>><big snip>
>>>There're few more ideas: I understood you have Ferrari FF wheel. On
>>>my pedals I attached the spring between the front corners of the unit
>>>and the pedal lever just below the pedal plate. If you choose right
>>>springs you may get very nice and customizable feel.
>>>With my old T2 unit I did another thing: attached it to the wooden frame
>>>in vertical position making pedals work like in road car. Right after
>>>I did it I've got nice improvement in lap times (I was playing GP2 then).
>>Well, I found the pieces I was looking for at B&Q's over here and have
>>now knocked up a pedal rig that is good and solid - though perhaps a
>>little bit too much. I really had to press quite *** the
>>accelerator to get full throttle so I have had to calibrate less than
>>all the way in order to avoid some real hard work getting the car up to
>>speed. Mind you, I like your idea about making the unit vertical so
>>that the pedals are like in a road car. What I am noticing is that my
>>right foot is slipping out of the best position for good feel after a
>>while and I'm having to reposition it during gearshifts. If I try to do
>>this under braking I lose the car for lack of concentration. :(
>>My brake and accelerator footpads are different and so, if I did make it
>>vertical, then I would have to swap them over as well, which shouldn't
>>be too much of a major hassle, and because of the foot slippage issue I
>>think at some stage I'm either going to have to bolt something extra to
>>the accelerator to stop my foot from gradually sliding up over the thing
>>or do something like yourself and your idea seems much more classy.
>> <snip>
>For this problem I can also suggest a solution :)
>I've glued a strip of material (kind of hybrid of *** and sponge)
>across the Ferrari FF pedal unit, so I keep my heels on it. Not only it
>provides necessary traction to prevent slipping but also keeps heels more
>comfortable. For my vertical unit I use a pad of similar material
>to keep heels on.
Nice one. The simplest solutions are always the best. :)
I'm almost having as much fun mucking about with the rig as I am playing
GPL. I said almost. ;-)
Hehe, things are coming along nicely and I've learnt a couple of
idiosyncracies of using a joystick compared to a wheel which should hold
me in good stead. Firstly, I just did a 2.00.12 on only my 4th lap at
Rouen with my wheel (just needed to mention that <g>) - I've wiped all
my old joystick times and am currently in the process of just putting in
5 to 10 laps at each track so as to get a new GPLrank. Only got Spa,
Silverstone and the daddy of them, yes the Ring, to go. Should get
those done tomorrow and hope to post a new rank of somewhere in the
region of less than +50. Not bad for the first week. :)
OK, now about this joystick/wheel driving thing. I was going to start a
new thread, but what the hell. I stated elsewhere in this thread that I
was having some difficulty in keeping the car straight under heavy
braking with the wheel, something that never happened with the joystick.
I think I've discovered why this is so.
If you imagine looking down from above onto the top of an analogue
joystick which had a clockface super-imposed upon it. Moving the
joystick towards 12 o'clock would allow acceleration in a straight line
and moving it towards 6 o'clock would allow braking in a straight line.
Now, in order to get maximum braking you need the joystick to be
pointing as near to 6 o'clock as you can which, as just so happens, also
means that you will also be braking in a straight line as well. If you
only were to pull the joystick towards either 5 or 7 o'clock then you
will not get maximum braking, maximum braking only occurs at the 6
o'clock position. And that is why it is easier to apply maximum braking
in a straight line with a joystick.
With a wheel you don't have that aide. Braking and steering are 2
completely separate components of a wheel/pedal combo and so you can be
maximum braking and still have the wheel turned full lock to the right.
Something that is impossible with a joystick. If the joystick was full
lock to the right it would have to be at 3 o'clock which would mean no
braking at all. Because of this, I believe it is more naturally
difficult to maintain braking in a straight line with a steering wheel,
without a lot more practice than would be required with a joystick.
Secondly, I noticed a tendency to oversteer through corners which I
have discovered comes from a fear of going too fast which has caused me
to back off the throttle completely. This came to me when I was taken
the tunnel at Monaco for the first time and was so afraid of going too
fast I lifted completely and immediately the car dived towards the
inside of the corner and up the curbing. It seems imperative to keep
some kind of gas applied in order to avoid this. Once again something
that joystick driving naturally would make you do. When joystick
driving, once you've done your braking you want to get off the brake as
you start turning for the corner. Obviously, once you are off the brake
using a joystick then you must be on the gas 9 times out of 10 and hence
less chance of oversteer through corners.
It's still early days, but I'm sure these new discoveries are going to
help me keep the car on the track with more consistency and should also
result in improved track times as my experience grows. Jan, if you're
reading this, perhaps a negative GPLrank within that first month after
all. :)
--
Peter Ives - (AKA Ivington)
Remove ALL_STRESS before replying
No person's opinions can be said to be
more correct than another's, because each is
the sole judge of his or her own experience.
