DXRacer Drifting Series Review

DXRacer Drifting – Pro and Cons List

Packaging

There was nothing special about the package my DXRacer Drifting Series chair came in, but it held up well against whatever shipping conditions it was subject to. Opening the box revealed a blue sign congratulating me on my purchase.

DXRacer did a great job packing this chair. There was no wiggle room or parts to shift or get damaged that I could see. All the smaller components were in a box of their own for added protection. It didn’t take long to get everything out and start building.

The only area of concern I had here was with the wheels. Three of them are visible when you open the box, but the other two are hidden in separate compartments below. They’re the only pieces like this, and I could see someone potentially throwing away the packaging material with two wheels still inside if they weren’t paying attention.

Assembly

Assembly instructions for the Drifting Series chair were on the back of that “welcome” sign I mentioned earlier. Saves on paper, so I can get behind that. It’s a quick, five-step process that looks very straightforward.

And straightforward it was. I followed the instructions to slide the wheels in place and then removed a total of eight pre-installed screws to make room for the seat and hydraulics. Unlike the DXRacer Craft Pro, these screws were much easier to remove.

There’s a nice guide on the side of the backrest for marrying it to the seat. I can’t think of another chair with this feature, and it makes assembly a snap with one person. It took minimal effort to line up screws and lock everything in place.

The only strange part of the assembly process was the hex wrench itself. One of the sides doesn’t match the screw size and is completely useless for assembly. This may be a hex wrench they use for other models, but it made torquing things down more tedious.

Both cushions were easy to drop into place. The headrest pillow has an elastic band that fits around the top of the chair to hold it in place. There are small knobs on the side of the backrest to prevent said pillow from moving around. The lumbar support pillow isn’t held in place other than with a bit of friction.

I had the whole chair together in less than 15 minutes. That’s undoubtedly one of my fastest assemblies to date.

Features

DXRacer Drifting Series Gaming Chair Specs

Weight: 49.5 pounds

Seat Height Adjustment: 17.3 to 21.3 inches off the ground

Seat Width: 29.5 inches

Weight Capacity:  Up to 255 pounds

Chair Material: EPU Leatherette

Reclining Angle: 90° to 135°

5-Wheel Aluminum Base

Padded 3D Armrests

Comes with a head cushion and lumbar support pillow

2-year limited warranty excluding wear and tear

Here are the top features of DXRacer´s Drifting Series chair:

3D Armrests

The armrests have a decent amount of maneuverability up and down, forward and backward, and you can rotate them in three positions to have them point inward or outward. They lack the side-to-side adjustment that higher-end gaming chairs have (think Secretlab’s Titan EVO).

For me, that little bit of missing motion means my arms don’t fit well. I have to stick them way out to the sides to put these armrests to good use, leaving me in an awkward position.

There’s only a lock for the up-and-down motion, so the armrest positioning gets out of whack every time I go to move the chair. It’s a pain to have to readjust almost every time.

Recline

I find the recline feature on the Drifting Series chair average at best. It leans back to 135° for relaxing or watching a show, but there’s nothing special about it. Perhaps there’s a reason for one of the shallowest reclines in the biz, but I’m not sure what it is. There’s nothing wrong with what it does, but gamers wanting to recline even further will need to look elsewhere.

Rocker

You won’t be doing a whole lot of leaning back with this chair. The rocking mechanism is too stiff to be effective, and I have to use a considerable amount of force to move the chair backward at all. I want a chair that leans back with relative ease when I need a gaming break and don’t want to use the recline.

Some gamers may not want to rock all the time; I get that. The Drifting Series chair comes with a lock to disable the feature, so I’m unsure why it’s designed to be so difficult to rock back.

Seat

The seat has four inches of vertical movement to accommodate a range of gamers. That’s more than most chairs – the Anda Seat Kaiser Series XL has just over three.

I appreciate the adjustability here, but the designers seem to forget about taller games. My chair’s at max height and that serves me well, but I’m just over 6’. Longer legs need not apply.

DXRacer addresses the problem slightly with an XL model, but even that only goes to 6’3”. It’s a beefer chair throughout, so tall and skinny folks may not like the fit. I’ve had much better luck with the aforementioned Kaiser Series XL instead.

Lumbar Support

I want to love the lumbar support pillow here, I really do. The biggest problem is that it’s not attached in any way. Whenever I get up, it moves out of place and I have to reset its position. This sometimes happens even when I make a slight adjustment. It’s super annoying. Still, the chair’s better off with the extra padding.

Headrest

Fortunately, there’s a headrest pillow with enough flexibility to work with my style. Three round pegs on the side of the chair hold the pad in place at your preferred location, so you should be able to have an enjoyable experience using it. I do have it at the highest setting, so there’s wiggle room for shorter gamers. Again, taller peeps might have some trouble.

