Hardware

Posts about hardware.

Where Does it End?

~ Chris ~ 7 Comments

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.

Fanatec V3 Products are Coming

~ James ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to the Submit button and an anonymous reader who happened to be on the official forums at the right time, we’re glad to report today that V3 products from Fanatec are in the works.

Fanatec-ClubSport-Embargo-Lifted-Bringing-Various-Reviews-600x300“Some stuff” was briefly posted on the Fanatec forum earlier this morning, but was removed almost immediately as it was protected by a non-disclosure agreement. Fanatec users also found hints of V3 products coming soon in the latest firmware/driver update for Fanatec products.

I’m not good with wheel & pedals info, but make of it what you will.

Old Dudes try to justify spending $1200 on Toy Steering Wheels – Part II

~ James ~ 7 Comments

Barry Rowland has put together an 80-minute (!) review comparing the numerous Direct Drive toy steering wheels available for driving game enthusiasts.

The line at 40:10 says it all in regards to the kinds of people pushing these extremely expensive peripherals:

“I’ve been Sim Racing for 10 years and still can’t catch a slide because it’s all muscle memory, now I can!”

You’ve got bigger problems than the wheel you’re using if you’ve gone a whole decade without making any noticeable improvements in your driving skill. These wheels won’t make you faster and are the sim racing equivalent to MLG Pro Controllers, they just cost a whole lot more.

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The PS4 and Xbox One are already struggling…

~ James ~ 18 Comments

powerThey say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I’m sure the above will ignite a firestorm across the internet.  On one hand, Rockstar Games have said the power of the two next generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft is nowhere near realized yet, while Slightly Mad Studios have also publicly came out and said they’ve pretty much maxxed out the Playstation 4 hardware.

Which one is marketing BS, and which one is the truth? I’ll have to side with Ian Bell here. I’ve previously owned a PS4, and aside from the fantastic UI and awesome sharing capabilities (the controller basically has a built-in FRAPS button that you can configure at will), the games were only a marginal improvement compared to what could be found on the Xbox 360 and PS3 – and in some cases, weren’t improvements at all.

While it featured awesome online capabilities, Need for Speed Rivals lacked staying power and looked about on-par with the PC version of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2010.

Hardcore NHL 15 players prefered the game on last-generation hardware:

And Madden 15 is surpassed by a version from five years ago:

Maybe 4Chan is right and a crash in the market is sooner than we think?