A lot of you know already, but we recently tried out the iRacing driving sim and were pretty impressed:
A lot of you know already, but we recently tried out the iRacing driving sim and were pretty impressed:
I'm intrigued by this. I'll probably give it a try. Their website doesn't seem to recommend a certain steering wheel setup...wondering what the differences are there(what is good and what isn't) [maybe that is worth a grm revue?] The list of cars look cool, but I would be happier if they added at least one fwd car, and or an AWD car. I realize it is a lot of work to add this stuff though.
Logitech G25 is probably the best thing going right now unless you want to get really crazy.
After reading a lot of G25 horror stories, I went with a Driving Force GT (Tom did as well). Less than half the price and way better reviewed.
jg
My iRacing setup:
I just used an old driving force EX that was laying around. It works fine.
JG Pasterjak wrote: After reading a lot of G25 horror stories
What have you heard? Will mine explode and melt my face like in raiders of the lost ark?
MCarp22 wrote:JG Pasterjak wrote: After reading a lot of G25 horror storiesWhat have you heard? Will mine explode and melt my face like in raiders of the lost ark?
Shifters seem to be the big weak point, and I've heard of some wear issues with the main support bearings. Watch your face.
jg
Tommy's using the rig that we built for the article that's coming up; you'll read all about it in the article. The used Driving Force EX wheel on that setup is probably the minimum requirement; do your best to avoid anything less than a 900 degree wheel if possible. To handle the limited range of motion, the iRacing software applies the first 45 degrees of motion to the sim literally, then the last 45 degrees of rotation on the wheel translate to the remaining travel on the in-sim wheel at a hyper accelerated pace. Tom had the same problem with his old xBox wheel.
My home rig is the one we used in the review video, and I had an older Logitech Driving Force Pro wheel from the GT3 days. It works really well, has 900 degrees of rotation, and the pedals are a step up from the EX. Good force feedback, too.
Tom and JG have the Driving Force GT, which is the successor to the Driving Force Pro. Basically the same setup, but the pedals might be even better (rumors of a firmer brake pedal, but we haven't compared side-by-side).
The G25 is the obvious next step up as far as features, but we've seen some complaints online. With increased complexity comes increased possibility for failure, and the six-speed shifter seems to be less than bulletproof. However, having a clutch pedal would be awesome.
The money-no-object solution is killer hardware that's all metal and uses real race wheels and such. You can easily spend more than $1000 for a really intense rig. The one huge advantage of the really pedal sets is the increase in realism; travel doesn't affect the brake pedal as much as actual pressure, for example.
And another thing; the sim is simply amazing, particularly for online competition. Tom and I have been racing nearly every night, and JG will be forsaking WoW soon.
Driving Force GT ftw.
I haven't spent much time with a G25, but it's honestly out of my budget. The thought of buying one that might not last a year (there are lots of horror stories out there.) would send me on a three-state killing spree.
If you believe the hype, Logitech has already applied some of the lessons learned from the G25 to the new DFGT, so the feedback model should be as good or better. Really, the only thing I feel like I'm missing is the clutch pedal and gated shifter. The two-pedal setup for the DFGT is much better (stiff, progressive brake feedback) than any other consumer-grade wheel I've used.
What is up with their site? No demo download... no place to sign up for a test drive, no place to buy the service... just an email list that promised someone will call me when its "time" to join?
I think I'll stay with my $9 copy of GTR2 for a while yet. Its a bunch of years old now and still looks better than the video iRacing is showing. It also has all the free racing with plenty of good quality tracks and cars that don't cost extra. I can find a race to join any time of the night or day and if I want to be more organized... nasasimracing.com seems to fit the bill nicely. I guess I just don't see what they bring to the table here except for extra cost for "Official Licensing".
JG Pasterjak wrote: After reading a lot of G25 horror stories, I went with a Driving Force GT (Tom did as well). Less than half the price and way better reviewed. jg
No ROTFL smiley yet Tim?
