rec.autos.simulators

Joe

Cheers!
John

That's a tough one.  Everyone has a different definition of "low cost" and
"decent."

For the price, one of the best wheels is the Thrustmaster SuperSport ($80.)
Don't think it has seperate brake and throttle though.  For that you need to
spend a bit more for the Nascar Pro ($100.)  Both of these wheels will
eventually break their springs (typical Thrustmaster) but if you are at all
handy, a call to Thrustmaster will get you a free new set.

I've heard the Act Labs is nice ($60) but it doesn't have as nice a quick
clamping system as the Thrustmaster.

The MS FF wheel has the advantage of force feedback and optical pots which
means you won't be replacing those but its price is getting into another
territory ($200.)

For $240 you can get a TSW2...quite rugged.  Don't know if the TSW has
seperate gas and brake in base model?

If you are willing to crack $300 you can check out the ECC1.

For $1200 you can get yourself a Hypersimulater.  It looks like a
mini-tireless F1 car.  This thing is guaranteed to have your racing friends
green with envy and your other friends and wife thinking you've totally lost
it.

Personally, I'm leaning toward the USB version of the MS wheel.  I long to
be rid of my joystick port with all its finickyness.  Additionally, I'm
looking forward to not having to dissassemble my Thrustmaster a couple times
a year to replace springs and spray contact cleaner in the pots.  I can live
without FF and am hoping MS will come out with a FFless reduced price
version of their wheel (similar to their USB Sidewinder Pro.)

Good luck.

Thanks to everyone for the tips... guess I'm gonna go practice some
more.

On the same subject, I assume most people are using a wheel of some
kind with this sim (I'm not at the moment)? What is a fairly decent
low cost choice for a wheel?

Thanks in advance

Planedoc

I'm getting "OK" times at Monza, WatGlen and Kyalami, but I'm still a
good five seconds off the leaders, and I don't really know how to
close the gap. (I know the line - "Practice!" - but I seem to have hit
a wall where I need some advice, I haven't been getting any faster the
last 40 or 50 laps.)

Joe

--
Anssi Lehtinen

The HyperStimulator starts at US$500.

Peter Holt

Well, I did say I *thought* it helped me to be more stable :-)

I think the key is being very careful whatever the style you use to scrub
off mph.

Andrew McP

You mean you brake at Zandvoort? Huh, next you'll be telling me there's
more than one gear in the Lotus!

Andrew McP

PS You're in for a thorough Blousing when Quake Arena's out... assuming I
can find a decent sniping position :-p Also assuming I can tear myself
away from GPL for long enough to install it.

$500?....you are talking the "build it yourself" kit, right?  Anyway, I
can't afford the floorspace or my wife's disdain.  I get enough flak for the
little seat time I do get.

I'll look forward to it (and you might be right). My Quake skills are
sadly depleted after lying unused for over a year, as I found out at
our GPL LAN weekend last Saturday. We fired up Quake for a game and I
got totally wasted :-)  Still damn fun though!

Cheers!
John

Braking later gives you more to do and the engine, still turning in a
high gear, has a tendency to push you deeper into the corner as well.
Add to that the lower braking force and it looks a bad option.

Fact is that that the tyres only have so much grip and your car can
easily exceed it under braking. Whether you use that grip by braking
or by engine braking seems less important than the overall balance of
the car, so I'm sure everyone's mileage will vary. From what I've seen
some hotlappers downshift very late, while others downshift early.

FWIW I tend to do about half my shifting early, and the other half
later. At Tarzan for example I hit the brakes just past the bales on
the right, drop down to third, then just on turn in I drop down
another gear and complete the turn-in to the apex.

Cheers!
John

Dave Ewing