technology in the recent sim-racing news article with the developers of
WSC.
Chris and Tony West, please don't underestimate the level of acceptance
that current FF wheels aleady enjoy, and the useful feedback they
provide.
Current FF isn't close to perfect. It has some problems. But it is
still extremely worthwile in it's current form, compared to the feedback
void that is the alternative.
My perception is that a person with a vested interest in diminishing the
positive aspects of current FF technology has latched onto the Wests,
and is having a negative impact on implementation of FF in WSC.
Here is a selected quote from the anti-FF person:
"Honestly, I prefer to drive without force feedback... At the moment, it
removes you from the reality. If it doesn't feel exactly right, then it
spoils the fantasy."
And driving with a spring-loaded wheel delivers the ultimate in reality?
Please! This comes from a person who makes a living from a product
which currently does not have an option for force feedback.
Kaemmers comments about transient weight shifting when entering a corner
is spot-on, and his recommendation is absolutely right - "don't pay
attention to it", just like you wouldn't pay attention to it if you were
driving a Hyperstim. But, even on road courses, current FF wheels
deliver much needed force level feedback on the limits of traction
mid-corner. I don't know about other people, but I never crash when
turning into a corner. The critical points are mid-corner, and
unwinding back onto the straight. Transients in both of those areas are
slow enough to allow some degree of usable feedback by current FF
wheels.
The thing that really gets under my skin about the interview are the
"dirty looks" from the anti-FF person, and his comment in response to
Chris West:
CW: We haven't put it [FF] in yet. But when we do, hopefully someone
like John will have developed a good force feedback wheel that we can
use it with.
JC: Well, we're waiting for you to finish development on this sim!
[laughs]
Maybe he really was joking, and they are well into development of a FF
wheel. I suspect, though, given his total dismissal of the current
state of FF technology, that it will be a long time before he delivers a
FF wheel. Even then, how many of us will be able to afford one?
Bottom line - I hope that the West's are not using this anti-FF person
as their guiding light toward implementation of FF, because he has
already made clear his self-serving opposition to it.
I hope that John Crooke's real intention is to move the technology
forward. But the West's should understand that most people are going
to use lower-end FF hardware. GPL, GP3, and Viper racing have already
proven that this hardware is viable. Very few people will ever find
themselves sitting in a FF Hyperstim, and even fewer people will ever
own one.
--
Pat Dotson