Hi everyone!
While searching for a suitable controls pattern in GP2, I found a
setup that will do until I finish building my steering wheel. :)
(If you, too, consider building a wheel of your own, look at
http://www.racesimcentral.net/~wottenad/ A great site!)
In ICR(2) and NASCAR, I got accustomed to the following controls
setup:
steering: joy X-axis
accelerating: 1st joy button
braking: 2nd joy button
Most of you will agree that this is not a good setup for GP2. While
accelerating, the rear wheels spin constantly in the lower gears;
braking always results in lockups. Pressing F7 (traction control)
helps reduce wheel spin considerably, but the brake lockup remains.
This is due to the fact that on/off type of controls in GP2 only know
"no brakes" and "full brakes" (BTW: Why didn't Mr. Crammond
incorporate a feature that allows 'fading in' of digital devices: the
longer you press the button, the greater is the effect?)
In order to get analog braking and accelerating, I tried the standard
"Joystick" setup, but it didn't work for me. For one thing, my Gravis
stick does not have a real 'top right' or 'top left' position - it
moves in a circle rather than a rectangle. Therefore, fast
full-thottle turns were impossible. But even with a different stick, I
got no 'feel' for steering while pushing the stick foreward.
Finally, I ended up with the following setup:
steering: joy X-axis
accelerating: 1st joy button
braking: joy Y-axis
In this configuration, accelerating is still 'digital', but it works
when combined with F7 traction control. Braking now is analog, so one
can brake gradually and - provided you have a good braking bias for
the car - even steer a little at the same time. The benefit of this
setup over the one provided with the game is that I have full control
over the car in fast curves. There is one drawback, though: If one
just assigns the controls as suggested, braking will be accomplished
by *pushing the stick foreward*! Stupid game, I must say. Who would
want to do that? There is a workaround for this, though: Recalibrate
the Y-axis of joystick 1, and when the game asks you to push foreward,
draw back instead, and vice versa.
Works for me. Are there other (better) suggestions for joystick
control?
Now I have to go out and buy some potentiometers for my soon to be
wheel/pedal combo...
--
We're in a road movie to Berlin
Can't drive out the way we drove in