rec.autos.simulators

Can anyone explain what exactly the difference between the two is and what
linearity means?
And what do youprefer to use? I personally never experimented with it (maybe
I should) but I saw
some thing on a site that said the majority of people have the scale all the
way to the left.
So what does it mean and what is the difference/advantade/disadvantage?

**** Posted from RemarQ - http://www.racesimcentral.net/ - Discussions Start Here (tm) ****

Linear=constant level of controller input as you move through the input
axis.
nonLinear=parabolic level of controller input.  Near center, the controller
input in very insensitive.  You may wiggle the joystick a few degrees side
to side without effecting the vehicle.  As you move the controller to the
axis extreem, the input increases more and more as you aproach the axis
extreem.
The idea is, steering wheels use 180 degrees or more of axis travel vs
joysticks which have about 50 degrees of axis travel.  Using nonlinear
input, a joystick user may turn a car through a tight turn, and still be
able to stay in a straight line while on a straightaway.  If you find that
your vehicle is very hard to keep in a straight line, you may want to dial
in some more nonlinear effect.  Combinations of steering lock and steering
linearity are many, and the magic combo is user preference.
For example, in GPL, at monza, I use 20 degrees of wheel lock, steering
linearity at about 1/3 from the left, using a Nascar Pro wheel through a
PDPI gameport.
I personally never experimented with it (maybe
The difference you will feel after some experimenting, the
advantage/disadvantages are totally subjective.  It's just a matter of
"feel".  I set mine so that I can keep the car straight with a minimum of
effort while turning the wheel results in a comfortable and believeable
response, one that is predictable.
Note: arguable the fastest sim racer in GPL uses a joystick, and I would be
interested in what he has for settings.
(tm) ****

Well... lets try to keep it simple.  If the steering is too
twitchy on the straight, move the slider to the right.  If
its too twitchy mid-corner, move it to the left.

I think its a mistake to say there is any one best setting.
 It depends on your controller.  I've got mine a little more
than halfway to the right.

**** Posted from RemarQ - http://www.remarq.com - Discussions Start Here (tm) ****

Linear is a 1:1 ratio between the steering wheel and the front wheels (not
in terms of actual degrees but in terms of proportion).  Meaning every
degree of steering wheel rotation results in a equally proportional amount
of front wheel movement.  Non-linear is a variable ratio.  When you first
turn the steering wheel from center position and rotate left/right in
non-linear mode the front wheels move less than 1:1.  Meaning the front
wheels move less than expected given the amount of rotation of the steering
wheel.  As you increase the steering wheel rotation, the front wheels turn
at a greater than 1:1 ratio to the steering wheel.  Meaning, near the limits
of steering wheel rotation (approaching wheel lock) the front wheels seem to
move more than expected relative to the amount of rotation of the steering
wheel.  The end result with non-linear is what seems like accelerated
steering.  The front wheels move slowly as you first start turning the
steering wheel then move faster as you turn harder.   I keep the GPL slider
1/4 between linear and non-linear (closer to linear).  I have a TSW2 which
is extremely precise so I can control the tight response of a linear-biased
set up.   My explanation is not scientific, it is interpretation of what the
different modes feel like.

(tm) ****

     You know when I went from joystick to wheel (1st Indycar racing game by
Papyrus) I could never quite acheive my joystick times.  Hmmmm.....
     Well, at I know I'm no pro sim racer.  Just a guy who likes to drive and
have fun.

-Stan

See  http://www.powerup.com.au/~philmak/GP2MAN/LowSen.htm

This explains GP2 stuff but is basicly the same thing as your
question.

Phillip McNelley

Yes and the arguable fastest sim racer in GPL using a joystick
might never say?! That is why he is arguable the fastest! He is
not being secretive, Just smart..;0) Don't you think we should
respect this? Cheers Thom_j.

This is from a post I did two days ago.
Just to clarify information from yestaerdays posts. Linearity and
deadzone are two different things.
Deadzone refers to the "gap" in the center of the controllers range of
movement. This gap is by default in windows 5 degrees which with various
utilities can be adjusted to more or less with some people preferring to
run 0 degrees. If your controller has physically/mechanically poor
centering a 0 deadzone would be tough to drive, but if your controller
is of high quality and you are a sensitive driver then you may get
better control with a minimal deadzone. Lots of different thoughts on
that I'm sure. Linearity on the other hand refers to the amount of game
input compared to controller input. For example full linearity would
give corresponding game input to controller input, 10% controller
movement  = 10% game input, 50% = 50% and so on. Full non-linearity
however gives comparitively higher game input to controller input, 10%
controller movement  = 12% game input, 20% =  24%, 50% = 70% and so on.
In other words linear the line is straight in nonlinear it is curved
(think like a graph). The more non-linearity you put in the steeper the
curve.
This may not be totally clear, feel free to add and comment as
necessary.
John Moore

Absolutley Thom, I'm just curious...

Mine's smack bang in the middle, and I manage to haul that heap of white
painted Japanese Metal around pretty quickly!

--
Tim "Calm Down" Wheatley
________________________________________________

                                  Tim Wheatley
                "Yellow menacing helmet in the mirror"
                           http://start.at/igps_stats
     IGPS - Ferrari Challenge - UKGPL - Summer Cup Driver
                      http://drive.to/grandprixlegends

                  http://website.lineone.net/~nascar
________________________________________________

Actually that second example is also linear.(plot it and see a straight
line)
A non-linear example would be: 10% wheel = 5% game, 20% = 15%, 30% =40%
and so on.

-Bj?rn