rec.autos.simulators

what are peoples opinions regarding the Ferrari FF racing wheeel from
Guillemot/Thrustmaster ?    I can't seem to find that many reviews of it on
the net, and finding it in the stores here in Denmark has up till now been
fruitless ...

Lars

I think the TM works really well (they were both good), gives good forces
and has more pedal travel then the LWFF,  it's got buttons galore but it has
a bigger footprint on the desk then the LW so make sure you've got room.

The only problem is the profiler software that comes with it (to
re-configure buttons to key strokes) crashes GPL.  Thrustmaster's never
responded to my emails.

The TM looks and feels better to me.

Art.

I got one a couple of months ago. At first the FF and gritty feeling was
annoying, but after two weeks driving GPL became a pleasure. I drive
with my CH pedals, so I haven't used the included pedals except for a
quick test. They seem to have a good enough movement range and are
probably OK, although I didn't really like the tilting mechanism. The
shifter feels a bit stiff (I don't use it).

A lot of people have had the shift paddles break. I heard something
about a new version; I'm not sure if my wheel is of a newer build but it
feels very solid and the paddles are holding up fine. All in all I'm
very happy with the wheel and can heartily recommend it.

Here are my FF settings for GPL, just in case (the latency probably
varies a lot between machines).

[ Joy ]
allow_force_feedback = 1
force_feedback_damping = 70.000000
force_feedback_latency = 0.00015
max_steering_torque = 270.000000

- topi
--
http://www.iki.fi/tjp/

best regards
Lars

    -Phasor

Marc.

I haven't used them in game play but they move well, if anything I think
they give better feedback then the pedals as I can feel the spring pressure
better with my fingers then with my leg on the pedals.  But you'd have to be
fairly co-ordinated to apply gas/brake/shift/steer and work the buttons for
mirrors etc.. all at once  (maybe that explains why I don't own a
motorcycle).

Art.

Here's what I posted elsewhere, I've since found core settings that work
well:

After much to-ing and frowing, I asked Santa for a Thrustmaster FF wheel
(sometimes called Guilmot, sometimes Ferrari) for Xmas.  Santa was a little
PO'd with the request 'cause she'd already bought me a Logitech and had to
take it back and exchange it the week before Xmas, but I got my wish anyway.
I just got it hooked up and left for out of town friends on boxing day, so I
didn't get much of a feel for it.

I took my oldest TM T2 with me and managed to get my buddy hooked on GPL
even though we couldn't get the pedals to work on his Win98/DX8 setup.
While I was there he ran out and bought a Logitech Wingman FF so over the
holidays I managed to do some time on both models:

Installation & setup:

They both just plugged into the USB ports and asked for the install disks,
simpler then voting in Florida.

The TM unit is much bigger and it interfered with the keyboard tray on my
desk, but the LWFF tightens from above so it's much shallower under the
desk.  The TM has many more buttons which can be set including both paddles
and traditional shifter as well as wheel mounted "pedals" if you're
dexterous enough to use them.  However so far the profiler software that
lets you re-map buttons to keyboard inputs seems to crash my GPL (stay
tuned).  The wheel's *** on the TM and hard plastic on the LW.  And the
TM has a little LED on the front of the wheel to let you know if you've
forgotten to turn it on.

The TM pedals have a much longer throw and more ***y pads to hold the
base in place but I didn't find the LWFF too bad.  The TM pedals had a
better layout and more range, the brake will need a tennis ball as there's
no progressive feel.  The TM pedals are hinged at the top of the arms so
they'll stay flat to your foot but they're made of cheap plastic that looks
like it might crack if stomped, I don't think I'll break them but if you've
got a 16 year old playing Carmegeddon etc.. these might not last.  The TM
has split axis pedals but I

The setup software on the LWFF has a wider range of force controls, where
the TM controller settings has everything at maximum already and all you can
do is turn forces down.

I haven't quite figured out how to "read" the forces yet while driving, but
so far I'm finding the TM a bit abrupt in the transition from on to off, but
neither wheel has broken in fully yet.  I turned them down a bit on the TM
(raised!?! max_steering_torque).  I was getting an oscillation when GPL
applied force, I'd fight it, it would turn off the force so I'd be over
correcting, then it would apply opposite force to my over correction, then
I'd re-correct... (I got my tires nice and warm before I crashed anyway).

I used the core.ini defaults for the TM and Alison's recommendations for the
LWFF driver & core.ini as my starting base for it so maybe I'm not comparing
the wheels directly either (I think Alison must be "strong-like-bull").

The LWFF comes with Sports Car GT so I got to compare how it handles FF to
GPL, in SCGT you can practically do whatever you want on the track and get
little FF back, but touch a curb and you feel it.  In GPL it's the opposite,
you get feedback from throttle/steering input but you can climb lesmo
curbing or the cut the back kink too close at Bugatti and not feel a thing,
yet dips/jumps at the Ring will cause useful feedback (maybe it's tied to
the rollbar stiffness?)

Overall I'd give the nod to the Thrustmaster, even if they never fix the
profiler software (I'll let you know) but I wouldn't have been upset if
Santa got me the LWFF either.  Now if I can just get back to my pre-FF
times....

Cheers,

Art.

I have the ferrari wheel and it is absolutely great, it just has a feeling
of quality about it, the forces are strong with this one :^) And seems to be
quite detailed. I agree that it would probably be more precise to use hand
gas and brake, also because I want to rest my feet on the pedals a bit which
in some games activates them and that sometimes leads to braking at the
wrong time.
Connect the wheel to the serial port, though, it gives no change in ff
whatsoever, but I never go the wheel working well in GPL using USB.

best wishes,

Milan

- topi
--
http://www.iki.fi/tjp/

    -Phasor

I agree with what others said about this wheel, but after 1 month
of extensive use, return springs have broken on my unit
(on both pedals). I am still waiting for the answer from Guillemot,
but meanwhile I've put other springs and I got better feel than
with original ones.

Alex
(alexti)

Thanks for all the opinions posted .... when my financial situation
improcves next month I am ordering on of those babies .... :)

best regards
Lars