It isn’t enough that we know for a fact that Ray Alfala won iRacing’s DWC Series with a DFGT and Fanatec V1 clubsport pedals. Let alone the fact that we have good and reliable info that most developer’s personally use G25’s and G27’s when they develop and drive on their own.
Or should I add that mighty iRacing, with all of John Henry’s money and fortune backing them apparently doesn’t have a direct drive wheel? Yes that’s right! Forum members on iRacing are building Dave Tucker (peripheral and FFB guru at iRacing) a Direct drive wheel so he can use and test it out. It hasn’t been noted if they will accept or deny this gift from the members, however I think it is insanity and/or Stockholm Syndrome for the forum members who pay money for membership and content to provide a developer hardware. But that is another story for another time.
The quest to make sure everyone know that you cannot enjoy sim racing anymore without Direct Drive Wheels is the most ridiculous sim crusade. Second only to the people who swear they cannot make laps unless all graphics are turned off and they are running at 400fps ensuring no input lag.
At approximately 42:50 the the person testing out the wheel admits that iRacing felt about the same. When they used the custom FFB app that is provided with the Accuforce wheel there was a perceived input lag. Well this makes sense to me, if you are using software to translate iRacing’s(or any sim) steering rack force and physics through another program then to the wheel there will be some delay.
However that isn’t the best part. “…with the Accuforce, when I was sliding it still felt like I was on a sheet of ice..” That is a symptom of iRacing’s unforgiving over the limit grip and complete loss of lateral grip when sliding. Not your “plastic” wheel and not because iRacing is too complex.
I thought that Direct Drive wheels fixed this? Oh wait, they didn’t turn the baby boomers who are just as dangerous as the 13 year old’s on Team Mommy’s MasterCard Motorsport’s into Ayrton Senna? iRacing suddenly didn’t become the ultimate sim because the physics are beign translated straight to the wheel and not getting lost in the cogs and belts of your “toy wheel?”
A while back someone suggested in the iRacing forums that sim racing will never advance unless developers stop making physics and wheels based off of toy wheels. I defended the developers. Specifically iRacing in this instance by stating that I cannot envision a developer alienating their userbase by making the game unusable to the average simracer with a $200 wheel budget. If they made something Direct Drive only, it would be for privateers to test on more than likely. Besides I would wager and say that upping the minimum system specs to remove the potato computer userbase and allow them to squeeze in more physics computations per second would do more for the sim than making it Direct Drive pnly.
As someone who has owned or tried the G25 ,G27, 911 GT3RS, T300 ,and Clubsport V2 wheel, let me explain something to you- not a single one of those are going to make you faster.
I’d love a DD wheel for the strength of the build quality alone. Otherwise, I usually turn my FFB lower and lower with each passing year, just enough to feel what’s going on, not enough to be distracting.
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The Gearsnob exists in every hobby out there, they buy the most expensive equipment possible and insist it is the “best” and that everyone needs the same if they are “serious”. This is done to bring attention to themselves and to justify their own insane spending habits.
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I think that pretendracecars really really REALLY likes to blow things out of proportion. Nobody’s saying you should buy a 1500$+ wheel to be a better driver.
However I think to develop the best possible FFB developers should use the best possible hardware, otherwise their reference is plain wrong. How can you for example create the best looking game (graphically) if you’re running your project on a built in Intel video card? How can you record a good sounding album if you don’t have a reference, flat frequency response monitors?
iRacings ffb sucks awfully and if all they have to test their ffb on is a g27 I’m not at all surprised. The wheel is simply not capable of outputting subtle differences that a directdrive wheel does, so how are they supposed to be able to implement those?
Btw that’s maybe why Niels Heusinkveld uses a bodnar for developing GSCE physics/ffb. And so far that approach doesn’t disappoint, does it?
Now for the community buying iRacing staff a DD wheel that’s silly and only shows how desperate people are to get a better sim experience. Unfortunately iRacing is a monopolist and lacking ffb and physics won’t change that. I don’t see it changed in the near future since what iRacing needs is competition and from the looks of things no one has the balls to go all out and offer a proper online experience.
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Couldn’t have said it any better. Also, I know a DD wheel won’t make me any faster, but that doesn’t make me want one any less. If I had the patience/know how to build myself an OSW I’d buy one right now.
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