Controller v steering wheel setups.

[Daveyraveygrave]

I bought the game for my son, although he is only 7 and not quite getting it as much as I am! I couldn't justify buying a wheel as well, I think the wife would bust me for that for sure!

Before GT4, I got quite fairly good at GPL, which is an old racing sim for the pc, but is very difficult. I wouldn't dream of playing that without a wheel, but I do remember a lot of debate about varying car setups according to whether you were using a wheel, keyboard or pad.

I am using the standard PS2 controller for GT4, and just getting into setups etc, finding loads of useful info here, although I am assuming most people have a wheel and their setups reflect this. Is there anything I should be doing to make a wheel setup work better for a pad? Adjust the sensitivity perhaps?

 

[chain smoker]

Hi Davey,I love GPL on PC and agree that a wheel is needed, however I prefer a standard PS2 controller for GT4.
I have used many of the setups found at GTP with joypad and am able to equal some of the times posted by the users of given setups and on my fave tracks can beat some of the posted times.I do not think that you are disadvantaged at all without a wheel,but thinking back to Gp legends,it was good fun to wrestle those iconic motors around with.
I also bought a wheel and could not even closely replicate my previous" joypad" times.This hurts as GT4 for me is a lot about taking those .001 of seconds of laptimes.
I think that to get your on screen car to go from lock to lock may be done quicker using a joypad where left and right are millimetres away , rather than the distance that your arms must move in turning a wheel from lock to lock.
This is only my experience with wheel v joypad and others will have had different experiences.
Hope this does not put you off investigating further into wheel but if you spend £60 on one (75% of current complete console cost) and feel that your "free" joypad gives better laptimes you will be gurning.

 

[Scaff]

I use both the DS2 and a DFP (I have a slightly more forgiving wife I guess - lol) and the main area of difference I find between them is not with regard to the steering, but the throttle and brakes.

Yes, steering is quicker with the DS2, but that can be a problem in its own right, it make apllying to much opposite lock very easy. So what you can in speed lock can be applied you can lose in unwinding it. Also with FWD cars it can be too easy to apply too much steering lock and overwork the tyres with the DS2. However these are easy to correct for, well for me anyway.

The throttle and brakes are a very different matter, I find that the buttons just are not sensitive enough and have to short a range to use well. Which makes applying contant throttle during long sweepers very, very difficult. As a result I tend to use the right hand stick for the throttle and brake (forward = throttle & back = brakes). The problem with this is that you can't use the throttle and brake at the same time, so no left foot braking.

In regard to times, I am as quick or quicker with the wheel as with the DS2, and the more sensitive the car, the better I am with the wheel, the TVR Speed 12 being a good example of this.

Hope the above helps.

Regards

Scaff