all, because the same stroke on a wider cockpit produces a smaller angle.

Inside the shared software stack

The stack has three layers, and they are identical across both brands:

ForceSeatPM is the free platform manager. Running on the simulation PC, it reads telemetry from the title in play and hands it to the motion controller, with built-in extraction covering all 154 supported simulation titles. Motion limits, diagnostics, and game-specific profiles live here too. An operator launches the title and the motion starts on its own, which keeps day-to-day operation easy at a sim-racing venue or a flight-school front desk.

ForceSeatMI is the Motion Interface SDK, the paid layer for custom integration where a developer feeds telemetry from a proprietary application into the cueing engine. Language support covers C++, C# and Python, with ready-made integrations for Unity and Unreal Engine.

ForceSeatDI is the low-level Direct Interface, with Linux and Raspberry Pi support. It gives research labs and OEM integrators the ability to drive each platform straight from their own toolchain, without ForceSeatPM in the loop, which is what custom experiments and machine-level integration usually call for.

Both lines also ship with VR HeadWay, the software-only VR sickness compensation that reads platform telemetry and adjusts the headset view to hold the visual-vestibular relationship steady during sustained motion. In practice that is what lets a long VR session hold its immersion from the first lap to the last. The practical payoff for an integrator: write the integration once, and it works whether the project later scales from a Qubic cockpit to a Professional Series cabin. Without a shared stack, every move up in platform size would mean re-engineering the software from scratch, paying twice for work already done, and retraining the team on a new toolset. The shared SDK is what turns a single supplier into a single learning curve.

When does a project need a Professional Series motion platform instead of a Qubic System one?

Move to the Professional Series when the project crosses any one of four thresholds: payload beyond a single cockpit, certification or qualification requirements, continuous high-utilization duty, or a full cabin replica. Any one of these is enough on its own. A project does not need to cross all four.

When a cockpit becomes a cabin

The first threshold is payload and mass. Qubic platforms are sized for a cockpit and driver. The Professional Series carries far heavier loads, and the line scales up as project demands increase: as a sense of the range, the PS-6TL-350, PS-6TL-800, and PS-6TL-1500 are rated for 300, 720, and 1350 kilograms net respectively, where the number in the model name is the gross moving load. Travel scales alongside mass. Stewart platforms in the Professional Series carry the longest vertical travel in the range, up to 507.5 mm of heave on the PS-6TL-1500, which is what puts full turbulence and wave motion inside the physical envelope rather than inside the cueing algorithm. A full flight cabin with instrument panels, multiple seats, and a structural enclosure simply does not belong on a compact seat mover.

Who CE-marks the finished simulator

The second is certification. Flight training devices, qualification-grade automotive validation, and defense programs come with the kind of documentation and fidelity expectations the Professional Series is built to meet. Worth knowing here: a Professional Series platform ships as partly completed machinery under the EU Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) with a Declaration of Incorporation, and the integrator who assembles the finished simulator is the party who CE-marks it. The Professional Series is also ITAR-free, which keeps defense and dual-use procurement clear of US export-control entanglement.

Duty cycle and the full cabin replica

The third is duty cycle, already defined above. A platform running shift-grade hours every working day needs the structural margin and service intervals the Professional Series is rated for. The fourth is the full cabin replica, where the realism target is an exact reproduction of a real cockpit rather than a compact representation of one. If none of these four apply, the compact line is very likely the better option, both technically and on cost.

Is Qubic System suitable for R&D, or only sim racing?

Qubic System is industrial-grade and suitable for a real variety of research and commercial work, not only home sim racing. The same electric actuators, sub-8-millisecond response, and three-layer SDK that serve a serious sim racer also serve universities, esport psychology studies, VR research, and early-stage automotive proof-of-concept work.

The line covers a wide span, from a 2DOF seat mover to the 6DOF QS-S35, whose heave axis spans 343.2 mm of total travel on a 300 mm actuator stroke. To make the range concrete with the spread of models a buyer actually compares:

The line that moves a research project from Qubic to the Professional Series is not the word "research" in the project title. It is the physical demand. A vehicle-dynamics proof-of-concept on a single seat is squarely Qubic territory; a production driver-in-the-loop rig carrying a full cabin in two-shift operation is Professional Series territory. The task sets the line, not the label.

How the two ranges are priced, and what sits inside the number

Both ranges are quoted the same way and it is worth knowing the shape before asking for a figure. Prices are net and ex works, so the quoted number is the machine: freight, installation and any on-site training are agreed separately, and freight on a crated platform is a real line rather than a rounding error. The compact range sits an order of magnitude below the heavy professional tiers, which is the practical reason the brand question usually resolves itself once the payload and the duty cycle are on the table.

