Got first wheel yesterday, any advice?

[AussieMitch]

Hey guys, so I finally got a wheel setup yesterday after 20 years of playing racing games exclusively with a pad. I bought a Logitech g29 and a playseat Alcantara as a starter type setup... Really happy with the rig but surprised how God awful I am with it I spin out really easily with out TCS on, I could manage far better with a pad in that regard, and I also find I over turn the wheel at times and spin out on tight bends. Has anyone else had such a hard transition? All that muscle memory with ds4 completely gone when using a wheel? I also have a question regarding driving with a H shifter and clutch... How common is it to left foot break? Do you only right foot break when approaching a corner you have to go down in gears on? And use your left on any corner you don't change gears? Not sure what I should be doing there. I have very little driving experience in real life btw which doesn't help.

 

[AdamMorcs]

Yea the transition period can be very difficult . I left foot brake as it’s faster. Just remember the car can only act within the 100%. ( in most cases )

For example if your braking 50% you can turn 50% , if your accelerating 20% through a corner you can turn at 80% capacity etc etc working with this in mind I’ve improved my lap times on wheel dramatically . I’ve been using my wheel for 2 months and there’s still some tracks I’m faster on DS4. Practice practice practice .

 

[Xlxy90]

It took me 1 month to be at the same level from pad to my first wheel (g29)

It took me another 2 weeks after I bought my T-GT to be faster than the G29.

It's all about time and practice.

 

[AussieMitch]

Yea the transition period can be very difficult . I left foot brake as it’s faster. Just remember the car can only act within the 100%. ( in most cases )

For example if your braking 50% you can turn 50% , if your accelerating 20% through a corner you can turn at 80% capacity etc etc working with this in mind I’ve improved my lap times on wheel dramatically . I’ve been using my wheel for 2 months and there’s still some tracks I’m faster on DS4. Practice practice practice .

Thank you for the reply! That's a really good way to think about it... It makes alot of sense. I'm definitely looking forward to the challenge of getting better... Not having the same break and throttle control with my foot as I did with my finger is one of the biggest things I've noticed. The game is a 100 times more fun and immersive with a wheel though... So it makes practice much easier to stick too.

 

[slthree]

Be patient and fight the temptation to go back to the controller. I had similar difficulties at first, and, like you, I came to these forums for help and got it, in spades!

So, if you find my thread asking for wheel help, you’ll get a bunch of good advice. And, I’m guessing there are a bunch more.

 

[AussieMitch]

Be patient and fight the temptation to go back to the controller. I had similar difficulties at first, and, like you, I came to these forums for help and got it, in spades!

So, if you find my thread asking for wheel help, you’ll get a bunch of good advice. And, I’m guessing there are a bunch more.

Nice mate! I'll look for your thread.... I think I should probably stick to paddle shifting and getting used to controlling the accelerater and brake before I add the clutch and stick shifter in. After doing some laps of the Nurburgring gp in the Zonda R just now I realised I need to get the basics right first. Best lap time I managed was 2:00 minutes flat... With TCS on 1 I was still spinning out alot because I got on the gas to hard while turning.

 

[Xlxy90]

Nice mate! I'll look for your thread.... I think I should probably stick to paddle shifting and getting used to controlling the accelerater and brake before I add the clutch and stick shifter in. After doing some laps of the Nurburgring gp in the Zonda R just now I realised I need to get the basics right first. Best lap time I managed was 2:00 minutes flat... With TCS on 1 I was still spinning out alot because I got on the gas to hard while turning.

Probably not the best car to use when you're just getting used to a wheel.

I'd be trying a N300 or N400 on sports hard tyres. Get used to feeling the car slip and keeping the minimum speed up around corners.

 

[AussieMitch]

Yeah I think your right... Zonda wasn't the best choice! My logic was that if I learn to handle that I could handle anything... But that's not generally how getting better as a beginner at something works.

