- 426
- United States
- andrewhake
I still really like my CSL Elite LC pedals and came up with a pretty cheap/simple way to make them significantly better. I refuse to have a different setup for Gran Turismo and for PC sims so I came up with this. Removing the foam insert that is there to simulate the pedal takeup, and replacing it with a stiffer die spring gives a much better feel to the brake pedal while also making it feel much more natural to rest your left foot on it with the additional preload against the pedal. The foam never really provided enough return force so just resting your foot on the pedal would let you feel that play.
This gives the pedal a really nice feel of slight initial take-up before the pistons are really squeezing the pads against the rotors and lets you rely on your actual brake pressure instead of the position of the pedal. I wanted a pedal feel much closer to what I have on my S2000 in real life and with this I was able to get it really close.
Here is the spring I am using. Tohatsu TF18x25 Was able to purchase here in the US and shipped fast to me. https://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/221004970779/
You can also use the TF20x25 for a slightly stiffer spring. I got both to test with and preferred the 18x25. Both of these sizes replicate the size of the spacer urethane well. I prefer a short initial take up which is why I preloaded the spring to get it to feel like a nice balance between race car and street car with very good brakes. My elastomer stack is setup like this 95/95/85/85/65/Spring. If you want a harder or softer feel you just adjust the stack as needed. With this setup I found it is a good balance between having a nice stiff feel at the end of travel that feels ok when driving a race car and still has enough pedal movement to also feel ok in road cars. I wouldn't recommend this setup to people who want a really casual feel to use barefoot. I use this setup with shoes and brake hard with it. The LC on the CSL elite can handle quite a lot of pressure. This setup is really only going to work well for people with them mounted to a nice cockpit with a seat.
In these photos I still had 95/95/85/65/65/Spring which is why two of the elastomers look more compressed. I found this felt a little to soft and changed it out to the stack mentioned above for a nicer stiffer feel at the end of travel.
Compressed:
You will also need to use the Fanatec Control software on a PC to set your Min/Max brake force. I would recommend getting your seat position perfect, then pressing the brake pedal the max amount of force you would want to brake on your rig, then back it off about 20% and set that as your Max. When you brake relatively hard but comfortable you will want to see about 80% on the meter in the control software. And for Min I would recommend pressing down slightly on the pedal to get rid of some of the initial take-up and setting that as your Min.
This will give a nice feel of the brakes really coming on strong once you hit the "wall" in the stack and compress the spring. I like setting the Min a little before I hit the wall in the pedal travel to simulate that feeling of driving a nice sports car with a boosted brake pedal. If you only drive race cars then you may want to set the Min right when you hit that wall. Just depends on the amount of pressure range you want to be able to work with. Really personal preference. Definitely experiment around with this and adjusting your Brake Force on your wheelbase. With the setup I described I use 50% brake force on my DD1 PS base.
It does take some force as you load the stack into the pedal frame to preload the spring and pop it into place. But quite simple once you have done it once.
One other cool thing about this setup, is because you are providing some proper return force with the preloaded spring. It moves the brake pedal up slight in relation to the throttle so now when you brake hard and want to heel/toe it is much closer to a proper road car pedal spacing.
I look forward to see what Fanatec offers for their higher end Podium pedals someday. But I much prefer this setup to what the V3s offer. Those pedals are quite short and at a strange angle for me. And much harder to customize brake feel. I would LOVE to be able to use the Invicta pedals with my Fanatec base (I think they likely are the best sim racing pedals out there now) so I could use them with GT7 but this change to the brake pedal made me SUPER happy with my CSL Elite LC again.
This gives the pedal a really nice feel of slight initial take-up before the pistons are really squeezing the pads against the rotors and lets you rely on your actual brake pressure instead of the position of the pedal. I wanted a pedal feel much closer to what I have on my S2000 in real life and with this I was able to get it really close.
Here is the spring I am using. Tohatsu TF18x25 Was able to purchase here in the US and shipped fast to me. https://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/221004970779/
You can also use the TF20x25 for a slightly stiffer spring. I got both to test with and preferred the 18x25. Both of these sizes replicate the size of the spacer urethane well. I prefer a short initial take up which is why I preloaded the spring to get it to feel like a nice balance between race car and street car with very good brakes. My elastomer stack is setup like this 95/95/85/85/65/Spring. If you want a harder or softer feel you just adjust the stack as needed. With this setup I found it is a good balance between having a nice stiff feel at the end of travel that feels ok when driving a race car and still has enough pedal movement to also feel ok in road cars. I wouldn't recommend this setup to people who want a really casual feel to use barefoot. I use this setup with shoes and brake hard with it. The LC on the CSL elite can handle quite a lot of pressure. This setup is really only going to work well for people with them mounted to a nice cockpit with a seat.
In these photos I still had 95/95/85/65/65/Spring which is why two of the elastomers look more compressed. I found this felt a little to soft and changed it out to the stack mentioned above for a nicer stiffer feel at the end of travel.
Compressed:
You will also need to use the Fanatec Control software on a PC to set your Min/Max brake force. I would recommend getting your seat position perfect, then pressing the brake pedal the max amount of force you would want to brake on your rig, then back it off about 20% and set that as your Max. When you brake relatively hard but comfortable you will want to see about 80% on the meter in the control software. And for Min I would recommend pressing down slightly on the pedal to get rid of some of the initial take-up and setting that as your Min.
This will give a nice feel of the brakes really coming on strong once you hit the "wall" in the stack and compress the spring. I like setting the Min a little before I hit the wall in the pedal travel to simulate that feeling of driving a nice sports car with a boosted brake pedal. If you only drive race cars then you may want to set the Min right when you hit that wall. Just depends on the amount of pressure range you want to be able to work with. Really personal preference. Definitely experiment around with this and adjusting your Brake Force on your wheelbase. With the setup I described I use 50% brake force on my DD1 PS base.
It does take some force as you load the stack into the pedal frame to preload the spring and pop it into place. But quite simple once you have done it once.
One other cool thing about this setup, is because you are providing some proper return force with the preloaded spring. It moves the brake pedal up slight in relation to the throttle so now when you brake hard and want to heel/toe it is much closer to a proper road car pedal spacing.
I look forward to see what Fanatec offers for their higher end Podium pedals someday. But I much prefer this setup to what the V3s offer. Those pedals are quite short and at a strange angle for me. And much harder to customize brake feel. I would LOVE to be able to use the Invicta pedals with my Fanatec base (I think they likely are the best sim racing pedals out there now) so I could use them with GT7 but this change to the brake pedal made me SUPER happy with my CSL Elite LC again.
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