DiRT Rally

[Wilk5280]

N/M. Unrecoverable car.

[Wilk5280]

Not that any of this will make me a better driver, but it will make me have more fun. I'm 40, and spend too much time drinking and playing virtual hockey with strangers, so i might as well stick with a similar hobby.

Dude, I'm 44 and all I do is run, coach hoops, drink and play games. If we ain't having fun we shouldn't be doing it

[TCrouch]

I checked out Terry's suggestion for a stand and it's not sold anywhere in canada, but the wheelstand pro is. So that may be the way to go.P

The big problem with the center bar ones is stability. Especially with a wheel like the TX, it needs to be stable. The FF can be VERY strong. Not sure where I was missing, but the one I used:

XLerator Stand on Amazon

Ships to Canada, as far as I know from changing the shipping location to Canada on Amazon when looking at it. Don't know about you Canadians. I will say that I tried a couple of the center post wheel stands and hated them. But I bought 2 of the XLerator ones and used them exclusively for a couple of years while I had a couch as my main racing setup (me and a friend would sit side by side and race with them).

Can't recommend it enough for stability and general seating posture and feel.

[Jimmydeicide]

I havnt upgraded my pedals either Ace. All i did was stick some rubber behind the brake pedal and it helped a lot.
I thought i would need the better pedals too but with as much racing as i do now these have been fine but hey if you have the spare change why not i here the brake on them is real good so you wont have any more excuses, and i for one do think it will help you drive better , especially dirt rally.
Deffo need to tether it down to something sturdy like Terry says, forces are strong and ive turned them way way down in dirt rally.
Look forward to you creeping up the Canadian standings

[Gangrel]

I checked out Terry's suggestion for a stand and it's not sold anywhere in canada, but the wheelstand pro is. So that may be the way to go.P

The big problem with the center bar ones is stability. Especially with a wheel like the TX, it needs to be stable. The FF can be VERY strong. Not sure where I was missing, but the one I used:

XLerator Stand on Amazon

Ships to Canada, as far as I know from changing the shipping location to Canada on Amazon when looking at it. Don't know about you Canadians. I will say that I tried a couple of the center post wheel stands and hated them. But I bought 2 of the XLerator ones and used them exclusively for a couple of years while I had a couch as my main racing setup (me and a friend would sit side by side and race with them).

Can't recommend it enough for stability and general seating posture and feel.

You're right. I'm not sure what like I was looking at but said it didn't ship here. However I think it's a bit cheaper on eBay as Amazon wants to charge $80 to ship plus it doesn't include any import fees.

eBay seems to include it.

Decisions decisions....... by the time it's all said and done I'm looking at around $270 for the stand. You Americans have it lucky!

[Jimmy_Lazerbeams]

I got a pair of these btw.

https://www.amazon.com/Speed-Freek-Apex ... reek+speed

I will go on record as fully endorsing this as an inexpensive alternative to a wheel. I noticed using this that the car felt much more 'stable'. Little corrections didn't destabilize the car. It was also easier to hold the car during curves.

Basically it took out some of the "I can't keep this car under me!!" pucker factor out and allowed me to attack the stages more confidently. We'll see what it does to next week's times, but I have to say, if you want to feel more 'comfortable' with a gamepad and DiRT Rally and have $15, this is a way to go.

Randy

Sir

I bought myself one of these after reading your post and my first trial was yesterday. Apart from pressing too hard sometimes and having the thing snap off, which is just a practice thing, they are fantastic. In conjunction with earlier changes to dead zone they make turns dead-on and straight-aways rock steady.

Anyone else hit the rock about 30 seconds in. Keep middle my arse!

[TCrouch]

I did the first 3 stages last night and the last 3 this morning, and was in a zone like I haven't felt in a long time. It seemed like every turn just blended into the next one, car was stupid fast. Moments like that are like a good golf swing--you can play this game for months and struggle, and then have one flawless (as flawless as I can be, at least) rally and feel like you're King of the World.

[XXXIV]

By three f***in minutes? Is that real?

You crazy!

[XXXIV]

Wrong thread

[dbdynsty25]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GP ... UTF8&psc=1

I use that stand w the Thrustmaster and it works perfectly.

[Gangrel]

Terry, was the Wheelstand Pro one of the ones you tried?

[TCrouch]

It was, but to each his own! The issue I had was that center post in general. When you try to heel/toe the gas and brake for any game where you don't have an auto clutch turned on, it gave me a really weird angle in my right knee/ankle because I had to keep the knee OUT while my toe came across to the brake, going IN. Or, you'd have to shift the pedals around to where the gas pedal is kicked out an extra few inches...none of which is a natural solution. Left me with cramps in my foot/ankle area if I drove it very long. Plus the pedals require this extra bar to mount, and even when you get them as tight as you can, there was still a little wiggle for me (and some minor rotation in the mounting plate for the wheel itself).

The stand is solid, and again...I could see it being something that a lot of people enjoy. It just didn't work for me, but when I got the XLerator and it had the lap bar that comes down around me (I used it in a recliner for a while, as well), it worked far better for me, personally. I got mine when he was sort of in an R&D stage for things so he used me as a guinea pig. The mounting bracket I had for my shifter was sort of a prototype, so if they're still making those, hopefully they're not as hard to mount (and sharp-edged).

[Gangrel]

I think i've settled on the XL20D. I've been emailing the guy trying to figure out shipping options, as it seems we are headed for a postal strike here in Canada. For me, buying it from his Ebay store ends up being cheaper, but will probably take longer. So I have to decide if $40 is worth getting it here in half the time.

However, if the posties go on strike, nothing is getting here anyway!

