Oh I wish I was still a young man
Indeed I'm doing neither, rather basing it on comparisons with every other title around and on over 25 years experience in the motor industry.
GT7 is a fine game, but it certainly isn't the benchmark in vehicle simulation for the genre.
Good morning young Lad.
I'm very curious and interested if you mind sharing some of your knowledge with me.
You indeed seem to have some profound and undeniably reasonable understanding how things work, so here we go if you don't mind.
OK so from my understanding it's basically and technically / physically impossible to transfer vehicle dynamics and everything which relates to driving a car in real life into the virtual space.
A Wheelbase is practically the only bit we have, physically.
The Software / game code which includes all the information is the other part.
Our translating or operating system is either a PC or a Console, at least for the consumer sector.
There surely might be some fancy high end systems out there but let's keep it casual, right.
So now it's getting interesting.
What exactly is it you or me or everyone out there driving and comuting our daily driver is experiencing?
We have the physical forces/ g forces felt in our bodies and of course we have the physical feedback through our Rim.
And let us not neglect the audiovisual aspect.
This Triangle is basically what defines our driving experience.
If we now try to focus especially on what the Wheelrim is communicating, would you say that it's realistic to expect to feel all you say GT7 does lack in terms of FFB.
Because from my understanding it's not realistic to get overwhelmed with a bunch of FFB Information which I would and do not perceive when strictly focusing on what my Wheel is doing in real life.
Of course I do understand that an FFB Algorithm depending on its fed Calculations can theoretically provide us with all sort of Information.
But it's NOT basically necessary and to me I find it very distracting and unrealistic, hence I prefer to compare a Video Game FFB Code / Algorithm to my perceived experience in real life.
And hands down, depending on a few variables here and there it's more or less a very muted and dampened journey.
Of course things like assisted power steering and in my opinion most importantly self aligning torque, these 2 are very noticeable and physicality always present.
Hence I rate these 2 very high.
These are the most important FFB effects I highly pay attention to.
Because with a smart calculated and implemented Codec these 2 actually communicate and provide us with lots if not most of very important details like over/understeer and grip levels.
Which then, depending on the Wheelbase torque force handling and reaction time/ slew rate capabilities creates and authentic replication and simulates a very detailed experience compared to the real thing.
To me it's just not realistic to expect our Sim Wheels to communicate the other two parts of my aforementioned FFB Triangle.
Don't get me wrong though.
I do like a few let's call them canned effects which tricks our minds in believing and convincing us to feel more connected to what's actually going on on our screens.
Like Curb Rumble, compressions, G Forces etc.
But the way how these effects are implemented and connected to the rest of the FFB Code and finally translated through our Wheelbase is completely subjective.
Because we can't compare them to real life as besides curbs or road imperfections these effects are non existent in real life Wheel rim Behavior.
So before I completely loose myself and dig even deeper into this FFB Rabbit Hole, let's just shortly readjust our expectations and objectively focus on recalibrating our reality check and real life observations.
In short, how much is realistic ?
How much is necessary in our virtual worlds?
And most of all, are your expectations based on facts or wishful thinking.
Give it a minute, don't run down my door.
Am I really that wrong?
I don't think so.
I sometimes have the impression that I'm the only one judging facts.
Wheel rim Facts.
And what is truly to be felt through our hands compared to the reality.
Cheers 🙂
Edit:
I forgot to mention that the Understeer Feedback in GT7 is of course also an effect which is physically present in real life and hence logically should be expected to be simulated too.
Which it is.
And depending on your Wheelbase it comes more or less closer or further away compared to the real thing.
I had a T150 and a T300.
I also had a few Logitech Bases and they all got it very wrong in terms of fidelity and raw signal feedback.
On the other hand, my current Wheelbase which happens to be the DD+ does an excellent job if not an outstanding one.
Progressive, quick and very detailed and scaringly close to the real thing.
Same goes for the Self Aligning Forces and response sync to the on screen input delay audiovisual feedback.
If you get these things right which GT7 does spot on in all its aspects, I mean honestly, I couldn't ask for more.
Not to mention the insanely detailed and blistering fast weight transfer dynamics.
Once Everything is perfectly synchronized, GT7 does deliver the most authentic driving experience.
Not overloaded with crappy fake effects.
Simple and basic.
Almost dull, yet so close to the real thing.
Very accessible and easy to execute, yet very demanding if pushing the limits within ones capabilities.
That's why GT7 is in my opinion the only Simulator which gets the job done.
The real Driving Simulator.
Physics wise very basic too, yet providing a solid basis to work with.
You want more?
No problem.
PC Sims lying just around the corner.
I prefer and take GT7 over every other so called Sim out there.
All day every day.
Especially the highly praised ACC.
Absolutely don't get the fuzz about that game.
But as with all things in life, to each his own.