Just saw the info about the new software stuff you guys are looking into for the wheels.
Iâm really looking forward to how this develops. Iâve probably been one of the most vocal & critical guys around with regards to FFB technology (especially DD wheels) so hopefully this brings a lot of improvements and customisation.
Hopefully we can tune, or at least reduce, the wayyyyyy disproportionately powerful SAT forces relative to other forces associated with DDâŠbut only reduce it in terms of the wheel âauto-centeringâ from oversteer and not really reducing when driving normally - or at least not reduce when steering lock is increased from the driver. Maybe like a one-way SAT reduction. âOne-wayâ in terms of what the car is doing (rear-slip, no rear-slip) or in terms of input/output (force outputted from the game, force inputted from the user) or⊠something like that.
A way to adjust dampening (and possibly friction and inertia but at least dampening) in more ways and have dampening be smarter. Currently, dampening is just a âdumbâ or âblanketâ effect which just dampens/numbs anything and everything. So if you need to add dampening to try to adjust certain forces, certain situations, then everything gets affected. Currently, all FFB from the game to the wheel and all âFFBâ from the driver to the wheel (inputs) will have that dampening acting on it, doesnât matter if itâs adding steering lock, SAT forces returning the wheel to centre, bumps, understeer, or whatever state the car is in, the dampening effects will act on every single bit and byte of FFB information.
At the very least, some sort of dynamic dampening (even if itâs still âdumbâ or "semi-dumb) would be nice.
Linearity (AKA âsensitivityâ) sliders - at least for overall FFB strength but I can see this possibly also being used for other things like dampening, friction, high-frequency effects, (and even more if telemetry-based effects get implemented). Linearity was in the marketing material for the Simucube 2. It was advertised as being available for the Pro but not the Sport and is why I purchased the more expensive, physically larger, and heavier Pro or else I would have purchased the Sport. It turns out, in the end, only the Ultimate actually got a/some linearity slider/s. I would love it if I could at least lower the overall FFB force linearity in at least a basic curve way - so that the the outright forces arenât changed but the beginning of the force-curve is much less-aggressive.
Lots of things I have in mind - and think are severely needed to try and make DD wheels behave more natural, more like a passive/reactive system rather than an active one - probably require the FFB settings to be âsmartâ ie. be âconnectedâ to the game (like telemetry-based FFB settings like the SimXperience Accuforce). Iâve been saying that for many years. I understand that would require a huge effort to correctly implement in all games but I think it could allow for considerably more FFB potential to be tapped from DD wheels that cannot be accessed at the moment.