Doing more than starting a petition..... we are making a wheel for y'all
that will kick ass over current USB implementations. We will be
EXPONENTIALLY more precise than the closest compare-sake, and the
performance will be lightning fast. The company is PDPI, and we have done
for USB what we did for the gameport.
We approached many of the major wheel manufacturers with licensing
opportunities for our technology, and the fact that it would cost literally
$1.00 more than their current implementations seemed to turn them off (even
though they would save that buck in R/D). They ALL admitted that our
technology was substantially superior, but they couldn't justify the price
since they didn't feel you guys would notice the pathetic positioning
resolutions currently employed.
Let it be known that PDPI (me particularly) have been listening to you guys
on RAS, and other forums, and we are paying very close attention to what you
want. We will be launching controllers that you yourselves have asked for,
and basically built for us with feedback on this NG. We WILL NOT ignore the
customer, and we will accept all suggestions/recommendations, as well as
providing unprecedented support for the individual and Sim Racing as a whole
(throughout all the genres).
So the way we see it... they dropped the ball repeatedly and we decided to
enter the controller market and build the best controllers available at a
very reasonable price, because you guys are asking for it....
You should start to see some of our controllers on store shelves by Q2 2000.
A lot of development is still under wraps since we have made further
advancements in the FF area that should also increase performance there 2
fold.
Please don't ask me details yet. I will be announcing some REALLY big things
in the coming month(s).
Cheers,
Jason "Shumi" Murray
Director of Marketing & Business Development
PDPI
2591 East Lee Street
Simi Valley, CA 93065
> Shumi,
> Maybe we should get a petition going, you can put me down for a start, and
I
> know Tim Haynes will also support a move that way (I work with him). If
you
> haven't done this already maybe we should focus the petition on
'simracings'
> forum.
> I was testing my old Thrustmaster Force GT last night and yes I go
wandering
> down straights zig zaging somewhat. I assumed it was just knackered.
> Regards.
> Andi.
> > I do not have the Guillemot Wheel in my hands yet, but what you describe
> is
> > VERY familiar to me. In fact I can say with 90% certainty I know what
the
> > problem is (only 90% because I haven't had the chance to determine the
> > positioning resolution of the wheel yet).
> > The problem is "Overshoot" in the positioning resolution. This anomaly
> > occurs VERY noticeably when you cut into the positioning resolution too
> far
> > to combat mechanical jitter that occurs in the axis. This algorithm to
cut
> > into the positioning resolution is in the firmware of the USB chip
itself
> > (programmed by the controller manufacturers individually), and using
other
> > drivers will not solve it. Here's what's happening in this anomaly;
> > You have to understand first that you are trying to translate say: 270
> > degrees of turn into the game. However if you have cut into the
> positioning
> > resolution too much (Guillemots WingLeader USB Joystick is HORRIBLE for
> > this...... positioning resolution of 19!), you do not have enough
> > positioning resolution to translate every degree of turn. e.g. You have
a
> > positioning resolution of 50 that must translate 270 degrees of
turn.....
> > leaving you with only every fifth degree of turn that can be translated
> and
> > reported. The way they "hide" this is by registering a change in
position
> > whenever the axis is deflected even slightly past the center (Microsoft
> was
> > BRUTAL for this). The problem is that you move the wheel perhaps a
degree,
> > and it jumps 5 degrees of turn over (you don't have a high enough
> > positioning resolution to interpret 2,3,or 4th degree of turn). So it
> makes
> > the change..... but it "overshoots" the actual position bye 4 degrees.
> This
> > is why when you turn the wheel slowly through the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th
> > degree of turn..... nothing changes (the wheel position is just catching
> up
> > to the jump to the 5th degree). When you turn to the 6th degree of
> turn.....
> > the position will jump to the 10th degree of turn, and so on. The end
> result
> > in the experience is that you will have slow responses from the
> controller,
> > because the wheel is constantly trying to "catch-up" to the jumps in
> > positioning resolution.
> > I have had direct talks with the Head of R/D at Guillemot in person
> > regarding this issue, and they seem to think that you guys wouldn't
notice
> > it..... I am VERY pleased to see that you have, because PDPI have a
> > solution for it (USB) that is going to take this industry by storm. No
> > details to be released yet..... but it's going to BLOW every other
> > controller manufacturer away by a WIDE margin, BANK on it :)
> > Cheers,
> > Shumi
> > > I have recently purchased one of the new Guillemot Ferrari Force
> > > Feedback racing wheels. I first noticed playing Rally Championship
2000
> > > that I had much less control in a straight line than with my previous
> > > wheels, and that I tended to zig-zag on straight road. I found this
to
> > > be the same in other driving games such as TOCA2. I used DXTweak to
> > > remove the deadzone (which I thought was causing the problem) however
> > > this had no effect. I have done some testing using DXTweak and other
> > > games and have found that the steering problem seems to be caused by a
> > > lag between the input (my movement) to the output (down the USB port)
of
> > > the steering wheel, i.e. as you turn left or right from any stationary
> > > wheel position it takes time for this to be registered as movement, in
> > > fact it is possible to move the wheel very slowly and for it to take
> > > ages for the movement to be registered. This is obviously not good in
a
> > > racing game, as it prevents the fine control necessary to get fast
> > > times.
> > > This does not appear to be a problem with the guillemot driver - as it
> > > does exactly the same using the thrustmaster force gt driver. The
> > > problem appears to be introduced by the wheel electronics which are
> > > probably trying to smooth the output from the potentiometer.
> > > Is anyone else experiencing this problem?
