following up my "precision pot" post

Thanks for the input/opinions! It would seem the consensus is that good quality pots such as the Spectrol PLUS a high quality game card is most likely to create measurable or noticable improvement, and that precision industrial grade pots may be overkill. Now, should we go out and buy better game ports, and, if so, what brands, features? I am unfamiliar with the technical differences between analogue and digital gameports as mentioned in response to my first post. BTW, I am new to this forum and I am impressed by the fact that Trev at Thomas' responded to my post, all manufacturers should be so responsive to their market. (and no, I dont own a Thomas Wheel (yet) and this is not just a plug, just an observation and an attempt to gain a better understanding so I can kick more butt. Thanks).

In article <7u4g9a$24v$[email hidden]> , [email hidden] wrote: > precision industrial grade pots may be overkill. They're not. Low quality pots get dirty very soon, develop a spikey response and gradually foul up your driving. Unless you clean them every other day or so with contact cleaner. High quality pots last much longer. The only dedicated digital game port is the PDPI. Look at pdpi.net (I think) for info. It works really well, but I'm not sure if it will allow force feedback wheels. Instead of the game port, there's another way: the USB port. It seems to give the same precision as the PDPI, but without the costs. This will limit your choice of wheels though. Logitech offer excellent USB wheels, with and without FF. They feature good quality pots as well, and are the current favourite with simmers. BTW avoid the serial port like the plague! If you're a precision freak, do make sure your Windows dead zone is set to zero percent. (Standard dead zone is 5%, which makes you swerve all over the track). Use the DXTweak tool to do this, from the gadgets page at www.wingmanteam.com Good luck, Leo

[email hidden] wrote:

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>Thanks for the input/opinions! It would seem the consensus is that >good quality pots such as the Spectrol PLUS a high quality game card >is most likely to create measurable or noticable improvement, and that >precision industrial grade pots may be overkill. Now, should we go >out and buy better game ports, and, if so, what brands, features? I >am unfamiliar with the technical differences between analogue and >digital gameports as mentioned in response to my first post. > >BTW, I am new to this forum and I am impressed by the fact that Trev >at Thomas' responded to my post, all manufacturers should be so >responsive to their market. (and no, I dont own a Thomas Wheel (yet) >and this is not just a plug, just an observation and an attempt to >gain a better understanding so I can kick more butt. Thanks). >

It is mt understanding that the Standard Games port is an 18 year old technology that has not kept up with the general PC progress. It apparently is a major CPU resource hog and the only real solution is the PDPI L4 card. This card has it's own processor and memory buffer that works solely on the games controller converting its analog signals to digital before passing it on to the CPU. Nigel Nichols -- Redline Race Controls http://www.wave.co.nz/pages/lakewood/Redline2.htm Nigel of Lakewood Motorsports Hamilton New Zealand

[email hidden] wrote in message <7u4g9a$24v$[email hidden]>... >BTW, I am new to this forum and I am impressed by the fact that Trev >at Thomas' responded to my post, all manufacturers should be so >responsive to their market The main reason you dont see manufacturer prescence in RAS is because for any of us to post here is to invite a lot of people to flame anyone foolish enough to do so. For some odd reason any post by a manufacturer seems to encourage this practice and I have never understood why, I would think that people would be apreciative of any manufacturer who would take the time to post in order to try and help as I did with your question. As for the gamecard issue, I highly recommend the PDPI card, we have used all the others and the PDPI works better than anything else IMO, PDPI is currently developing a USB interface, digital gamecard which I'm sure will be superior to anything else out right now. On the pot issue, you can buy just about any good quality sealed unit in 100k and get equal results, look for one that is rated for at least 2 million cycles like the Spectrol. We've tried Bournes, CTS, Ohmite and several others but the Spectrol seem to hold up the best over time, they arent cheap but are worth the money AFAIC. Trev