Hi guys, I've been thinking about buying a TrackIR4:PRO. Do you think I'll be a ble to look to apex in LFS? Will I be able to get more out of LFS? I like LFS very much, but I can't find the option to look to apex. Will TrakIR4:PRO allow me to do that? Thanks in advance.

Ben.

What exactly does APEX means?

Sorry for coming into this topic and ask for a thing, just needed to know what that means.

Go to options -> View -> Look Heading

Select the axis you use to steer, in case of a wheel select 'wheel' and adjust the sensitivity to your liking.

This is look-heading based on your controller-input. Track-IR will let you do much more then just that based on the motions of your own head. Check out youtube and you'll find out what is possible with Track-IR.

Quote from The Very End :

What exactly does APEX means?

Sorry for coming into this topic and ask for a thing, just needed to know what that means.

The Apex is the slowest point in a turn, the moment where you stop to lift/brake and hit the throttle again. It's often located somewhere in the middle close to the inside of a turn. Look-to-apex just means that the view turns towards the Apex at the moment you steer into the turn. This gives u a better persepective on where u are heading. But in some cases it's a bit distracting because u loose the connection with the car slightly. I always have it set disabled, but it could help some.

Quote from BruTaLysT :

The Apex is the slowest point in a turn, the moment where you stop to lift/brake and hit the throttle again.

That's not always true I think. The apex is the point where you hit the inside in a turn. That doesn't necessarily mean it's the slowest points. In hairpins you're usually already on the throttle when you hit the apex.

Quote from eqben :

Hi guys, I've been thinking about buying a TrackIR4:PRO. Do you think I'll be a ble to look to apex in LFS? Will I be able to get more out of LFS? I like LFS very much, but I can't find the option to look to apex. Will TrakIR4:PRO allow me to do that? Thanks in advance.

Ben.

As nobody has clearly mentioned this yet, LFS has full 6DOF support for TrackIR

Quote from The Very End :

What exactly does APEX means?

Sorry for coming into this topic and ask for a thing, just needed to know what that means.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apex_(racing) Not sure about the last two paragraphs, but the first three explain it very well...

Hmmm... maybe I'm just ignorant but I don't understand how this type of look-ahead could be an advantage. Of course in real-life racing turning one's head is beneficial, but in LFS one's looking at a monitor. Turning one's head would mean moving one's eyes in response in order to keep looking at the screen. I have look-ahead set to my wheel input, which works quite nicely. The sharper the bend up ahead, the more I have to turn the wheel. More input = more look-ahead so I can see the apex and exit clearly.

I found it really distracting the one time I turned it on. It's harder to tell whether the car is over/understeering, and it's impossible to track a car on your outside through the corner.

Indeed, a question I also wanted to ask: Does TrackIR really feel "realistic"? I would imagine it quite unrealistic to be able to look "behind" you by just turning your head 30 (or so) degrees to the left, and, of course, having to have you eyes fixed to the center of your screen...

About the look-ahead when steering thing, I have also disabled it after using it for a couple of months. It's just not good, you loose the (little bit of) feeling you have from being "static" inside the car...

The track IR should be agood bit of kit - but not owning one - I dont feel it would give me a realistic feel. I tilt my head when driving normally (not on LFS) so I could imagine the view moving with me and it would be wierd.

I found that buying a 3h2go gave me what I was looking for -Ive got faster, which is a good indicator.

I would still like a Track iR.... but not for LFS.

Quote from The Very End :

What exactly does APEX means?

Sorry for coming into this topic and ask for a thing, just needed to know what that means.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apex_%28racing%29

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I found it really distracting the one time I turned it on. It's harder to tell whether the car is over/understeering, and it's impossible to track a car on your outside through the corner.

And if you ever feel like you want some motion sickness, turn it to the max and go race on some autocross track in the MRT. :vomit:

The look to apex option was very disorienting to me when I first started using it. Now after 2+ years with LFS, if there is no look to apex in another sim, I can't drive it.

Quote from mrodgers :

The look to apex option was very disorienting to me when I first started using it. Now after 2+ years with LFS, if there is no look to apex in another sim, I can't drive it.

I've used this option as soon as it was in the game, and now I can't really drive without it.

I use the TrackIr4 pro and it is worth every penny. it takes a while to get used to and tweak properly, but using
it becomes second nature. The only issue I have with it is
if there are strong reflections or mulitple strong sources of light, the sensor locks onto those instead of the head reflector.

Quote from BruTaLysT :

The Apex is the slowest point in a turn,

Are you so sure about that? An apex is different in every corner, and by all means one should already be accelerating as or befor on makes their apex.

Quote from Lateralus :

I have look-ahead set to my wheel input, which works quite nicely. The sharper the bend up ahead, the more I have to turn the wheel. More input = more look-ahead so I can see the apex and exit clearly.

That makes sense, but there is another feature with trackIR one can look in what ever direction they want. For example, one could bee looking into their turn then turn the view with "slight" head movement to look into their blind spot to see if someone is trying to make a pass on them.

Quote from Darkone55 :

That's not always true I think. The apex is the point where you hit the inside in a turn. That doesn't necessarily mean it's the slowest points. In hairpins you're usually already on the throttle when you hit the apex.

easiest way to know where your apex is it's the closest point to the middle of the track in a corner.


*edit* fine screw it:

"In racing sports, the ideal line is the inside part of a curve where the vehicle is nearest to the inside curb in order to maintain the maximum velocity around the track."

which is what i said, only more coherant

Quote from danben7 :

easiest way to know where your apex is it's the closest point to the middle of the track in a corner.

:bounce8::bananadea

I use the TrackIR, even with triplehead2go. There are alot of options and profiles you can use when setting it up. You dont have to look to the back or have more view-turning than you would want to. After some adjustments it can feel very natural to be able to look freely around and the greater immersion makes fun, especially in close Racing and when approaching and driving threw hairpins.

There are people who would never use there Race or Flight Sim without it anymore, and there are others who just dont feel good when using it.
It costs 180 $ or 130 € and there is a 30 day free trial in which you can return it if you dont like it, but only if you buy it directly from naturalpoint, which I also did.

30-day trial sounds pretty cool. If Tristan doesn't send me his (to be fair he's only had a year to get around to it), I might take them up on that.

Some Videos:

TrackIR explained

Flight Simulator with TrackIR

LFS with TrackIR


rFactor with TrackIR

NASCAR Racing 2003 Season with TrackIR


GPL with TrackIR

I tried flight simulator with TrackIR and quite liked it, although now I've got a Z800 VR headset which is much better with the 3D. The best combo for me would be having both. In racing sims I really don't like look to apex or head tracking. It's distracting and disconnects me from the car. The apex is always visible on screen anyway, so there's nothing preventing me from turning my eyes or head to look at it naturally, so I just never understood the point. In replay videos it looks cool, but when driving it messes me up.

I've never tried TrackIR, but already the look to apex function shows me how it wouldn't be anything for me. When you're missing the butt feel from the car, it is vital (for me) to know exactly in which direction the car is pointing, as all sensing of oversteer is purely visual now. With a fixed view in relation to my steering inputs I can easily judge what the car is doing and what I need to do to maintain/correct the situation. With any amount of dynamic or free look, all that goes down the drain and I'd miss corners constantly because I still connect "where I look" = "where the car goes", which leads to looking into the corner, but not steering there or only too little. I think I saw the exact same thing happening in the LFS with TrackIR video.