 

[Gazzbeam]

GT Sport is probably a good game to start your G29 "career" as there's no setting up or calibrating to be done, just plug 'n' play. GT Sport has decent strong/heavy FFB with the G29 so you can get a good feel of the car's weight shifting and the bumps/crests and troughs.
***WHAT GT SPORT LACKS** - There is no feedback or feeling through the G29 when braking and if you lose traction at all and the tyres slide the only way you know is the sliding sound and the fact that your rear end is about to be in front of you. It was quite hard at first to try catch an oversteer slide but I've noticed in the update about 2 months(ish) ago, there was a big physics and handling improvment done to the game and I can actually drift some cars now. Wow. Still no brake or traction loss feedback though.
In the Pause Menu when on a track, scroll to the bottom and click to the Detailed Settings page. Set the Force Feedback Max. Torque to 8 and the Force Feedback Sensitivity to 2. Those numbers took me a long time to find a while back, when I was having issues with "light FFB" and everything was feeling the same, average. Turn all aids off, ABS only, driving aids = training wheels! You'll get the hang of it soon and you'll wonder how you ever used a controller, LOL. I brake with whatever foot is needed at the time.
Also, just reading above... Only use the clutch and stick shift on cars that actually have them. GT3's for instance or Zonda R's have a sequential shift with paddles and auto clutch. Anyway, enjoy your new wheel and your new race game life, you'll never use controller again Oh yeah, get a VR too.....

 

[Lazybike]

I would say start from the beginning again, re-do all the driving test, mission and circuit experience stuff, then the campaign races, you'll be surprised how quickly you better your times.

 

[AussieMitch]

GT Sport is probably a good game to start your G29 "career" as there's no setting up or calibrating to be done, just plug 'n' play. GT Sport has decent strong/heavy FFB with the G29 so you can get a good feel of the car's weight shifting and the bumps/crests and troughs.
***WHAT GT SPORT LACKS** - There is no feedback or feeling through the G29 when braking and if you lose traction at all and the tyres slide the only way you know is the sliding sound and the fact that your rear end is about to be in front of you. It was quite hard at first to try catch an oversteer slide but I've noticed in the update about 2 months(ish) ago, there was a big physics and handling improvment done to the game and I can actually drift some cars now. Wow. Still no brake or traction loss feedback though.
In the Pause Menu when on a track, scroll to the bottom and click to the Detailed Settings page. Set the Force Feedback Max. Torque to 8 and the Force Feedback Sensitivity to 2. Those numbers took me a long time to find a while back, when I was having issues with "light FFB" and everything was feeling the same, average. Turn all aids off, ABS only, driving aids = training wheels! You'll get the hang of it soon and you'll wonder how you ever used a controller, LOL. I brake with whatever foot is needed at the time.
Also, just reading above... Only use the clutch and stick shift on cars that actually have them. GT3's for instance or Zonda R's have a sequential shift with paddles and auto clutch. Anyway, enjoy your new wheel and your new race game life, you'll never use controller again Oh yeah, get a VR too.....

Thanks for the tips mate! I've been looking for good settings regarding force feed back on gt sport so I'll try yours out.... Do you set abs on default or weak? I noticed you said to just keep that aid on... I've always had it on default. Learning to drive without TCS will definately improve my throttle control. Yeah I only use clutch/stick shift on cars that have them... But thanks for pointing that out though. I noticed the clutch peddle behaves weirdly on gt sport... It has to be to pushed to the floor before it works. Playing asseto Corsa and dirt rally 2 the last couple of days as well really made that stand out. Have you noticed this? It's like the clutch was an afterthought in the game, given the amount of older cars though it's disappointing it works this way.

 

[Gazzbeam]

I think the clutch is digital in GT Sport, either out or in. Whereas games with more realism like Project Cars 2 and DiRT Rally (2 others I play atm), I think the clutch is analog, so there's a lot of ways to adjust/set/calibrate and use the clutch.
Have you noticed in GT Sport, in-car view, what happens with most car's steering wheel rotation on screen when you use the whole 900° available on the G29 and many, many real cars?.......... (Answer below).



Many/most/some...? (Dunno yet..) GT Sport cars only seem to have 180° of steering like the old *GT Driving Sport* Logitech/Gran Turismo PS2 wheels.

 

[AussieMitch]

You should look at Forza Motorsport 7s on screen wheel rotation... Way worse than gt sports lol. Your right though.... It's abit lazy.

 

[JacksHerer]

re dirt rally clutch.... yes, the ability to calibrate the clutch is awesome.

Ive just built the monster of a rig to hold my G29, with logitech z506 surround speakers low down and sub woofer in the pedal box..... it was a £58 addition and feels incredible through my hands and feet.

I bought the perfectpedal.com mod back when i had a G25 on PS3, but I gave up on it because my playseat flexed. Now however, in the monster rig the perfectpedal is perfect and fitted the G29 brake pedal of course.

