- 7,765
- Yorkshire
- ScapeGoat4U
- WhippingBoy
UPDATE: I now think the problem is probably down to this, https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/understeer-rattle-effect-poll-only-for-wheel-users.376839/
Just to be clear, I'm discussing three things in this thread; 1) the FFB vibration/lightness feature/bug, 2) the general lack of detail in the FFB, & 3) how most racing games/sims get FFB wrong as regards wheel resistance when loading/unloading under different conditions.
Original post below...
Although not 100% realistic, the FFB in most GT games has felt pretty good to me, &was is particularly great in GT6. However, the FFB in GT Sport is sub-par in several ways.
1) The biggest issue IMHO is the way oversteer is being misrepresented. In a real car, you feel oversteer in the form of self-aligning torque; this steers the wheel in the direction the car is oversteering. If the rear end is stepping out to the right the wheel pulls to the right, & if it's sliding to the left the wheel pulls to the left. This is because the front wheels still have traction during a slide & want to go on rolling forward, thus turning the steering wheel. When you feel the steering wheel pulling one way or the other you know you're losing the rear end, & when you feel the pulling start to fade you know you're entering the pause phase, & can get ready to catch the slide.
However, in GT Sport not only is this effect weaker than in previous games (G29 user), but there's also a completely unrealistic arcade style effect (or a bug, not entirely sure) that makes the wheel "vibrate" on oversteer. The wheel goes light as well during oversteer, which defies the laws of physics as the rear wheels aren't even connected to the steering wheel (the only time the wheel would go light in the real world is when the front suspension unloads for whatever reason, &/or the front tyres lose traction). This makes it incredibly difficult for discerning sim-racers & real race drivers alike to feel oversteer correctly in GTS, & thus catch slides in a realistic & satisfying manner.
Attention Polyphony Digital; please remove this ludicrously unrealistic arcade style effect, or fix this bug asap!
2) For non-T-GT users, the FFB in GT Sport is also, generally speaking, a dull & lifeless experience compared to previous titles in the series. I recently went back to try GT6 & did a side by side comparison of the same car on the same track with the same tyres & settings etc, & GT6 outperformed GTS in the FFB department by a country mile. The feel of curbs & the road surface is much more crisp & clear in GT6, while the torque pulling the wheel during oversteer is stronger. Some people feel that there have been a few improvements to GTS in this area via updates, although nothing has been specifically mentioned as regards FFB in any of the changelogs.
3) How feedback works in the real world: the resistance of a steering wheel when turning in a car is constantly changing based on the loading & unloading of the front suspension plus the traction/SAT & slip etc of the front tyres. This can be particularly strong in cars without power steering, & thus easily felt. Using my real world experience at PalmerSport in 2009 driving a Caterham 7 Superlight R500 on hard slicks & road tyres (in both the dry & wet), I shall now elaborate.
At a standstill, the resistance was extremely heavy in the R500 & it was almost impossible to turn the wheel; when the wheels started to roll this dissipated with the increase of speed. On the head-to-head track, dumping the clutch & going full throttle as my instructor advised me to do, produced an incredible lightness in the resistance of the wheel, this was because the front suspension had unloaded due to acceleration. Coming off the throttle & engine braking made the resistance heavier, as did braking with the brake pedal (which was much heavier than engine braking alone). When I broke too hard & locked up the front tyres, the resistance in the wheel went fairly light despite the front suspension still being under load. Also, on cars with front aero (& to a lesser extent, cars without) the faster you go the more resistance you'll get in the wheel when turning because the air pushing down on the front wing &/or bodywork increases the load on the front suspension/tyres. All of this is blindingly obvious to anyone who's driven a performance car without power steering in anger at a track day. However, you'd be surprised at just how many of the aforementioned aspects are missing from GT Sport, as well as many other simulators.
How feedback works in most games: the resistance of an FFB steering wheel when turning in most games is static, & is usually based on a wheel resistance setting (some games even allow you to change it to make it stronger or weaker). Yes, the wheel goes light in GT when you go over a jump, but nothing much else really affects it. Ironically, the only other thing that does affect the resistance in GTS is oversteer, which is something that never happens in the real world & thus shouldn't be happening in-game.
Conclusion: I could live without the realism as regards the many factors that should be affecting wheel resistance when turning in racing simulators, & have done so for the last ten years since my track day experience opened my eyes to it. However, what I cannot tolerate is the inclusion of unrealistic arcade style effects that simply do not exist in the real world. I say again, this may be a bug, in which case it needs to be fixed. But, if it is an intended arcade style effect, it needs to be removed or at the very least we need to be given the option to turn it off. I played a game once that had an effect like this, & I couldn't even bring myself to put in so much as one lap; I now feel similarly towards Gran Turismo Sport, & that's such a shame. After using FFB wheels in GT games since 2002, GTS is the only game where I don't feel compelled to set my wheel up anymore...
I'd like to hear well thought out replies from other sim-racer-type wheel users who are knowledgeable about these kinds of matters. What are your thoughts & observations?
