DiRT Rally

[TCrouch]

PM'd Don, but I know he already had one and has been away. 10s wanted the Pedals if Don didn't, but kind of waiting on The Donald atm.

[rmagruder]

Well, let me know what happens. Thanks!

[TCrouch]

Will do. Did you not get a TMX? I saw it reviewed really well....just doesn't hardmount to things. The TX has an issue with the breakaway (happened to both mine and Don's, that I know of), but I just cut the cord, spliced everything back together and it works great.

Looks a little chintsy, though.

[rmagruder]

No I haven't bought anything yet. My birthday isn't until the 7th. I'm trying to understand why the only TX that the thrustmaster company seems to be advertising is the leather Edition. They act like the 458 Ferrari Italia is discontinued or something. I just honestly don't know what to do. I can't seem to find a decent real world comparison of the two wheels anywhere on the web.

[rmagruder]

Update. I ordered the wheel stand pro and the tmx. They'll show up later in the month.

The #1 question for me was HOW MUCH BETTER is the TX Force Feedback than the TMX? Every scrap of research showed me that while the TX might be better, the TMX is so good that it's not a significant difference in feel.

Second Factor: Warranty. I see lots of failures of TX units online and buying a used on could be bad it if fails.

Third factor: I don't care about swapping rims so I don't mind that being gone

Fourth factor: I can mount the pedals, AND I can upgrade the pedals to any of the more premium TM pedals as well as the shifter.

The bottom line is it that it seemed to hit the sweet spot for price & quality to get this stand and wheel. I'll let ya'll know when I get it what my impressions are.

[TCrouch]

Yeah, from all of the info I found and review videos, they liked the TMX. The wheel stand Pro I could never personally do for very long, but I hope it works out for you, Randy. I had leg cramps trying to contort my shins around the center post for heel/toeing, but that could just be me. My knee had to be slightly turned OUT to do it around that post, and I rotate mine inward, so maybe it's a posture thing.

Most TX failures are that breakaway, and it's a 15 minute fix, so that's not a big deal buying used.

[rmagruder]

Yeah, I agonized over the decision. There were enough 'dead' or failed units that I didn't want to take the chance and be SOL $200+. And that's probably a normal failure rate. For all I know, the TMX has the same failure rate. Only difference is warranty there.

I pondered the stand long and hard. For the time being I'm not really doing any 3 pedal sims on the XBox One (and my PC is woefully out of date so I doubt I'll be doing anything hardcore on it racing-wise unless and until it gets upgraded). For the time being I'm hopeful that a left/right combination works out. At such time as I upgrade pedals, I may upgrade the stand and sell the Wheelstand Pro. A big factor on that one was actually best fit for the TMX bracket as the TMX can't be screwed onto the stand.

There was just no easy perfect answer. So let's roll the dice and I'll let ya know what happens.

[TCrouch]

Yeah...if you're two footing it, that stand is likely perfect. Who knows on the TMX, as it's one of the few wheels I never bought.

It helps if you don't have to insert a book or something to keep the TMX solidly mounted. Just make sure not to crank that FF up too high

[rmagruder]

LOL, and Thrustmaster comes out with THIS next month:

http://www.gamestop.com/accessories/thr ... uctDetails

TMX with T3PA pedals. But I'm not willing to wait another month and I will probably just enjoy the stock pedals for awhile and probably get a more substantial T3PA-Pro at such time as I'm wanting to upgrade, but not bad getting them bundled with the TMX for just $50 more than current price!

[rmagruder]

Yeah...if you're two footing it, that stand is likely perfect. Who knows on the TMX, as it's one of the few wheels I never bought.

It helps if you don't have to insert a book or something to keep the TMX solidly mounted. Just make sure not to crank that FF up too high

Yer funny, but I actually tend to dial it down because i prefer more subtle effects for oversteer/understeer with my finger tips.

[TCrouch]

Yeah, in iRacing I have my FF at like 2.3. But my constant force at 7.6%. I like to have resistance in the wheel, with just the slight nudges when effects are happening, and on that Clubsport V2 base, it feels damn near real.

[rmagruder]

Terry, you should know that Shawn (fsh) has declared you a bad influence.

[TCrouch]

Uh oh....why is that? Do I want to know?

[rmagruder]

cuz I bought what I bought. He's saying if I start beating him, he's going to use this as his excuse.

a) I probably will not start beating him (tho I hope to)
b) he's the one that got the pro Xbox One game controller with super sticks and paddles, instead of a proper wheel.
c) conclusion: his priorities are outta whack.

[TCrouch]

hah! Yeah, I guess I could see that point. But you already beat him at least once last season!

[rmagruder]

Quick update.

I have set up the stand and TMX and tried some Forza 6, F1 2015 and of course, DiRT Rally.

