To me the physics feel absolutely authentic and it's improving every week. A massive physics update hasn't made it into this friday's release but will be included next week for sure.
Can't say anything about the FFB due to the input device I'm using for over 10 years now. (see attached image)
But from what people say on the forums FFB is going into right direction as well...
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Here's last week's changes:
Build Release Notes
Build 160 (24/2/12, Team Member +)
FFB:
- Added the notion of 'fade level' to BForceEffect, used as a secondary gain control
- Added the notion of 'boost' to AppInput::cForce. Used to promote one particular force above the others (0 = no boost - no change, 1 = max boost - completely silences all other forces).
- cForceSteeringSpring modified to include a 'lock' mode where the effect params are switched to emulate a bump-stop when the wheel lock has been exceeded.
- Removed cForceSteeringLock.
Disabled legacy deadzone helpers.
Removed ultra shadow option, until it can be properly debugged and reinstated taking into account the shadow changes
New Loire export
Known issue on the Racer cars, driver has been removed for now, also cockpit cam is a bit too close to the dash.
Build 159 (24/2/12, Team Member +)
MUST START A NEW PROFILE WITH THIS BUILD
Severity of vehicle crash damage state is not decreased when vehicle collides with heavy dynamic object
Tweaked Logitech FFB kerb settings
Limit fallback AIs to race liveries
Increase freecam speed to compensate for changes to time steps - now correctly matches whether paused or not, and feels more appropriate for fast and slow modes
Disabled other uses of key combinations required by freecam when in freecam mode, to prevent accidental debug information etc
Changed shake effect code to properly reflect requested frequency, by not resetting to a movement endpoint on whole tick boundaries
Pre heat brakes to optimal values based on vehicle
Added PC support for Fanatec CSR, CSRE, CSW wheels using 911 as template - no per device button config applied as yet
Added undertray scrape audio volume
Ensure newer Fanatec controllers cannot match to older Turbo S wheel
Add profile option to toggle HUD map on/off
Completed last few remaining free-camera isses which were effected by pausing and unpausing the game.
Changed call to camera callback when paused to use core tick rate (180Hz) instead of sub tick rate (30Hz) as basis for the timer value, this fixes the camera speed changing when paused
Added custom Depth of Field mode
Enable camera editing when paused
Reduced effect of wheel to wheel collisions (and chance of them happening to the player)
Formula A, Formula B, TDX, Racer4x, Racerv8, Gumpert Appollo, Asano X4, F68, F77, F86, Kart, and Super Kart: Physics updates
Fixed trees cutting through wall at Bologna
Gumpert: excluded paint colours from AI races
Added fresnel/specular maps for all custom liveries
Vehicle client versions incremented in advance of Aries server-side leaderboard reset (physics/tyre changes)
Leonus F68: added metallic liveries + fresnel
Show Map on HUD added
Louder Caterham AI sounds
New Bathurst, Bologna, and Loire exports
Build 158 (23/2/12, Senior Manager)
Improved dither matrix to assist with A2C dithered trees
Shadow updates: Back to 4 frustums. Higher res PC shadow maps. Improved cascade calculations
PC: Added protection against force update thread running during device restart
Fanatec textdb entries and placeholder controller icons
Foliage shaders converted to perform phase 3 light and alpha dithering - also added non-shadow lighting functions needed for these to work in phase 3
HUD: fixed overlapping numbers
Chassis scrape sound in, needs further tuning
Changes to the AI tyre slip, grip balance, and chassis under carrige stiffness. This is to try to settle the Caterham AI down. No change to the player car
Funnel the AI into turn 1 plus a few other corners on the track to keep them off the inside kerbs at CH
Reduced underbody stiffness to match other formula cars. Leonus 78 and 98T
Fixed bustop chicane AI drivng up on first kerb and crashing at Belgium Forest
Fixed lightglows, minor optimizations on Racer cars
Formula A: Added fresnel/spec map for custom livery
Edit fuel milage, underbody stiffness reduced on the TDX
New Racer cars exports
Build 157 (22/2/12, Senior Manager)
Fix for the 30-35kph induced drift/slide
Tyre Force and Tyre Grip F1 menu ranges extended
Deferred centre spring adjustment for DirectInput devices to force update thread
Default damage to visual only
Gumpert: fixed missing alpha on blurred disc spec map
New changes from Ben Collins feedback on the Formula A. Increased turnin through various changes. increased lower RPM torque considerably in the engine
Asano X4: Changes per Bens Collins feedback, reduced the longitundinal stiffness closer to the lateral stiffness. This was proabaly responsible for the "auto centering" noted by some. Rebalanced the chassis to match. Increased lock and adjusted down steer ratio to match
Increased AI grip for some lower downforce cars
Added back in some camber relative stiffness
Leonus F68: fixed wobbling rear wheel
Changed full installer to be split into multiple chunks due to 2gb size limit
New Loire exports
New Formula B export
New Leonus F68 export
Build 156 (21/2/12, Manager+)
Bring Fanatec wheel config in line with other manufacturer wheels. This is mostly for testing with CSRE/CSW and by Fanatec for any potential driver updates. Also the F1 menu items spring coefficient and gain become more relevant. New profile would be required for anyone testing this change
FFB update: squashed a bug that was adding deadzone based upon steering lock
Gearbox damage from an event should not rely on players gameplay flags
Default camera shake effects off until they're working properly again
PC steering deadzone defaulted to zero
Fanatec steering force mix set at "Hardware"
Updated Fanatec device profile defaults to suit CSW
Default lap info display off
Gumpert: added metallic/matte effects to liveries
Added back some undertray springing for the Formual A, dropped the Formula B to match
Unlocked chase cam so camera looks in direction of velocity a little
Build 155 (20/2/12, Senior Manager)
Added function that will return the numeric version.
Added two render contexts to allow special modifications to the glass shader
Advance player physics after pushing new location during rolling start
Initially picked waypoint on track is behind start line - fixes lap counter for first grid spot and longer vehicles
GUMPERT: Livery names added
Temporary master volume reduction (50%) pending investigation into some users reporting clipping.
Increased sharpening+ mip alpha edge fixed trees at Belgian Forest
Added color variation in the GUMPERT
New Atom exports