Accuforce pro edition ffb wheel

It'll be interesting to see what Fanatec's response is to the AF.

 

I agree but, in this case it seems that testers are able to improve personal best's pretty easily so there may be more to it than we realize. Of course, my personal best isn't going to be good enough to keep up with any alien - even with the best gear but, I'll take the added immersion that the AF and DK2 can offer and take occasional breaks to try to wipe the stupid grin and drool off my face, and give my shoulders a rest.

 

I'm pretty sure no wheel makes you faster on single hotlap but for sure Direct Drive will make you consistenly faster.

 

What is interesting is that the iRacing FFB dev, David Tucker has had an AF wheel for quite some time. He's also worked with Berney to enable special feature in iRacing so that the wheel can read raw FFB values and have the wheel's software (SimCommander) do any post processing. In other words, it's as if iRacing was specifically designed for the AF wheel. I'm sure the OSW devs can also take advantage of this feature. I'm also sure if AC devs decided, they could also have a similar relationship with wheel vendors.

From David Tucker:

 

I agree with this as well. You won't get theoretically faster, but you will get practically faster because the likelihood of messing up due to not being able to catch a slide or misread the wheel input will dramatically go down (provided the wheel is setup correctly!)

 

Strenghts and weaknesses of FFB is all subjective. I'm using a G25, one of the earliest models. Came from a MS Sidewinder Racing Wheel, non-FFB.

For exactly my setup, no game has ever matched the feeling for the car that LFS gave/gives you. I've driven them all, GTR, Race, iRacing, Need For Speed Shift (not a Sim, I know, but still valid for FFB), rFactor and whatever else there was. AC is the thing coming closest to LFS, so how can the FFB be considered bad? It must have been developed with the fact in mind, that only a handful of players will have the monster equipment like an AF wheel. Maybe it is impossible to have both, accurate feedback to a high performance wheel and having good FFB with a basic wheel at the same time. Therefore the SC software seems to be the thing to have.

Claiming it shows weaknesses in FFB is therefore not correct I think. It was not built to offer the variety of effects a wheel like an AF requires, because it might overwhelm the basic consumer wheels the majority of us have.

 

Of course, the term "weakness" in this case exists due to the advent of wheels with significantly more range than recent standards. It's not so much a case of poor FFB design, although the API used in many cases is not ideal - but, more a case of FBB wheel evolution creating the need for software to catch up to the hardware.

To those that have in interest in DD wheels, you can go the the SimXperience website and view the videos that show how to setup and use the SC software found under the AF wheel. They are still working on the more detailed tutorial for the various settings but, it obviously offers a very versatile and powerful software solution for this these FFB issues.

 

That should also allow one to push harder and live a bit closer to the "Edge" without going over it - which, if you read recent reviews - is what most of them talk about. Having a better defined edge can make you faster - maybe not alien fast but, faster and more consistent. Hopefully, I'll be putting that to the test myself soon.

 

Every time a new wheel is out , the tester find new superlative for it, go back and read any of them, from any brand, that is what reviewer do.
It always feels like the book as just been rewritten, the more expensive the more outrageous the comments.
And then time passes and everyone realize that a wheel ( any wheel) can only do so much and that FFB is what it is, great for immersion but pretty much useless for anything else.

My 2 CND cents.

 

As with all things - you'll understand once you have experienced it for yourself. From everything I've read so far, I think the AF will be changing the rules a bit. Even hardcore non-FFB iRacers are changing their tune after having used the AF.

 

I hope your are right, I have nothing against a better tool to enjoy my favorite SIM, and being older has his privileges, money is not a real issue has long has their is a real advancement. For that kind of money though, a pre purchase trial is a must.

 

Should be interesting how Bernie deals with a summons in the mail.

 

?

 

Like he cares about other games.

This wheel seems to be made for iRacing.
If you ever been to iRacing forum you realize there is lot of hardcore simmers on there and take their equipment very seriously.
If you have the money to pay monthly membership and buy tracks at $15 etc then you likely will throw around money for high end wheels, pedals more so then other racing games..........

Bernie has worked closely with David Tucker and just skimming iracing forum.
Tucker seems to be very happy with stock iRacing ffb with accuforcewheel and notes that the only thing simvibe software adds is engine and chassis vibration on top of iRacing forces.

 

Correct, iRacing provided the primary platform for DD wheel development. That should be of no surprise to anyone but, the addition of SC4 allows you to have more control over various FFB characteristics for any Racing-sim, not just iRacing.

SC4 gives the option to create a preset that can be saved to the wheel and used with any title without having SC running at all. Presets can also be saved in SC for any combination of Title/Car/Track that you want, it's much more capable than typical wheel software. Getting the data directly from the suspension is what matters most, the rest is added layers on top. The difference is that the increased fidelity offered by DD wheels makes it all work in ways that common wheels just can't replicate. Of course, this level of feedback comes at a price. Again - no surprise there.

SC4 can even set the FFB for you automatically by you just making a couple of laps while it analyzes the data. Adding something like engine vibrations can be done without any adverse affect on the overall suspension feedback. Each curb can have it's own character based on approach angle, speed, grip, etc. and you can feel the difference. You can do all of that at whatever force level you like and the dynamics remain intact. It really is extraordinary stuff compared to what we've used so far.

Try it - you'll like it!

 

You are right that up to before DD wheels, this has been true. I'll give you one example to illustrate how a DD wheel goes beyond immersion. The AF wheel is powerful and fast enough, such that when the aligning torque forces the wheel to go in one direction, it happens before you can even react to it. So when a car gets out of shape, instead of having to react to correct it, you simply catch the correction of the wheel. Even if you're hold the wheel, unless you've really dialed down the intensity, it's powerful enough to overcome you and will just jerk it right out of your hands in reaction to the games physics.

If you watch the LFS drift video, this is what it illustrates. I don't have to countersteer to hold the slide, I just catch it at some point in time and hold it, release it, hold it again, etc... until I need to correct and over correction. This is fundamentally different than with other wheels which are not powerful enough.

Here is an interesting comparison:

His inputs are a lot more involved as he does a lot of work with his hands to initiate the drift. Notice that in some cases he has to flick the wheel back. I suspect he is also probably using one of the drift modes in the wheel, because sure as hell my CSW doesn't spin like this when I tried drifting. In which case when the wheel spins back, the motor is assisting it to spin up faster. This may be fine for drifting, but doesn't quite feel right in normal driving conditions where you're trying not to drift. (I'm just speculating on the D mode.)


Here is another example where you have a heavier wheel mounted to a much weaker wheel (G25). You can see how most of the time he initiates the counter steer in order to catch the car in time because the wheel simply isn't powerful enough to be spun up on its own from the game physics.


My inputs on the other hand are very slow, I just let the car do its thing, and just catch the slide. I'm not a drifter by any means, nor particularly good at it, but as a testament to the wheel, I can at least catch a slide. My technique doesn't work with a CSW at all.

 

Yesterday Berney released the new Dynamic Oscillation Control feature for SimCommander, which allows for speed sensitive damping. This lets you dial down any normal damping, allowing for lighter and faster wheel response while still controlling oscillations. Which finally made this possible:

 

I've got tears in my eyes seeing that. My G25 is sooo damn slow...I need to actively move the wheel to counter steer

 

Yeah, we CSW users have a hard time with fast corrections too. Once the tires reach the bite point - it's all over but the crying.

 

So how do the actual cars compare, now? The LFS one looks like it's got a much softer suspension or is a smoother track surface, AC's e30 is really bouncing more sharply... but maybe it's the camera.