What is included is the part buyers get wrong in both directions. Platform Manager ships with the hardware and keeps receiving updates for the life of the platform, and VR HeadWay is included rather than licensed. The integration SDKs are not: ForceSeatMI and ForceSeatDI are licensed per platform and priced separately, which surprises teams who assume an SDK is a download. Bespoke work sits outside the catalog entirely - custom payloads, non-standard envelopes and engineered-to-spec configurations are quoted per project, and the engagement usually starts with concept and technical consultancy well before a platform is chosen and runs through to deployment.

Which brand is better for a training center versus a racing academy?

Neither is better in the abstract. A commercial racing academy or sim-racing venue is usually a Qubic project; a professional training center running certification-grade or full-cabin programs is usually a Professional Series project. The deciding factor is what the trainees must learn to feel, and how hard the hardware works to deliver it.

A racing academy teaches car control: the onset of oversteer, brake balance, the lateral load before a corner exits. Rehearsing a wet-track spin for real is dangerous, expensive, and often impossible to repeat on demand, which is the job the motion platform takes over. Qubic platforms replicate those cues with fast, quiet response in a compact footprint an operator can reset between students, and the price-to-performance balance fits a venue that lives on session throughput. A professional training center, by contrast, may need a full cabin, qualification-grade fidelity, and the duty-cycle margin to run all day, which is Professional Series ground.

The cost of getting the line wrong in either direction

The other side is worth stating plainly, because it filters projects faster than any spec sheet. Buying a Professional Series cabin for a sim-racing venue is paying for cabin payload and certification headroom that a racing seat will never use. Going the other way, fitting a compact line to a certification-grade flight program means specifying past its design intent, and the gap shows up later as failed acceptance criteria or a platform working at the edge of its envelope. Match the line to the demand and both the budget and the result settle into place. Warranty terms follow the same split: every Professional Series model carries 24 months on hardware and motion electronics regardless of customer type, while a Qubic platform carries 24 months in non-commercial use and 12 months in commercial service, with an extension available on request. A fleet can even run both: compact Qubic stations for entry and high-throughput work, Professional Series platforms for the heavy or certified tier, all sharing one software stack and one supplier.

Frequently asked questions

Is Qubic System made by Motion Systems?

Yes. Qubic System is the Motion Systems brand for sim racing and compact simulators. Both lines are designed and built by the same team in Poland, share the same electric-actuator technology and software stack, and draw on the same engineering support and supply chain. Choosing Qubic over the Professional Series changes the scale of the platform, not the company behind it.

Can a Qubic System platform handle commercial 10-hour days?

Yes, Qubic platforms are built for commercial venues that run shift-grade duty cycles with dependable uptime, and operators reset them between sessions themselves. For continuous certification-grade training or full-cabin programs running all day every day, the Professional Series carries the structural margin and service intervals those heavier duty cycles demand. The right line depends on payload and fidelity needs as well as the hours.

At what payload does a project move from Qubic System to Professional Series?

Move up when the load exceeds a single cockpit and driver and approaches a full cabin with enclosure, multiple seats, and instrument panels. Qubic platforms are sized for compact cockpits; the Professional Series scales to heavy cabins, with models such as the PS-6TL-1500 rated for 1350 kilograms net. Payload is only one trigger, though. Certification needs, continuous duty, or a full cabin replica each push a project to the Professional Series on their own.

Does the compact brand lose any software features?

No. Both lines run the same software stack: ForceSeatPM as the free platform manager, ForceSeatMI and ForceSeatDI as the integration SDKs, and VR HeadWay for VR sickness compensation. A Qubic build gives full access to the same tooling a Professional Series build uses, so integration work and developer skills carry over if a project later scales up.

Which brand do universities and R&D labs usually buy?

It depends on the physical demand, not the research label. Universities and labs doing sim-racing studies, VR research, esport psychology, or early automotive proof-of-concept work typically use Qubic System, which is industrial-grade and reaches the actuators through three software layers including Linux and Raspberry Pi support; some labs purchase Qubic first for compact work and later expand if the project grows into heavier cabin-based testing. Labs running full-cabin flight or driving research, or production driver-in-the-loop work with heavy payloads in continuous operation, typically use the Professional Series.

Can both lines be combined in one fleet?

Yes, and many operators do. Because both ranges share one software stack, one SDK, and one supplier, a fleet can run compact Qubic stations for entry-level or high-throughput use alongside Professional Series platforms for the heavy or certification-grade tier. The shared stack means a single integration approach and one learning curve across the whole fleet, which lowers training, spares, and support overhead.