VS.
Nuff Said. Love my G25, no commercially available system can compete.
iRacing has been by invite only thus far, soon they open the doors to the public. Our full review will be in the November issue of GRM.
VIR has a racing simulator. While looking at it I got pissed and had to walk away. It has a better seat than my race car and a bigger screen than the TV in my house.
I own a DF GT myself also, it makes me feel a little better for cheaping out and not getting a G25 if it is not all gravy. I have not plugged the GT into the PC yet but on GT5P it is very nice, it makes the flaws in the Xbox360 wheel stick out like a sore thumb. Microsoft are you paying attention? Stick to mice and keyboards and let Logitech write drivers for their good wheels.
The one thing I dislike about the GT is the tiny paddle shifter buttons. I think when its out of warranty I am going to look at epoxying on some aluminum paddles.
Which one of you nutjobs is this? E30 simulator
P90Puma wrote:JG Pasterjak wrote: After reading a lot of G25 horror stories, I went with a Driving Force GT (Tom did as well). Less than half the price and way better reviewed. jgNo ROTFL smiley yet Tim?
I'm not knocking the G25, certainly. At $210-225ish, I probably would have been a customer, but the $129 DFGT seemed like 90% of the G25 for 45% of the price. I like that math.
jg
P.S. My Paladin and my Shadow Priest will still be getting plenty of love, thank you very much.
I knew one day that my racing setup, as ghetto as it may be, would have a place in a forum, LOL!
I made this video a WHILE a go, decided to upload it a little while back and now . . .so fitting
G25 rules all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxr3vcoXUg0
-Stig
Dumb question, do you need to do anything to get a DFP into 900-deg mode? I have one and use it on GTR and GTL and it refuses to do more than like 270-deg total - I've tried messing with the drivers, am I missing something obvious?
I think the game needs to directly support the 900degree wheels for it to work. GTR2 does.
This thing scares me... I've sank waaaaaay too many hours into the Gran Turismo series, and then Forza when my g/f insisted on an Xbox instead of a PS2 (luckily we picked up a Wii for the current generation of systems, so no race-sim to fuel the addiction).
Luckily, I don't have a Windows machine at home, but things could change depending on what sort of modifications/tuning is available in the game...
Maybe I missed this but:
Will the work on a PC (with a USB connection?)
Everywhere that seems to sell it only mentions "PS2 & PS3" compatibility.
Thanks in Advance.
-Tang07
cough liveforspeed.net cough
Computer racing sims really are the way to go, consoles have to worry about sales, so lil jimmy needs to be quick enough to have fun and everything gets dumbed down at least a little bit.
The other think to keep in mind is that most computer games allow multiple inputs...Go find a cheap DFP, and a second even cheaper wheel and set the pedals next to each other.
I actually took the first wheel I bought, broke the wheel open and hid the chip inside the pedal housing to cut down on clutter, now I have a set of pedals with nothing more then a usb plug, and a DFP
grassroots e-motorsports...
I have since made an aluminum pedal for the broken one on the right too.
Tang, the logitech driving force pro was the "PS2 only" wheel that came out with GT4... Works fine on PC, I would bet almost any USB wheel will, specially the logitechs. Google for "Wingman drivers" they make some of the best drivers to get the logitech wheels working properly.
RedS13Coupe wrote: *cough* liveforspeed.net *cough*
Umm isn't that a fire hazard?
The Logitech Gran Turismo 4 wheel was awesome, yet the pedals tend to start messing up after a while. Where the brake wants to constantly stay on. I took apart the pedals re-lubed them and it has fixed the problem for now but we'll see how long it last.
Hmm interesting clutch pedal I just use racer (racer.nl). Free and open source but online play is a joke. I plan to get a Logitech G25 some day, right now I'm stuck with a cruddy Formula Force.
You'll need to log in to post.