My only gripe with G29 is the pots on the pedals, within 50 thousand game miles the accelerator pedal pot will need cleaning, the pedals need to be taken out of the box and dismantled to effectively clean the pots with contact cleaner.
I cleaned my G25 pedals twice before I free mounted them on a rig, its possible to do a quick clean on the fly, squirting contact cleaner into the exposed pot. That quick clean will typically last out the day, but it stinks!
So im now in the process of drilling a hole in the case of the pot so that i can spray contact cleaner directly into the pot and have it drain out the opening.. I have my brake pedal pot to test with, fingers crossed.


Edit : that wheel miss match is nothing compared to the manual gear miss match... The avator doesnt know to reach for the gear shift until ive pressed the clutch, so by the time ive changed gear and vgot my hand back on the wheel my avatar is well slow behind.
I cant wait for PS5

 

[Gazzbeam]

My G29 rig.... I had an old set of office drawers lying around. Only knee high 3 drawers, chipboard. I pulled it apart, rotated some of the panels 90° then drilled/screwed 2 side panels to a floor panel, (which is angled and bolt mounts the pedals), screwed the top panel to the 2 sides with an overhang towards me and bolted the G29 to that. So basic, dodgy but free LOL. Then I got creative and custom shaped a left over panel and along with a plastic reel/spool from some wiring, I have the shifter mounted down a bit lower than the wheel and I can swing it in or out. Bolted a power board to one panel and a drink holder from a mountain bike bolted on the side holds my butt bucket ash tray!!

 

[Lazybike]

My only gripe with G29 is the pots on the pedals, within 50 thousand game miles the accelerator pedal pot will need cleaning, the pedals need to be taken out of the box and dismantled to effectively clean the pots with contact cleaner.
I cleaned my G25 pedals twice before I free mounted them on a rig, its possible to do a quick clean on the fly, squirting contact cleaner into the exposed pot. That quick clean will typically last out the day, but it stinks!
So im now in the process of drilling a hole in the case of the pot so that i can spray contact cleaner directly into the pot and have it drain out the opening.. I have my brake pedal pot to test with, fingers crossed.

I clean the pots with contact cleaner and then dry with a hairdryer, I also spray some silicone oil on the black plastic gears, takes about 30 mins to strip and reassemble, when I'm not using them I cover them with a bin bag.

 

[VXR]

Keep using it and get to grips with how it feels across multiple games. I haven't used mine since September when I met someone who lives in a different town, so I suspect I'd be incredibly off the pace with it again and easily frustrated by that fact.

 

[VBR]

I've been using FFB wheels in the GT series ever since the first official Logitech wheel for GT3 came out way back in 2002, here are my tips;


1) Set Torque to 4, no higher, & Sensitivity to 10 (optimal FFB settings for a G29 in GTS). The G29 can't reproduce strong FFB signals, & anything above 4 will make it clip.

2) Put your hands at 9 o'clock & 3 o'clock on the rim, & make sure your thumbs are are in the "thumb holes" on the wheel (pic). Never change position, & never turn the wheel more than 180 degrees in GTS (till it's upside down &/or your arms are crossed/touching). You'll only need to turn it that far for tight hair pins anyway.

3) Never use the clutch/h shifter for serious racing in GT Sport. The clutch is very poorly modeled & you'll end up getting loads of mis-shifts (afaik it's been deliberately nerfed by PD; link). Use the paddles instead, & keep the clutch for driving for a laugh only. If you want to feel a proper clutch simulation, then stick to Assetto Corsa!

4) Make sure the d-pad right & left button are mapped to look left & right, this is essential for clean racing imho. Also, have the down button mapped to look back.

5) Give yourself plenty of time to adapt, you'll probably be on pace with your DS4 times in a few weeks/months. When I changed from my DF Pro bolted to a desk to a G25 bolted to a Playseat Evolution, it took me three months until I was comfortable & on the same pace. Sometimes, going from a pad to a wheel can be an even bigger step.

6) Only use cockpit view or bumper cam. The other views are fine when playing with a pad, but, with a wheel it's good to feel you're located near where you'd be in reality.


Enjoy!


👍




PS: As for left foot braking; I always do it when paddle shifting, but when using the clutch I'll mix it up a bit.

