PS2 Controller Settings

[L28eT]

I've seen many posts in different sections and I see that many people keep the default settings for the controller. I have a DFP Steering Wheel, but when I had the controller, I always used the "Square" button. It seems easier because the top of your thumb is on the gas, and to hit the brakes you just bring the bottom of your thumb down. Does everyone [with PS2 controllers]use "X" as gas? And if you do, what is the reasoning for it? [<<<No offense intended in that sentence - Just curious! ]

 

[Duke]

When I used the controller (100% of GT3 and maybe 5% of GT4) I always used the right analog stick for throttle and brake. I could never understand how people get any accuracy out of the buttons.

 

[HKS-V]

When I used the controller (100% of GT3 and maybe 5% of GT4) I always used the right analog stick for throttle and brake. I could never understand how people get any accuracy out of the buttons.

i have exactly the same thing My friends always tell me that i'm strange using the analog sticks, but it's 100 times better than the x and square button.

 

[gregc]

Well I wouldn't call anyone strange for using the sticks, but I've tried it and can't get on with it - likewise a wheel, I've got one but again it's not for me. So I'm a button boy I'm afraid Once you get used to it you can definitely get reasonably fine control with the buttons - for anyone struggling with that, btw, tune up an FF car and turn all the driving aids off. You learn control, or you spend all your time spinning the front wheels

To answer the original question - I use the default settings. No particular reason, other than it's what I'm used to and it's never caused me a problem. Now it's been mentioned, using square for throttle does seem sensible but I've been using X for so long now I don't think I could change over...

 

[L28eT]

When I used the controller (100% of GT3 and maybe 5% of GT4) I always used the right analog stick for throttle and brake. I could never understand how people get any accuracy out of the buttons.

Well, in a way that's true, but you CAN still control you're throttle with the buttons. I had to do that final graduation license test with the R92CP using my controller. Now that requires true throttle control!! But it just shows that even the PS2 BUTTONS have enough sensitivity. But I can understand the analog sticks being used to. I'm just not used to them. Of course - I don't have to worry about that anymore.

 

[Famine]

i have exactly the same thing My friends always tell me that i'm strange using the analog sticks, but it's 100 times better than the x and square button.

See you on the track then...

 

[L28eT]

See you on the track then...

I was saying the same thing, I just decided to be kind.

 

[STLbarcelona5]

I use the Analog stick for throttle/brake. And then during certain areas push square while im on the analog stick, left foot braking . . . kinda. The hardest though is try handbrake turns, I know the game pretty much doesn't like them at all, but I've gotten a few good ones (2 tight turns at Costa Di'Amalfi)

 

[Swift]

When I used the controller (100% of GT3 and maybe 5% of GT4) I always used the right analog stick for throttle and brake. I could never understand how people get any accuracy out of the buttons.

Well, the buttons are pressure sensitive. So if you learn to control your thumb, you can get a great amount of accuracy. But of course, we tend to forget that and just use them as digital buttons.

 

[ImprezaAddict]

Like Duke said. The Analog sticks are 101% more presice or adjustable. The buttons is just pressing or not. And if I were using buttons, it would be X.

 

[G.T]

I've always used the X button for acceleration and Square for braking. I just seem to have a steady thumb and always get the pressure and control right. After using them for so long I just find using the right analog stick weird...

My dad, on the other hand, can't even put his right thumb over both of the X and Square buttons, so he finds it hard to brake and accelerate quickly as he has to move his thumb. He can't stand any of the analog sticks either. I guess people are different.

 

[Swift]

Like Duke said. The Analog sticks are 101% more presice or adjustable. The buttons is just pressing or not. And if I were using buttons, it would be X.

All the buttons on teh DS2 are pressure senstive. GT4 is programmed to take advantage of this. So it's not a binary switch, they are analog.

 

[samj_13]

I use the default controls. Just never tried anything else, really. I attempted using the R-Analog stick, didnt work well with me and no TCS any ideas?

But I am getting a DFP soon...

 

[MugenVTEC]

When I used the controller (100% of GT3 and maybe 5% of GT4) I always used the right analog stick for throttle and brake. I could never understand how people get any accuracy out of the buttons.

That is like learning how to play guitar. But for me, I feel like I was born to play with pressure sensitive buttons...

Anyway, matter of skills ??? or matter of confort ??? That raised the question

My dad, on the other hand, can't even put his right thumb over both of the X and Square buttons, so he finds it hard to brake and accelerate quickly as he has to move his thumb. He can't stand any of the analog sticks either. I guess people are different.

My brother hates the PS2 because of use of the analog sticks. He thinks it's abused because he still in the D-pad era... But he does use the analog sticks on the 'Cube tho...

 

[Master_Yoda]

I use both, we i let people win, i use the analog. But i can throttle quit well with the X butten.

 

[Duke]

All the buttons on teh DS2 are pressure senstive. GT4 is programmed to take advantage of this. So it's not a binary switch, they are analog.

I understand that - supposedly they have 256 degrees of sensitivity.

But with a total movement of maybe an eighth of an inch, that's mighty fine control to excercise. Compare that to the 1"+ throw of an analog stick - that's why I feel I get finer control from the sticks.

That, and I come from flying R/C aircraft, so 2 thumbs just feels better. Too bad a plane is set up with ailerons on the right stick and throttle on the left...

 

[guska]

the buttons on the DS2 are very stiff when new, and may seem like analog buttons until worn in. I have found that the best games to use for wearing in a controller are the extreme sports games (Tony Hawke, Dave Mirra, Cool Boarders, etc.) as you are constantly hammerring the buttons, which frees them up, and makes them seem a lot for sensitive. I only recently started using the analog sticks, and after a bit of getting used to, I found them to be a lot better.