Everything works as advertised. Except, as I figured, I am currently significantly slower in DR. Why? Because the wheel is currently driving ME as much as I'm driving it. When you get accustomed to flipping full lock with a single finger and the car isn't allowed to fight back, you can go a little faster, at least initially. Right now, I'm clearly a girly man with arms that aren't used to wrestling with a car that has its OWN opinion about putting a wheel into the rut on the side of the road, and wishes to share said opinion with me loudly and forcibly.

So, I drove fairly consistently and for the most part, I think it was easier to not crash out, but then I wasn't obviously going as fast. In a stage I'd normally do in 7:00-7:30, it took me 8:40 (this was Finland). So I think I probably need to dial back the forces a bit and sort of grow into it. I'm sure it will get better with practice, but fair warning, I'm probably gonna sink the bottom of the leaderboard for awhile.

That having been said, I'm having FUN. I thoroughly enjoy having a wheel and pedals again, and the stand works great, even trying out right foot braking with the simple 2-pedal system the TMX provides. At some point definitely I'll get the Pro pedals...no rush.

A final note: I'm going to sell this to the wife that this is just as good as going to the gym. I'll get some improved muscles in my arms out of it

[TCrouch]

I still recommend these settings that I used, as heavy FF definitely makes you slower, and out of the box Dirt Rally's FF is a mess.

I've got my deadzones at 0 and saturation at 100. I put linearity at 2 for a bit snappier response from corner to corner, without a lot of overcorrection problems. My soft lock is on, 900 degree calibration.

Self Aligning Torque: 30% (this is the biggest one to change to raise or lower overall feel.)
Wheel Friction: 20%
Tyre Friction: 50%
Suspension: 25%
Tyre Slip: 70%
Engine: 60%
Collision: 90%
Soft Lock: 100%
Steering Center Force: 65%

With the default TX rim I think I ran it at about 20% SAT.

A wheel is definitely a big change if you're used to a controller, but in the long run (especially in Dirt Rally), you'll be able to line up those fast back and forth sequences much better. Welcome to the Dark Side, Randy!

[rmagruder]

Thanks! I'll try these. What is SAT? Saturation?

[TCrouch]

Self Aligning Torque. The most important one in the settings, as that dramatically changes the strength of the FF "feel" in the game. When you hit a bump and the wheel wants to rip your arms off, that's why.

[Gangrel]

I used Terry's settings but bumped up the SAT to 40 I think. I'm sick like that. I just prefer a bit heavier I guess.


Though now I need to look into gloves as the rubber is leaving black marks on my hands......

[rmagruder]

Are we doing a new season?? Have wheel. Will drive for food....

[rmagruder]

So spent a good part of the weekend working on the wheel. I ended up adding back a little SAT. Might be due to the TX having a stronger FF engine than the TMX. Who knows.

Nonetheless, there are improvements in my times as I practice. Certainly things are overall smoother and I find myself making fewer catastrophic screwups with a wheel & pedals.

The area that really needs work is hairpins/acute turns. If you don't hand brake it, you need a LOT of lock, so it's hand-over-hand + release time. In order to get those cracking whip-arounds, though, I'm going to have to re-learn handbrake turns and Scandinavian flicks, and that's VERY hard for me to get right with a wheel. Depending upon the car, I find myself over spinning almost back to the way I came, or I regain grip too quickly and understeer off.

This is one area where a pullable handbrake and/or shifter would certainly be nice, as it only takes one wheel rotation to put the paddle shifters in the wrong spots!

[TCrouch]

That's actually why I mapped the handbrake to the clutch pedal on Xbox and just use Manual w/o clutch. Really tough to find a button on the face of the wheel when you're spinning it around.

On PC, until Fanatec sends my handbrake (preordered, supposed to release 8-31), I'm using a TH8A shifter set up sideways in analog mode. It's a little funky, but it's in the basic position of a handbrake in a car, until I get the big dog version that I can mount upright.

But yeah, when you mentioned "you barely use any handbrake" in my first twitch archive, I re-assessed it. Clutch pedal worked the best for me, as I could just stab it to pitch the car and toss the rear end around.

[rmagruder]

make sure you post pictures of the new setup.

[Gangrel]

I love my TX wheel. I think now i'm getting better stage times, after watching a few videos, and heeding Terry's advice of "go slow to go fast". I don't have a handbrake either and would love something, but I think the only option is to get a shifter, and map the handbrake to a paddle. That would cure my other issue of too much wasted time finding gears when i'm rotating the wheel like a sonofabitch.

However, the shifter up here is around 200 after tax.

I'd also love to change the wheel, i find the italia one bad for racing, and the rubber is coming off on my hands already. But again, a new wheel is close to 200 for the leather, and more than that for the Alcantra.

Sigh.

Ebay has no deals either.

I suppose i'll run with what i got for now, and maybe pick up some odds and sods down the road. I wish i was rich. Or, could get American prices!

BTW, is tehre any difference between the t3pa Pro pedals and the regular ones other than you can change the position on the pros, and the base is metal instead of plastic?