PPS: The best training combo in GTS imho is a totally untuned Mazda MX5 on Tsukuba (all assists off/Comfort Tyres only; try mediums & softs). This will help the car to oversteer, & give you a chance to learn car control without any assists kicking in & doing it for you. The car is very predictable, learner friendly, & easy to keep in check.

 

[HERE4BEER3]

If you have a Playseat you should be fine but I found seat position and comfort to be extremely important.

I just use my couch and a homemade stand and sit on a racing seat made of pillows. Last night, I put a bunch of laps in to Autopolis, then I re-positioned. Since Autopolis requires alot of throttle control I pushed my stand back so my legs were more extended and put a balled up blanket under me to raise my body a bit, within two laps I was 1.5 seconds faster and alot more comfortable.

So don't be afraid to play around with how your sitting, where your wheel is, where the pedals are ect. Could make a big differenc ein time.

 

[Xlxy90]

If you have a Playseat you should be fine but I found seat position and comfort to be extremely important.

I played around with my seating position heaps as well.

My elbows now have a 90 degree bend in them when sitting properly in my rig. Give this a try as it helps with faster wrist movements to be able to catch slides.

 

[AussieMitch]

I've been using FFB wheels in the GT series ever since the first official Logitech wheel for GT3 came out way back in 2002, here are my tips;


1) Set Torque to 4, no higher, & Sensitivity to 10 (optimal FFB settings for a G29 in GTS). The G29 can't reproduce strong FFB signals, & anything above 4 will make it clip.

2) Put your hands at 9 o'clock & 3 o'clock on the rim, & make sure your thumbs are are in the "thumb holes" on the wheel (pic). Never change position, & never turn the wheel more than 180 degrees in GTS (till it's upside down &/or your arms are crossed/touching). You'll only need to turn it that far for tight hair pins anyway.

3) Never use the clutch/h shifter for serious racing in GT Sport. The clutch is very poorly modeled & you'll end up getting loads of mis-shifts (afaik it's been deliberately nerfed by PD; link). Use the paddles instead, & keep the clutch for driving for a laugh only. If you want to feel a proper clutch simulation, then stick to Assetto Corsa!

4) Make sure the d-pad right & left button are mapped to look left & right, this is essential for clean racing imho. Also, have the down button mapped to look back.

5) Give yourself plenty of time to adapt, you'll probably be on pace with your DS4 times in a few weeks/months. When I changed from my DF Pro bolted to a desk to a G25 bolted to a Playseat Evolution, it took me three months until I was comfortable & on the same pace. Sometimes, going from a pad to a wheel can be an even bigger step.

6) Only use cockpit view or bumper cam. The other views are fine when playing with a pad, but, with a wheel it's good to feel you're located near where you'd be in reality.


Enjoy!


👍




PS: As for left foot braking; I always do it when paddle shifting, but when using the clutch I'll mix it up a bit.

PPS: The best training combo in GTS imho is a totally untuned Mazda MX5 on Tsukuba (all assists off/Comfort Tyres only; try mediums & softs). This will help the car to oversteer, & give you a chance to learn car control without any assists kicking in & doing it for you. The car is very predictable, learner friendly, & easy to keep in check.

Thanks for that very detailed reply! It's very helpful... I will switch ffb settings around and try the and reposition my hands on the wheel (I've been more 2 and 10 o'clock position) that Mazda setup sounds like a good one, throttle control with out TCS is my biggest issue ATM... Your right about the clutch, it's terrible. I'll stick to dirt rally and AC for the stick shifting experience.

 

[AussieMitch]

re dirt rally clutch.... yes, the ability to calibrate the clutch is awesome.

Ive just built the monster of a rig to hold my G29, with logitech z506 surround speakers low down and sub woofer in the pedal box..... it was a £58 addition and feels incredible through my hands and feet.

I bought the perfectpedal.com mod back when i had a G25 on PS3, but I gave up on it because my playseat flexed. Now however, in the monster rig the perfectpedal is perfect and fitted the G29 brake pedal of course.

My only gripe with G29 is the pots on the pedals, within 50 thousand game miles the accelerator pedal pot will need cleaning, the pedals need to be taken out of the box and dismantled to effectively clean the pots with contact cleaner.
I cleaned my G25 pedals twice before I free mounted them on a rig, its possible to do a quick clean on the fly, squirting contact cleaner into the exposed pot. That quick clean will typically last out the day, but it stinks!
So im now in the process of drilling a hole in the case of the pot so that i can spray contact cleaner directly into the pot and have it drain out the opening.. I have my brake pedal pot to test with, fingers crossed.


