• Review

Maingear Forma GT gaming chair review: Ergonomic Excellence

Maingear's new Forma GT gaming chair may be one of the most comfortable on the market right now.

Blake Morse

January 10, 2020 5:30 PM

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In the last year or so I’ve gone through a number of disastrous gaming chair experiences. Much like Goldilocks and her quest to devour the perfect porridge I’ve been looking for the chair that was “just right” for me. Fortunately for me, my arduous quest to find a functional chair that can hold my bulky form comfortably may finally be coming to an end thanks to Maingear’s Forma GT gaming chair.

Some assembly required

Like most chairs of its nature, my Forma GT arrived in need of assembly. As far as set-up goes it was pretty easy to get everything together as most things just sort of slid into place easily. I did however have trouble with the same step that seems to torture me when I put together any gaming chair: the plastic covers that screw into the side of the backrest to hide the hardware were just as equally a pain in the butt to screw in as they were on every other chair I’ve made in recent memory.

I also have a pet peeve about having to do undo and redo things in the assembly process so I wasn’t keen on having to unscrew the bolts from the backrest before I could attach it to the seat. I’m willing to go through the trouble if it means saving the turtles from some excess packaging garbage, but I recently had to do a bulk assembly of gaming chairs and the time spent unscrewing and rescrewing adds up after a bit. If you’re just doing one chair though, you should have no problem getting your Forma GT in working form in well under a half an hour.

The ups and downs

Once I had the Forma GT all put together it was time for the easy part of the review: The sitting. Being a big guy means I am painfully aware of the quality and comfort of most seats, especially when it comes to office and gaming chairs. If there’s not enough padding or lower-back support it’s bound to cause me some discomfort. Fortunately, I didn’t experience any such issues with the Forma GT. The chair’s cushioning is excellent, I really like the diamond stitching on the backrest, and the included memory foam back pad and headrest are nicely contoured and very comfortable.

When it comes to customizing the ergonomics of the seat itself I’m more than pleased with how much I can adjust things to my own preferences. Of course there’s the standard lever to move the backrest back and forward along with another lever to move the seat up and down. But the Forma GT also allows me to lock my seat at various angles, which is something you don’t see in every high-end gaming chair out there. The armrests are very adjustable as well and can be moved up, down, slid forward or backwards, or twisted slightly left or right on the horizontal plane.

My one gripe with the Forma GT would be that the backrest does not have an elastic strap like the headrest does. That means every time I get up to take a stretch, grab a cold drink, or what have you, I have to pick up the rest before I sit down and readjust it. It does a great job of keeping my lower back supported while I’m sitting, but constantly having to move it gets old quickly.

Relax the back

I feel like Maingear’s Forma GT gaming chair is one of the best I’ve ever used. It conforms to a number of various shaped body types whether big, tall, short, or small. Its design is solid and they seem to have thought about a lot of the little things that not every high-end gaming chair bothers with. It has become my go-to seat in my tiny apartment even over the nice office chair I paid for out of pocket. And while the MSRP of $349 may seem a bit costly to some, the materials and quality of the product overall are more high quality than a gaming chair that costs half as much. If you’re on the hunt for a quality gaming chair I would definitely recommend the Forma GT.

This review is based on a sample unit provided by Maingear. The Forma GT is now available for purchase at various retail outlets.

Blake Morse

Events Coordinator

Blake has been writing and making videos about pop-culture and games for over 10 years now. Although he'd probably prefer you thought of him as a musician and listened to his band, www.cartoonviolencemusic.com. If you see him on the street, buy him a taco or something. Follow him on twitter @ProfRobot