 

[MugenVTEC]

the buttons on the DS2 are very stiff when new, and may seem like analog buttons until worn in. I have found that the best games to use for wearing in a controller are the extreme sports games (Tony Hawke, Dave Mirra, Cool Boarders, etc.) as you are constantly hammerring the buttons, which frees them up, and makes them seem a lot for sensitive. I only recently started using the analog sticks, and after a bit of getting used to, I found them to be a lot better.

Any good bashing games help the buttons. My favourite is Gauntlet.

 

[Kylehnat]

the buttons on the DS2 are very stiff when new, and may seem like analog buttons until worn in.

I don't seem to recall having that problem.

I LOVE the buttons on the DS2. You can get excellent throttle and brake control. The main advantage I see over using the stick is the ability to "left-foot brake", as it were. That is, you can just tap the brake while holding full -throttle, to shave off just enough speed to make it through that long sweeper with your right "foot" planted. Try that with your fancy-pants stick!

My friends had trouble with the S-8 test in GT3. The GT-One was "uncontrollable", they said. I beat it in less than 5 tries, showed them how they should be massaging the buttons, and they thought I was some sort of god.

As for button mapping, I switched the ghost to "select", and the view-change to "up" on the d-pad. This is so I can press R1 to use nitrous, on the few occasions when I like to play with it.

 

[Vio]

the buttons on the DS2 are very stiff when new, and may seem like analog buttons until worn in.

that's true, I have tried "different versions" of the DS2, a very early one (never used, though) from 2001, my (blue) DS2 from 2004, a recently bought black DS2 and a silver (slimline PS2)-DS2 - and all of them had to be used some time until you could use them properly to accelerate.
As soon as the DS2 get's "used" (to it ), it's way better to accelerate/brake with powerful cars.


Anyway, did anyone make some changes to the other buttons (L1, R1, etc.)?
I have
- handbrake asigned to R1
- switch camera-position to circle
- and nitro to select.
DIdn't know that that much people seem to stick to the default-settings.

 

[RICHARDO]

I have been using the dual-stick method since GT3. When I first tried this technique I found it baffling and difficult to balance the car properly... But that was three years ago, now I find it very easy to balance delicate cars (Yellowbird anyone?) with great precision and poise... at least for my standards.

 

[GT Pro]

For the past 7 Years i've always used the D-pad but this could be an intersesting topic:

Does driving with analogue sticks prove more controllable than the D-pad?

 

[Famine]

Just for the comparison:

DS2 button-bashing:
+ More rapid state-changes - near-instant full lock to full lock. Default centreing (ideal mid-crash)
- Less full lock, rapid changes make for higher tyre wear

DS2 stick-fiddling:
+ Maximum amount of full lock, reduced tyre wear, default centreing, possible higher-degree of control (variation in thumb pressure with buttons against amount of stick travel)
- Slow changes

DFP
+ Everything about the other two (same lock as the sticks, same rapid change as the DS2, more control than either, making for better tyre wear), except...
- Does not default to centre when you let go. Makes crashes much harder to deal with.

 

[Mad Matt]

I used the D pad up to GT3 and taught myself to use the analogue stick for acceleration/braking, but never got the hang of steering with anything but the buttons. On the other hand I got all my license like that.

I bought a DFP for GT4 after about 5% and found it excellent although I hated some other wheels I tried. The first thing I noticed was breaking at the end of a long straight with the D-pad seemed easy, but with the DFP the car started to get out of shape and needed a bit of correction. This caught me out a few times at first, but in the end I enjoyed it and found it much more realistic.

I use the buttons behind the wheel to change gear, only using the gear stick if I've spun off and have got the wheel turned round a long way!

 

[guska]

Poor little old me, stuck with a boring old DF, not DFP!

 

[Swift]

Poor little old me, stuck with a boring old DF, not DFP!

Same here.

 

[RenesisEvo]

I use the good ol' DS2 - buttons for the pedals, sticks for steering. I learnt how to modulate the buttons with my thumb, resting across X and square at the same time. This allows you to left foot brake as it were - which is something you cannot do when you use the right-hand stick (since you can only accelerate, or brake - not both). I find that the analogue stick makes for much smoother steering, although it can't rival a DFP, which is extremely difficult to use at first.

I got a white DS2 from Hong Kong - and for some reason the range of sensitivity was vastly reduced over my UK black one: barely touching X meant full throttle, and full lock was achieved with tiny movements of the stick. In the end I gave up - it was just too sensitive (why though?). It sees use in first-person shooters, because the response time makes life a bit easier then.

 

[guska]

Same here.

But I'm going to get the G25 when it comes out *droolage*

Anyway, thats off topic.

 

[Dave A]

I use the DFP more than the pad, but when I can't be bothered setting it up I use the right stick for acceleration and brake and the d-pad for steering, I find I'm better steering the car's with the d-pad but with the stick I end up swaying from side to side too much, I can never find that just right ammount of lock with the sticks but I can with the d-pad.

 

[pegasus]

I use the DS2 buttons for most things but for corners requiring fine throttle control (e.g. Chamony tarmac section in a Dodge RAM) I switch to the righ analogue stick to apply half throttle. Then switch back to the DS2 buttons coming out of the corner.

Although there is some switching time involved, I find this gives me the best of both methods of control. I have not yet mastered regulating the pressure on the DS2 buttons to reduce the throttle (I just have a heavy thumb I guess).