Racing sim hardware

Gnomie · February 02, 2009, 01:01:58 PM

Quote from: romus;261437Really? At the same price class? I asked about his pedals that are at about 600€ but he recommended his coming F1 pedals that are around 750€. I hope to find enough money by the end of the year.. Interesting if he'll be able to cut the costs with the new product so much and still keep the high quality.

Yup, here's what he said on the iRacing forums:

Quote from: Todd CannonI will be releasing some info soon about some new pedals I am working on. I have held off from making too much public until I have everything lined out. I am working on a set of "gamer" pedals that will compete with the Clubsport pedals. Obviously, they will not have all the features as my pro level pedals but should have everything needed. Please give me a couple of weeks to release more details on them.

He also mentioned the wheel that he's been developing together wtih Leo Bodnar:

QuoteThe wheel project is still alive. Due to both Leo's and my own schedules, we had to put it on hold for a bit while we got caught up with orders. Unfortunately, we just don't have enough help. Thanks, Todd

Gnomie · February 02, 2009, 07:00:14 PM

About my pedals: I decided to open them up and see what I could do. Didn't like the thought of sending them off for repairs/replacement just now.. you never know how long it's gonna take!

I read at a guitar forum (!) that one way of cleaning the POTs is to just simply turn them from lock to lock for a few minutes. That way the "wiper" should remove any crap that's been blocking its path. I did this, and lo and behold, they're working again!

No sign of spiking. Moreover the gas pedal used to make this crunchy sound, as if some dust or dirt was actually being moved around inside... this sound is gone as well now.

I don't expect this fix to last forever.. probably it will get just as bad again soon. I just hope they'll last the rest of my iRacing subscription! (another three weeks) For now I'm a happy gnome.

Doorman · February 02, 2009, 07:36:18 PM

Quote from: Gnomie;261570About my pedals: I decided to open them up and see what I could do. Didn't like the thought of sending them off for repairs/replacement just now.. you never know how long it's gonna take!

I read at a guitar forum (!) that one way of cleaning the POTs is to just simply turn them from lock to lock for a few minutes. That way the "wiper" should remove any crap that's been blocking its path. I did this, and lo and behold, they're working again! No sign of spiking. Moreover the gas pedal used to make this crunchy sound, as if some dust or dirt was actually being moved around inside... this sound is gone as well now.

I don't expect this fix to last forever.. probably it will get just as bad again soon. I just hope they'll last the rest of my iRacing subscription! (another three weeks) For now I'm a happy gnome.

I know what it is! :bigidea: You're a STUDENT! It's supposed to be filthy. :doh:
Bits of dead pizza and God only knows what else. :g:

Gnomie · February 02, 2009, 08:09:54 PM

:roflmao: Yep, I found enough cheese doodles in there to last a week!

vobler · February 17, 2009, 07:22:29 PM

Get a DFGT Feel from a G25 (No More Dead Spot)

Here is a post from Pat Dotson posted in the iRacing Hardware forum a while a go. If you have a G25 try it and see if it works for you.
-------------

Here are the contents of an email I sent to Alison Hine some time ago. This tweak gets rid of the "dead spot" in the G25. I was trying a DFGT and G25 back to back, and preferred the G25 with these settings.

Try it and see what you think:

--
Pat Dotson

********************************************************

Alison,

I've just stumbled onto some G25 settings that are so good I can hardly believe it. I need someone else to confirm.

I'm using the latest drivers dl'd from Logitech

G25/Windows controller app settings:

Overall Effects Strength 107%

Allow Game to Adjust Settings - Checked

900 degrees rotation

Everything else set to zero or unchecked.

iRacing FFB strength 11 (user preference for strength)

What happened is, I read on the iR forums how everyone was raving about the Logi Driving Force GT for the PS3. I picked one up yesterday to try it. They were right! It felt great with just stock settings and effects strength at 100%. Thing is that the wheel is much more cheaply built than the G25. It's not as smooth at all. I opened it up and it looks a lot like the old black momos except for the 900 degree rotation features.

I tried to assign the DFGT driver to the G25 but couldn't make it work.

So I tried to figure out why it felt different. Bottom line was that I could feel a lot more just while driving in a straight line than I could with the G25. I remembered that raising the overall effects strength over 100% amplifies the low level forces, and it's the low level forces that seemed to be the obvious difference between the G25 and the GT...

