Thrustmaster GP1 Steering Lock Mod - Instructions

The debate of steering senstivity caused curiosity to get the best of me, so I opened my GP1 wheel to see what could be done to increase the steering wheel rotation lock. The stock rotation on a GP1 is about 180 degrees. To my surprise, the lock can be increased to about 270 degrees using nothing more than an allen wrench, Phillips screwdriver, and a pair of needle-nose pliers. First, take of the cover by removing the six screws on the bottom of the base. Taking of the steering wheel will make things easier also. Now, look inside at the steering mechanism. The steering wheel attaches to a white plastic shaft. The steering lock is controlled by a flange on the shaft that stick out. The flange makes contact with a couple of allen bolts when the wheel is fully rotated. The allen bolts have a plastic/*** bushing on them to protect the plastic flange from the bolt threads. All you need to do to increase the wheel rotation is move these two allen bolts to a new location. Luckily, Thrustmaster has already included hole at the proper new location. The holes, located a bit higher on the front plate than the old holes, are covered by small caps. Using the needle-nose pliers, grab each of the caps, twist them, and pull them out. Now, just move the allen bolts with bushings to the new holes. Put everything back together and - viola, 270 degress of rotation! The bungee cord will probably wear out sooner with the increased rotation so be prepared to replace it at some point. I'm now running at almost full linear steering with the GPL demo. I've also switched from the joystick to the wheel steering option in Nascar 2. Good Luck! -- Pat Dotson IMPACT Motorsports

How are you finding the differences? Following all the debates it would be nice to hear from one of the real quick guys who has made the switch! Cheers, Richard

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><BR> >>I'm now running at almost full linear steering with<BR> >>the GPL demo. I've also switched from the joystick<BR> >>to the wheel steering option in Nascar 2.<BR> ><BR> >How are you finding the differences? Following all the debates it would<BR> >be nice to hear from one of the real quick guys who has made the switch! <BR> ><BR> >Cheers,<BR> >Richard<BR> ></HTML>

Well I certainly wouldn't call myself one of the fast guys around here (more so one of the old guys..LOL), but I have modified two TM GP1 wheels to get more steering lock ...thanks Alison...and I've found it to be an improvement. I don't have any problem with throttle and brake hand controls, which I feel is from my motorcycle background, and the extra steering lock seems to give me a little better range of control. As I understand it, TM will very soon announce a new line of controllers. I was told that if I liked the GP1 then the new wheels would be of great interest. We may hear something as soon as July...just in time for GPL! Don

> >I'm now running at almost full linear steering with > >the GPL demo. I've also switched from the joystick > >to the wheel steering option in Nascar 2. > How are you finding the differences? Following all the debates it would > be nice to hear from one of the real quick guys who has made the switch! Frankly, I don't see any advantage whatsoever. All the linear setting still seems to do is make driving down the straights more difficult. I can drive it either way, but a more non-linear setting makes life easier. Why bang your head against the wall if you don't have too? I'll have to look more closely at what Michael Carver said about the steering angle of the front wheels being disconnected from the joystick position with the non-linear setting, though. Papyrus should clear that question up for us. If the steering angle of the front wheels is truly disconnected on the non-linear setting, then I will do my best to accept the linear steering setting. Here's another thought on the non-linear/linear debate though. I ran in a SCCA solo event yesterday, and tried to pay attention to exactly how driving a real car differed from driving a sim car. This is kind of obvious but I'll say it anyway. While making minute steering adjustments when driving in a straight line in a real car, you get instant g-force feedback about what is happening. It's easy to feel what you need to do to keep the car going straight. In a sim car, all you get is the shifting view on the monitor. The smaller the monitor (or greater the distance from the screen to your eye), the less obvious the shifting view becomes. I think that monitor size probably almost directly relates to the ability to sense small steering inputs. Mike Blackstock once told me that he drives _much_ better on a larger (21 inch?) monitor. That makes a lot of sense. You can hold your line better, and react more quickly to the handling of the car, if the shifting of the view is more apparent. BTW, I took my Grand Am to the H-Stock victory circle. :) So, while I think that a linear setting more closely reflects the angular inputs to a steering wheel in real life, with the limited feedback we get in sims, the non-linear setting gives a more realistic level of control. I think any competent driver could guide even a 1967 GP car down a straight stretch of road, and keep it going in a straight line, without too much effort. That is a lot tougher to do on a 15 inch monitor setting three feet away! -- Pat Dotson IMPACT Motorsports