Build Quality

Overall, the DXRacer Drifting Series chair has a solid design. It feels pretty sturdy despite a bit of give as I move my body from side to side. At least I don’t hear any weird noises that could indicate poor construction.

Working from the ground up, the wheel base is made of aluminum and is quite impressive. It’s rare to see a top-tier material on a chair at this price point, so it’s a nice surprise. I enjoy the flourish with the white design that’s more appealing than a standard black base. The wheels themselves are polyurethane, standard and what I’d expect to see.

The hydraulic mechanism is class 4 but seems small and I question its quality. It doesn’t help that the rocker knob feels cheaply put together and doesn’t connect well on my chair.

Nothing looks particularly fragile, especially in areas that look weak on other chairs. The plastic screw covers blend into the design nicely and are held firmly in place by magnets. I’m not worried about these coming off the way they might on the Anda Seat Phantom 3.

I wish the armrests were better designed, but you have to draw the line somewhere on a more budget-end model. They’re quite thin and don’t give off an appearance of quality. It doesn’t help that they’re missing a locking mechanism and never want to stay in place.

That said, the stitching on the DXRacer Drifting Series chair is very well done. I can’t find a single stitch out of place from top to bottom. The black thread throughout looks good even over the top of the white chair fabric, but I’m not sure if the same would be true on other colors.

Speaking of chair material, we’re treated to solvent-free polyurethane synthetic leather. An all-steel frame keeps everything in place, and I’d bet money it’s all going to last for quite some time. The components are rated to 255 lbs, which feels and sounds about right.

Finally, I don’t have any issue with the quality of either pillow. They feel well put together and fit the chair’s aesthetic well. The stitching looks nice here as well and the internal cushioning feels firm.

Comfort and Ergonomics

When I’m sitting in my Drifting Series chair and everything’s in place, it is comfortable to game in for hours on end. There’s plenty here to keep me from the annoying aches and pains that sometimes spring up after sitting in a lackluster chair.

DXRacer uses a firm cold-cure foam for its backrest and seat, which I really like. Both parts of the chair support my weight well and spring back into place the moment I get up. It’s not quite as firm as the Anda Seat Kaiser series, but it gets the job done. Time will tell how the padding holds up in the long run.

The polyurethane upholstery is high quality for the chair’s price point and feels nice against bare skin. I’d bet it’s going to hold up well and not crack apart like lower-end chairs are known to do.

There’s not a lot of padding on the armrests, and it’s a bit more abrasive than what I’m seeing on my Secretlab Titan. My big issue is that they’re too far apart and I can’t comfortably rest my arms on both of them while gaming. They don’t lock in place either, meaning I have to frequently adjust them when I move the chair or someone bumps them.

Both pillows are actually quite comfortable when I’ve got them in the right place. The headrest cushion is a bit on the firm side but sits perfectly in the crook of my neck at the highest setting. I think it would work well on the back of someone’s head as well.

DXRacer put a layer of “cool gel” inside the pillow to keep your head from overheating on hot days. I haven’t had any issues with sweatiness back there since I started using the chair, so maybe the tech works.

I have a love/hate relationship with this lumbar support pillow though. Don’t get me wrong – it offers great support for my lower back. The problem is that nothing keeps it there. Even when I lean up slightly at a critical moment, I lean back to find the cushion in a completely different location. I either adjust it back (which can be hard in the middle of a game) or just deal with less comfort for the time being.

Verdict

At the end of the day, the Drifting Series chair gets the job done as something I can game in for hours. I like the aluminum wheel base and the knowledge that it’s going to support me no matter what I throw at it. The padding’s very comfortable and offers enough support for my frame, and the upholstery’s higher quality than most. It certainly looks the part of a good gaming chair.

There are a few more issues than I’d like, though. I’m not able to do much with the rocker feature, and the recline leaves a bit to be desired. The armrests aren’t adjustable enough and I can’t even use both of them at the same time. Finally, let’s not forget that lumbar support pillow.

It’s fine when it’s in place, but it’s never in the right spot. I’ve found it on the floor, sideways, upside down, and in about every other configuration you can think of. Why not add something simple, even an elastic cord, to hold it in place?

The Drifting Series chair has enough perks to justify its $349 price point, but I wouldn’t pay any more. You don’t often see an aluminum wheel base or high-quality faux leather for a more budget-friendly cost. It’s comfortable enough, but the shortcomings mentioned earlier do stand out.

I wouldn’t recommend this model to a friend when there are similarly priced options like Anda Seat’s Kaiser Frontier Series available. I’d even suggest making the jump to the DXRacer Craft at $100 more. If you can’t budge on your budget, you can still find a comfortable experience here.