So I started experimenting and found that with overal effect strength at around 107% I got the same feel from the G25 that I did with the DFGT at 100%.

Not only that, with the new drivers the Fmazda handles much better over the curbs. I was using the old drivers mentioned in the iR forum thread you posted to. As soon as I loaded the new drivers the Mazda was quicker and handled better. The older drivers felt more alive, but seem to distract from car control more than help. With the new driver at 107% the car is totally alive and totally connected. I've got better car control and can run smoother lines than ever before. And I'm not saying this lightly because I had hundreds of laps at VIR in the mazda, then started messing with the GT and picked up 2 tenths in just a few laps.

I think if you load up the latest logi drivers and set overall strength to 107% you will be surprised. I'm running super fast laps with higher exit speed than ever before with these new settings. The car almost seems to drive itself!

If you get a chance to try this please let me know what you think.

Pat

Doorman · February 17, 2009, 09:51:07 PM

Ever willing to try new settings I set about it. It must be an iRacing specific setting(it's not claimed to be anything else I know, but it was worth a try) because all it did in nKP was to make the steering heavier.

vobler · February 18, 2009, 09:33:15 AM

Quote from: Doorman;264502Ever willing to try new settings I set about it. It must be an iRacing specific setting(it's not claimed to be anything else I know, but it was worth a try) because all it did in nKP was to make the steering heavier.

No its not iRacing specific, it just amplifies the tiny forces when the wheel is straight. Hence the heavier steering.

I have read somewhere that it is done this way in the G25 (reducing force around zero) because the two FF motors should not fight each other and create oscillations.

Gnomie · February 18, 2009, 11:07:42 AM

Quote from: vobler;264580No its not iRacing specific, it just amplifies the tiny forces when the wheel is straight. Hence the heavier steering.

I have read somewhere that it is done this way in the G25 (reducing force around zero) because the two FF motors should not fight each other and create oscillations.

I've had mine at 107% always, after reading something similar at the LFS forums.

It works a treat for me, but I don't have anything to compare it to, so..

vobler · February 18, 2009, 11:38:38 AM

Quote from: Gnomie;264595It works a treat for me, but I don't have anything to compare it to, so..

Set it to 100% and compare then ....

Doorman · February 18, 2009, 11:48:55 AM

I'll give it another go then.

Doorman · February 18, 2009, 05:05:35 PM

Gave it another go and....:g: There's something there, not sure what. The first few laps I thought 'nah, too strong, a trace of oscillation. Then quick as a flash (3 laps) I realised I was driving around on knackered, flat spotted tyres. :doh: Changed tyres and ....I'll keep these settings at least for the time being.

Now to see if there's a difference in LFS

vobler · February 18, 2009, 06:41:22 PM

Quote from: Doorman;264651Now to see if there's a difference in LFS

I found the biggest difference in iRacing and LFS. In LFS mostly when the car starts to step out, its easier to feel it. In iRacing the difference is biggest in the Skippy. It feels much "tighter".

Also the actual value may be tweaked for each wheel. Mine seems to like 106 best. Some may need 104 or maybe more than 107.

The reason I bring this up now is that when I reinstalled my computer after I had the lightning strike I forgot to set this value and ever since my sims did not "feel right". I felt very insecure in esp. the Skippy. But I didn't think more of it until recently when the Riley came out, and I got the same insecure feel when sliding. With this setting I get a more solid feel for how much to correct when catching a slide.

Romus · February 18, 2009, 08:58:58 PM

I tried it, but all I felt was just more FF strength. I'll drop from 107% to 104% and see how it works then.

Doorman · February 18, 2009, 09:31:11 PM

Sold! 107 it is.

easyed · February 19, 2009, 12:33:37 PM

Hey thanks for the heads-up vobler ......

Never have cared for that soft spot in the G25 center area. I hope to get a new G25 in the mail today - my old one died while racing on Monday. It was just 13 months old, and out of manufacturer's warranty, but I had paid for an extra year coverage (something I don't usually do).

I had been driving with the G25 set at 103% so I'm really looking forward to trying the 107% ...... Will let ya know.

Thanks again

btw, anybody else have a G25 that lost ffb on just one side??? I was driving the FOX on dMr when the ffb on one side just cut out completely. Redid all connections, updated driver, rebooted etc..... but when the wheel does its self-calibration on boot, it just turns to the right and stays there with the green light blinking.