rec.autos.simulators

The debate of steering senstivity caused curiosity to
get the best of me, so I opened my GP1 wheel to see
what could be done to increase the steering wheel
rotation lock.

The stock rotation on a GP1 is about 180 degrees.  To
my surprise, the lock can be increased to about 270
degrees using nothing more than an allen wrench,
Phillips screwdriver, and a pair of needle-nose
pliers.

First, take of the cover by removing the six screws
on the bottom of the base.  Taking of the steering
wheel will make things easier also.

Now, look inside at the steering mechanism.  The steering
wheel attaches to a white plastic shaft.  The steering
lock is controlled by a flange on the shaft that stick
out.  The flange makes contact with a couple of allen
bolts when the wheel is fully rotated.  The allen bolts
have a plastic/*** bushing on them to protect the plastic
flange from the bolt threads.

All you need to do to increase the wheel rotation
is move these two allen bolts to a new location.
Luckily, Thrustmaster has already included hole at
the proper new location.  The holes, located a bit
higher on the front plate than the old holes, are covered
by small caps.  Using the needle-nose pliers, grab each
of the caps, twist them, and pull them out.

Now, just move the allen bolts with bushings to the new
holes.  Put everything back together and - viola,
270 degress of rotation!

The bungee cord will probably wear out sooner with the
increased rotation so be prepared to replace it at
some point.

I'm now running at almost full linear steering with
the GPL demo.  I've also switched from the joystick
to the wheel steering option in Nascar 2.

Good Luck!

--
Pat Dotson
IMPACT Motorsports

How are you finding the differences? Following all the debates it would
be nice to hear from one of the real quick guys who has made the switch!

Cheers,
Richard

 As I understand it, TM will very soon announce a new line of controllers. I
was told that if I liked the GP1 then the new wheels would be of great
interest. We may hear something as soon as July...just in time for GPL!

Don

I'll have to look more closely at what Michael Carver said about the
steering angle of the front wheels being disconnected from the
joystick position with the non-linear setting, though.  Papyrus
should clear that question up for us.  If the steering angle of the
front wheels is truly disconnected on the non-linear setting, then I
will do my best to accept the linear steering setting.

Here's another thought on the non-linear/linear debate though.  I
ran in a SCCA solo event yesterday, and tried to pay attention to
exactly how driving a real car differed from driving a sim car.
This is kind of obvious but I'll say it anyway.  While making
minute steering adjustments when driving in a straight line in
a real car, you get instant g-force feedback about what is happening.
It's easy to feel what you need to do to keep the car going straight.
In a sim car, all you get is the shifting view on the monitor.
The smaller the monitor (or greater the distance from the screen to
your eye), the less obvious the shifting view becomes.  I think
that monitor size probably almost directly relates to the ability
to sense small steering inputs.  Mike Blackstock once told me
that he drives _much_ better on a larger (21 inch?) monitor.
That makes a lot of sense.  You can hold your line better, and
react more quickly to the handling of the car, if the shifting
of the view is more apparent.  BTW, I took my Grand Am to the
H-Stock victory circle. :)

So, while I think that a linear setting more closely reflects
the angular inputs to a steering wheel in real life, with the
limited feedback we get in sims, the non-linear setting gives a more
realistic level of control.  I think any competent driver
could guide even a 1967 GP car down a straight stretch of road,
and keep it going in a straight line, without too much effort.
That is a lot tougher to do on a 15 inch monitor setting
three feet away!

--
Pat Dotson
IMPACT Motorsports