rec.autos.simulators

I race mostly GPL and have been reading a lot about force feedback.
It seems to boil down to the LWFF (with modified or different pedals)
or the ActLabs Force RS wheel (with optional RS shifter).  I can
readily obtain a LWFF at local computer stores to try out and take
back if necessary.  The ActLabs with RS Shifter is intriguing,
however, no local stores carry it and it seems to get a bad rap for
too much friction.  Has anyone, other than Alison Hine, tried both and
care to comment on their merits?  I'm a little hesitant to end up
spending $40 on shipping if I don't like it.  Maybe I'm just cheap :)

Its a tough choice, and just to make it harder, the Guillemont Ferrari wheel
is also a top contender. I've been using the Ferrari wheel for about a
month, and have it and the Act Labs wheel in front of me now for testing
and writing a shoot-out type of review. I've only used a LWFF for about 3
days. Although I like it okay, I didn't care for it as much as these two.
Alison's setting in core.ini did not optimize the performance capabilities
of the Act Labs wheel and there are also new drivers from the Act web site
(same version of iForce as the Ferrari wheel). Also, the Act Labs is a
different wheel now than when she tested it. The latest units out have nice
paddle shifters and the pedals don't rub on the case (though they are still
stiff, I'm working on them now). The Ferrari and Force wheels are fairly new
and both use a belt drive, but that's not what causes the friction when
driving. It just happens that they each also have a more powerful motor than
the LWFF and that's what causes them to turn harder (not feel as light) when
force is set to 100%. You can get rid of this by turning down the force % or
increasing the value of steering torque in cone.ini. Also, the wheels tend
to be stiff for a couple weeks, but after about 20 to 30 hours of use they
loosen up.On the Ferrari wheel I used damping = 4000 and torque = 1800 and
for the Force I'm using damping = 4500 and torque = 1200 in core.ini.
So far, after only 4 hours of using the Force RS, I can run some 154s in F3
at Monza, but not consistantly. With the Ferrari I was running in the 153s
pretty good. The steering resolution is very good on the Force RS (it
surprised me how good it is) and it has a 270 degree arc as opposed to 180
degrees on the Ferrari, so that will take a little while to get used to.
Also, the pedal travel is much less on the Act than the Ferrari, but it
still has a little more than the LWFF (as I recall).
I really believe that whichever wheel you get, LWFF, Force RS, or Ferrari,
you'd be happy with it. In  about 3 weeks I'll be finishing the reviews and
will have to choose either the Force or Ferrari to keep for myself. I can
tell even now that it's going to be a tough choice. The LWFF doesn't have a
stick shifter, but a couple pieces of 2X4, some screws, wire, springs and a
threaded rod  would make one up real easy.

Slot