[TCrouch]

I don't think you'll be disappointed. As long as your chair is wide enough to hold the lap bar, the thing is the coolest gadget I owned for a long time. Let me set up my couch as a quasi-racing simulator, as far as posture and feel.

[DChaps]

DSP "CMR2/Sports Reviewers Memorial" DiRT Rally Championship Season 2

Rally 3 - Greece, Route 2 - Final Results

https://www.dirtgame.com/uk/leagues/lea ... dsp-racing




















FINAL Standings after Rally 3:



Damn, that was an impressive run by Terry. Also congrats to MetaSacamano and The Deicide on their podium finish. With the last two weeks of Greece, you would not believe the number of runs and practices I did over two weeks to end up with DNF's both times. I had a decent run going through the first four stages and on stage 5 I had the weirdest thing happen. Went to start the stage, let go of the handbrake and I had no acceleration or brake pedals. I could turn the wheel and shift, but could not start. I paused and went to controls to try to get it back to no avail. I turned on a controller to and unplugged the wheel to try to at least get a run in. That did not work either. At that point you I was faced with getting disqualified for not starting in time or just exiting out which ends your rally. Oh well, it's realistic. I had a mechanical failure at the start of stage 5 and I could not recover.

[DChaps]

Rally 4 - Finland, Route 2

Vehicle Class:
Hyundai Rally - must be used by Rockjaw McGraw, MetaSacamano, The Deicide
Volkswagen Polo Rally - can only be used by I0spro, vader29, XXXIV 34
Everyone else can pick from Ford Fiesta RS Rally, MINI Countryman Rally Edition, Hyundai Rally

Date range: Monday 07/04/2016 10:00pm EDT - Monday 07/11/2016 3:00am EDT

Stage: Track: Conditions:
1 Finland, Iso Oksjärvi (S) Morning / Overcast
2 Finland, Kakaristo (L) Morning / Rain
3 Finland, Kotajärvi (S) Midday / Sunny
4 Finland, Järvenkylä (S) Night / Clear
5 Finland, Pitkäjärvi (L) Midday / Sunny
6 Finland, Oksala (S) Afternoon / Clear

Sign up for the league here if you have not already:
https://www.dirtgame.com/uk/leagues/lea ... dsp-racing

[Jimmydeicide]

Ok what am i missing here with the timing? If i beat Metasacamano in every stage but one in which he only beat me by 7 seconds my stage 5 run alone put me ahead 30 seconds in that one run. Are there penalties im missing here or something?

Just wondering as the servers have been kinda screwy here lately.
Not trying to screw Metascamano out of his good run either.

[TCrouch]

It seems like he beat you by 40+ seconds on the last stage. Did you have a penalty or two on the final stage? It's showing his final overall time for that stage, not his individual stage time. So at the end of that stage he was up by 7 seconds, not 7 seconds faster on that one stage...if you're saying what I think you're saying?

Unless my math is wrong, those timing stats say that you got a 5:05.454 on the final stage, while Sacamano got a 4:23.039.

You were 25 seconds up after 1 stage.
26 and change seconds after stage 2.
37 seconds after stage 3.
32 seconds after stage 4, so he beat you a little there.
35 seconds after stage 5.

And then on the final stage he beat you by 42 and a half seconds, leading to that 7 second differential.

[Jimmydeicide]

Yes I see now its makes sense as i did limp to the finish. It was early this morning i saw it and it dawned on me later that it wasnt each stage time.
Makes total sense when you see how the time is added.
Nevermind

[Gangrel]

My TX wheel arrived today. I tried to take it for a test run connected to a tiny folding table, and lasted about 30 seconds in dirt rally before the pedals were moving across the floor and the Force Feedback was moving the table.

I really want a wheel stand now, but it seems the damn postal strike is going to make me wait. Sigh. I don't want to spend $100 to get it shipped by UPS!

[Jimmydeicide]

Can you not turn the forces way down for now. Doesnt help the pedals sliding out tho

[TCrouch]

I can post the FF Settings I use if you want, Ace.

[dbdynsty25]

Can you not turn the forces way down for now. Doesnt help the pedals sliding out tho

A couple 2x4s and some plywood and you can fashion one up in the interim

[Gangrel]

I can post the FF Settings I use if you want, Ace.

Sure, thanks. I'll see if I can cobble together something temporary. The pedals are the main culprit. Maybe I'll try putting a rubber mat under them, though the main issue is tipping forward when pressing the pedals.

Hopefully the strike won't last long. Sigh....

[TCrouch]

Yeah, the pedals are the worst part of the wheel. I replaced them instantly, but you sort of learn to anchor them with your opposite heel while pressing a pedal. I replaced them with the T3PA-PRO pedals and my desk has a sort of "cross frame" in the corner that I anchor them against that prevents sliding. And yeah, I know I have cabling issues, but this is how I have my racing area set up:



So the pedals don't shift ore move, and the wheel is hard mounted to a shelf that I just clamp with spring clamps (front and back) and then remove it and set it to the side when not racing. When I play PC games (like Dirt Rally on PC, or American Truck Simulator....gag, I know!), I can run things triple screened, usually with an app that displays dash or map information on the 4th screen. But when on XBox, it obviously only displays on the center monitor. It's tough figuring out your "perfect" racing situation, but welcome to the club!

You can spend a long time trying to optimize your setup, and the wheel is likely your first step toward constantly searching for the holy grail of speed...good luck

I'll load up Dirt Rally when I get home and check the settings. I know I messed with it for hours trying to get it to have a LITTLE resistance, yet not jerk out of my hands when I'd hit a bump. They have really screwy FF settings in that game.