Edit : that wheel miss match is nothing compared to the manual gear miss match... The avator doesnt know to reach for the gear shift until ive pressed the clutch, so by the time ive changed gear and vgot my hand back on the wheel my avatar is well slow behind.
I cant wait for PS5

Yeah I've noticed the play seat peddle tray flexes ever so slightly with my g29 break peddle, not enough to harm it though. If I can get pretty decent with the wheel by the end of the year I'll have enough money for a fanatec call wheel and load cell peddles, so I'll upgrade my rig to handle those... I haven't heard of the cockpit you mentioned getting but I'll check it out when the time comes....

 

[AussieMitch]

Thanks for all the help guys! Appreciate it...

 

[PsuPepperoni]

You can use the clutch a bit in the license tests, to shift a bit faster in the acceleration/braking tests.

The simulated stickshift is so painfully slow that you can easily beat it with the real stickshift, but it's so unreliable I would never use it in a race.

 

[ARTAsean]

3) Never use the clutch/h shifter for serious racing in GT Sport. The clutch is very poorly modeled & you'll end up getting loads of mis-shifts (afaik it's been deliberately nerfed by PD; link). Use the paddles instead, & keep the clutch for driving for a laugh only. If you want to feel a proper clutch simulation, then stick to Assetto Corsa!

Had to address this piece of malarkey here. It’s very well known that a shifter + clutch grants a huge advantage in Sport Mode races that feature a N class car, with a standard transmission. While it’s rare, it’s usually a 1sec+ per lap advantage over using the paddles — and has gotten me several top20 qualifying times and Sport wins.

 

[PsuPepperoni]

Had to address this piece of malarkey here. It’s very well known that a shifter + clutch grants a huge advantage in Sport Mode races that feature a N class car, with a standard transmission. While it’s rare, it’s usually a 1sec+ per lap advantage over using the paddles — and has gotten me several top20 qualifying times and Sport wins.

I wish they would just speed up the paddle shift, it's like the person controlling the stick has to look down at the shift knob and remember where 3rd gear is before they shift

 

[AussieMitch]

Had to address this piece of malarkey here. It’s very well known that a shifter + clutch grants a huge advantage in Sport Mode races that feature a N class car, with a standard transmission. While it’s rare, it’s usually a 1sec+ per lap advantage over using the paddles — and has gotten me several top20 qualifying times and Sport wins.

Did it take you long to get used to the clutch system and not get miss shifts?

 

[Pigems]

Had to address this piece of malarkey here. It’s very well known that a shifter + clutch grants a huge advantage in Sport Mode races that feature a N class car, with a standard transmission. While it’s rare, it’s usually a 1sec+ per lap advantage over using the paddles — and has gotten me several top20 qualifying times and Sport wins.

You are correct Sir. For anyone who didn’t know, this is the difference between a properly used shifter vs paddles in a Car that has a manual H pattern transmission, multiply that by XX laps and the advantage is huge.

I wish they would just speed up the paddle shift, it's like the person controlling the stick has to look down at the shift knob and remember where 3rd gear is before they shift

I thought so too at first, but on second thought I’ve changed my mind. It takes more skill to manually hit the clutch make the shift yourself, why should someone who’s just pushing a button/paddle get to shift just as fast as a guy who can quickly and properly make his own shifts? It’s a skill based reward in PD’s eyes, IMO of course.


To the OP, Congrats on getting a wheel man, I hope you thoroughly enjoy it. I suggest ReDoing all the driving school and mission challenges on your wheel, start with the basics because you are relearning how to race all over again and build your way back up, the same way you did with the DS4.

 

[ARTAsean]

Did it take you long to get used to the clutch system and not get miss shifts?

lol I still miss shifts from time to time, especially 5-6th. for some reason it’s very hard to get 6th right.

Honestly, for 4-5-6 you can just use the paddles, the shift delay is only super prevalent for 1-2-3.

 

[Pigems]

lol I still miss shifts from time to time, especially 5-6th. for some reason it’s very hard to get 6th right.

Honestly, for 4-5-6 you can just use the paddles, the shift delay is only super prevalent for 1-2-3.

I’ve heard some guys use the paddles for downshifting at times as well, I’ll be ordering my shifter this week so I’ll soon get to find out for myself.