If you got this far, thanks for listening.
PS: This is not a thread for requesting FFB settings, discussions on that can be found here: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/force-feedback-and-wheel-settings.380013/
Just to be clear, I'm discussing three things in this thread; 1) the FFB vibration/lightness feature/bug, 2) the general lack of detail in the FFB, & 3) how most racing games/sims get FFB wrong as regards wheel resistance when loading/unloading under different conditions.
Original post below...
Although not 100% realistic, the FFB in most GT games has felt pretty good to me, &
1) The biggest issue IMHO is the way oversteer is being misrepresented. In a real car, you feel oversteer in the form of self-aligning torque; this steers the wheel in the direction the car is oversteering. If the rear end is stepping out to the right the wheel pulls to the right, & if it's sliding to the left the wheel pulls to the left. This is because the front wheels still have traction during a slide & want to go on rolling forward, thus turning the steering wheel. When you feel the steering wheel pulling one way or the other you know you're losing the rear end, & when you feel the pulling start to fade you know you're entering the pause phase, & can get ready to catch the slide.
However, in GT Sport not only is this effect weaker than in previous games (G29 user), but there's also a completely unrealistic arcade style effect (or a bug, not entirely sure) that makes the wheel "vibrate" on oversteer. The wheel goes light as well during oversteer, which defies the laws of physics as the rear wheels aren't even connected to the steering wheel (the only time the wheel would go light in the real world is when the front suspension unloads for whatever reason, &/or the front tyres lose traction). This makes it incredibly difficult for discerning sim-racers & real race drivers alike to feel oversteer correctly in GTS, & thus catch slides in a realistic & satisfying manner.
Attention Polyphony Digital; please remove this ludicrously unrealistic arcade style effect, or fix this bug asap!
2) For non-T-GT users, the FFB in GT Sport is also, generally speaking, a dull & lifeless experience compared to previous titles in the series. I recently went back to try GT6 & did a side by side comparison of the same car on the same track with the same tyres & settings etc, & GT6 outperformed GTS in the FFB department by a country mile. The feel of curbs & the road surface is much more crisp & clear in GT6, while the torque pulling the wheel during oversteer is stronger. Some people feel that there have been a few improvements to GTS in this area via updates, although nothing has been specifically mentioned as regards FFB in any of the changelogs.
3) How feedback works in the real world: the resistance of a steering wheel when turning in a car is constantly changing based on the loading & unloading of the front suspension plus the traction/SAT & slip etc of the front tyres. This can be particularly strong in cars without power steering, & thus easily felt. Using my real world experience at PalmerSport in 2009 driving a Caterham 7 Superlight R500 on hard slicks & road tyres (in both the dry & wet), I shall now elaborate.
At a standstill, the resistance was extremely heavy in the R500 & it was almost impossible to turn the wheel; when the wheels started to roll this dissipated with the increase of speed. On the head-to-head track, dumping the clutch & going full throttle as my instructor advised me to do, produced an incredible lightness in the resistance of the wheel, this was because the front suspension had unloaded due to acceleration. Coming off the throttle & engine braking made the resistance heavier, as did braking with the brake pedal (which was much heavier than engine braking alone). When I broke too hard & locked up the front tyres, the resistance in the wheel went fairly light despite the front suspension still being under load. Also, on cars with front aero (& to a lesser extent, cars without) the faster you go the more resistance you'll get in the wheel when turning because the air pushing down on the front wing &/or bodywork increases the load on the front suspension/tyres. All of this is blindingly obvious to anyone who's driven a performance car without power steering in anger at a track day. However, you'd be surprised at just how many of the aforementioned aspects are missing from GT Sport, as well as many other simulators.
How feedback works in most games: the resistance of an FFB steering wheel when turning in most games is static, & is usually based on a wheel resistance setting (some games even allow you to change it to make it stronger or weaker). Yes, the wheel goes light in GT when you go over a jump, but nothing much else really affects it. Ironically, the only other thing that does affect the resistance in GTS is oversteer, which is something that never happens in the real world & thus shouldn't be happening in-game.
Conclusion: I could live without the realism as regards the many factors that should be affecting wheel resistance when turning in racing simulators, & have done so for the last ten years since my track day experience opened my eyes to it. However, what I cannot tolerate is the inclusion of unrealistic arcade style effects that simply do not exist in the real world. I say again, this may be a bug, in which case it needs to be fixed. But, if it is an intended arcade style effect, it needs to be removed or at the very least we need to be given the option to turn it off. I played a game once that had an effect like this, & I couldn't even bring myself to put in so much as one lap; I now feel similarly towards Gran Turismo Sport, & that's such a shame. After using FFB wheels in GT games since 2002, GTS is the only game where I don't feel compelled to set my wheel up anymore...
I'd like to hear well thought out replies from other sim-racer-type wheel users who are knowledgeable about these kinds of matters. What are your thoughts & observations?
If you got this far, thanks for listening.
PS: This is not a thread for requesting FFB settings, discussions on that can be found here: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/force-feedback-and-wheel-settings.380013/
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